Sparks

Washington DC | June 6, 2022 | 7 Sivan 5782 

G-d willing, we are here and the world has not faltered to this day.

On Thursday preceding last weekend, as we sat down to eat a delicious meal prepared by my mom with the assistant of my sister and I, we discussed how fortunate and remarkable it was that part of the meal came all the way from Belton to DC. It was the first feast after the arrival of my parents in DC at the residence of my sister and I.

We live in a humble but beautiful residence about a mile away from the White House. We have books that we hold dear to our hearts. We have a simple table with four chairs among other necessary furniture. We have my art pieces that hang on the walls, and of course a TV in the middle of the living room that my sister and I call the “satan”. We do not hoard objects that are not needed or that no longer serve a purpose in our lives, and we consistently review potential changes that are required to be made internally as well as externally in order to be better versions of ourselves. 

In preparation for our parents’ arrival, my sister had made above and beyond effort to ensure a comfortable and harmonious few days visit for our parents in DC. There was even a printed note that said “Welcome” in several languages that we can read and speak.

When our parents arrived on Wednesday evening, I felt as if I was dreaming. Now that I look back, I am in awe. My parents had the privilege of visiting their only two daughters at the nation’s Capital and eating not one, but several meals together. At the beginning of the first feast, my father ignited a conversation about how wonderful it was that part of the meal came all the way from South Carolina. “Indeed”, I had added and continued to discuss on this occasion that it was divine planning set for us to find and to redeem sparks of G-d at that point in our understanding of time and at the place on earth that we all call DC. 

I would describe this occasion as a battle within my soul. It was both a Garden of Eden and a Gehenna. It was war and peace at the same time. It was light and darkness and the battle between them to occupy the space. The more light there was, the more darkness appeared until light revealed everything that was in the shadows. At the end of the day, it was a moment that G-d allowed for us to be together in our short journey on earth in order to praise G-d, elevate His Holy Name and redeem hidden and scattered sparks as my family and I are hidden and scattered all over the world similar to the hidden light, the “Or HaGanuz”. 

Growing up in a place on earth where six months out of the year, (primarily during the winter months), electricity was turned off at nightfall between 4pm-6pm every evening provided me with an experience that most individuals in the developed world will never get to know. That world created a place on earth where outside was pitch-dark at nights, and in the absence of the full moon, the entire curtain that is between us and the throne of G-d illuminated my path at nights. Even the tiniest of stars that act as a penetrating light into the darkness of our universe illuminated my way home after my lessons. I learned from a very young age that the absence of light is darkness and that G-d wants to illuminate every dark place. I wanted the Light of G-d to illuminate the darkest part of my inner world that I did not yet know about myself. Every opportunity I get to find the sparks, I let them burn inside of me, even though sometimes it is uncomfortable. I understand that nothing occurs without desire of G-d to will it on earth, and every crooked path is turned in a way that ultimately bows to the will of G-d. 

Ultimately, everything is from G-d and G-d’s will will always triumph in the end. My parents’ visit was yet another stop at redemption of divine sparks. Now onto the next journey continuing to redeem and elevate more sparks until one day, G-d willing, we will find ourselves in the Holy Land, the Land of Israel.

May your path in life be illuminated at all times my dear reader.