It’s is crunch time in our home.
Our twelve year old makes the final preparations for her Bat Mitzvah as well as
handling school work and life. Lots of “stuff” seems to be sitting on our
daughter’s plate and I know that she has moments of feeling overwhelmed. Just
the other night she was studying for 6 tests and worrying about certain parts
of her Dvar Torah. She was exhausted,
and looked like she was about to cry. She retained her composure, but we looked
at her and suggested that she go to bed. Looking so tire, it was clear that no
more information was entering her brain and studying was entering the realm of
counterproductive. We finally realized it and went up to bed, knowing that a
good night’s sleep and studying some more in the morning would be much more
affective. As I watched her trudge up to bed, I realized that part of the
Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation is experiencing this sense of adding more to the
plate, dealing with a sense of being overwhelmed. We all go through it. Rabbis might feel that way during the Chagim
with all the sermon preparation. An accountant might feel that way during tax
season. A Treasurer might feel that way when preparing a company’s quarterly
report. A student might feel overwhelmed and drowning during final exams.
Others may feel like they are overwhelmed and drowning when he/she suffers a
loss of a loved one. We have all experienced the feelings of chaos that are
caused by our sense of being flood with too much to handle, and with it perhaps
diminished faith.
This Shabbat we read from Parshat
Noach. Comprised of two distinct narratives; both deal with the theology of
chaos and confused boundaries. First we read the story of Noach, God’s
disenchantment with creation and mankind’s behavior, the instruction to build
the Teva (the Ark), the Flood as punishment for mankind’s unethical behavior,
the covenant made between God and Noach and the resulting offering to God, and
then an odd story about Noach’s drunkenness and one’s sons inappropriate
behavior. The second distinct narrative is also about chaos and confused
boundaries. This time mankind confuses boundaries and trying to build a tower
up to the heavens. The result is that God scatters mankind across the earth by
making mankind speak numerous languages and making communication difficult.
While both narratives can
conceivably stand alone; both narratives are related. As manifested in the
previous Parsha, God is a god of creation and order. Therefore, in order for
God to destroy, order must be removed or chaos must become firmly
entrenched. Meivi et HaMabul Mayim AL HaAretz L’Shacheit Kol Basar Asher Bo Ruach
Chayim Mitachat HaShamayim Kol Asher Ba’Aretz Yigvah – I will bring the flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath
of life from under heaven, and everything that is on earth shall die. Clearly
from the text there must be other kinds of floods besides water, otherwise we
do not need to be told that this particular flood is one that involves water.
The message is that God will punish creation by instituting chaos for a period
of time. Later in Chapter 11 as mankind begins building a tower up to heaven
God becomes disappointed again. Vayomer
Adoshem Hain Am Echad V’Safah Achat
L’Chulam V’zeh Hachilam La’Asot V’aAtah Lo Yibatzeir Mei’hem Kol Asher Yazmu
La’Asot – Behold the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will
be withheld from them which they have schemed to do. Hava Neirdah V’Navlah Sham Sfatam Sher lo Yishmu Ish Sfat Rei’eihu – Come let us go down and there confound their language, that they may
not understand on another’s speech. Instead of the flood of water, God
created the flood of language and confusion the flood of a cacophony.
The flood of chaos and the struggle
to handle chaos is part of our human condition. The first narrative, the Noach
narrative, teaches that chaos is now part of creation and in a sense a type of
punishment. The second narrative, the Tower of Bavel, teaches us that chaos is
part of the everyday human life. It is part of our task as human beings as we
struggle to elevate ourselves from the animal aspect of our existence to the
spiritual aspect of our existence that we create order from chaos. To do so is
a Godly endeavor. To do so allows us to transcend the physical world. Hopefully,
as our daughter makes more order out of the chaos of her “to do” list; she
will begin to feel less overwhelmed and more in control. Hopefully she will
begin to feel less like she is drowning and more like she has created some type
of order from the chaos. After all, the feeling of accomplishment that she experiences after she gives her Dvar Torah, should teach her that she is capable of handling what is on her plate, rather than drowning in a flood of anxiety.
Peace,
Rav
Yitz
No comments:
Post a Comment