CBI Blogs

September 15, 2024/12 Elul 5784
Rabbi Benjamin Sharff

In today’s world, where certainty and binaries reign, it is so hard to find any space for commonality or even perceiving humanity in someone else who holds a different view. If I am right, then you are wrong. And more than that, if I am right, then your worldview is fundamentally flawed and there is no hope for you.

And this is the challenge of binaries. As we learn from Judaism, for me the world was created AND, I am but dust and ashes. This means there are opportunities to see and engage with others who may not see and feel the same way we do. For we are the center of our world, but we are also no better than anyone else.

To heal rifts among people means we have to be able to hold both truths in our hands. To create or re-engage in relationships that are broken means being able to tzimtzum, contract our sense of rightness and certainty, and be able to genuinely hear, listen, and care. 

It also means not placing the weight of the world on others, especially if we do not wish to do that to ourselves. However, healing rifts does not mean that we have to accept perspectives we may fundamentally disagree with. Far from it!. It simply means giving space for others to live and engage with us. Healing rifts comes with listening even if it does not always mean accepting.