This meditation is dedicated to the memory of Gavriella Bader, z”l, a caring friend to my children and a beautiful human being. May her memory be a blessing, as her life was a blessing, and may the family be comforted by God among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
In this meditation we consider Yaakov’s endless and inconsolable grief over Yosef and touch the places inside us that sometimes hold such stagnant pools of emotion. Through a reading of the verse ויבך אותו אביו, vayevk oto aviv, “His father cried over him” (Genesis 37:35), we feel the power of simply crying with someone and the power of opening to God’s comforting presence as hamakom, the Place or the Space that is capable of holding anything, no matter how endless or unbearable or painful.
Sources for this Meditation:
Rashi on Geneis 37:35
Lamentations 1:2
Isaiah 51:12
Ana Bekoach prayer, before Lekha Dodi in Friday night liturgy
