A Vort/Drash that I offered at Beit Kohenet Kabbalat Shabbat on 12/5/2025
It is the month of Kislev, which is associated very much with dreams. And like many right now — my dreams aren't great. I don't usually remember too much of my dreams, dream practice isn't a big part of my craftwork, but sometimes there's a moment that you have to explore in the waking world. And I had one of those recently.
I don't remember anything about this dream, except that on the cusp of waking up someone told me that I needed to learn the magic of the dung beetle.
Jacob got dreams of angels going up and down a ladder. But I get dung beetles.
Sure, why not?
But then I took some time to learn about the dung beetle, and I discovered they may be the perfect animal ally (or metaphor if you prefer) for the challenges that are facing us.
The first thing I learned is that while there are many types of dung beetles species all of them are split into three kinds of actions. So despite their background, or appearance, there's three ways they seem to exist: they live in the shit, they roll up the shit on the surface and get it out of the way and transform it, or they tunnel under it to create new pathways.
In these challenging times, we are called to be more than survivors. We can be architects of hope, turning what seems like collective despair into seeds of liberation. If dung beetles can navigate by starlight, creating pathways through seemingly impossible terrain, we too will find our ways. This is not just about "resistance" or even existence, but about reimagining possibility.
Just as dung beetles turn waste into life-giving resources, we can refuse to be defeated by oppressive systems and remember that we can alchemize hardship into collective healing and move impossible loads through collective effort so long as we remember to focus on coordinated, collaborative, persistent collective actions.
Blessed are we, rollers of possibility
Transformers of waste
Tunnelers of hope
By starlight we navigate
By collective breath we exist
In the darkest soil
In the most compressed moment
In the narrowest of places
Remember
Life finds its path
Our existence refuses to be denied
It is the season of darkness, but the light will come.
We know about persistence.
We know about hope.
May we learn from the past
to live in the present
For the sake of the future
May this dream be a good dream (3x)
Ken tehi ritzona
Amen.
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