Almost 36 years ago, 45 music stars came together to record We Are the World in an attempt to provide humanitarian aid for Africa. 2x Chai/Life years later, a group of Israeli recording artists joined in similar fashion to fund COVID19 relief. The song, Katan Aleinu has quickly become one of my favorites. Katan Aleinu/We've Got This shares a stance of strength and fortitude in the face of challenge. Mul chol michshol v'chol hidah, od tikvateinu lo avdah/facing every obstacle and every puzzle, we still have not lost our hope is a shout out to Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah and shines a light into
the darkness that we need at this time of year when the days grow short and it sometimes feels like the dark arrives just after lunchtime.
In this week's parasha, Vayishlach our ancestor Jacob/Ya'akov fights through the night to receive a new name. Join us on Shabbat morning as our Bat Mitzvah Sarah Mehl delves deeply into this wrestling match. Jacob - the heel and trickster - earns the name Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed (Genesis 32:29). As readers of the text, we wait two chapters for Gd to affirm that name change and lay out the promise of Jacob's future. But we know, not only in hindsight but from continued affirmation throughout the generations that the covenant established with Abraham and reestablished with Isaac and Jacob is offered in perpetuity. It is up to us to continue to reclaim that covenant through our struggles and commitment to a future.
Trisha Arlin speaks of Kislev as The Month for Losing Hope and Finding It Again.
Kislev is the month for despair. The sun fades away And we get depressed. We forget that the light will return. We dwell in darkness, We lose faith in change. Kislev is the month for re-inventing courage. At the worst possible moment, the day gets longer And we have parties. We imitate the sun with bright lights. We eat a lot of sugar And we make plans for the future. Blessed holy One-ness, Giving us the month of Kislev In which to lose hope and find it again, So clever. Amen
