Shabbat Sermon: Engaging the Darkness Without Becoming Dark with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

Summary: <p> This morning has been so beautiful, so joyful, just what we needed. Daniel’s Bar Mitzvah. Eli’s Bar Mitzvah. Ronna’s birthday. Elizabeth’s naming, three generations of love. </p> <p> And the reason it is especially joyful is that things have been so dark. Eight weeks of war later, with no clear end in sight, we don’t know when it’s going to end, we don’t know how it’s going to end, it’s dark. What the hostages who have been freed have reported about their captivity, what they had to endure, is dark. The hostages who have not been freed, what they and their families are going through, is dark. The hostages who have been murdered, dark. The resumption of war, and what that means for Israelis who are now in battle, and for Gazans who are caught in the crossfire, who have been so ill served by Hamas, is dark. What do with do with all this darkness?</p> <p> I have wrestled with this darkness. I have found two positions that are not helpful.</p> <p> I have tried disconnecting from the heartbreak. Not reading the news. Following only sports stories. But I know that is not okay.</p> <p> And I have fallen into a rabbit hole, following the news obsessively, worrying all the time, not sleeping through the night. That doesn’t help anybody.</p> <p> Is there a way to engage the darkness without becoming dark? Is there a way to engage this depressing reality without becoming depressed? Is there a way to follow a story that generates heart ache and heart break every day without falling into a rabbit hole?</p> <p> The holiday of Hanukkah offers us some helpful insight here.</p> <p><br></p>