three texts
sholem aleichem.
i don't have many coherent thoughts right now, but i want to share three texts that have been on my heart lately.
first, from noach
in the parsha, hashem sees what the people are doing in building the tower and says "[and] now there will be no barrier for them in all that they scheme to do!"
from the midrash:
אָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר כַּהֲנָא מְלַמֵּד שֶׁפָּתַח לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא פֶּתַח שֶׁל תְּשׁוּבָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וְעַתָּה, וְאֵין וְעַתָּה אֶלָּא תְּשׁוּבָה
rabbi aba bar kahana said: this teaches that the holy one blessed be he opened for them a gate of teshuva, as it says "and now", and there is no "and now" except teshuva
this is often translated as "there is no now except teshuva", but i think we have to drash from the vav here, because the "and" is what connects us to the past.
we cannot forget the past, nor can we be stuck in it. all of what has happened, has happened. and now, what will we do? a gate is open.
second, from beshalach
in this parsha we read of moshe stretching his hand over the sea and the waters being split.
the mekhilta d'rabbi yishmael teaches:
ויבקעו המים, כל מים שבעולם
"the waters split": all the water in the world
our liberation, the splitting of the red sea, was not only liberation for us. the waters before us parted, and so did the waters before all.
until we are all free, we are none of us free.
(Added note: I appreciated the tension taking this quote deliberately out of context, as well as the reminder within the context of the quote that some things are easy to say and do when removed from the physical reality of conflict. But I appreciate that I really should have explained my thoughts in more detail here, and apologize.)
third, from vayera
everett fox's translation:
Avraham came close and said:
Will you really sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?Perhaps there are fifty innocent within the city;
will you really sweep it away?
Will you not bear with the place because of the fifty innocent that are in its midst?[Heaven] forbid for you to do a thing like this,
to deal death to the innocent along with the guilty,
that it should come about: like the innocent, like the guilty,
[Heaven] forbid for you!
The judge of all the earth—will he not do what is just?
ada