I found myself totally disoriented, unsure of where I was. It sounds dramatic perhaps, but what made it all the more noteworthy was the fact that I wasn’t too far from home.
You see, recently, the CT Department of Transportation in compliance with some Federal regulation, changed the exit sign numbers off the Merritt Parkway.
For decades I have been exiting at one number — this had now be upended. Exit 41 was now exit 20. Just like that!
It’s not that I can’t learn a new number, what struck me however, was how little I recognized and how disoriented I became speeding past Stamford and Greenwich or was I already in New York. All so confusing.
A simple question of how long till we get there became an existential question. Quite frankly “I don’t know”, was the only response I could muster especially since I actually didn’t know!
The founder of the Chassidic movement teaches that from everything that we notice in life we must learn something. It’s not difficult to realize that my disorientation was based on my reliance on a sign with a number not on surroundings and not on anything more substantive. A number can easily be changed and indeed it did change — my marker no longer there.
It turns out that although the truer signs remained unchanged —for decades they had gone un-noticed. They proved to be little help as a result.
What a powerful metaphor for life. Perhaps closer to home, as a Rabbi, I often muse about the under-appreciated elements of Jewish life and timeless wisdom contained in the Torah and gifted as an inheritance to each of us. It’s been cherished, preserved, studied and handed down generation to generation for millennia. No erosion and no changes. Constant, transcendent and relevant as ever!
As the true anchoring signposts of life, it’s the source of happiness, focus, fulfillment and contentment. Unchanged — it’s all there.
Yes, it is all there — we need only to notice!
With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and with warm wishes for a Shana Tova,
P.S. The High Holiday schedule and RSVP will be released next week.
P.P.S. Partnership / Membership drive is now in full swing. We’d love to have your support — here