in which I wax theological
(note: you don't have to be Jewish for this to be helpful to you...take what you like and leave the rest!)
A dear friend in my congregation wrote to me, feeling very stuck in the face of our collective grief and the disaster that is our economy--so much stuff to deal with all happening at once. Here's what I wrote to him in my unofficially official capacity as Priestess of Joy:
A song that's been helping me a lot this month:
Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav used to say
Friends, do not despair
For a difficult time is upon us
Our joy must fill the air
We must not lose our faith in living
We must not despair
For a difficult time is upon us
Our joy must fill the air
I think Judaism has survived because of our tenacious belief in joy even through the most outrageously awful times. This might be possible because of our perverse sense of humor and ability to laugh at ourselves. :) Or it might be because of our delight in the diversity of manifestation of holiness. Or it might be because our mystics teach us that inside everything, every little annoying thing, there is a spark of G-d...when G-d tried to pour G-d's Essence into this vessel that is our world, it was too much for the world to hold, and it shattered the vessel. Our job is to find all the shards of the vessel (i.e., everything, every person, every situation) and to notice and love the Divine Spark trapped within it.
To me, Reb Nachman's song doesn't say not to feel sorrow. It says that no matter how sorrowful the situation, there is always hope, never a cause for despair. It says that joy cannot be erased by transient sorrow. Joy is bigger than that.
En-joy,
[my name here]
A dear friend in my congregation wrote to me, feeling very stuck in the face of our collective grief and the disaster that is our economy--so much stuff to deal with all happening at once. Here's what I wrote to him in my unofficially official capacity as Priestess of Joy:
A song that's been helping me a lot this month:
Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav used to say
Friends, do not despair
For a difficult time is upon us
Our joy must fill the air
We must not lose our faith in living
We must not despair
For a difficult time is upon us
Our joy must fill the air
I think Judaism has survived because of our tenacious belief in joy even through the most outrageously awful times. This might be possible because of our perverse sense of humor and ability to laugh at ourselves. :) Or it might be because of our delight in the diversity of manifestation of holiness. Or it might be because our mystics teach us that inside everything, every little annoying thing, there is a spark of G-d...when G-d tried to pour G-d's Essence into this vessel that is our world, it was too much for the world to hold, and it shattered the vessel. Our job is to find all the shards of the vessel (i.e., everything, every person, every situation) and to notice and love the Divine Spark trapped within it.
To me, Reb Nachman's song doesn't say not to feel sorrow. It says that no matter how sorrowful the situation, there is always hope, never a cause for despair. It says that joy cannot be erased by transient sorrow. Joy is bigger than that.
En-joy,
[my name here]