Dawn Breaking
How do you know that morning has come and it is no longer night? At what point does it shift? Is it the arrival of the early postman/postie, the birds singing, the sound of cars increasing on the road? For the rabbis the answer is ‘when you can see the face of a friend’, that is when it is time for morning prayers/shema. This beautiful answer links with the theme of this coming Shabbat, where we read the well-known yet harrowing descriptions of the last three plagues; locusts, darkness and death of the firstborn.
And it is especially the ninth plague, darkness, that has given this Shabbat its theme - Mental Health Shabbat. For the darkness that it mentions is not just the absence of light, it had a different quality, for why did they not just light some lamps, many commentators ask? And the answer is, that it was a different kind of darkness, a darkness of the soul, or depression. And so this Shabbat is a reminder of the importance of talking about our mental health, and being honest about our feelings and our struggles.
As a Dane, the past couple of weeks have felt incredibly dark and worrying, with clouds gathering over Greenland and Denmark, but whether or not you are Danish, the news and world politics leaves many with a sense of dread, and existential anxiety. It is a deeply worrying time that comes after a long line of deeply worrying world events. It is not surprising that so many people feel down, depressed, anxious, worried, and exhausted. It feels like we are plagued by a perpetual existential darkness. And it affects our mental health, how we feel about the world and how safe (or not) we feel. We live in difficult times, and the Torah portions we read this Shabbat reflect that.
One of the wisdoms from our tradition about darkness is to look for the dawn break, to recognise that we cannot shift the darkness ourselves, that we sometimes have to wait and be patient (let go of control), and that dawn comes when we see the face of a friend or a loved one. The other's presence makes the difference.
But if the night still feels dark and heavy and the lightening of the sky does not seem to come, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav suggested that we begin with recognizing one small good thing in ourselves, and then adding one more, and another one, as if we created a string of lights, and when we have gathered a few good things about ourselves, turn to someone else and see the good in them.
We can’t control the darkness or international politics but we can remember to look for the good in ourselves and in others, and slowly bring more light.
Shabbat shalom
If you want to know more about Mental Health Shabbat or the support JAMI can give, see Jami Mental Health Shabbat and Get support - Jami UK.
