Start With One Or With Eight?

I want to change.

Should I stop engaging in destructive behaviour abruptly, or should I gradually focus my effort on introducing positive behavior into my life? My eating habits are terrible, should I cut out all the sugary and fatty foods all at once - because ‘what’s the point of eating a vegetable with one hand, while holding a bottle of Coke in the other?’ - or should I slowly introduce broccoli and lettuce into my diet, increasing the health foods gradually. I want like to write a book. Should I stop everything that I am doing and devote every minute of the next year to the task, or should I focus on writing for ten minutes each day?

I would like to climb out of my spiritual darkness. I can put all my effort into stopping the negative behaviour, or, understand that, for the time being, I will not be able to stop sucumbing to my evil inclination, I should put my effort into introducing productive activities into my routine, and overtime all the positivity in my life will eradicate the negativity.

This question, explains the Rebbe, is the source of the Talmudic dispute about the amount of lights kindled on each night of Chanukah. The house of Shammay maintain that on the first night of Chanukah we light eight candles, and then decrease one candle each passing night. While the house of Hillel maintain that on the first night we light one candle, and then increases one candle per night, until the eighth night when all the candles are lit. As the Talmud explains:

Beis Shammai say: On the first day one lights eight and after that gradually reduce; but Beis Hillel say: On the first day one is lit and thereafter they are progressively increased. Ulla said: In the West [Israel] two Amoraim, Rabbi Yosi Bar Avin and Rabbi Yosi Bar Zevida, argue: One maintains: The reason of Beis Shammai is corresponding to the days still to come, and that of Beis Hillel is that it shall correspond to the days that are gone. But the other maintains: Beis Shammai's reason is that it shall correspond to the bulls of the Sukkos, whilst Beis Hillel's reason is that we rise in [matters of] sanctity but do not descend.

Let’s examine the second explanation: Shammay says we decrease corresponding to the bulls offered in the temple on Sukkot, and Hillel says we increase because, as a rule, we are meant to increase in holiness and not decrease. This requires additional explanation. How does Hillel explain why the Torah commands to decrease the amount of bulls offered each day of the holiday, does that not contradict his principle that we much increase in holiness? As for Shammai, does he not believe in the message of increasing holiness?

Shammai says that the first thing you must do is fight your evil. Completely. When you want to fight the evil you can’t take baby steps. You have to come out swinging. You must tell yourself things like “I will never touch alcohol again”. If you say “I’ll only have three drinks instead of four”, says Shammai, you will never win. Taking small steps in the right direction, argues Shammai, is like building a sand castle on a beach, it will be washed away by the first wave of the raging sea.

Therefore, on the first day of Chanukah you must kindle all your lights, as you need every ounce of energy to fight the evil. The good news is that tomorrow it will be a bit easier. You weekend the evil on the first night, so there is less of it on the second, hence all you need on the second night is seven lights, and eventually you will rid yourself of the darkness and you won't need any light to fight the darkness.

Hillel says: forget the evil.

Perhaps in temple times we had the spiritual strength to battle the darkness head on. In exile, bereft of the spiritual power of the holy temple and the bulls of the Holiday, we need a new strategy altogether.

We need to focus on positive action.

Don;t worry about the darkness, just take one small step in the right direction. Just light one small candle. No big deal. Anyone can do it. The key, however, is tomorrow you add a one more light. Small but consistent steps. Before you know it your Menorah will be full.      

Your Heart and Your Mind - Jacob and Esau

Your mind and heart are opposites.

Your mind breaks everything into small bite size pieces, while your heart sweeps everything in as one. 

Your heart, knows no details. If your heart is in love, it is in live completely. If it loves someone, then the totality of that person, with all his or her complexities, are all swept up in the love. In the moment of love there can be no annoying details. If someone tells you ‘I love all of you except for one small detail about you that annoys me’, then you know it is not their heart talking it’s their mind talking. for the heart is blind to detail. If her heart loves you then she sees no bad in you.   

Your mind, on the other hand, is analytical. It breaks an idea into small parts, it analyzes them, accepting some polishing others and throwing some out. When something exciting happens, your mind’s job is to cool you down. It knows that, indeed, the news is exciting, but it is smart enough to know that ‘the devil is in the details’. The mind gets paid to tell you things like: ‘sure you love the new job offer, but are you really willing to put up with the extra commute time?’, or ‘sure he makes you happy, but is he really right for you?’.

So the next time you are not sure if what you love is right for you, and you take a sheet of paper and list the pros and cons, what you are doing is applying the analytical mind to the passionate heart. This application does not come without a cost. You see, the reason the heart can get so much more excited then the mind is precisely because it does not look at details. For when you weigh every detail individually, somehow, the magic escapes. 

But following the passionate heart, is also not a great solution. Sure, the passion and drive are powerful forces that can propel you to great heights, but, like the saying goes, it’s like ‘the blind leading the blind’. Follow your hearts passion, without the mind’s approval, and you may end up in places you don’t want to be. For the heart is from the world of ‘Chaos’, intense passion bit no direction, and the mind is all about ‘Order’. And the holistic lifestyle is the one where the mind, cool and collected, shows the heart where to express it’s passion. In Kabbalistic terminology: only the world of order can elevate the world of chaos.

This, says Chasidic philosophy, explains all you need to know about Esau and Jacob.

Isaac loved Esau. Why? Because he saw the energy of chaos. For the Judaism to survive, argues Isaac, you need passion, commitment, and emotional strength. The intellectual may have the right ideas, but he also has no drive to fight to protect those ideas. You need an Esau to carry the safeguard and implement your message.

Rebecca disagrees. Esau has awesome potential. Indeed. But he needs Jacob as his compass. Give Esau the blessings and you risk him using them to further his base desires rather than the perpetuation of his grandfather's legacy. So she convinces a reluctant Jacob to steal the blessings designed for Esau. She understands, that we need Esau’s great quality. But Esau’s chaotic power needs direction.

It needs a Jacob.     

Sync Your Calendars - New version of old post.

Humans have always looked up to the sky for a clue into the mystery of the universe, and for an understanding of their place within it.

Some fell in love with the moon. Intrigued by her soft and gentle glow, comforted by her light illuminated the night sky. As they watched the waxing and waning of the moon, completing a cycle in just about thirty days, they realized that she offered a convenient and straightforward way to mark the passage of time.

As people became more sophisticated, inventing technology and developing agriculture, they began to realize the power of a solar calendar.  although the changing in the sun's position in the sky is harder to notice as compared with the changing shape of the moon, they  understood the power of the solar calendar to predict major economic events. From following the agricultural cycle to predicting the overflowing of the Nile, you need to look to the sun. Craving the sun’s power, strength, and brilliance, they began moving away from the lunar calendar and adopting the solar one.  

The first Commandment G-d commanded the Jewish people, just as he was about to liberate them from Egypt, and establish them as an independent free people, was the commandment to establish a Hebrew calendar. As slaves they did not control their own time, nor were they free to think about time on their own terms. Their time and their perspective on life was enslaved to the powerful Egyptians. To be truly free, they would have to learn to think about time, it's purpose and meaning, on their own terms.  

So which calendar should they choose?

Which would be their primary one? would they identify with the mighty, powerful, masculine, sun, or with the more subtle, reflective, feminine, beauty of the moon?

The essential feature of the Hebrew calendar, is that it synchronizes the lunar and solar cycle. It does so by establishing a leap year, adding a lunar month approximately every three years, closing the eleven day gap between the lunar and solar cycle.  

While not the first to do sync the calendars (ancient Egypt, for example, eventually moved to eliminate the discrepancies between the solar calendar, wit's primary one, and the lunar calendar, by introducing a leap year with a thirteenth month), the Hebrew calendar is the first to place the synchronization of the sun and the moon as it's central feature.

The way we think about time informs our attitude to the universe as a whole: Is there a purpose to creation? Is there meaning to life? Is there meaning to the time that is ticking by?  The Jew’s answer is that the purpose of everything is the unity of the sin and the moon, of giver and receiver, of G-d and the Jewish people.

The brilliant sun symbolizes the consistent, powerful and illuminating light of G-d. The moon shining in the dark sky represents the Jewish people, whose job it is to reflect the light of G-d into a dark world. The Jewish people, therefore, are subject to challenges imposed by the world, at times they shine in all their glory and at times their light is invisible.

The first commandment demonstrates the goal of all the following commandments, which is to synchronize the sun and the moon. Every Mitzvah we perform draws down Divine energy and connects the light of G-d with the Jew in this world, uniting them, forming one reality where “in the heaven above and on the earth below there is nothing beside him[1]”.

No surprise then, that the commandment to establish the calendar was one of just a few commandments related to both Moses and Aaron: “ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying[2]”. If our calendar synchronizes the sun and the moon that it's commandment should be given through our, metaphorical, sun and moon. Moses - the giver of the Torah is our sun. He shines with a radiant light shines from above, communicating Divine wisdom, with great passion and energy.  Aaron is our moon. He teaches us how to refine ourselves to the point that we can reflect the light of G-d. He teaches us how to get along with other people. He is passionate about people. He understands that peace may, in some cases, be more important then truth.

Both the word of G-d and the way the people absorb and reflect it are important to our mission. We need a Moses and an Aaron. A sun and a moon.

---

[1] Deuteronomy 4:39.

[2] Exodus 12:1. 

Tamar's Twins

The Torah is obviously fascinated with twins. Every time twins are born, we hear every detail of the birth; as if we are the grandparents who are desperate to hear about every step of the labor and delivery.  

When Tamar gave birth to her twins, the Torah gives us this detailed description:

While she was in labor, one [of the babies] stuck out his hand [from the womb]. The midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand to signify, "This one emerged first." [The baby then withdrew his hand.]

But as soon as he withdrew his hand, his brother emerged, and [his mother] said, "With what vigor have you pushed yourself ahead!" So [Judah] named him Peretz ["breaking through"].

Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his hand, emerged, and Judah named him Zerach ["shining"].

Why do we need to know that the one stretched out his hand, pulled it back, and the other burst ahead and emerged first? Why do we have to know that the midwife tied a crimson thread on his hand because she thought that he will be born first? What message is the Torah conveying?

The Two Paths

There are two paths we can walk on our journey on this planet.

We Can walk the bright and shiny path. We can strive to never succumb to evil temptation, and to always make the right choices.

Or we can take the more tricky path. We can follow our heart even when it directs us to places our mind cautions us to stay away from. Those of us taking this second path will make mistakes.

Like Tamar, we will stumble. Like Tamar we will lose our innocence. We will probably cause pain to ourselves and to the people who love us. We may even reach a place of total spiritual darkness, a place where we can no longer hear the whispering voice of our G-dly soul,  to direct us back to the path of life.

And then we burst forward.

We are not sure where we get the strength from. We are not sure if and how we will able to rebuild our shattered relationships, and we are not sure if we will have the strength of character to sustain us on the push forward and to escape old habits.

But we burst forward and push ahead. And do all it takes to make it back to where we need to be.

And then we discover, that taking the second path has it’s advantages.

While it is not the “firstborn” path, while that is not the path G-d wants us to choose, while at the outset we should have taken the first path, we nevertheless come out ahead in the game of life. For the journey through the raging sea of life forced us to dig deeper, to mine our soul for spiritual courage, and to discover treasures that most people never discover.

We discover within us the power to burst through any challenge, to overcome any obstacle, and to shatter any roadblock. We discover that our commitment to the people and ideas we hold dear, is bulletproof. As the strength needed to burst forward and get us back on the right path is is now channeled to sustain and nurture our commitments.  

We recognize that “one [of the babies] stuck out his hand [from the womb]. The midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand to signify, "This one emerged first.". We recognize that our midwife - The Torah and G-d - tells us us to take the first path. The path that has the shiny crimson string on it. It’s the path that will get you the name Zerach which means to shine. It’s the path that the Torah is point toward.

And yet, if we fail to take the preferred path. If we find ourselves in the dark, we must now that we can be a Peretz - the one who bursts forward. The Torah is telling us that ultimately Peretz is the one who achieves greatness, and becomes the ancestor of King David and the future Moshiach.  

For the perfection of the world will be achieved, not by those who never experienced pain, nut by those whose pain was transformed into fuel. Stunning themselves and the people around them who cry out in amazement: “"With what vigor have you pushed yourself ahead!"”

Strive to stretch out your hand and reach for the crimson path of Zerach, but if you fail, burst forward like Peretz. You will be the first born. You will achieve more than anyone would dream is possible

(Based on Leku"s Vayeshev Vol. 30, Sicha 2).  

Why Angles Won't Multitask

When I was in the first grade, just beginning to study the book of Genesis, I was fascinated by the stories, the personalities and the drama. But nothing captured my imagination more then the angles. There was something so mysterious about them, they would show up at the right place in the right time, often disguising themselves as ordinary people.

But, from the first time we learned about the angles, we knew that they had one weakness. They could not do more then one thing at a time. Why did three angles come to visit Abraham as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent hoping to find people to invite? Rashi explains:

And behold, three men: One to bring the news [of Isaac’s birth] to Sarah, and one to overturn Sodom, and one to heal Abraham, for one angel does not perform two errands. You should know that [this is true] because throughout the entire chapter, Scripture mentions them in the plural, e.g., (below verse 8): “and they ate” ; (ibid. verse 9): “and they said to him.” Concerning the announcement, however, it says (ibid. verse 10): “And he said: I will surely return to you.” And concerning the overturning of Sodom, it says (below 19:22): “For I will not be able to do anything”; (ibid. verse 21): “I will not overturn”. And Raphael, who healed Abraham, went from there to save Lot. This is what is stated: “And it came to pass when they took them outside, that he [the angel] said, ‘Flee for your life.’” You learn that only one acted as a deliverer.

So despite their super natural ability they can't do two things at the same time. To the young child I was at the time, this thought was comforting. Maybe I can't fly like an angel, but in some ways I am superior, after all one angel cannot even manage to 'walk and chew gum' at the same time; the angel cannot talk to Sarah while healing Abraham.

Now, a few years later, I ask myself why is it so important for Rashi to keep emphasizing?  Why is it so important for every child studying Genesis to know that angles cannot perform two things at once?

Perhaps it's because this is not a handicap; perhaps this is the greatest quality of the angel. Perhaps Rashi tells us about the angles as a critique of the human condition. Perhaps his point is that, although we will never able to achieve the goal completely, we must always try our best to be like the angel and loose the ability to multitask. 

The angel cannot do more then one thing because the angel identifies with the mission completely. The angel as no other dimension to his personality other then fulfilling God's mission. The angel has no personal name, no personal agenda and is completely identifies with the mission, to the point that he is nothing but the mission. As such he cannot perform two acts because it's impossible to be, fully, in two places at once. 

The human on the other hand, even when doing the will of G-d never looses his own ego, the human always maintains I sense of an independent identity engaged who happens to be engaged in the mission. As such he can never become one with the mission, and therefore, some aspect of his identity will always be able to engage in something else.

Rashi understood that the child reading the story is no angel. Yet Rashi is trying to teach me how to be more like an angel. How to be fully engaged in what I am doing to the point that I forget abut everything else. How to help someone else, and, while doing so, loose my own ego and know of nothing else in the world. How to speak to my child, look her in the eyes, and listen. Listen as if, at this moment, I have nothing else going on in my life. As if I have no emails, no deadlines coming up and no other interests.

He is teaching me listen like an angel.

The (New and Improved) Brand Name

At a certain point G-d felt that it’s time to invest some thought into Abraham’s brand name. G-d understood that for Abrham’s message to catch on and change the course of history, a brand name must be carefully crafted.

So G-d changes Abraham’s name from Av-ra-m to Av-ra-HA-m (adding the Hebrew letter Hey). As the verse states:  

"And your name shall no longer be called Av-ra-m, but your name shall be Av-ra-HA-m, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations."

[The Hebrew letter Hey stands for the Hebrew word “Hamon”, which means Multitude.]

As Rashi, the primary commentator of the Torah, explains:

The letter “Resh” that was in it [his name] originally, denoting that he was the father only of Aram, which was his native place, whereas now [with the added letter Hey, he becomes] the father of the whole world.  

G-d tells Avraham that he cannot be satisfied with leading and inspiring only his close circle, that he cannot just dream about creating a haven of Divine morality, rather he is charged with being a father to a multitude of nations. He must change his name, his mission statement, and his goals. He must teach his children that anybody who wishes to carry the torch, to perpetuate Avraham’s legacy, will have to follow the message embedded in the letter Hey that G-d added; that the goal of the movement is to fill all of the earth with the knowledge of G-d.  

Now, too often, those who try to impact the world sometimes forget about those closest to them. Those who are busy solving communal, national, and international problems, sometimes over look the “petty” problem their five year old daughter may be facing. Those who have the passion and ambition to make a significant impact on society are sometimes too busy for the people closest to them.   

G-d wants to prevent Avraham making that mistake.

As the passage of Rashi quoted earlier continues:

“Nevertheless the “Resh” that was there originally was not moved from its place”.  

If the Hebrew letter Resh represents that Avraham was a father only to his native land, and the Hebrew letter Hey represents that he is a father to the entire world (“multitude of nations”), then why can’t we drop the letter Resh? Isn’t Avraham’s native land included in the “multitude of nations”?

The message then is that he should not forget about the “Resh”. That just like in the past, before his mission was expanded to include all the people of the earth, he understood that he must drop everything and risk his life to save his nephew Lot, so too after the broadening of his goals he must still be devoted to those closest to him.

Perhaps that is why in the later portions, the Torah emphasizes that Avraham ultimately does impact all of his family. That even after he is forced, by Sarah and G-d, to expel Hagar he does not forget about her. That eventually he is able to bring Hagar back into his household, and remarry her.  

So, yes, carry the torch of Avraham, go out and make a deep impact on the world around you. But don’t forget about those who need you most.

(Inspired by Leku"s Lech Licha 25, 3. Chayey Sarah 15, 4. Amd the Abarbinel on The battle of the kings).

Judaism and Capitalism

The most important principle to capitalism is private property. The most important principle to Judaism is unity. How can these seemingly opposing ideas co-exist? Private property, by definition, creates separation and division within society. How can Judaism, which at it's core is about the unity of the one G-d, the universe and the unity of all people created in the image of G-d, accept the divisions created by private property?

On the last day of his life, Moses is well aware of this seeming contradiction. His people are about to transition from life in the desert, where there is no ownership of land, to Israel, where for the first time the people become land owners. Moses knows he has one final opportunity to teach his people how to balance these two opposing ideals. That is why, on the last day of life, he commands his beloved people:

"At the end of [every] seven years, at an appointed time, in the Festival of Succoth, [after] the year of release,

When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord, your God, in the place He will choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their ears.

Assemble the people: the men, the women, and the children, and your stranger in your cities, in order that they hear, and in order that they learn and fear the Lord, your God, and they will observe to do all the words of this Torah.

And their children, who did not know, will hear and learn to fear the Lord, your God, all the days that you live on the land, to which you are crossing the Jordan, to possess.

Moses wants the people to understand that they are not defined, and should therefore not self define, by their material possessions and achievements. He wants to tell each individual: 'although your house may be nicer then your neighbor's, you are still one. You are one, because your soul, the core of your essence, is one with your neighbors soul. The material possessions that divide you are nothing more then an external garment, it is not who you are, and in can therefore not separate you from your friend.'

How can this message be instilled in the hearts of minds of people who will spend most of their time, energy and effort working their land? the only way to do so is through the commandments of "Shmitah" and "Hakhel", the sabbatical (when we are forbidden to work the land for an entire year) and the gathering in the temple after the sabbatical, in the beginning of the first year of the next cycle, when the people are headed back to work for the next six years.

During the seventh year every land owner takes a year long break from working the land, devoting his time to spiritual pursuits. During that year all produce that grows in the field is legally ownerless, and anybody is free to enter any orchard to enjoy it's fruit. This serves as a powerful reminder to the people that there is more two life then amassing wealth, that their true essence is the soul not the body, and they have to devote time to feed the soul, just as they devote tome to feed to body.

And then, at the end of the long sabbatical, just as everyone is anxious to get back to working the land, comes the Mitzvah to gather in the temple to hear the words of Torah. Moses tells the people that if they want to be able to juggle the blessings of private property and the truths of Judaism, then, BEFORE they get back to the field, they have to reenact the giving of the Torah at Sinai. They have to gather men woman and children. Why children? Because the children are crucial to the reenactment of Sinai. Sinai is the time when all our people, men woman and children, stood around the mountain, "as one person with one heart", united around the words and teachings of the Torah.

Moses understood that the future generations also need to experience this powerful feeling. The Feeling of unity that comes from self defining by the teachings of the Torah that unite, instead of by the material blessings we receive that can sometimes divide.

And then there is us.

We who's bodies did not stand at Sinai, and did not stand shoulder to shoulder with the entire nation of Israel at the reading of the Torah in the Temple. We too must mediate on this message each year, when the story of Moshe's last day on this earth is read in the Torah. We must close our eyes and imagine standing with all our brothers and sisters at the foot of Sinai, listening to the words of G-d.

Like one person with one heart.

The Cry of the Shofar

The greatest obstacle in the path of exponential growth is past success.

You are a successful parent, or a loving spouse, or a leader in your industry, or a productive artist. If I ask you to write down what you want to achieve next year, chances are, the achievement you strive for is not exponentially greater than the success you already achieved.

You are not alone. While children and young people, who did not yet enjoy a degree of success, dream about reaching the stars, adults, who are burdened by their success, usually hope to do better in the future. But not exponentially better.

That’s a problem. It’s a problem because intuitively we feel our infinite soul, and our boundless potential. Tell someone that she is so great that you feel she maximized her potential, and you are sure to offend her. Because, at the core of our being, we reject that our essence is confined.

So once a year we have to shatter our carefully constructed comfort zone. Once a year, as we hear the blasts of the Shofar, we have to look ourselves in the eye and ask the dreaded questions: “am I the person I hoped to be? Is this all I can be?”

The way to sense infinity, is by feeling the oppressive constraints of the finite. When we hear the Shofar, we are hearing the purity of the soul within us, and the purity of the person we want to become. And when we hear the Shofar we feel how distant we are from our core, from what we want to become, from what we know we can become.

By facing our faults yet refusing to make peace with them, by refusing to allow our shortcomings to define us, by feeling trapped by the confines of our personality we can escape the limitations and reach our core. And when we reach our core we discover that at the core we are one with the essence of the infinite light of G-d.   

Immediately before we sound the Shofar we recite seven verses of King David’s psalms. The first of them, the one that sets the tone for the blowing of the Shofar, is a deep cry to G-d:

“Out of the straits, I called to You, O G-d; G-d answered me with abounding relief.”

This verse captures the purpose of blowing the Shofar. The Hebrew word for “abounding relief” (Ba’mer’chav) also has the meaning of “wide expanse of space”. The verse is telling us that only when we feel trapped in the “straits” of our limitations, will we be able to break free, and be answered and placed in the expanse of the infinity of G-d.

Justice

This weeks Torah portion begins with Moshe’s eloquent cry to the Jewish people to establish courts and to pursue justice:  

You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for your tribes, and they shall judge the people [with] righteous judgment.

You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show favoritism, and you shall not take a bribe, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts just words.

Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the land the Lord, your God, is giving you.

All agree that justice is important, but justice is elusive. Even in this great country, in the 21st century, there are serious questions whether are criminal justice system is the best we could do to establish justice, or whether we have a long way to make sure that every individual can expect and can receive a fair trial.  

When writing, it’s effective to save the most  powerful point for last. The last sentence is your chance to emphasize your point and to shape the impression your reader will ‘take away’.

The last section of the Torah reading is where the Torah highlights it’s understanding of the true test of justice: will society protect the most vulnerable, lonely, least respected, and even unknown members of society?

When an unknown victim is found slain, do we ignore him because there is no one to lobby for justice, or, as the Torah demands, do we force the most prominent members of society to come down to the crime scene, to investigate, to declare that they did not ignore the plight of this person, and to force the story into the headlines?

As the Torah puts it:

If a slain person be found in the land which the Lord, your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, [and] it is not known who slew him.

Then your elders and judges shall go forth, and they shall measure to the cities around the corpse.

And it will be, [that from] the city closer to the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a calf with which work has never been done, [and] that has never drawn a yoke,

And the elders of that city shall bring the calf down to a rugged valley, which was neither tilled nor sown, and there in the valley, they shall decapitate the calf.

.... And they shall announce and say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see [this crime]."

The Torah understands that the test of justice is not “at your gates”, not how we treat the prominent members of society, rather the test of justice is whether the “elders and judges” will leave their ivory tower, leave the city, and search for justice for the unknown stranger.

Speak to the Rock

We all heard the story: the Jews needed water in the desert, G-d tells Moses to speak to the rock and it will give its waters, Moses hit the rock instead of speaking to it and was therefore denied the great merit of entering the land of Israel.

As the Torah states:  

"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water. You shall bring forth water for them from the rock and give the congregation and their livestock to drink." Moses took the staff from before the Lord as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Now listen, you rebels, can we draw water for you from this rock?" Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, when an abundance of water gushed forth, and the congregation and their livestock drank."

There are many mysteries in this story; let’s start with the basics: if G-d was so upset with Moses, why did he then perform a miracle causing water to gush forth from a rock despite Moses hitting the rock? And why was G-d so offended by the hitting of the rock instead of speaking to it?

If I believe that something is beyond my reach - that I can't master this wisdom, learn to play this instrument, or overcome this challenge - there are two ways you can help me grow. You can force me to do it. You can just throw me into the pool and I'll have no choice but to figure out how to swim. I will be forced to achieve what I thought was impossible. I will, however, achieve this only because of a force outside of myself. The downside is that since the growth is forced upon me by external circumstances, therefore once the circumstances change I will be back to my old self.

The more effective option is for you to show me that deep within me lies abundant potential; you show me that to grow I need not look to a force outside me rather I need to look inward. Only when the growth is not forced upon me, will it last.

You want to teach your child, or your student, yet you feel you hit a wall; he or she just does not get it. You began to think "I am wasting my time, there is no one home". You feel like your only option is to “hit the rock”, to force the growth upon then, by applying pressure from the outside, by the force of your charisma, or by the threat of consequence, or an award of a vacation to Europe. You will probably manage to get some water out of the rock. But you missed the point.  

Or you can “speak” to what to you looks like a rock. You think your child cannot listen, understand and identify with the message, understand that you are misjudging. G-d says: “speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water”, what appears to you as a rock is a fountain. Speak again and again, dig deeper and deeper, and you’ll discover the water.   

Chesed Shel Emes

I've recently been at a few funerals and I have been thinking about that which we say that the Mitzvah of burying someone is a Chesed Shel Emes because it cannot be repaid.
It seemed to me that extra hasbarah was called for because it is possible for a variety of reasons to gain benefit, e.g. from relatives or onlookers who now respect you more etc.
So the focus is on the deceased, and this applies whether you them or not. How does one truly express friendship and brotherhood? It is a true expression when it is done without calculations and that expresses itself when the fellow is deceased and there is no possibility of give and take and therefore this is the truest expression of friendship. And this is perhaps even better expressed when you didn't know the deceased, it is even a truer expression of Ahavas Yisrael.
We can connect this to Emes made up of the letters Aleph, Mem and Tuv. There is no hefsek.
But like everything in the world there can be corruption mitzad taruvis tov v'ra, So it is upon us to make sure that like everything else we need to make sure we are focused on the right reason for it.

Blood vs. Frogs, Which is worse?

In Lku"s the Rebbe says that kaltkeit is worse then a varemkeit for bad things as it easier co-opted and returned to the good.
I find that many people who have trouble believing in G-d have very heightened sense of wrong and right and are not easily convinced by intellectual answers and their status is really a cry for wanting a perfect world. So too with people who are apathetic, I find with myself it can be a response to being burned in one's hopes and the fear to get hurt once again. But underneath it all is a fire waiting to bust out.
So even though kaltkeit is worse the potential for greater heights is ever present. And this falls in line with the principle of Kol HaGvoah beYoser etc.

Simcha & Breslov

I recently watched a video of Breslov Chassidim stopped in middle of a street in Chevron and dancing with soldiers who were in middle of a break from searching for the kidnapped youths. I was thinking that it is good to raise the spirits of people who might be down. Then another thought crossed my mind, we constantly need to be b'simcha even during mrirus and certainly when performing a mitzvah and certainly when performing such a special mitzvah.

Soul & Body

A member of our Talmud Class mentioned an interesting idea recently. In Soviet Russia they would prove that the soul doesn't exist. How would they do it? they would present a study to the class that showed that the weight of a body after death is exactly the same as before death. Hence, even though ostensibly the soul left the body and there should be a weight loss the lack of weight loss proves that the soul doesn't exist!

A USB memory card that has an encyclopedia on its hard drive and then it is erased weighs exactly the same.

The Three Act Play

Part One

Act One: The guy is alone in the room. He feels great. After all his opinion is uncontested. that obviously he must be right. there is no one else in the room. no kidding nobody is disagreeing. There is only one person in the room.  

Act Two: Then, it happens. Someone else enters the room and boom - there is disagreement. The two of them begin shouting at each other, they won’t stop, it’s annoying yet not surprising. After all there are two people in the room, each entitled to their own perspective.  

Act Three: eventually the third guy shows up and begins to listen to the arguments thrown back and forth. after a while he cries: hey! the two of you are saying the same things in different words! if you just listen for a moment you will discover that, in fact, there is no disagreement.

Part Two

Act One: G-d is the only existence there is nothing else aside from him. He is one. But only because there is no one else to disagree.

Act Two: Sensing the inherent problem with this form of unity G-d created the universe; as expected, disagreement erupts. G-d feels that he is the definition of reality, after all he is the creator of the universe. The people walking the earth, however, disagree. Even those who concede the point and acknowledge that G-d is indeed the creator, do not accept the “Unity of G-d Theory”. After all, the human being is born feeling that he is the center of the universe, that the world around him is the ultimate reality, and that spirituality, while an interesting idea, is not the definition of reality. So the dispute goes on. Lasting thousands of years.

Act Three: Along comes Abraham. Listening carefully to the universe around him as well as to his soul pulling him to toward G-d, he discovers that if one looks deep enough, the dueling voices each shouting their own opinion are not in dispute. That the universe is essentially declaring the greatness of it's creator. Thus the father of Judaism discovers: that the true oneness I'd found in the third perspective which perceives the unity of the first two, seemingly contradictory perspectives.

Part Three

The opening statement of the Ethics of our Fathers states: "look at three things and you will not come to sin" and it goes on to enumerate the three things one should "look" at. The Rebbe taught that this above mentioned statement is not just an introduction rather it is telling us "look at the message of the number three and you will not come to sin"; if wherever you look in the universe you will see, not number two - the universe as it appears to dispute G-d's oneness - rather you will see "number three" the universe as an expression of the unity of  God then you will never sin.

And if you still have patience for one more "three" then look at the third teaching in the third chapter of the Ethics where is states: "Three people who ate on one table and spoke words of Torah it is as if they ate of G-d's table". If Judaism has one message it’s this: G-d can be felt not only on Yom Kippur, which the Torah refers to as “once a year” - perhaps because by refraining from eating and drinking and other material pleasures we experience the unity of G-d as it existed before creation. Judaism understands the power of Three (“three people eating at one table”). it understands that the physical universe represented here by food, is where one can experience the tru oneness of the one G-d.

(Parshas Emor 5749. Final paragraph is an Eigene Vort)

Four Thoughts for Your Seder

Why ask Why?

We send our kids to School to learn the “how’s” of life: how to read, how to write, how to make friends, how to get into Yale, how to be successful. Unfortunately, we also un-teach them how to ask why. Anyone who ever spent anytime with young children knows that all they want to know is why: Why is the sky blue? Why does the elephant have a funny nose? Why don't I have wings. So we send them to school and hope that for the money we pay for tuition the kids will leave us alone, we hope that they stop asking why and start learning how.   

That’s why the four questions of the passover Seder - “why is this night different than all other nights - is so important. It teaches us and our children to spend some time on the most important questions of life that are questions of why: Why am I here? Why should I be successful? Why should I be a good person.

Bitter Herbs

One of the herbs that me be used for the at the Seder for the “bitter herbs” is lettuce. For although lettuce is not bitter, it’s root is bitter, and we can therefore use the lettuce leaf. Therein lies a powerful message: bitterness is good only if it propels you to improve and escape the bad situation. Bitterness is only acceptable if the bitter root leads to a tasty leaf.

The Flowers

The Passover Haggadah describes the question of the wise son as follows:

What does the wise one say?

“What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the laws that G‑d, our G‑d, has commanded to you?”

You should instruct him in all the laws of Passover: “After the Passover offering, one should not then conclude the meal with dessert which would wash away the taste of the Passover offering.”

If the wise son is so wise then why is he asking about the laws and statutes? Doesn't he need to know the law to be considered a wise son?

The wise son is really asking: 

The wise son is really asking: "is there one law in the Torah that captures the essence of our relationship with G-d? One that caused G-d to shatter the laws of nature when He saved us from Egypt? The wise son knows the law, he wants to figure out the hierarchy of the law, he wants to know which one captures the essense of our bond with G-d. 

And we tell him that what G-d really loves is not so much the law that he commands us to do rather it’s the additions that the Jewish people add to Judaism. Case in point: G-d commands us to eat the passover offering, yet we go a step further, we instituted that one should not eat any food after eating the passover offering so that the taste of the passover offering will remain in one’s mouth. This extra detail is a greater expression of love then the actual performing of the Mitzvah, which is a Biblical obligation. It has the magical power to express love. just as paying the mortage for your spouse does not express as much love as buying her flowers.   

The Four Cups of Wine

At the Seder we drink four cups of wine to commemorate the four expressions of redemptions that G-d promised the Jews: "I will take you out from the suffering of Egypt, and I will deliver you from their bondage; I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you to Myself as a nation, and I will be to you a G-d...".

A closer reading of these four expressions will show that there are only three expressions of redemption, while the fourth - “I will take you to Myself as a nation” - refers not to the exodus from Egypt but to the Jewish people becoming G-d’s nation at mount Sinai weeks after the exodus. The reason that the fourth expression is included as an expression of redemption is because for the Jew freedom from bondage is not enough. To be free the Jew must achieve spiritual freedom, and for that we need to go to Sinai.

Every Time You Open The Book

The Torah refers to it simply as “holiday of the weeks” and many contemporary Jews have never even heard of the Holiday. Yet the holiday of Shavuot celebrates what may be the most important event in Judaism: the giving of the Torah at mount Sinai.  

Why does the Torah fail to mention this most crucial detail - the reason for the celebration?

With it's silence the Torah is telling is something important about the giving of the Torah, it is telling is that Divine revelation is not specific to a particular date and place in our history. There is no "one day a year" designated to celebrate the Divine revelation. That's because Divine revelation occurs every time we open and study the Torah. As we say in the blessing before reading the Torah - ("Notayn Hatorah") "the one who gives the Torah", "gives" in the present tense.

So the Torah is silent on the date of the most important historical event in order to teach you the power of the study of Torah on each and every day: anytime you open the Torah, G-d is speaking to you, directly, personally.

What then do we commemorate on - Shavuot - the holiday of weeks?

The name "holiday of weeks" describes, not the obligation of the holiday - like the Holiday of Matzot and Holiday of Sukkot, instead it describes the lead up to the holiday - the obligation to count seven weeks in anticipation and preparation of the giving of the Torah.

Because although G-d speaks to us every time we open the book, sometimes we fail to feel the power of the experience. We are distracted by day to day life, we are tunes out spiritually and we are like a un-plowed field being showered with rain: the rain has the power to bring forth growth but the earth is too rough to accept the seed and the water.

So G-d commands us to designate some time for spiritual refinement, to count forty nine days, to understand that G-d wants to talk to us and we must tune in if we are to benefit from the experience. Finally on the fiftieth day - on the anniversary of the giving of the Torah - after all the preparation, every Jew can finally feel it: yes, G-d is talking to me, personally.

In the final analysis, what is unique about the fiftieth day is only the preparation - the weeks of counting, hence the name "holiday of the weeks" - the actual revelation, however, happens every time we read the book.  

The Newlyweds

It was Inevitable.

Yes, I know you invested so much in this relationship. I know it's the most important thing in your life. I know you spent the last two years planning the wedding and the honeymoon. I know all this. And I still think that the fact that you were so insensitive to her and offended her to her core of her soul sending a knife straight to her heart was inevitable.

Think about it. You are different people with different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations. In fact, the differences in your personalities is what attracted you to each other in the first place. No surprise then that after the magnificent wedding, when you finally got back to real life, and fell back to your old habits, did you offend her so deeply.

What should you do now, you ask? Pay attention. Should you buy her chocolate, roses, or take her out to dinner? Well, try everything you can think of, but keep paying attention.

If she loves you then after the pain subsides, she will tell you just how you should console her. If you listen carefully you'll hear her tell you what she wants you to do to show her that you really care about her, that you cherish the relationship, and that you are just as willing as before to invest in her. Listen carefully and you will hear.

If you don't trust me then take a look at what is the most dramatic story of newlywed betrayal recorded in the Torah. Just forty days after the most powerful wedding in history – the covenant and display of love that G-s showed his bride the Jewish people at Sinai - and the people betrayed the bond. They served the golden calf, striking the heart and foundation of their bond. G-d, justifiably, is furious. How can this betrayal be overlooked? To the bride it seems that the relationship is doomed.

And yet, somehow, the relationship survives. And it's not only because of the story you heard in Hebrew School, about Moses threatening G-d and saying forgive the people “and if not erase me from your book which you have written”. It's also because of the lesser known continuation of the story. It's because Moses asked G-d “show me your glory” - meaning please reveal your essence so we know how to restore our relationship. And G-d agrees. And in what may be one of the most convoluted verses in all of the Torah, G-d says “you will see my back (but my face will not be seen)”. The Rabbis understand that this is a powerful description of a deep mystical truth, and they give a little hint to help us understand what G-d meant. They explain that the meaning of “you will see my back” is that G-d showed Moses “The knot of the head Tefilin”, as Rashi explains that G-d was metaphorically wearing the Talis and Tefilin, he turned his back to Moses and showed him his back. What Moses sees is the metaphorical Talis and the knot of the Tefilin that rests on the back of the head.

Moses listened. He listened and learned how the Jews can save their marriage with G-d. He listened as G-d explained to him that for our relationship to thrive we must remember. We must constantly remember how important, meaningful, and crucial the relationship is to us. And, like the Talis and Tefilin whose purpose is to remember G-d, we must display to our beloved that we remember. To recreate the connection, there is one thing our beloved must know, and that is not how impressive we are. Not how talented, successful, rich, popular and amazing we are .All she wants to know is that we cherish the relationship more then anything we have and that we always remember this truth. To survive emotional betrayal, our beloved must have no doubt that we constantly remember that this relationship is the most import thing in our life, yes, more important then are hobbies and even more important then our career.

“Remembering”, however, may be a bit abstract, and that's why we also need the “knot of Tefilin”, which represents action. We need to demonstrate by action that we are prepared to make a “double knot” at the place we severed the rope binding us to each other. Taking out the garbage, or buying flowers, or booking a vacation to the Bahamas, won't do it unless it's an action that expresses the deep emotional commitment.

Listen carefully and she'll tell you how you can show her that you are “wearing the Talis” - that you remember that she is the most important think in your life. Listen carefully and she'll tell you to show her “the knot of your Tefilin” - that you are prepared to do something extra to, not only rehabilitate, but to intensify the bond.  

A Teacher

We can't strive for goals that are unachievable. On the other hand, "When will will my behaviour reach the levels of our forefathers?" I don't know about you but I'm not getting there.
How do we reconcile both seemingly contradicting feelings?
This was a question inspired by the curriculum of Sinai Scholars last night.
It is interesting because we really see this contradiction by sports and physical training. you can't set your goal too high but on the other hand you can't set it too low either. The answer is a teacher that helps you set realistic goals but pushes you farther than you ever thought you could go.

NIMBY

Many people have strong opinions on how to solve society's challenges. many people believe we have to help the homeless the disenfranchised and even the ex-convicts. But many people want the problem to be solved elsewhere, or NIMBY.

According to one poster on the urban dictionary website, NIMBY is: "Used to describe a person or an attitude, NIMBY is an abbreviation for Not In My Back Yard. A NIMBY might agree that a community or a neighborhood needs a half-way house for convicts transitioning back to society, but doesn't want it placed too close to his or her own home or in the neighborhood."

The Torah, however believes that to heal society’s ills, you cannot expect someone else, or the government, to solve problem elsewhere. Rather, you must roll up your sleeves, ‘get your hands dirty’, only then can you expect to create positive change.

This idea is crystallized in the law of the Torah that is perhaps the most uncomfortable to the modern ear, the law of the Jewish servant. At first glance people wonder how can the Torah, which is supposed to be the epitome of Divine morality, condone servitude? Upon close examination, however, this law contains deep ethical and moral lessons for us living in the modern world.   

The Jewish servant is someone who stole money and is unable to repay. Instead of incarcerating the thief, which does little to rehabilitate the criminal, as the U.S. department of justice writes on it’s website that “In a 15 State study, over two-thirds of released prisoners were rearrested within three years”, the Torah puts forth a system of rehabilitation.

The Torah mandates that the criminal serve for six years and repay the debt to the victim of his crimes. This service, however, should not be performed in some far away prison camp, rather the thief is sent to a home of an upstanding member of the community. That’s because the Torah expects that in the home of the “master” the thief will find, perhaps for the first time in his life, warmth and compassion. We expect the “host family” to treat the servant as a member of the extended family, giving him the dignity of being able to correct his mistake in a warm and loving environment.

Now, let’s think about the host family for a moment. Why would they choose to hire the six year servant, a contract that demands a great deal of the master? To quote Maimonides:

“A master is obligated to treat any Hebrew servant or maid servant as his equal with regard to food, drink, clothing and living quarters, as implied by Deuteronomy 15:16 "for it is good for him with you." The master should not eat bread made from fine flour while the servant eats bread from coarse flour. The master should not drink aged wine while the servant drinks fresh wine. The master should not sleep on cushions while the servant sleeps on straw. Nor should the master live in a walled city while the servant lives in a village, or the master live in a village while the servant lives in a walled city, as implied by Leviticus 25:41: "And he shall leave you." (meaning that when he leaves, he leaves from “you”, from being your equal. M.F.) On this basis, our Sages said: "Whoever purchases a Hebrew servant purchases a master for himself." A master must treat his servant with brotherly love, as implied by Leviticus 25:46: "And with regard to your brothers, the children of Israel".

So with all that said, why would anybody want to purchase a servant?

The answer is that the host family is hiring the six year servant because they want to perform a Mitzvah. They understand that he needs help in order to work his way back into society and they are offering to help. They believe in compassion and kindness. They understand that if you want help someone, it’s not enough to write a check. You must open up your home. You must invite him or her into your family.

Like the story my dear friend and study partner, Steve, told me. He was an officer in the NYPD serving in the Bronx in the seventies. One day he is called to a store where the employees have caught someone stealing. Steve approached the guy and asked why he stole. The guy said that he has three children at home and he needs the money to feed them. Steve went in to speak to Mr. Hecht the store owner. When Mr. Hecht heard what the fellow said, not only did he refuse to press charges but he offered the guy a job on the spot.

What’s most amazing about this story is that within three years the guy moved up from stocking the shelves to store manager.

This would not happen by Mr Hecht just wanting to help the lost soul. It happened because Mr. Hecht opened the door and did more then let him into his backyard, he let him into his life.

Israeli Politics

I don't get involved with Israeli politics too much, but this is something that I have been thinking about recently.
When it comes to a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians there is one major issue which is usually not mentioned which I think is very important from an Israeli point of view. That is who is their partner? He is a leader of an entity which hasn't held elections since 2005. Now, Israel does have deals with dictators but they in general have control over their territory which is not the case with the PA. So where does Abbas's support come from? It mainly comes from being propped up by western governments through their financial support and their training of police and security personnel. And here is where the lesson of Egypt and Hosni Mubarak enters. Should Israel rely on the assurance of the west for the continued support of the current PA government? What happens if there is a political or popular uprising, similar to what happened in Egypt? Will America drop Abbas like a hot potato? What is the argument for why Israel should risk that?