“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes–you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and knowable, a alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists.”
— Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark
When I teach about Shabbat, particularly in an introductory setting, I often teach that we can look at the traditional rules of Shabbat as a list of things we cannot do. That is, to be sure, a way to understand it—that the observance of Shabbat is meant to constrict. Or, I suggest, we can ask ourselves what the space of Shabbat can allow for. What might we do differently, because we are not doing something else?
And so, as we dwell in this “spaciousness of uncertainty,” we can ask the same. What can we do today that brings us hope? Can we take a walk outside? Do a puzzle? Can we call a friend, or volunteer to call other Wise members? Can we connect to online learning possibilities? There is room for us to act, to connect, and to grow in this space.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer