Experiences and encounters are as personal as they are unique, and what only the senses can perceive and penetrate the depths of the soul cannot be translated into words.
A Shabbat in Brooklyn is something special; it makes you "travel" and "enter" the realm of everyday concerns, giving a underlying purpose to the existence of man and the world.
How many ways are there to live life?
Being in Brooklyn is a singular experience that makes you ponder life, the reason for being, and what we truly are. Many see religious connection as a lack of spiritual strength, yet properly understood faith allows man to develop something more within himself than the mere materiality that dominates much of his daily life. Traveling from Manhattan to Brooklyn is a stark contrast; it's like leaving the real world to enter another - somewhat imaginary. But more than a separation, it's a bridge that allows you to connect different aspects of a seemingly disconnected reality.
One cannot grasp reality without first opening the mind and broadening one's understanding of the world through a different lens. Making visible what is not so obvious at first glance. Being in Crown Heights gave me the opportunity to feel part of a whole, even though we may appear so different.
The same spiritual content in outward appearances that seem to separate us. Women with wigs, long skirts, and covered arms, men in hats and black suits, children with peies and kipot.
The divide is not about being close or far from religious observance; there is something greater that unites us and makes us resonate as part of the same music.
Perhaps many may feel disconnected from my feelings, but there is a part of life that cannot be explained through reason simply because logical reasoning cannot echo everything that happens. This helps understand the how but never the why. The most heart-wrenching stories of life are the ones that continually challenge us with what to believe in and with what purpose.
Is belief natural or learned?
Either way, Shabbat has inherent value that can be reached even in the doubt of faith. The heart understands what reason cannot. The melodies of the soul have their own tone and color - there are no better or worse ones - it's simply a matter of making them play to achieve more sublime compositions.
Published for: Uruguayan Hebrew Weekly
Date: 2017
Comments