I was prepping for our last JLI class of the course "To Be a Jew in the Free World" when I stumbled on a new definition of the phrase 'finding meaning'.
For those who know me and my delight in English words and idioms, finding a deeper insight into an overused and murky phrase got my attention.
Here is the working definition of 'finding meaning' I discovered: finding something that helps you connect all or many dots in your life.
What do you think about that? Agree? Disagree?
I like it because it takes the idea of purpose and cause-greater-than-oneself and personalizes it. It marries big overarching life ideas/frameworks with the details of one's own life journey.
One of this week's Torah portions (it is a double header) is actually called 'Journeys' or in the Hebrew "Masei" taken from the Parsha's opening verse
"These are the journeys of the children of Israel who left the land of Egypt in their legions, under the charge of Moses and Aaron". The Torah then goes on to list all of the forty-two Israelites' journeys from Egypt until reaching the Promised Land over 40 years.
exodus from Egypt is its birth as a nation and an allegory for every individual birth, the liberation of the fetus from the confines of the womb into the freedom of the outside world, where it can develop and become independent. The final journey is to the spiritual Promised Land, the afterlife that awaits us after death. The rest of the intervening journeys make up what we call life.
Israelite's trek through the desert, we have to acknowledge that many were setbacks (to say the least). But what is fascinating is that every journey in its spiritual origin and in its transformative potential is holy and positive, even the setbacks. We have free choice of what to make of any journey we encounter in life.
With my new-found definition of 'finding meaning', that type of dot-connecting philosophy can help us survive and even thrive at every station in life.
I must say that I am not there yet with a completely integrated philosophy of life. But I do have an overarching system that I constantly improve upon. And I do know from my experience that Judaism and Jewish Spirituality, particularly Chassidic philosophy, have those tools. When Jewish spirituality is taught by good, real teachers with a command of modern language and a grasp of life, it helps us trek onward in our own 42 journeys of life.
Want some of my recommendations for some of those tools and teachers? Email me at [email protected] and I am happy to share some articles and podcasts that have helped me.
Wishing you a good Shabbos/Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yitzi Hein
