Scattered Souls

This Shavuot takes place during a pandemic, where the Jewish diaspora cannot even come together for in-person services. The Jewish community is no stranger to darkness and death at our doors, and much of the world is also feeling it. And the darkness is a twilight, because we light candles against it for Shabbat and beyond, counting the weeks and months.
Themes in Judaism frequently reflect scattering: from Kabbalistic broken vessels of light and tikkun olam, the physical diaspora, the soul-searching impact on both personal and community lives in all of us, to how those drawn toward conversion or returning mark that path. It is with this in mind that I invite you read the following texts and take a look at the questions following them.

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Jewish Souls and Spirit, Conversion, and Finding Home

crybabydyke:
...There are numerous interpretations of the reasoning behind conversions. Essentially, they all suggest that the Jewish soul is enduring, and will find its way back to Judaism and the Jewish people, regardless of initial circumstances. [...]
...Rabbi Shlomo Riskin explains this conversion (or rather, return) to Judaism by referring to a prophecy made by Moses In the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses described what the future generations of Jewish people would endure, and suggested that they may well experience violence, be exiled, and scattered apart.
He also promised, however, that “When it will be difficult for you, the words of the Torah will find you…and you will return to G-d…because G-d is a G-d of love and compassion…and He will not forget the covenant He has made with your fathers.”
The words of the Torah will find the Jewish people, wherever they may be, so as to return them to G-d. And these words may come from anything. It could be a fragment of a prayer you hear while passing by a synagogue, or a glimpse of the Torah within another religious study, or even something as seemingly insignificant as watching the Prince of Egypt.
The Jewish spirit is alive, even when it is most separated from its people. It simply waits for the right moment to be woken up.
-- From Tumblr user crybabydyke, saved in reblog at https://magen-ruth.tumblr.com/post/161075211262/crybabydyke-one-incredible-thing-about-the

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Deuteronomy and Moses' Promise

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The Kabbalistic Story of the Broken Jars of Light
From the teachings of Isaac ben Solomon Luria (Ha'ARI). Borrowed from my B'tzelem Elohim In the Image of Dysfunction sheet.
In Kabbalistic texts - Sefer Etz Chaim, the writings compiled of the ARI's teachings by his students - there is a story of creation; the story of the broken vessels. G-d retreated, leaving behind a pristine vacuum and jars containing light, their glory, justness, and power. Eventually, the power's pressure became too immense, and several of the jars shattered, scattering sparks of G-d's glory and light humans must work to retrieve from the darkness: the partnership of tikkun olam, repairing the world with and alongside G-d, not relying on G-d alone.
Sources and Further Reading

• How the Ari Created a Myth and Transformed Judaism
• Tikkun in Lurianic Kabbalah
• Finding God: Selected Responses by Rifat Sonsino and Daniel B. Syme

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Thoughts and Questions for Consideration
1. How do these stories of scattered souls and lights reflect personal parallels to Jewish communities, physically and spiritually?
2. Regarding conversion and Jewish souls: The fundamental message in this post - and by extension, Rabbi Riskin - is that for various reasons - be it concealment for safety by Jewish ancestry, separation of the Jewish soul, or people within nations who would have been ready to accept the Torah all those years ago - the Jewish spirit is unhappy at being scattered, and returns to where it must, to its people.
2a. Taking literal belief in the Jewish spirit aside if you must, how do you feel about this?
2b. How does it tie into your Jewish path? Do you feel constantly scattered trying to find your Jewish self?
3. Regarding Lurianic Kabbalah and the vessels of light: In a spiritual sense, this suggests that the very essence of Jewish people has been scattered, converging and crashing since eternity.
3a. Do you agree, whether literal or metaphorical? Perhaps we have always found stories of pieces scattered too compelling to resist due to the diasporic nature of the Jewish people, instead? After all, we create the stories and interpretations.