by Mira Menyuk, Pearlstone Retreat Center, Reisterstown, MD Truth, Light and Forgiveness Parashat Vayigash In a recent candle dipping program my co-worker Michal and I ran we led a discussion about the truth we want to bring forward during Hanukkah and the darkness of Winter. Light is part of many Jewish rituals including Shabbat, Havdallah and Hannukah. Our Jewish tradition teaches that the ner tamid, an eternal flame, represents the divine, and the mysterious. One of the things we discussed prior to our program is how truth is often connected to light – revealing something in the darkness that was unseen before. Anyone who has ever played with a prism and watched light turn into a rainbow has seen this light come forward and witnessed a piece of our own divine mystery. Pearlstone Retreat Center – Mira Menyuk Speaking of rainbows (and truth), this week’s parsha Vayigash is about Joseph long after he has lost his multi colored robe and become indispensable to Pharaoh by interpreting a dream which kept Egypt from famine. His brothers who once sold him into slavery, because of their father Jacob’s abject favoritism, have unknowingly come to him many times to beg for provisions. On […]
