A pele-dike הערה.
We ALL have stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, about the people around us and about the world.
All of us.
And we all have different stories. We assume our stories reflect objective reality but they often don't.
Sometimes, these stories don't do us well.
Case in point: The brothers bring Yaakov a blood stained cloak and say "Is this your son's?"
What happened next?
בראשית ל"ז:ל"ג
וַיַּכִּירָ֤הּ וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ כְּתֹ֣נֶת בְּנִ֔י חַיָּ֥ה רָעָ֖ה אֲכָלָ֑תְהוּ טָרֹ֥ף טֹרַ֖ף יוֹסֵֽף׃
He recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A savage beast has devoured him! Yosef was surely torn to pieces!"
That was it. He told himself the story that Yosef was torn to pieces. But maybe.... there are other ways to explain this blood stained garment??
Hmmmmm.
WE are privileged to know what really happened while Yaakov wasn't.
B/c of this story [not grounded in reality] Yaakov suffered for TWENTY TWO YEARS, day and night. He was inconsolable. "וימאן להתנחם".
What stories do we tell ourselves that cause US suffering??
