Not the End of Days
The pictures from Southern California are horrific and behind each one there are a thousand sorrows. Homes, businesses and community treasures have been gutted. Lives turned upside down on a scale that defies measurement. One common description of the scene is apocalyptic, the End of Days. The apocalypse is a frightening image, of course. In another way, however, invoking apocalyptic descriptions covers the harder truth. There will be other days and they will require facing very hard realities and they will also require an abundance of compassion, kindness and empathy.
The Jewish tradition, while teaching in different ways about what the End of Days could bring, is one in which the work to mend the world takes precedence over anticipating that the end is near. A famous section of the Talmud dictates that one who is planting a tree when they hear that the Messiah is coming should finish planting the tree before going to see. Perhaps it is a false messiah. Perhaps the planting of the tree was the good deed needed to tip the scale. At the very least we know that the action of planting will be a definite accomplishment and desisting from it to see if the Messiah has arrived could be for nought.
This week's Torah portion, Vayechi, contains a hint that the Sages interpret as a reinforcement of the need to keep apocalyptic thinking at bay. The patriarch Jacob, finally having arrived in Egypt to reunite with his beloved Joseph and the entire family of brothers, faces the end of his life and seeks to give a prophecy regarding acharit yamim, the End of Days. However, the words that follow speak of qualities and characteristics of the brothers, not of the Messianic future or the World to Come. The midrash picks up on a rarity in the way this part of the Torah is written to explain this disconnect. Most weekly portions begin with some space between the end of one section and the beginning of the next. Vayechi, however, has no space at all, leaving no room. This scribal anomaly teaches that Jacob intended to speak plainly about the End of Days but the Holy One closed Jacob's prophetic eyes to prevent him from revealing too much. Why? Because the work that they and their descendants would do, the mission for which the People Israel would be enlisted, lay ahead in this world. In the worst of times, there would be no detour into the End of Days nor has the eye glimpsed it. Hardships could not be wished away. And there is no substitute for the work of being responsible for each other, lifting each other up, empathizing with loss, and planting the next tree.
My heart is with every person suffering loss and trauma as these fires rage. The sight of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center being razed to the ground is indescribable and knowing that the local Rabbis, their congregants and their neighbors have seen their own homes burn down is heartbreaking beyond imagination. There is information below for those who want to help address some of the immediate needs of the community.
However we proceed, may we be guided by the wisdom that teaches that we see in these flames not harbingers of apocalypse but a responsibility to be there for each other in ways that are material as well as prayerful, holding space for loss and a focus on the days that come next.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-pjtc-rebuild-after-the-eaton-canyon-fire?fbclid=IwY2xjawHtsQ9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHX-nc5HgJ1dSfMsHeuK5q1r3vKys3atMs2joNA-W2xEYYrSC3RAjMeRuzA_aem_m9ovlFunT-h4zq9vwb5u-Q