In between Festivals, copious
amounts of food, eating in a Sukkah, and smelling the beautiful fragrance of
the Etrog, another season has been upon us. In our home, when presented with
the opportunity, we have been celebrating Major League Baseball’s Postseason.
For my wife, a native San Franciscan, this has been, so far, a joyous period of
time corresponding nicely to the joy associated with Sukkot, Shemini Atseret,
and Simchat Torah. For me, our eldest daughter and our son this has been a
bitter sweet time as we are happy for Mommy but the season seems empty without
our beloved New York Yankees and especially Derek Jeter. So besides watching
baseball, we have taken to watching the very classy commercials about Derek
Jeter, in particular the Gatorade commercial, as well as numerous articles
about him. One article particularly poignant article discussed the most
meaningful number and statistic of Derek Jeter’s career. Yes he was 6 all time
in the number of hits, 3465 is the total number of hits, and he won 5 world
series to name a few of the numbers that he compiled over a 20 year career.
However the most meaningful statistic is “0”. Zero was the number of times that
he was thrown out of game, zero was the number of times that he showed up an
umpire, zero was the number of times he said something controversial, the
number of times that he publicly humiliated someone, and the number of times
that he lost control of what comes out of his mouth.
This Shabbat, the first Shabbat of
a new Torah cycle, we begin with Breishit, and the story of Creation, the story
of Adam and Eve, the story of being thrown out of the Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden);
the story of fratricide as Cain murders his brother Abel. However it is in the
very first Chapter, in the very first few verses that we are introduced to God.
For these very few verses, we learn about God not as God interacts with
humanity, but rather how God interacts with God’s self. Or if we were to assume
the Midrash, then we could understand how God interacts with the rest of the
spiritual world and the Angels. In these
first few verses, in this first chapter, God creates. However the activity of “Creating”
embodies several sub activities that, when put together becomes part of the
process of Creation. God sees that that there is something missing, God makes a
statement, God divides something, God evaluates (judges), and then God goes to
the next step. Vayomer Elokim Yehi Or VaYehi Or- God Said: “Let there be light,” and there was light. VaYar Elokim et Ha’Or Ki Tov Vayvdeil Elokim Bein Ha’Or U’Vein
HaChoshech – God saw that the light
was good, and God separated between the light and the darkness. VaYikrah
Elokim La’Or Yom v’LaChoshech Karah Laila – God called the light : “Day” and the darkness He called: “Night (Gen.1:
3-5). Within the God’s creative process, God says, God sees (in order to
judge/evaluate), God separates and God calls (or names). Two out of the four steps involve some aspect
of communication and specifically speech.
On the sixth day when God created Adam and breathe the Ruach HaKodesh, the Divine Spirit, into him, what was Adam empowered to do? In
the Second Chapter, Adam has been given the authority to give names to God’s
creation. Adam calls a cow “cow”, and calls a tree “tree”. The divine spirit that God breathed into Adam
is speech. The most mundane activity,
talking, is perhaps one of the holiest acts that we could possible engage in.
Most of us take speech for granted.
We waste words. We waste time and words by public demonstrations of emotions.
We waste words speaking ill about someone else or trying to get a rise out
someone else. He happily listen to or watch someone say something
controversial. In reality, we are demeaning the Ruach HaKodesh, the most divine aspect within our souls, by not
using our power of speech for sacred purposes, for learning, for prayer, for
offering praise and support. Yet in the course of 20 years, our children’s’
autumn hero, Derek Jeter, never said a word that demeaned himself. He achieved “0”.
Zero is a circle, a circle is perfection. During the course of a 20 year career
he was perfect in being able to control himself and never say anything that
would warrant being tossed from a game, never embarrass himself or humiliate another.
Yes we will watch the rest of the
baseball playoffs, I just wonder how many players, in the heat of the moment
will be able to exert enough self-control to achieve zero.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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