Sadness Rooted in Love

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Teizei

Sends us out to face the wars that rage within and among us.

As we go out

May we have the discipline and grace

To continue to hear Elul’s call:

Return.

Return to presence.

Return to alignment.

Return to loving relationship. 

Even as the soul weeps,

I can’t, there is too much pain,

Too much sorrow,

Too much hatred within

And among us,

May we continue to hear

The steadfast call:

Return.

Return.

The deep sadness, the aching pain,

The grief that can so easily become hatred

Is rooted in what we love,

In what we value and care about so deeply. 

When we lose the quivering threads of love,

We get lost and turn away.

Return, Elul calls. 

Turn toward the love that is under the pain. 

Turn toward relationship,

Turn toward the soul’s generous capacity to care.

This turning doesn’t make the sadness disappear,

It doesn’t negate the horrors, or nullify the pain,

But it can bring us into connection

And offer a foundation upon which we can stand.

Joy and beauty, sorrow and pain,

Are all here,

And we are made stronger

When we can locate their roots in love. 

Ken yihi ratzon, May it be so for the well being and healing of all the world