We are witnessing a movement. An awakening.
In Israel and abroad, Jews who have not felt strongly connected to Israel or the Jewish people are suddenly feeling pulled to do more (and more) mitzvot. People who have not stepped foot in a synagogue in decades are now showing up for services. Thousands of pairs of tefillin have been donated. Tens of thousands of women worldwide are lighting Shabbat candles, many for the first time. People who just a few weeks ago couldn’t see eye-to-eye religiously or politically are now hugging each other on the streets.
As I witness this outpouring, I honestly wonder, why? Why has atrocity caused this spiritual awakening? Why does suffering create such an expression of unity?
What we are witnessing right now is the Jewish soul screaming, G-d, I want to connect with you.
The trivial things that were taking up so much of our energy have been crushed. The curtain has been pulled back, and the façade of our reality has crumbled, leaving our essence exposed.
So, I do an extra mitzvah, because G-d, You are the only eternal truth. I connect with my fellow Jew, because no matter how much we quibble or disagree, we are one. I know this not because I have read or studied it, not because I can even express it in words, but because my soul intuitively understands.
Because right now, deep down, we feel—no, we know!—with certainty, that we are the People whom G-d promised will succeed in transforming the evil and depravity of this world to usher in the greatest light, morality, and peace for all humanity.
With heartfelt prayers for the safety of the Jewish People and the immediate return of all the hostages.
Rabbi Bryski is the rabbi of Chabad of the Canejo in California. Reprinted the shul’s Parshat Chaya Sarah 6784 weekly email.
