Rabbi Yael Werber's Drashah for Shabbat Chukat, 2025

“And God says to him [Moses], don’t worry about your status. I will be with you, and that is why I have shown myself to you from this bush. Just like this bush is burning with fire and is not consumed, so too you shall be able to do this mission, and it shall not eat you alive. It shall not consume you. I think there’s a greater parable here, which is that we are allowed to be angry, we are allowed to be bitter, but we are not allowed to let it consume us entirely, so that we are all we are, is angry or bitter. We can say this moment is too great for us. It requires too much. The task is too enormous. The journey is too long or too harsh or too challenging, but we cannot let those feelings devour us or destroy us. We must behave like the sneh, like the thorn bush, and allow ourselves to be burning with the fire of anger, but to not let that fire exhaust us.“

Rabbi Werber gave this drashah on Friday, July 4 / 11 Sivan. Watch her full talk above. 

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