A World Awash in Violence: Finding Hope in the Face of Chaos
This week’s Torah portion speaks of a world drowning in Chamas – the Hebrew word for violence, bloodshed, and murder. It’s a chilling word, repeated twice, painting a stark picture of a world consumed by darkness. The world, the Torah tells us, had become so toxic, so polluted with this Chamas, that God, in an act not of destruction but of painful cleansing, brought the great flood.
The flood, while catastrophic, was not an act of vengeance, but a desperate, last resort – a washing away of the pervasive evil to make way for renewal, for a renaissance. Even in the face of such utter devastation, there was hope. Noah and his family, the righteous ones, were chosen to embody that flicker of light, to preserve humanity and rebuild a world purged of its darkness.
Echoes of Ancient Evil in a Modern World
The parallels to our own times are impossible to ignore. Chamas has reared its ugly head once again, staining our world with an all too familiar darkness. The recent atrocities, acts of barbarity so unspeakable, so profoundly disturbing that even seasoned veterans recoil in horror, are a stark reminder of the depths of depravity to which humanity can sink. The brutal slaying of 1,350 innocent souls – men, women, children, the elderly, even babies – screams at us, demanding acknowledgment. It serves as a bone-chilling reminder that evil is not a relic of the past, but a present and ever-present danger.
The prophet Joel’s words ring with chilling clarity: “The enemy land shall become desolate and a desert waste because of the violence done to the children of Judah, because they had shed innocent blood in their land” (Joel 4:19). The Psalmist too cries out, “Protect me from the man of Chamas, from the man of violence,” repeating the plea with an urgency born of fear and desperation (Psalm 140).
We find solace in Isaiah’s promise of a future free from the grip of Chamas: “Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither robbery nor destruction within your borders, and you shall call Salvation your walls and your Gates praise” (Isaiah 60:18).
Building Arks of Hope in a Sea of Despair
But achieving such a future requires action. We are not to stand idly by, but to actively combat the darkness. Just as Noah and his family were commanded to build an ark to weather the storm, so too are we tasked with building our own arks – spiritual sanctuaries to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the raging waters of hatred and violence.
These arks are built not with wood and pitch, but with the “holy words, sacred words of prayer and of Torah, of study” – words that have the power to uplift, to inspire, and to shield us from the negativity that surrounds us.
This is not a call for vengeance, but for cleansing, for renewal. Our goal is not to meet violence with violence, but to drown out the darkness with the light of compassion, empathy, and understanding. It is a call to recognize the spark of divinity within each of us and to nurture it, to fan it into a flame that can push back the shadows.
Waging Peace: A Global Imperative
This is not a battle for one faith or one nation, but a global struggle for the very soul of humanity. It is a call to all people of good conscience, to all who cherish life, decency, and civility, to stand together and declare: enough.
We must start by looking inwards, by rooting out any trace of Chamas within our own hearts. Every act of anger, every hateful thought, every hurtful word is a seed of violence that we must strive to eradicate.
The Path Forward: From Chamas to Kedusha
The journey from a world consumed by Chamas to one filled with Kedusha – holiness – is a long and arduous one. It demands constant vigilance, unwavering commitment, and an unshakeable belief in the power of good to triumph over evil.
But we are not powerless. We have within us the strength, the resilience, and the capacity for love that can transform even the darkest night into a dawn filled with hope. Let us, each and every one of us, commit to being beacons of that light, radiating compassion and understanding, until the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).
This is our challenge, and our opportunity. To learn more about this week’s profound lessons and join us in this spiritual war, visit meaningfullife.com as well as our WhatsApp group Spiritual War for an array of resources and tools to help find clarity, hope, strength, and the ability to demonstrate that our passion for light, our passion for love, is deeper and greater than their passion for death, for murder, for darkness. And that is what will ultimately transform the darkness into the greatest possible light.
