Reconnecting When the Screens Go Dark: A Lesson in Unity

When Cloudflare, a major part of the internet, went down for a short while, I found myself picturing everyone at the OpenAI office, screens frozen, and the manager saying, “Let’s just connect as people for a moment.”

They stand up, they talk, and suddenly there’s a sense of real human warmth.

In the building of the tabernacle Hashem instructs us, “וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם”, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Shemos 25:8)

The Nesivos Shalom highlights that the plural “they” teaches us that Hashem’s presence dwells when we are united.

When we received the Torah at Har Sinai, Chazal teach that we stood “כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד”, “like one person with one heart” (Rashi on Shemos 19:2). Unity is the vessel for receiving Torah.

And the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 11:8) tells us that every day of the week had a partner except Shabbos. Shabbos asked, “Who will be my partner?” and Hashem answered, “Knesses Yisrael,” the community of Israel, is your partner.

It’s when we come together that we complete the holiness of Shabbos.

So what does a tech outage have to do with all this? It’s a small reminder that when the screens go dark, we can find a moment of achdus (connection), of unity, and remember that the Torah, Hashem, and the people are one when we come together.

Even a little tech pause can be a nudge to be that “one heart” again.

So who are you going to connect to today?