Shabbat Vayeshev 2024

“The end of our creation story says va’yar Elohim, et kol asher asa, v’hineh tov me’od – God saw what God created, and wow, it was so great. And thank God we live in a world with so many things that are so great; and we created in God’s image, have to be able to do just that, to look out and see what we see and name what we see. And sometimes baruch Hashem, it’s going to be tov me’od [very good], but sometimes it’s going to be… insert favorite expletive or whatever, lo tov [not good]. Why don’t we just say that? Okay? Ra [bad], in fact, is the word in the Torah that’s used to describe the countenances of the butler and the baker. So we need to see what’s right in front of us. We need to sense, to hear what is right in front of us. Say what it is. Say the truth. Find other people to speak the truth with us and then do the work together.”

Rabbi Klein spoke about the biblical story of Jacob, the Emperor’s New Clothes, and the functions of fantasy, dreaming, truth, and reality.

Rabbi Jason Klein delivered this drashah at Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, December 20, 2024 / 20 Kislev 5785. 

Be in community with CBST at Kabbalat Shabbat services, every Friday at 6:30pm EST, either in person or streaming live on CBST’s website at cbst.org/livestream. 

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