Weekly Wisdom on parashat Toldot
by Danielle Berrin
Abraham’s Wells as Spiritual Inheritance
In this week's Parsha, Toldot, we read
"Isaac dug anew the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them"
Gen. 26:19
Isaac returns to his father's wells, clears what's been blocking the mayim chayim, the living waters, from flowing. Practice itself is a lot like digging a well. We go inside ourselves and sort through what's been stopping us up by observing the thoughts and narratives and noise that can sometimes get in the way of our experience of deeper joy and love and connection.
Practice allows us to clear out a lot of the slop that gets in the way of our ability to connect with our true nature, so that the living waters of our soul can flow.
We also live in a time that prizes the new. There's so much emphasis on being original, on innovation. Isaac's actions remind us that preservation and continuity is sacred work.
When we sit, we are continuing the same contemplative practices originated by our ancestors. We honor the old names of the wells that they dug. At the same time, we bring these practices new life, new meaning and new purpose by carrying them into the present and preserving them for those who will come after us. In this way, practice connects us to an ongoing chain in the ever-streaming flow of our tradition.
This week, each time you drink water, I invite you to receive it as living waters, realizing in the moment that the water meets your lips that it is the work of Isaac meeting your lips.
This Shabbat, may our practice be a well we dig again, carrying the living waters of our ancestors into this moment and preserving them for those that come after us. In this way, we are connecting past, present and future all at once.
Amen and Shabbat Shalom