Tender Threads Anchor Our Path (Vayigash 5779)

At times we wander aimlessly, but most often we walk with purpose. Leaving some place, heading to another. Or to boost our heart rate or lower our stress. To be by ourselves or to meet someone else. 

The Torah this week opens with a walk of purpose -- of approach and encounter. It occurs when Judah approaches the viceroy of Egypt who Judah does not recognize as his brother Joseph (yes, the same Joseph that Judah and their other brothers sold into slavery decades earlier). Their encounter with each other is dramatic and powerful. It is as if they were drawn inevitably toward reconciliation with each other by invisible threads of history, purpose, and family.

Those threads bring to mind author Anne Lamott's favorite story about the seemingly invisible threads that guide our lives. She heard the story on the radio about university research with adults who could not change direction, action, or focus. These subjects of the study had been unable to walk alone. 

But the researchers discovered that if they attached a rope from one end of the room to the other, and got subjects to put their hands on the rope, the subjects would walk across the room along the rope. The researchers even tried changing the rope -- something thinner and thinner each time. Still, the subjects could walk by themselves from one end of the room to the other along the rope. The thinnest rope was a nearly invisible fishing line. It worked too -- the subjects walked alone as if inevitably compelled across the room.

Lamott says, "the truly inspired part of the study was that the researchers found that they could cut the fishing line into 12" lengths, then hand each subject a piece. The subjects would still walk alone across the room." 

Each subject was "anchored" to the invisible piece of rope they carried instead of the rope being anchored to the wall. 

It seems to me, each of us carries those invisible pieces of rope. The ones that anchor us to the path of our life. We are anchored by our core values, our dearest relationships, and our most devout promises. Which brings us back to the encounter between Judah and Joseph. 

According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe (20th century), the Torah portion encounter brings together the path of Judah and the path of Joseph just as each one of us brings together the distinct, separate paths of our lives. 

The path of Joseph is one of ensuring material protection and achieving success. His name, after all, means in Hebrew to add or increase. The path of Judah is one of showing gratitude and compassion. His name, after all, in Hebrew means to give thanks. Every life needs elements of both. But each of us gets to determine and calculate the mix. 

Just as the Torah portion brings Judah and Joseph together. Like those invisible threads, we each carry diverse paths within us. Our individual task is to set the course of our lives anchored by the tender threads we carry. 

What are the invisible fishing lines that anchor your life? What are you doing to use those threads when you encounter and support others. How are you using them to set the course of your day, your year, your life?