In Genesis, the Torah describes the water’s receding after the great flood until the tops of the mountains became visible (Gen. 8:5). One of these mountain tops became the place Noah’s ark landed upon, a place called Ararat. It was, for all intents and purposes, an island, a small piece of land in between the waters. After spending forty days confined in the tiny space of the ark, Ararat must have felt unbelievably spacious to Noah and his family. It was truly a sanctuary.
This past week, my family and I visited the Bay area for a nephew Avi’s Bar Mitzvah. As part of our trip we were lucky enough to visit one of the top tourist attractions in the world, a place called Alcatraz. Also known as “the Rock” for its allure of impenetrability, Alcatraz was at one time one of the scariest places on earth, a place even hardened criminals were afraid of. With small colorless cells, guarded by heavy metal doors, miscreants like Al Capone, the “birdman” Robert Stroud, and the Jew boss himself, Meyer Harris “Micky” Cohen, were reduced to mere numbers.
The island of Alcatraz was formed in the same way the Torah describes Ararat. And, like Ararat, from the right vantage point, Alcatraz can also be a sanctuary, with views so spectacular they alone are worth the price of admission. Indeed penitentiaries and sanctuaries can be much closer together than you would think. I am reminded of how my neighbor growing up would often call Shabbat, my day of punishment. All he could see was that I wouldn’t watch TV or play video games. The fact that I would choose to do so was beyond him. Think about places in your life that feel like prisons to you. How can we transform them into sanctuaries? And, on the flip side, how do we stop making our sanctuaries into prisons? Penitentiary or sanctuary, the choice is ours. It all depends on which part of the island you are standing.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 12/20/2018 by Marc Slonim