Mystery Packages, Ice Cream & S’mores (Vayera)

Despite the big news around elections this week, and that some are upset and others are elated, I’m staying away from politics at the moment.

I think we all need a little levity; while some of us feel levity from the election results and others of us feel the opposite, in general there’s been a lot of heaviness over these past months and years.

There. I’ve acknowledged it. Now I can move on and share a frivolous and fun story instead.

My husband has been getting mystery packages in the mail since the summer, sender unmarked, addressed clearly to him.

Really it was only two.

First it was an ice cream maker. Then, just last week, it was a S’mores kit—from Williams & Sonoma (fancy!), complete with fire burner, skewers, a pretty (and ridiculous) ceramic tray for arranging the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.

At first he panicked. He swore up and down that he hadn’t ordered anything. He scoured his expenditures. Nothing.

We thought and thought: who could have sent such gifts? If it were his employer, it would have said so. And nobody ever asked: “Did you get the package I sent you?”

Should we send them back? But then to whom?

I liked the idea of ice cream maker, but a S’mores kit? How very frivolous. (And didn’t “they” know how limited space is in New York City apartments?)

A friend suggested it was an AI error. Or maybe a gift from the Universe.

We laughed and talked about “signs” that we needed to start inviting people over more regularly. At first I decided I’d give the S’mores kit to a friend. What did I need such an absurd thing for?

But the same week we received the S’mores kit, I decided to launch something new: my own weekly Shabbos Table Minyan, complete with singing, food, more singing. And I realized, I can invite those same people to a Saturday night event sometimes and we can have S’mores around the table! And ice cream in the summer! How fun! It was perfect. Meant to be. Maybe they were actually a “sign” that helped lead me in this direction. I laughed out loud at the serendipity of it all.

In this week’s Torah portion, our biblical characters receive many different messages directly from God, and sometimes through angels sent by God.

Sarah overhears from three mysterious visitors, messengers that appear at the entrance to hers and Abraham’s tent out of nowhere, that she will have a baby at the age of ninety, and she laughs. God hears her and challenges her; “Do you not think I’m capable of making miracles happen?”

After her baby is born, whom she names Isaac, or Yitzchak, meaning laughter, she becomes jealous of her maidservant Hagar again, and sends her out into the wilderness. Hagar places him on the ground far away from her, not wanting to hear his cries or see him die. An angel comes to visit her and opens her eyes to a well that was apparently there all along, and they are saved.

Later, God tells Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, the one he and Sarah waited all their lives to have, and sacrifice him. He listens without question, takes Isaac out into the wilderness, sets up an altar with wood, binds him, and is ready to bring his knife down when an angel calls out to him; “Stop! What are you doing?!” And now Isaac is saved.

Much ink has been spilled questioning and analyzing these stories. What do they mean? Are these characters actually hearing the voice of God? Are the messages clear? Why all the tests and contradictions? It’s so confusing and mysterious. Was Abraham supposed to listen the first time around, or only the second time? Should Sarah have doubted God’s abilities? How is giving birth at ninety even possible? Why did Hagar need an angel to open her eyes to see what was already there in the first place?

Last night as we were about to go to sleep, my husband suddenly woke out of his half sleep and called out as he lay next to me: “I forgot to tell you!! I was at a work meeting today, and somebody asked the group, ‘Is anyone else getting mysterious packages in the mail? My wife is accusing me of spending money, or of having a secret admirer. I swear it’s not true.’”

His boss piped up; “They’re from the bank! I’m sorry, we have a new system, and the gifts are going out unmarked.”

My husband and I laughed and laughed. Mystery solved.

Did that mean everything I’d imagined was untrue? Perhaps I’d assigned too much meaning to these frivolous gifts we’d received in the mail.

Or are we constantly receiving messages, guidance from those around us, or through the ethers, wisdom that is accessible to us if only we paid attention and opened our eyes to what is there all along?

I want to believe the latter. Having mystery in life makes it much more fun. And now I have a new minyan that was partly inspired by these mysterious packages that serendipitously arrived in the mail with no warning and no labels.

For sure, we need to listen better, open our eyes to what is around us. This is what I’ve been saying all along. the messages are clear, if we would only pay more attention to what the Universe is telling us.

May we all receive mysterious packages in the mail, or unexplained messages, and may they be an inspiration to begin new projects that we’d been meaning to for years.

Now there’s some levity. I hope I made you smile. Or maybe even laugh. May it be so.

Shabbat Shalom.