I was reading an interesting article this week that analyzed a TV show that was recently on the air. The show in question was a show on Disney+ called WandaVision. The show WandaVision is the story of two superheroes trapped in a sitcom reality.
The show aired over the course of 10 weeks, each week airing a new episode with mysteries and story for the audience to appreciate and attempt figure out the show’s many mysteries. Ultimately this show was an exploration of grief and loss and how we deal with both. However, while that might have been where the show was going, part of the fun of the show was also discovering the little Easter eggs - hidden little gems for fans to discover - and trying to unravel the puzzle box mystery being laid before the audience.
The article that I read pointed out that by the end of the show there were two main reactions from those who tuned in to watch the show each week. One reaction was disappointment. Many fans felt let down that the end of the show did not prove their theories or pay off the mysteries in a way that they found satisfying. The other reaction was satisfaction and joy. Many appreciated the watching of a story well told and the enjoyment of the community that was created across the internet of weekly theories and discussions. Ultimately, the article’s author made the point that it was not the puzzle that the show presented or its destination that we should focus on, but the journey to that end. Judaism has a similar message.
One of the aspects of Torah that I truly love is that we never really end the story. We never really arrive in the promised land, our destination. The story ends with Moses looking into the promised land and dying. And then we start all the way back over at the beginning with creation. It is as if the very reading of Torah wants to remind us that one of the keys of life is the journey not the destination.
There are two prayers in our prayer book that I would like to share that I think illustrate the point of the importance of focusing on the journey, not just the destination.
The First goes:
“What is my life span?
I'm like a man gone out of Egypt;
The Red Sea parts, I cross on dry land,
Two walls of water; On my right and on my left
Pharaoh's army and his horsemen behind me.
Before me the desert, perhaps the promised land, too.
That is my life span”.
The second reads:
“Once or twice in a lifetime a man may choose a radical leaving,
having heard lech lecha- go forth.
God disturbs us towards our destiny by hard events and by freedoms now urgent voice
which exploding confirm who we are.
We don't like leaving
but God loves becoming”.
It's human nature to focus on the destination. It's human nature to want to get answers. But the very search for answers is what life is truly about. Existence, in Judaism, is about becoming, and becoming only occurs as a result of journeying. It is the journey through the desert and the demands to search for beauty within the desert that make any life, or TV show, worth watching or living.
Shabbat Shalom!
