| When I spoke to one of the mourners at a Shiva this week, we talked about people who resist ’smart phones’ and choose to communicate more carefully.
In January, I noted with interest, as maybe many of you did too, that Facebook, indeed all of Meta , announced they were stopping ‘fact checking’ before allowing things to be posted. They explained that they now saw this as a form of censoring. The ability just to ‘be’ is not so easy anymore. The frantic and intense nature of online information is something that must concern all of is at various moments. I think about it a great deal, as I know many people, especially our children, glean much information in this way. It is often hard trying to escape from the ensuing chaos. Buffeted as we are by information, entertainment and general distraction, it is harder than it used to be to think and reflect and commit and even to just rest. So imagine this week’s portion Mishpatim, following the intensity of the gathering at Sinai in last Shabbat Yitro, containing this extraordinarily calm moment as God calls Moses and Joshua , to come up to God at the summit of the mountain again and just be there. וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־משֶׁ֗ה עֲלֵ֥ה אֵלַ֛י הָהָ֖רָה וֶֽהְיֵה־שָׁ֑ם And God spoke to Moses and said Come up to me on the mountain and just be there. How rare it is ‘to just be’. And how noticeable this invitation is. The anagram of וֶֽהְיֵה ‘be there’ is of course יְהֹוָ֜ה ‘divine’. Whatever that means to you, it is an invitation to go deep and quiet to find the holy. Moses was there for 40 days and 40 nights with God as he wrote all the details on the Tablets. Sometimes we have to shut off the cacophony of voices, of information, of facts (not checked) and just be quiet with ourselves and just be present. I welcome this reminder. I hope you might too. Shabbat Shalom and see some of you for just such a moment over Shabbat. |
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