Overwhelm, both human and divine
The following was a d’var Torah sent to Hinenu before Shabbat Parshat Yitro 5785.
What are you doing with your overwhelm? Are you finding ways to manage the deluge of information and emotion? Balancing it with your basic life maintenance and higher order thinking? How are you handling the sudden derailments that come from being tuned in to your own self and the hearts of people you care for? This is not rhetorical–if you’ve figured it out, share the wisdom!
Hannah Jones put up this killer TikTok this week where she said:
Hey, sorry I didn't respond sooner. I spend five to seven hours a day consuming advertiser-funded short-form video content that performs algorithmically on the basis of how well it can provoke an emotional response from its viewers, meaning that I have what would be considered throughout most of history to be a full-time job where my nervous system just gets milked like a cow, rendering me completely unable energetically to nurture the relationships that bring me joy in my life and essentially giving myself type 2 adhd.
There are two profound moments of overwhelm in this week’s parsha. First comes when Yitro visits his son in law Moshe, who is CRISPY BURNT OUT. Every day from sun up to sun down Moshe sits hearing about the gripes, fights, traumas, and problems of the Israelites. Yitro pulls up to see Moshe in this martyr position, not serving himself or others. He had barely recovered from the plagues and the miracles and the sea splitting, which he told Yitro about in detail. “What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you act alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” (Exodus 18:14). Yitro teaches Moshe how to delegate.
The second moment of overwhelm is Matan Torah, the receiving of Torah, revelation:
Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for יהוה had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. ה׳ came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and יהוה called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. (Exodus 19:17-20).
If you experience sensory overload, or senses crossing over, the synthestesia of the sounds being seen and colors being heard and smoke and quiet and a hovering mountain over the people all happening at the time of Revelation is pretty terrifying. The text from the Gemara of the mountain hovering over the people grapples with the idea that all that terror was to coerce them into agreeing to accept Torah and mitzvot and the renewed covenant. The fear that because of our overwhelm, we consent to things we might not otherwise do.
But don’t worry, Purim YET AGAIN saves the day. The discussion in the Gemara continues:
Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.
Sometimes we need processing time. Sometimes we need to delegate and bring other hands in. Sometimes we just need a little more breath and space before coming to a conclusion. If the smoke and mirrors being used in this moment obfuscates the truth, take a beat to discern it. If you are overwhelmed by the need around you, the threats hovering over you, take a beat. In fact–take 25 hours of them. Shabbat is coming.