Quieting Our Assumptions (Vayeishev 5779)

More than 30 million people traveled through airports for Thanksgiving. Traveling to be with family has its challenges. Fictional books and movies, along with real life, remind us that big family gatherings can "breed festering emotional wounds" with one report finding three-quarters of us have at least one family member who annoys us. All of that -- along with my favorite airport story and this week's Torah portion -- came to mind when stuck in heavy SFO traffic dropping off some of our (delightful!) Thanksgiving guests. 

In the Torah narrative this week, the biblical Joseph (of technicolor Dreamcoat fame) is sent out to find his brothers. His reunion with them ends very badly for him. Joseph's older brothers toss him into an empty pit, leaving him to die. Then they sell him into slavery and tell their father he was killed by a wild animal. That part of the Joseph tale is introduced with a verse, his brothers "saw [Joseph] from afar, but before he came close they conspired to kill him." (Genesis 37:18) Talk about "festering emotional wounds!"

I'll return to that verse in a moment. But first, my favorite airport story:

It is about a woman about to take a long flight. At an airport shop, she buys a book for the plane and a package of cookies. Putting them in her bag she heads toward her departure gate.  The lounge area is full so she is grateful to find two empty seats. One for her and the other for her stuff.

Be the Stranger in the Pick-up Truck (Vayetzei 5779)

As the week began on the Tuesday after Veteran's Day, we came to school with heavy concerns close to our hearts - in Israel - and close to our homes - in northern California. 

Close to our homes, the Butte County Camp Fire already had destroyed more than 7,500 structures, devastated 125,000 acres (an area about four times the size of San Francisco), and 42 lives lost. [Sadly, the fire has continued destroying lives, homes, and property.] 

Close to our hearts, there was death and destruction in Israel early this week when Hamas fired several hundred rockets into Israel from Gaza. Those rockets caused terrifying damage, many injuries, and one death. The rockets indiscriminately terrorized Israelis of all ages. In Ashkelon, on Israel's coast, a Hamas rocket killed a Palestinian man who was in Israel on a work permit that gave him permission to spend weeknights near his work in Israel. 

Close to our homes and close to our hearts: an individual in each place is linked, it seems to me, to this week's Torah portion. Close to our homes, it's fire-survivor, James Betts. Close to our hearts, it's rocket-victim, Mahmoud Abu Asabeh.