To Live, to Think, and to Aspire Broadly Over the past few weeks, as we have all watched hostages emerge from the confining hell of the Gazan tunnels, I have constantly been thinking about one phrase from Tehilim 118. מִן-הַמֵּצַר, קָרָאתִי יָּ-הּ; From the narrows I call to you, עָנָנִי בַמֶּרְחָב יָ-הּ answer me with your breadth. (118:5) This pasuk, which we recite famously in Hallel, reflects on the moving from narrowness to breadth and has hit my heart in so many ways these days, as a Jew, as an American, and as a global citizen in these challenging times. For these hostages who have survived the narrow, the meitzar , we have been watching a crippling, jarring shock, and, at the same time, a redeeming opportunity to re-engage. They are emerging from unimaginably confining surroundings, to a wide world of the embrace of family and the possibilities that the world can offer. The narrowness of this crisis finds some comfort not only in the breath of life,...
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Yosef the Closer, the Continuer and the Need to Internalize Impermanence Just when you think that the story is over, there always seems to be more. As we read the epic tale of Joseph, Yosef HaTzadik, each chapter in his life seems that it could be the end of the story, but it is not. He is put in a pit, left to die–not the end. He is sold as a slave-not the end. He rises to the top level in his job-not the end. He is sent to jail to languish-not the end. He has a ruptured relationship with his brothers-not the end. Yosef is the paradigm of resilience in the book of Breishit and in looking more at this fascinating character, his life reflects the dual nature of his name. In Vayetze, we are told that Rachel is finally given the gift of children and she gives her child the name Yosef. The first allusion to his name is the hope for an end. Yosef contains the root of the word for the end, the sof, as it is the end of this terrible chapter of childlessness for Ra...