|
There is an art to separation. As we prepare to enter the new year on Rosh Hashanah we use different approaches to separate from the past year. I was always taught to focus on the accomplishments and joyous experiences of the past year to concentrate on maximizing the future and disconnect from the pains of the past. This is the Teshuvah, repentance, of finding our path forward.
Some keep their suffering tightly clenched in the heart's fist and separate from the positive moments, accomplishments, and their ability to persevere despite overwhelming challenges. It is not only fear of the future that separates them from the positive. Connecting to the pain of the past seems consistent with all the lessons about repentance that focus on our failings and lost opportunities.
It is clear that we need to master the art to separation when I listen to parents who suffer when adult children disconnect. They are convinced that their children are focused only on the negative aspects of the past and have separated from all the positive love and attention.
I hear Halachah, Jewish law, hint at separation as an art, when I observe marriages dissolve in acrimony. The Religious Divorce Ceremony, when properly administrated, reminds the couple that what they once shared was unique, and urges them to walk away from each other with some positive memories. I keep this Art of Separation in mind when I see two friends end their relationship because of a negative experience, and urge them to hold onto what originally connected them.
We must master the Art of Separation because the way we separate, ironically, forms our link with the past. Simone Weil describes how two prisoners in adjoining cells learn, over a very long period of time, to talk to each other by tapping on the wall. "The wall is the thing which separates them, but it is also their means of communication. Every separation is a link."
"The Lord saw the light, that it was good.The Lord separated between the light and the darkness." God saw the good and separated it from the darkness, and calls on us each week as we bid farewell to Shabbat to, "separate between light and dark," to master the Art of Separation.
Those who repent by separating from the good remain forever linked to failure. When we separate from the failures of the past year by focusing on the positive we are linked to the past by our ability to overcome limitations.
Moses remains forever linked to the Jewish people as a reassuring presence. This week's portion speaks of Moses' final days as he visits each tent to bid a personal farewell. It begins by describing Moses reassuring the people who turned pale upon hearing the frightening litany of curses in the Admonition. Moses comforted them, saying that despite all the sins of the past they were still standing before God. He had not discarded them before and He would maintain them in the future.
We are eternally linked to Moses, master of the Art of Separation, as a loving teacher, not the leader who uttered ninety-eight curses in his final admonition.
We can use these few days before the new year to master the art of separation, linked to the past and the future by our ability to grow, change, and overcome challenges and limitations. The Art of Separation is the first step of real Teshuvah, reconnecting to our path forward.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Simcha L. Weinberg
President If you are interested in sponsoring our  winning Newsletter, please email info@thefoundationstone.org Go to our Blog  Follow us on Twitter   Become a Fan  | 
