A D’var Torah for Parshat Tetzaveh by Rabbi Kerry Chaplin
I’m going to tell you something you already know: you matter too. During a pandemic and a resurgence of overt white supremacy, it’s easy to forget or to despair or to think that mattering is just for other people. We advocates for justice get so burnt out, especially at this time when we’re so sorely needed.
I imagine you’ve been a part of them too: these text chains or Zoom calls or social media posts in which fellow spiritually driven activists are “hanging in there” or “ready for a sabbatical” or however someone wants to say they are so deeply tired.
We get into this work because we care. And we care so much about the people that look to us for help, about the broken world that cries out for repair, about the things we must do to survive and thrive as Jews, that we burn out, break down, break out, and fatigue of even our greatest gift: compassion.
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How do we stay in it? How do we continue to care compassionately about this world and the people who rely on us? Even now?
Our burnout is a yearning for a bright light.
In Parshat Tetzaveh, we are commanded to light the ner tamid — an eternal light that began in the ohel moed, the tent of meeting that traveled with the Israelites throughout the wilderness, and now shines in brick-and-mortar synagogues all over the world. A light that itself represents Divine sustaining power. Which is to say: You are not meant to sustain yourself by yourself. You are not meant to fight the good fight of justice by yourself.
One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that we are alone in the world. And we dedicated advocates for justice are, I think, especially guilty of that lie. The ner tamid is not lit by one person or only the most gifted among us. It’s not lit only by the priests or by Moses. All of the Israelites are commanded to beat the olives, prepare the clearest oil, and contribute to the eternal Divine light. That light is created by all of us, for all of us — yes, even you.
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One might think this parshah about Aaron’s garments and ordination should begin with Aaron. But it doesn’t. It begins with the Divine light. So we too must begin there, and when the light becomes dim or we stray so far that we strain to see it, we must trust the people around us to beat their olives and bring their oil. 
We must trust that the light will burn without us, that it is bigger than you or me — because it is all of us.
Receiving the Divine light, which we ourselves have helped to bring forth into the world through acts of justice and righteousness and caring, is how we stay in this work of caring so damn much. It’s how those of us who are Jewish spiritual leaders continue to don the “priestly garments” of spiritual leadership in an unjust world. And it’s how all of us do what we do for the long haul.
The light is yours to receive — because it’s ours.
Rabbi Kerry Chaplin is a Spiritual Counselor specializing in addiction recovery, queerness, and parenthood. She can be found on Twitter @kerrychaplin and on Instagram @rabbi.kerry.chaplin
