This week I was in a meeting with someone and he was telling me, that he wants to do his part to make our community a better place so that their child who is currently in Kindergarten will have a better world to deal with by the time they come out of High School.
He was sharing a personal vision for the future and with it, was also a commitment on the part of this person to make an effort to make that happen.
What is your vision?
What is your personal vision for where you want to be in ten or twenty years and what you will have accomplished in the world around you?
What is the vision that you have for your family and children and what you want them to be able to experience or accomplish or do for others?
And of course, what is your vision for humanity and society as a whole?
This Shabbat is known as the Shabbat of Vision, Shabbat Chazon. It represents a time when we reflect on certain visions and their messages. We read about the vision of Isaiah, who spoke about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple due to immoral and divisive behavior and we reflect how we can negate those behaviors and address the root cause of negativity.
Yet in Chassidic thought, it is also a time when we stop and reflect on the vision of the future. This Shabbat is a time when we tune in to our spiritual core and what we are seeking to accomplish, and imagine the world the way it could be and the way it will eventually be.
It is through a combination of reflecting on the vision of the past that led to certain tragedies as expressed in the vision of Isaiah, together with spending time thinking about the vision of the future, that we create a healthy spiritual balance and approach. In doing so we can then connect our actions and goals with the vision of Judaism for the world both in our personal roles and in our broader and global obligations.
Read more about our 9th of Av Schedule below.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
Yisroel