SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
The Vacuum
H
ave you ever known that feeling of gloomy emptiness? A sense that there is nothing good in your life and, therefore, everything is terrible? In this week’s Torah portion, we read the tragic story of Yosef sold into slavery by his brothers. Before selling him to passing merchants, the brothers had thrown him into a pit at the side of the road. Regarding this pit, the verse says, “The pit was empty; there was no water in it.” The Talmud asks, “Since it says: ‘The pit was empty,’ do I not know that there was no water in it? For what purpose did the Torah write, ‘there was no water in it’? [To inform us
that] there was no water in we can be certain that this void it, but there were snakes and will be filled with “snakes and scorpions in it.” When the pit scorpions.” Negativity will ceris void of water, it is tainly seep in and present inevitable that dangera clear and present danger ous creatures fill in that to living a good and fulvacuum. filling life. On the other The same is true in hand, if we seek to drive our lives. The Torah is away the pain and neganot just a book of histo- Rabbi Benny tivity we face, the answer Greenwald ry or stories. Each inciis to find within ourselves a source of light and the dent we read, and all its Parshat darkness will vanish. details, provide a clear Vayeshev: Jewish philosophers and powerful message Genesis 37:1explain that darkness does in our daily lives. This 40:23; Amos not really exist; it is simply verse and the Talmud’s 2:6-3:8. the lack of light that gives interpretation teach us the perception of dark. a life-altering lesson. When our lives lack the life-giv- Therefore, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe often taught, one small ing “water,” when we allow ourselves to be empty of Torah, candle has the power to dispel great darkness. godliness and spirituality, then
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On Sunday night, we will begin the celebration of Chanukah by kindling the first candle of the menorah. In addition to the menorahs we light in our homes, we also light the menorah publicly to spread the light of Chanukah beyond the reach of our homes. When we look out to the world or into our souls and find that it is dark, we must recognize that what we face is a void, one that we can fill with positivity. Our job is to increase light. May we all have an illuminated Shabbat and happy Chanukah! Rabbi Benny Greenwald is the director of the Daniel B. Sobel Friendship House.
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