King David danced through the streets of Jerusalem with such ecstatic joy that Michal was so uncomfortable she confronted him. It’s so easy to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. What if we hoisted it even higher and sang its praises?
The world of 2019 is a miracle. An instant world full of light, connection, and fire.
It’s so easy to say that the world is burning down. And that the burdens of life are heavy- most days I feel that way. But the world that we live in is a miracle.
We carry human knowledge in our pockets constantly. Yet we sit mulling over the evil that comes out of it instead of dancing in the people who have found the light in it.
And the most magical part? We can turn it off. And when we come back it’s still there.
It’s edgy and emotional and meaningful and all of that crap to say that it’s hard, it’s complicated, it’s torture. But it’s happy, it’s exciting, it’s worth dancing like a lunatic over. Getting lost in the movement of our fleshy containers, letting our souls teach our muscles new positions of how they can serve God better. Smiling widely, unapologetically.
There are moments that are meant for keeping our heads down, for shedding tears, for breaking down sentences into words into syllables and shattering sentiments into blown out philosophies but not every moment needs to be that moment to be pure magic to be a service to God.
I know that The Three Weeks are supposed to be a time of mourning- but I cannot help but look at the scope of human history and the Jewish people within it, laugh like a lunatic, and dance around unapologetically. We made it this far- didn’t we? So yeah, I’ll fast, avoid music, think about all of the Jews taken from this world too soon, but that must go hand in hand with watching friends build their own Jewish homes, being able to buy a ticket to visit Israel, hopping on a bus to visit Jerusalem. I see the empty seats in our greater Shabbat table, but I also see the fiery passion each occupied seat holds. So excuse me while I pass out from dancing and fasting at the same time, but 2019 is too unbelievable to pass up on the opportunity to relish in it.
