Shabbat Shalom dear friends

May we have a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat. May the words of our beloved Torah guide us. May we see The Temple restored now.

It’s fascinating to reflect on some of my own habits. One of the strangest things is not reading the same book twice. Oh, at times going back for reference or reading more on same topic – absolutely. Yet reading twice isn’t my thing. Well, wasn’t my thing until the ultimate written book was found and my road to discovery and understanding of this world began. There’s something for everyone – one big story consisting of a beautiful tapestry of smaller & not always seemingly connected stories. My fascination is so common, they say it’s most read book in the history of humanity. Somehow there’re still inaccurate translations, so please, if you are like myself and want to know the facts without filters or whitewashing, just find a proper translation. And simply open your heart. This week’s Parsha is filled with events that are as complicated as they come. My own journey go through shaking my head in fury (how could they do it), to disappointment, pain and acceptance. Nowadays psychologists are talking about same stages of coping with grief. Yet this year reading gave me more hopefully feeling and it came from rather unexpected place. The story of a golden calf and hope? Isn’t it strange? Well, let me explain. People are restless and there’s always something we want and we want it now. Same happened when Moses went up to receive first lot of tablets. Surely everything was beautiful – gem stone, writing – you name it. Yet coming down Moses sees things pretty much polar opposite. His brother saw what happened & even became reluctant participant in it. We know what happened (full description is given prior), Moses sees what’s going on, yet he still asks Aaron. Why? Why ask? Isn’t it painful enough? Do details matter in this emergency? Drastic measures required, yet “waste time” on conversation? Yes. It’s a perfect time and here we go – Aaron tells everything in very concise manner. Can you see it through Aaron’s eyes? Have you noticed the difference? How does it make you feel? For me, it is a source of hope. If we put our own ego aside, can we admit to making mistakes? Admit to recounting story from our perspective isn’t a perfect reflection, even if we participate in it. Can we admit that we are just people? And if so, put our ego aside, get off our proverbial high horse and listen to our brothers and sisters, listen to each other. Not hear, listen and it’s a two way street. Make no mistake, things need to be corrected. If the way it’s done doesn’t make you want to cry – you might be missing regular heartbeat. yet that conversation literally saved lives. That embrace between brothers made us all stronger. And in this instance, we know exactly what was said and done. So let’s do something positive. there’re always people who faithfully wait for us and people who are ready to listen. they’re by our side. Just take a minute to make yourself available to them. Together we can bring light into this world. Our strength in our unity. Shabbat Shalom have a peaceful and meaningful Shabbat