Bringing Our Light to Those in the Dark (Miketz and Chanukah 5775)

How often do we walk past street performers without even listening to them, let alone looking to really see them?  

Knowing that about ourselves, of the more than one thousand people who walked past a talented violinist playing brilliantly for 45 minutes inside a transit station how many would you guess stopped to listen? How many would you guess actually put money in his violin case?  

Just about eight years ago virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell did that. He played inside a Washington DC Metro station instead of the typical concert hall.  He played beautifully on a violin that cost more than $3 million.  That morning 1,100 people went by as he played.  

Seven stopped to listen and look.  Of those most were children.  One adult actually recognized him as a renowned artist.  She put $20 in his violin case.  From everyone else who heard him -- 1,100 people -- he collected $12.17. [More about this 2007 story as written by Gene Weingarten]   

Either people did not notice him or did not pause long enough to even look at him.  Which brings us to the intersection of this week’s Torah portion and Chanukah.  

Giving Voice by Listening (Vayishlach 5775)

How shy are you?  I used to think of myself as really shy.  I know from reading Susan Cain's enlightening book, "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cannot Stop Talking," that I might be more introverted than shy.  

Cain writes, for instance, "extroverts are the people who will add life to your dinner party and laugh generously at your jokes.  [They] think out loud [and] prefer talking to listening." (p.11.)  Introverts, on the other hand, "wish they were at home in their pajamas. . . . [They] listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation" (p.11)  

Cain encourages us to recognize the nuanced differences between shyness and introversion.  Yet one thing that shy people and introverts have in common is quiet. Which often means that those who are shy and introverted are treated as if without voice.  One of the most powerful ways to give them voice is to stop talking and listen -- quiet ourselves to make space for their voice and then authentically listen. 

Many years ago returning to school after Thanksgiving I was in an airport.  It is one of the places that I feel especially shy and introverted.  I often  sit, for example, at a remote, empty gate in order to avoid the commotion at the gate for my flight.  For this flight I picked an especially remote gate because the airport was so crowded and I wanted the quiet.  A woman sat in the chair right next to mine.  Dozens of empty chairs and benches right near by and she sat right next to me.