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Hope — The Force
That Moves Us Forwar

STONE'S

JEWELRY

6881 Orchard Lake Rd. on the Boardwalk

(248) 851-5030

www.stonesﬁ nejewelry.com

2137360

B

Parshat Vayeshev:
Genesis 37:1-40:23;
Amos 2:6-3:8.

ad things and difficult situ-
ations happen to everyone.
Family members get sick; you
lose a job; and children lose their way.
We all have such things in common as
human beings.
When you think about moments of
despair in your life, what keeps you
what we do of our past, no Jew can
moving forward? What do you hold
be an optimist. But Jews have never
onto in the pit of despair?
— despite a history of sometimes awe-
Joseph was thrust into literal and
some suffering — given up
figurative pits throughout his
hope.”
life. In parshat Vayeshev, we
When we hold hope in our
learn that Joseph was a self-
hearts and souls, it shapes
assured young man who was
the way we interact with the
so confident in his own abili-
world around us. Even in
ties that he had no need for
our darkest moments, hope
external (or internal) “help.”
brings us out of the pit of
He tells of his dreams of gran-
despair. The founders of the
deur and authority with pomp Rabbi Shalom
State of Israel knew this when
and arrogance.
Kantor
they looked for a national
Then it all changes. His
anthem and chose the poem titled
brothers sell him into slavery, he goes
to Potiphar’s household and then to jail “Hatikvah” — “The Hope.”
Hope is a manifestation of the spark
— a literal pit of despair.
of the Divine within each of our souls.
As a slave and a prisoner, Joseph
Holding on to hope, we demonstrate
could have easily been negative and
our connection and faith in God to
downtrodden. He could have simply
deliver us from our pit of despair.
served his masters and wallowed in
When Joseph actively reached out and
captivity as though it was his destiny,
held on to hope, he accepted God as
without any possibility of redemption.
his guiding light and the hope that
But the Torah repeats the phrase,
kept him going.
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he
The spark of God is within each of
was a successful man …” Joseph went
us, but it is up to us to reach out and
through a transformation. No longer
use it to propel us forward in our own
arrogant, Joseph realized that if he
held onto hope, his life would continue journeys. We each walk out of our
front doors to face the world every
to improve.
day. How we see the world depends on
Hope, in its simplest form, is an
how we choose to look. Hope is a great
optimistic outlook that things will get
place to start.
better; but unlike optimism, we must
be active in hope. Rabbi Jonathan
Sacks explains, “Optimism is the belief Shalom Kantor is the rabbi of Congregation B’nai
Moshe in West Bloomfield.
that things will get better. Hope is
the belief that, together, we can make
things better.
CONVERSATIONS
“Optimism is a passive virtue, hope
• What does it take to hold onto hope?
an active one. It takes no courage to
• How can hope change us?
be an optimist, but it takes a great
• When is giving up on hope good? Bad?
deal of courage to have hope. Knowing

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December 22 • 2016

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