Friends, it’s great to be back with you in this worship space. Thank you for inviting me back.
I feel a need to get some things out of the way. First, I am not feeling much like a polite Canadian these days. With the war between Israel and Hamas, I am feeling sad much of the time, and have few places to really say that. The truth is I no longer even know what I’m crying about. I seem just to be yielding to the big blur of human suffering.[1]
I am feeling frustrated that some people do not seem to understand the magnitude of the losses and fear. On all sides.
I am feeling conflicted because I find myself agreeing with some conservatives for the first time in my long life. I have been afraid of the right, and now I am afraid of the left. I am trying to hold my hot mess together.
And then I heard this news story about a week and a half ago. On Saturday, October 7th, Meirav Tal, age 54, and her partner, Yair Yaakov, age 59, were taken captive from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, as Hamas terrorists assaulted the community, abducting and killing residents. Kibbutz Nir Oz is in southern Israel, not far from Gaza.[2]
Yair’s brother, Yaniv, contacted Yair during the early morning missile attacks on October 7, just to check in to see if his Yair and Meirav were okay.
Yair told Yaniv that he and Meirav were down in their shelter. Yair’s two sons, Or and Yagil, 16 and 12, were nearby at their mother’s house.
Yair had not been able to bring his sons to his house, because the kibbutz members had strict instructions that morning to stay in their home shelters.
At 9:20 am, Meirav sent a voice message on WhatsApp to Yair’s brother that terrorists had entered their home. “They are inside the house,” she said in the recording. “They shot at us in the room. They are inside... Help me! Yair is wounded. Call the police.” Yair was trying to hold the safe room door shut to keep the attackers out. That was the last time Meirav and Yair communicated with anyone.[3]
Later, on the afternoon of October 7, the mother of Yair’s sons told the rest of the family that both boys had also been kidnapped.
Then, the next evening, October 8, the family found a video taken by Hamas, showing that the terrorists had used grenades to open the door of Yair’s sealed room, in order to capture him and Meirav and take them to Gaza.
[Breathe]
Now, Meirav owns a clothing store in Gedera, in central Israel. If you could see the photos of her storefront, you would see that the windows are just covered with letters and posters and drawings. The messages on these letters and posters and pictures are heartfelt. They say, “Meirav, come home,” and “The Ginger of Gedera, Meirav, is kidnapped.” Meirav has long, curly red hair.
These letters serve as a powerful demonstration of solidarity. They are a genuine gesture of support. The thing is, Meirav, could not see these letters, because she was a hostage. So why were they written? Think about that. More questions came up for me as I thought about this story.
· Who, really, were these letters intended for?[4]
· In what way did writing a letter to Meirav help the person writing the letter?
· In what way did writing and posting the letters help Meirav’s community?
· Could it be possible that writing and posting the letters might help Meirav and the other hostages? And if so – how?
Now, whenever I am feeling in a state of despair, or confused, or even just trying to sort out my thoughts, to help me through my process, I seek out the wisdom of my tradition. I was looking for answers to all these questions about the letters of support on the windows of Meirav’s store. This time, I turned to one of my teachers, a beloved Jewish sage who lived and died during World War II.
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira was known for his spiritual leadership during the Holocaust, particularly within the Warsaw Ghetto. He shared profound teachings about the importance of approaching and creating community with conscious awareness and intent, especially during times of adversity. I want to share with you some of his key teachings[5] on the significance of showing up in community – teachings which I think apply to the times we are living in now:
First, he emphasized the strength and resilience that stem from unity within a community. Despite the dire circumstances of his time, Rabbi Shapira urged the community to stand together, supporting and uplifting one another in their shared struggle.
Second, he underscored the need for shared responsibility within the community. He said that each person needed to look out for the other, and to support and care for those who were suffering or in need. He highlighted the collective responsibility for the well-being of all community members.
Third, even amidst the terrible hardships of the Holocaust, Rabbi Shapira encouraged his community to maintain faith and hope. He reminded them of the enduring strength found in spiritual resilience and the ability to find meaning even in the darkest of times. He believed that fostering spiritual strength within the community was essential for maintaining hope and resilience.
Finally, Rabbi Shapira urged acts of kindness and compassion. He believed that even small gestures of support and empathy could make a significant difference in the lives of individuals within the community.
Rabbi Shapira's teachings highlighted the necessity of unity, compassion, and faith within a community, especially in the face of immense adversity. His messages continue to resonate as powerful reminders of the enduring strength found in communal support and the significance of standing together during times of hardship. I think that these are some of the reasons for those messages of hope on the windows of Meirav’s store.
There is another wise teacher whose work I want to share with you, because I think his messages are relevant here too. I studied with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi for about 15 years, sometimes literally sitting at his feet to learn from him. Reb Zalman, as he was known, had a slightly different approach to finding common ground in community, and was deeply committed to interfaith dialogue. He believed in the importance of building bridges among different faith communities and finding shared goals that could unite people across religious boundaries.
From Reb Zalman I learned that our job is to make the world a place where it is easier for people to be good. He believed that religious communities share the common goal of inspiring goodness and ethical behaviour. It should be our higher purpose. And by focusing on this shared objective, people can work together to create a more compassionate and just world.
I have also heard Reb Zalman say, "let the peace of the whole universe begin with us. Right here. Right now." He emphasized the need for each of us to take personal responsibility in the moment for fostering peace and understanding. By starting with ourselves, and by starting now, we contribute to the larger goal of creating a world grounded in harmony and mutual respect among people of diverse beliefs.
Another pearl of wisdom Reb Zalman used to share was one of his most famous teachings. He would say that “the only way to get it together is together.” I loved that line so much that I put it on the back of my business card! Reb Zalman’s teachings on finding common ground among people and communities underscore the importance of collaboration, understanding, and shared goals in building a more interconnected and harmonious world.
I started off today by sharing with you that I was feeling like a hot mess – angry, despairing, discouraged, and afraid. As a Jew, and as someone who has family in Israel.
But let me tell you, more and more, I am now feeling like I got it all wrong. I got it all wrong.
I was thinking that there were only these huge clouds of darkness over all of us, with the occasional scattered rays of sunlight.[6]
I was thinking that these immense clouds were the forces of evil and immorality and despair, actively waiting to envelop me, to consume me. I felt like these malevolent forces were closing in on me from every side, a clear and present disaster unfolding around me.
And I was thinking that there were only occasional, scattered rays of goodness and hope and kindness. Random moments of light.
Nice, but how much could they actually accomplish? Nisht’ke-felecht. Not much.
I mean, can rays of light disperse really disperse clouds of darkness?
And now I understand that I got it all wrong.
In reality, now I am able to see that there are actually immense, beautiful, shimmering clouds of silver light, from which only scattered rays of darkness emerge.
The rays of darkness sometimes land close to us, sometimes they touch us, sometimes we take a direct hit. But they are only rays. Moments. Slivers. They fracture us. They wound us. They knock us down but then we lean on each other to stand up again. They do not knock us out. They do not control us.
But the clouds? Ahhh. The silver, shimmering clouds of light. The clouds are birthing light. And goodness and kindness and truth. The silver clouds are the quiet heroes, the acts of selflessness, the rainbows of hope. The smile of shop owners and the patience of mothers. The sleeplessness of grandparents and the resilience of children. Letters and posters and drawings of support, and kindnesses from good folk, like yourselves. These, and only these, envelop us, saturate us.
Nurturing and nourishing. Generative and replenishing. The clouds of light will dispel the rays of darkness.
I got it all wrong. But I think I get it now.
And, oh way the way, Meirav Tal was one of the hostages who was released on November 28. So were her partner’s two sons, Or and Yagil. As of today, though, Yaakov is still being held captive in Gaza.
Thank you for listening. Shalom. Salaam.
Rabbi Sherril Gilbert is Co-Executive Director of ALEPH Canada
References:
[1] https://www.irwinkeller.com/itzikswell/sea-of-tears?fbclid=IwAR0N_I_CmdSMdU3YqpZX0RtM84P7NMLFM6QfwWyQ4XT1Fj7sIhKnGu7FwvE
[2] https://ieje.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/JPOST-Meravs-Story.pdf
[3] https://www.timesofisrael.com/taken-captive-yair-yaakov-meirav-tal-hamas-opened-door-with-grenades/
[4] https://ieje.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/We_Cant_Do_It_Alone.pdf
[5] Insights derived from his translated writings Conscious Community and To Heal the Soul
[6] “Clouds of light” teaching from Aryeh Ben David, Facebook November 21, 2023