Word Prompt - DIASPORA - Daniel Finkelman

All of us dream. In our dreams, opposites don't attract, they dovetail together. The Talmud writes that the dreamscape is where "the elephant fits through the eye of the needle." In a dream, the absurd is acceptable.

Joseph's dreams about his family and himself were a major catalyst to the exile in Egypt. As were Pharaoh's dreams. According to the chassidic masters, the dreamscape is analogous to exile. Exile, like the dreamscape, is all about the convergence of conflicting ideas. In exile, we feel pulled in divergent directions.

Which isn’t to say life in exile lacks real substance. This world is real. What then can we learn from all this talk of the dream masquerading as real life?

Life rarely moves forward in a straight line. Likewise, we should not feel obliged to follow a logical and direct progression in our spiritual development.

This world also has the same absurd potential as a dream. The juxtaposition of opposites opens the door to fundamental change. We are not locked into a caste system of social hierarchy. We can be movers and shakers, on Main Street, in a pink bathrobe, changing the lives of others and our own. We are not confined to our psychological quirks but can shed them as quickly as I manhandled a gorilla last week. It is all possible. If you can dream it, then you can do it.