See, what you’re gonna see!

It’s always a little humbling when the lights go on. Suddenly you see how you really appear. It’s humiliating, embarrassing and most of all humbling.

I’m talking about perspective, worldviews, paradigms, etc. We think a certain way based on our upbringing, other influences and our own choosing. Of course, we have only those tools to work from. So we engage with the world from that vantage point. Sometimes that vantage point and paradigm is helpful and sometimes it becomes a point of tension and contention between us and others.

Then one day the lights goes on! Suddenly you see a different world, a different perspective, a different paradigm. And in that new light you see how the way you related to the world brought frustration to you and others. You see in that new light that the way you related to the world prevented you from being your true You!

This Shabbos is known as Shabbos Chazon. This is on account of the Haftorah which begins with the words Chazon Yishayahu – a vision of Isaiah. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says that this Shabbos each of us are given a vision of the Third Beis Hamikdash – the future Temple to be built in Jerusalem. We experience this in preparation for Tisha B’Av which we’ll commemorate Monday night and Tuesday of next week, when we observe a day of mourning over the destruction of two Temples in Jerusalem.

The vision of the Beis Hamikdash is actually a vision of a future time, a time when light will shine. The truth will be known to all, struggle will cease and peace will reign.

For us, this light going on is the opportunity to tap into a new paradigm. For this Shabbos only, the lights go on! If we choose to open our eyes we can see a new paradigm. This new paradigm can shlep us from the negative spaces we may find ourselves in and bring is to a new vantage point.

To do so one must enter into this Shabbos. Enter with joy and with focus and you’ll be able to tap into this powerful new world view.

Have a great and illuminating Shabbos!