"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. " t.s. elliot
And so we begin again. The water, land, moon, tides and us are created this week. In parashat Bereshit, we watch ourselves be newly created, breath and soul breathed into our primal lump of clay. We stand from our moment in history, distant from that first moment, and wait to see who these first humans will become... knowing it is us. We are in our time, and in the first moment of time, all at the same time. Today, we are in the middle of strange and challenging circumstances, but we are also blessed to have a new beginning. This Shabbat, we uncover our origins, and explore how to celebrate our beginnings as human beings, and how to find a new beginning for our souls.
Beginning again is a gift of grace, and an active choice. This Shabbat we are given a new start to life. But this Shabbat we also have to decide whether to accept it. God places us again in the Garden of Eden as a promise of what lies ahead, if only we choose to let down our weariness, fears, powerlessness and weapons of devisiveness, and polarisation. Today, let us embrace the new hopefulness, strength, curiosity and aliveness that comes with being newly born.
This Shabbat, I wish you a renewed soul,
Shabbat Shalom,
