From the Lobby to the Banquet Hall

Friday, September 27th 2024 | 24 Elul 5784

Shabbat Shalom!

This week wrapped up the third and final September Ethics with Emily sessions, and boy did it get me thinking. If you aren’t familiar, Ethics with Emily was a program I created at Vanderbilt Hillel for students to have a space to explore Judaism’s biggest questions and how they connect to our everyday lives. In ethics this week I brought back one of the most popular programs exploring the question, “What happens after we die?” Big questions to dive into on zoom with a miscellaneous group of people! Kol Ha Kavod (Well Done!) for going deep, and doing the work. You know who you are. 

We looked at two Pirkei Avot texts, but one that really stood out was this concept of the lobby and the banquet hall. The text states:

This world is like a lobby before the world to come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall. - Pirkei Avot 4:21

Let that simmer for a minute. How does that land for you? These 20+ words definitely make you think. The lobby and banquet hall can be a metaphor for so much. How does it resonate for you in your life right now? 

A huge perspective I gained from our conversation was this idea that the lobby and banquet halls in our lives are always changing. When we are in high school, getting into our dream college feels like the banquet hall, and high school is the lobby we must prepare in. Once we get to college, it can become the lobby, and the first job out of college might be the next banquet hall. It goes on and on. 

Another takeaway was how the act of being present in the lobby will allow us to enjoy the banquet hall even more. How many times have you found yourself feeling rushed to get to a doctors appointment, interview, or audition, that you skip the act of waiting in the lobby all together. That time in the lobby may be your opportunity to take a deep breath, meet a stranger, or just experience a moment of stillness in our fast paced world. 

As we prepare for the High Holidays next week, we have one more Shabbat in the month of Elul. Elul, the current lunar month, can also be seen as a lobby for many. In the month of Elul, we are invited to prepare ourselves, to reflect, to begin the work that we do each year to repent and think about how we can be better. All this, before we enter into the banquet hall next week for services.

This Shabbat, I invite you to spend some time in whatever version of the lobby resonates with you. Whether that be a lobby that invites stillness and reflection, connection and joy, or a little bit of both, that preparation time will only make the banquet hall entrance even sweeter.

And with that, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom! 

Ethically, 

Emily