My parents came to visit us for the first days Chag HaSukkot,
the Sukkot Festival. As is typical of my
father, when there is something important on television; he walked in, said
hello, and made a beeline for the sofa asking his grandchildren to show him how
to turn on the television and operate the remote control. After a brief moment
when he needed to figure out which channel corresponded to NBC, he found what
he was so eagerly looking for. What could possibly be so important that he
would sit riveted upon the sofa, watching nonstop until either it ended or the
holiday began? What could possibly have been so important that he would not
allow anyone to change the station except during a commercial to see the update
of the Yankee game? What could possibly be more important? Golf. No not just a
typical run of the mill PGA golf tournament or even one of the four Majors. No,
this was the Ryder Cup, the United States vs. Europe. On Sunday, in a match
play format, the two teams play head to head, man to man. What started as a commanding lead going into
the final day of the tournament slowly deteriorated until the Americans just
couldn’t make a putt and the European made one of the great comebacks of all
time and retained the cup. While my father watched, my wife cooked, my mother
showed her granddaughters what she bought and then tried remodeling our house,
and I put up the Sukkah, their grandson sat with grandpa and watched. Then in a
moment of absolute chutzpah one of our daughters sat down with her grandfather
and unequivocally stated that “this whole golf thing is boring, and I am
changing the channel!” I heard those words and warned her to smile at grandpa
and say “just kidding”. It was too late. Knowing my father as well as I do, I
told our daughter “now you’ve done it.”
My father proceeded to explain to his granddaughter , in very Zen terms
how Golf is like life. I smiled to myself
and went back to working on the Sukkah, since I heard this one a thousand
times. My daughter looked and me and I
smiled back and told her to listen. She may learn something. Soon her sister
joined and now my father was lecturing his grandchildren on his famous “Golf as
a paradigm for life” lecture; a lecture he gave me at a similar age.
This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot. It is
the Shabbat that falls during the 7 day Festival of Sukkot. As a result we do
not read the regular Torah Reading. Instead, we read of the narrative when Moshe
re- ascended the mountain a second time in order to receive the second set of
Tablets. As part of the Festival, we recite Hallel which is a series of psalms
praising God and state our joy in being part of the Brit, part of the covenant
with God. Also, because it is a festival, we read one of Five Megillot taken
from the Ketuvim – the Book of Writings. On Shabbat Chol Ha Moed Sukkot, we
read Kohelet, the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Jewish tradition ascribes the twelve chapter scroll to Shlomo HaMelech –
King Solomon. This wisdom literature is
written from the perspective of an elderly man who has seen it all, and
experienced it all. – Ein Kol Chadash
Tachat HaShemesh – There is nothing
new under the sun! Kohelet – The Preacher speaks with brutal and harsh
honesty.. In what is perhaps the most famous few verses, the Preacher tells us
that life is full of ups and downs, good times and difficult times. L’Kol Zman V’Eit L’Chol Chafetz Tachat
HaShamayim – Everything has its
season, and there is a time for everything under heaven: A time to be born and
a time to die…..That may not sound so inspiring. Yet our job is to live our lives according to
a set of rules. The result may be good or it may be bad, but God will be the
judge of that. All we can do is play according to the rules as we make our
where through life and contend with the obstacle, the rough, the sand traps,
the water hazards and perhaps even the unfair lies that our ball winds up in
after we make a good swing, struck the ball well. But we play the next shot no
matter how difficult and if it means we take a penalty, so be it. Then we play
the shot that God gives us to the best of our ability.
As my father lectured, combining
Kohelet with Golf, I saw his grandchildren sitting with him. They were
listening, they were thinking and I am sure they were trying to make sense of what their grandfather was
talking about. I looked over at my dad, he gave me a wink “How am I doing son?”
I don’t think that there were too many more things in the world that gave my
father pleasure than that moment. Like Kohelet concluded by reminding the
younger generation that after all is
said and done, Sof Davar HaKol Nishmah
et HaElohim Yrah v’Et Mitzvotav SHmor ki
Zeh Kol HaAdam- Fear God and keep his
Commandments, for that is man’s whole duty, Ki et Kol Maaseh Ha’Elohim Yavoh
V'Mishpat – For God will judge every
deed…; my father looked at his grandchildren and reminded them that a good
life, means shooting par, that is, breaking even. With that, my children sat
with their grandfather for a few minutes watching the Rider Cup.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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