Get Tired Of Travelling You Want To Settle Down (Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir,& Phil Lesh - "Truckin'"

          Our eldest daughter has been incredibly busy working for Hilary Clinton in the state of Iowa. Since last Pesach she has lived in Des Moines, Iowa.  Knowing that she has a few days to recuperate, her younger siblings are full of questions. Where does she go next? And after that? What happens when the primaries are over? Does she ever return one place and live in it like we do? Does she move to New York, Washington D.C. How long does she keep living in places for short periods of time? What does she do when there campaigning is finished and the election is held? As I listened to the questions and tried to answer them clearly and succinctly I became aware of what was underlying all these questions. From our younger children’s perspective, their oldest sister’s pace of life seemed incredibly busy leading up to a primary or election, then there would be a moment of down time and then she would have to ramp it back up for the next primary. Underlying all their questions was their picture of a normal life. From their perspective adults go to work and return home from work. There may be errands to run, late night meetings but essentially there was a sense of routine and mundane activity. Not every day can be16 hour days, being followed by a reporter, explaining the candidate’s “ground game” or being interviewed by the national news on the night of a primary, or giving a speech for a candidate. Our younger children wanted to know when their big sister will begin to lead a “normal life” with “normal work hours”.

Last week we read about the revelation at Sinai, with the thunder, the lightening, and a big booming voice. Last week we read the Aseret Dibrot, the Ten Commandments. Last week we were inspired by the words “I am the lord your god, you should have no other gods before me” “you shall keep the Sabbath holy”, respect your parents, and so on and so on. Of course these commandments are the bedrock of Judeo- Christian morality and society. However when the thunder and lightning are finished, and the big booming voice stops booming, B’nai Yisroel has Ten Commandments. However they still had a problem. They told Moshe to return to the mountain but they never acknowledged their acceptance of the Ten Commandments.  We can almost imagine Bnai Yisroel so awestruck that they couldn’t muster an answer.  After all, seeing a mountain on fire, the thunder, the lightning and a big booming voice, does not exactly lend itself to people nodding their head in understanding and approval.  The moment was so awesome, so inspiring, that it utterly paralyzed Bnai Yisroel.  Even the commandments themselves were so awe inspiring that Bnai Yisroel has no way to deal with the day to day issues of everyday life.

            However, B’nai Yisroel, like the rest of us, could not and cannot live life in a state of revelation, spiritual awe and euphoria unable to function in the everyday world. As human beings, our ability to stay that awe-inspired, can only last a brief moment before we understand that we live here on earth and not in the spiritual realm. Now B’nai Yisroel must learn how to behave like a nation of priests here, in this world, on an everyday basis. This week’s Parshah, Mishpatim, begins: V’Eilah Hamishpatim, And these are the judgments or laws that you [Moshe], shall put before them. God then lists a plethora of rules and regulations by which everyday life must be lived.  The list enumerates how to solve problems that occur between community members: the treatment strangers and slaves and how to be a mentsche.  Except for attorneys, this list of laws and statutes might seem incredibly uninspiring, dry, and non-spiritual.

 Even in the dry, seemingly uninspired promulgation of these everyday laws, we learn a very valuable lesson. Parsha Mishpatim, with its plethora of laws, judgements, and statutes provide us with the tools for everyday life. This generation of former slaves need to learn how to take mundane activities and add meaning and holiness to it. Torah gives us the tools. We learn that revelation doesn’t happen too often. Grand, powerful, awe inspiring events don’t happen every day. If such moments did occur every day then those moments would cease being so grand, so powerful and so awe-inspiring. Or we would become so overwhelmed that when those moments ended we wouldn’t be able to return to a normal mundane life. We are capable of experiencing revelation everyday; it just won’t be the “Ten Commandments” type of revelation. B’nai Yisroel’s response of Na’Aseh V’Nishmah We will do and we will learn to Moshe’s presentation of these laws suggests that we are capable of inspiring ourselves, and able to experience revelation even in the mundane aspects of life. We do this learning and struggling to combine the sacred and the profane and the holy and the mundane. For now, our eldest daughter loves what she does and is able to handle the pace of life on a political campaign. As she makes her way from state to state, as the campaign draws to a close, hopefully she figures out how to return to a more balanced life and able to bring the revelation she experiences on the road to a more settled life. But for now, as a young politically passionate woman, she still has a candidate to get elected at least once if not twice; then maybe she will be ready for the more mundane aspects of life.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Please Help Them To Learn As Well As To See (John Barlow & Bob Weir- "Black Throated Wind")

As an American living in Toronto, it is not often that I feel like a minority. With the Winter Olympics about to begin and all the Canadian Olympic Team merchandise on sale; I am reminded that I am an American living in Canada. When Rob Ford drinks too much and makes a fool of himself, I am reminded that I didn’t vote for him because I am not a Canadian citizen.  When I turn on the cable sports channels and find curling, hockey and darts and no college basketball games, I am reminded that I am an American living in Toronto.  Recently I had the opportunity to spend some time Indigo bookstore at the Yorkdale mall. I walked around the store and again, I was reminded that I am an American living in Toronto. The American History section was so small. The Politics section had two shelves dedicated to U.S. politics. In the sports section, there were numerous shelves dedicated to hockey and numerous Canadian teams. As an American, I am used to seeing shelves of baseball, and teams such as the New York Yankees, the Green Bay Packers or major college athletics. Despite feeling like left out of Canadian society while at the bookstore; I was reassured that something remain constant both in an American bookstore and a Canadian bookstore. The largest and most frequented section of the store was the self-help section, exactly like in America. Like the bookstores in the States, this particular bookstore had a variety of self-help topics such as: weight/obesity, divorce, parenting, spirituality, dysfunctional families, addiction, and happiness.  Frankly, I found it very re-assuring that at least from a merchandise perspective, Canadians obsess on the same stuff as Americans. I felt right at home.  Yet, I wondered why Self-Help section was this most frequented section of the store? Maybe it is because we are concerned and even obsessed about relationships. Self-help books are all about relationships: relationships with ourselves, our families of origin, our children, our mates, our bosses, and even God. All these books essentially deal with the same two issues: solving problems in relationships or adding meaning to one’s life and one’s relationships.

             Parshah Mishpatim is all about relationships, solving relationship problems, and adding meaning to one’s life and to those relationships. Following last week’s revelation, and receiving the Aseret Dibrot (Ten Commandments), Moshe and B’nai Israel receive the original self-help manual. It includes how to behave towards slaves, how to behave towards parents, fellow community members and newcomers, how to resolve conflicts, how to make legal decisions, how to take care of the land, and how to thank God for the harvest of the land. Upon hearing all this self-help advice, Bnai Yisroel responds in unison: Na’Aseh V’Nishmah - we will do and we will obey (Ex. 24:7). This is the perfect response for former slaves. Slaves were trained to obey. Free people however, were not trained to obey. Free people need to think and understand. Perhaps, B’nai Yisroel should have responded differently precisely because they were free. As a free people, perhaps B’nai Yisroel should have answered, “We’ll raise our consciousness about it, and then attempt to integrate it into our lives.”

            We can understand B’nai Yisroel’s response in another manner. The issue is the meaning of the word V’Nishmah-(and we will obey). V’Nishmah also means we will listen or we will learn.  We will do and we will listen, or we will do and we will learn is not the typical response for recently released slaves. This is a response of free people seeking self-help. To listen or to learn assumes a greater emphasis on the “self” rather than the help. “To obey” assumes greater emphasis upon the “help” rather than the “self”. To obey is an action that slaves or a king’s subjects engage in. Free people listen and free people learn. If we understand Nishmah as “listen” or “learn”, then B’nai Yisroel seems to have accepted God’s laws on their own accord. As a result, B’nai Yisroel accepts its responsibility as “a kingdom of Priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:6).  As a designated nation of priests, as a designated holy nation, B’nai Yisroel would lead by example. B’nai Yisroel would integrate behavior into their daily life. Then they could learn it and teach it. After we begin the action, then we can delve into the deeper philosophical meaning of the action. B’nai Yisroel effectively serves as a living example of self-help.

            Parsha Mishpatim’s self help section,  reminds us that “self help” is not only about big ideas and platitudes. The real self help material and information is required for the nitty gritty and details of life. That holds true in our relationships with our husbands and wives, our children and even God. Self help is not confined to the “once in a while” or “the three times a year”. Rather it requires us to work at it every day. So it is no wonder that  Parshah Mishpatim concentrates on the mundane everyday aspects of human relationships. Unlike the numerous self help manuals that encourage us to buy the next installment of the manual or the next book in the series.  Bnai Yisroel’s response in Parsha Mishpatim reminds us that at some point one needs to stop talking and actually do the work, engage in the activity, or refrain from the activity as the case may be. Not until we Na’Aseh, until we “Do”, will the “self-help” ever really help us.

Peace,

Rav Yitz