Photo by David Lezcano on Unsplash Collectively, the Jewish people have seemingly endured endless discrimination. We’ve been sold as slaves and we’ve been expelled from countries (having to forfeit all our property in the process); we’ve endured pogroms and persecution - and of course the worst atrocity of all, the Holocaust. Something else we’ve seen throughout history is that a very short while after these devastating events we bounce back, adapt and thrive. When Jewish doctors were barred from practicing in hospitals - Jewish hospitals were created to provide a place for them to practice. When Jewish workers were barred from certain professions and restricted to others, they became world class experts at the professions they were allowed. And perhaps a modern day miracle - the scrappy, penniless survivors of the Holocaust managed - amidst a sea of hostile neighbors - to establish a modern state. The secret to this resilience, I think, lies in the deeper meaning of this Shabbat. It’s called Shabbat Chazon - a “Shabbat of Vision”. Originally this referred to Isaiah’s prophetic vision of destruction, the theme of this week’s Haftorah, but one of the early Chassidic masters shared another vision that this refers to - the vision of future redemption that we each are shown this Shabbat. While we may not physically see this vision, our soul certainly perceives it. Perhaps even more importantly, its effect is embedded into the psyche of each one of us. Even while enduring unrelenting hardship throughout the ages, being further exiled even from the places that offered temporary respite, this vision of redemption motivates us to move forward and grow. Today too, when the experts and prognosticators are sharing dystopian and disastrous visions - we would do better to focus on our vision, the vision of redemption embedded in our psyche that has sustained us throughout the ages. The future might be unknown to us, but which vision we choose to conjure will affect the way we live today - and influence the future that we build.
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