Rabbi 360

This past week I have been treating as a bit of shiva—the seven day period in Jewish observance following a loss. The results of the election have for me brought feelings of sadness, anger, denial—all the various components of mourning a loss. Like during shiva when we step back from our lives, I have avoided a lot of the news and commentary that has followed Election Day.

Now it has been a week, and shiva is over, and it’s time to reenter and get going.

I’ve been thinking about where we go from here, ways that we can react and reorient ourselves during these times. One suggestion I want to make is to “make your world small.”

What does that mean? We know that there are going to be enormous challenges facing us in the near future, issues the scale of which it is hard to fathom. Mass deportations, threats of abortion bans, environmental deregulation, the undoing of the social safety net—these are all possibilities based on the rhetoric and plans of the incoming administration. As they present themselves, there will be times for mobilizing and joining in mass movements in resistance.

At first though, in order to get there, we should make our world small, to look around your immediate community and make connections. Who are your neighbors? Who is your friendship group? What groups are you a part of in which you can have authentic human interaction? How can you continue to build these immediate relationships with the people who are near you? This type of community building and relationship building is critical: critical for our own well-being, for the well-being of others, and the well-being of our society.

Specifically, we need to look around us and see who is most vulnerable in this moment. Who is at risk? Who is scared? We know based on pronouncements that certain people are going to be targeted, and those people are more likely than not to be very scared. So how can we then reach out and extend support to those people who are in fear right now? How can we extend ourselves and make ourselves known to be someone who is safe, someone who is supportive, someone who they know will rise to protect them when things get really bad?

And if you are one of those people who feels threatened, look out for those who are there to protect you.

There are huge threats on the horizon. As they develop, one of our best bets now is to make our worlds small, reach out and connect with those people around you, build strength and solidarity with the people to whom you are closest, extend safety and mutual aid and support.

We see this being modeled in this week’s Torah portion (Vayera) as we follow the adventures of our spiritual ancestors Abraham and Sarah. As they make their way in establishing a new community in a new land in covenant with God, they consistently find themselves forming relationships with family and neighbors, those that are around them. It is one of the things that allows them to survive and thrive.

And this is a kavannah (intention) that I want to bring to our Jewish community at Temple Beth Hatfiloh: how can we strengthen our relationships within our own community, care and look out for each other, and especially let folks who feel particularly vulnerable in this moment know that this is a safe place.

Let us make our worlds small now, so we will be able to confront what is big next.