Send Your Light

Amidst the darkness, may we find light and a place to call home

“We are at a fateful hour. The heart trembles and fears and prays that we will bring and save and return our brothers and sisters home… It's hard to breathe, everything is shaking and trepidation and in need of prayer. It is a trembling moment because there is no complete redemption in it and there never will be. As the Torah of Israel tells about the exodus from Egypt in three simple words: vayehi b’chatzi halayla, ‘And it happened in the middle/in the half of the night (Ex. 11:4).’

The Torah teaches that redemption is always half, always halved. Some will return alive, some will return to burial. One family will have the news of salvation, another the news of loss. The tension will be unbearable, the prices terrible, the pain enormous, and with it, also the joy of the sanctity of life, salvation and hope. In the middle of the Israeli night we will all be needed.” - Rabbi Tamar Elad Appelbaum, Kehillat Zion Jerusalem

We read those words of half redemption in this week’s Torah portion, Bo, as a modern day Exodus and redemption is concurrently taking place in Israel, with ten Israelis and five Thai hostages already released. We are overjoyed at their return and at the same time hold onto the sorrow and anticipation knowing that not all those who return will return alive and so much is still uncertain.

This prayer from Rabbi Tamar of Kehillat Zion in Jerusalem helped verbalize for me the precariousness of both the current situation and the hearts and minds and emotional states of Israelis and Jews across the world as this redemption continues to unfold.

In parashat Bo we read about the plague of darkness in the land of Egypt, everywhere but where the Israelites were residing in Goshen. The text says, “vayehi choshech afeilah…lo ra’u ish et echav, u’l’chol b’nei yisrael haya or b’moshvotam (ex. 10:23),” thick darkness descended, and people could not see one another, but the people of Israel had light in their dwellings.

This darkness was not only a physical darkness, it was the darkness we feel when we recede from one another, when we can no longer truly see the humanity in each other. But Rabbi Tamar explains that, “In the middle of the Israeli night we will all be needed. all of us. To truly see each other and hold these days together. To accompany to funerals together. To be happy together, to hurt together, cry together, restore together. to go through this halved redemption together…This is the only way to get through the middle of the night and leave the terrible Egypt i.e. dire straits for a journey of restoration and recovery in the beloved land.”

Amidst the darkness, may we find light and a place to call home. This new melody and prayer, yevi’uni, comes from Psalm 43, and is about finding light and truth, may it be a comfort for us and guide us to holiness, life, and hope. Chaverai Nevarech Vol. IV comes out on Thursday February 6th, I hope you’ll listen and find comfort, light, and even joy within it.

Shabbat Shalom,

Josh

Ps. You can pre-save the album here, and if you missed the first single from the album last week, take a listen to Ahavah Rabbah