In Chaim Potok’s seminal work, The Chosen a chance encounter between a pair of 15-year-olds, Reuven Malter and Daniel Sanders, leads to an unlikely friendship. On the surface, both boys have little in common – one a modern Orthodox son of a Talmud teacher and the other the eldest son of Hasidic dynasty. They live in different worlds that rarely interact with one another and are often at odds with another. It is the path of a baseball from the bat of Daniel into the eye of Reuven that allows the two boys to overcome their differences.
So often are the unexpected chance encounters that are transformative. This week’s portion, Vayera, is filled with these magical moments that free our Biblical ancestors from dire circumstances. Whether it is Abraham noticing approaching strangers that will foretell the birth of Isaac, Hagar noticing the well of water that will lead to her rescue, or Abraham seeing the ram in the thicket allowing him to spare his son’s life in the binding of Isaac, life can be upended by just looking up to see what is ahead of us.
I recently rewatched the 1999 film The Sixth Sense in which we are told, “ghosts only see what they want to see.” We too can be blinded by the filters we choose to use. When we finally open our eyes the world in front of us can be completely transformed. In The Chosen, a few days after returning home from the hospital, Reuven Malter returns to the baseball field where the incident had occurred. Potok writes through the eyes of his protagonist: “It seemed impossible to me that the ball game had taken place only a week ago. So many things had happened, and everything looked so different.” Think of seminal moments in your own life, where one moment made all the difference. No matter how long we live, may we always leave room to be surprised and transformed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
P.S. – If you haven’t had a chance to see it already, the play “The Chosen” runs through 11/20 at the Jewish Repertory Theatre.