by Dovid Lewis

Joseph and his Multi-Coloured Genes

Last Wednesday I went to Lambeth Palace for a conference with the Chief Rabbi, and this Wednesday he came to Bowdon for a conference with my colleagues and I. The focus on the day was on the rapidly changing face of medical science and how that relates to the Rabbinate both as Halachic decisors and as pastoral caregivers.

 

During a break between the sessions I was reminded of Fran Lebowitz’s one-liner: ‘you are only as good as your last haircut’. For I was learning a verse from the Sedra, and I realised that I was reading it entirely through the eyes of our last presenter. The presenter, a professor in medical oncology and consultant at the Christie, had just spoken on (amongst other things) genetics and personalised medication in cancer care and research. We had learned of inherited genetic markers and the pros and cons of pre-emptive surgeries. How much are we a product of our parents? What is indelibly written in our genes? What responsibilities do we have in trying to circumnavigate the unknown future because of our ever growing knowledge of our past?

 

It was these questions that were top of mind when I read the above-mentioned verse: the second one of the Sedra; ‘Yosef was seventeen years old’. At first glance, this is just a simple statement of fact regarding Yosef’s age. But Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch notes that the literal Hebrew reads as; “Yosef was the son of seventeen years’. He writes that we are all banim, children of the last years of our lives. Whether we are conscious of it or not, they are our mothers, educating and shaping us.

 

That comment really struck a chord at that moment. We are the children of our lives. When we come to a crossroads in our life, when we are faced with a moral dilemma and have to make a decision; the choice will be based entirely on our experiences, education, environment etc until that point.

 

That thought was further compounded when our next speaker, a consultant clinical geneticist, mentioned inherited embedded memories. Whilst these will not change a person’s DNA, they can cause certain lines within it to be magnified. We can inherit character traits, higher sensitivities, dependencies etc based on experiences had by our predecessors. Our decision therefore at the above-mentioned crossroads will also be based on our ancestors’ experiences and education.

 

Yosef’s actions, his brothers’ reactions, and the entire subsequent story was thus a product not just of the current circumstances and their sibling rivalry, it was a story generations in the making. That does not mean that it had to happen that way, Yosef and his brothers still had absolute free choice in their actions, but they were definitely predisposed to a certain path. Their challenge was to decide whether they were going to be shackled by their history or were going to free themselves.

 

And thus I saw the ongoing similarities with that story and the lectures we were hearing that day. The professor from the Christie discussed the scenario whereby a person knows that he or she has a certain gene, or if multiple ancestors have suffered from a certain illness, then they have a choice to resign themselves to their fate or to take pre-emptive action (always with full professional advice). The geneticist posed the question of the Ashkenazi young man who has a moral responsibility to screen for genetic markers such as Tay-Sachs before going on a Shidduch.

 

In short, their message was that we do not always have to play with the cards we are dealt with, we can and should take responsibility where that possibility exists.

 

And what is true of medicine is true of morals and ethics. We are a product of our past, but we still have a responsibility to form our responses with an eye to our own lives and that of our children. Its why Yosef, once he had dragged himself out of prison and started on his own path to greatness, called his sons Ephraim and Menashe; two names that embodied the past but with a view to the future.

 

How glad I am that I just so happened to read that specific verse on that day. We are the products of three thousand years of Jewish history, but we are also the writers of generations still to come.

 

What are we embedding into our grandchildren’s DNA?

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 by Dovid Lewis

Can Commerce Trump Torah?

Does the Divine Presence dwell more in the House of Torah or House of Commerce? This seems like one of those trick questions, for surely it must favour the House of Torah! Yet the fact that we are asking the question implies that in fact, the opposite is true, and we can prove it from this week’s Sedrah.

 

A major section of Vayeitzeh details the birth of 11 of Yaackov’s sons and his daughter Dinah. Each time a child is born, its mother decides on a name that reflects their current desire and captures the mood of the moment. For example, when Leah’s first child is born, she calls him Reuven. This is a composite of Re’uh-Ben, meaning ‘see, a son’. Leah was delighted that she had now given birth and hoped that it would elevate her in Yaackov’s eyes after he was tricked into marrying her instead of Rochel. Similarly, when Rochel’s maidservant Bilhah has her first child, Rochel names his Dan, representing judgement. She felt that her previous judgement which had caused her to be barren had been lifted and she now had a new judgement; one that she could celebrate.

 

By the birth of the tenth child, a sixth one for Leah, she calls him Zevulun. This alludes to the word ‘zevul’, meaning abode or dwelling place. Rashi explains that Leah was now convinced that Yaackov would make her tent his main dwelling place for she had now given birth to six sons, equal to all his other three wives combined.

 

The problem though is that Zevulun is the polar opposite of Yaackov. Both Yaackov and Moshe bless Zevulun for his entrepreneurial attitude. He made a pact with his brother Yissachar, whereby Zevulun would work and pay Yissachar to learn and in return he would get half the reward of the Torah study. Zevulun, in essence, was the architype of the person who paid someone else to learn for him, whereas Yaackov was the epitome of one who never strayed from the Tent of Torah. How could Leah get it so wrong? How could she think that specifically the son who would work and not prioritise his learning, would be the child who would inextricably tie her to Yaackov who diligently prioritised his learning over work?

 

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidus explains that in truth we can only make the Divine Presence a permanent and real part of this physical world when we attempt to attain this consciousness whilst being engaged in the pragmatic lifestyle of Zevulun. If we remain aloof from the mundane world, if we lock ourselves exclusively in the Tent of Torah, then the spiritual strength and resilience of our souls remain untested.

 

If however we take the Zevulun approach and make the effort to set aside time for the study of Torah, then the true ability inherent in our soul, the power to assert itself even outside the natural environment is revealed. And that is how we create a permanent home, a true dwelling place for the Divine in this world. For it must be pointed out that Zevulun did not excuse himself from learning, he did not buy his freedom, he put his time and effort into learning and becoming a better person. But he knew that he needed more, he knew that he had to infuse the bulk of his day, his working hours, with Torah and Judaism as well. That is why he made his pact with Yissachar.

 

Our challenge is to emulate Zevulun. To set aside time for learning Torah and improving our Jewish character, but we must also bring that into our workplace. When we work just to earn money then there is no sanctity in it; we are simply in a rat race. If however, we are able to infuse our workplace with sanctity by partnering with those who are able to dedicate more of their time, then not only do we elevate our work, we actually create a true dwelling place for the Divine in this world.

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 by Dovid Lewis

Isaac’s Innovative Imitation – Toledos 5779

As a Prophet, he doesn’t seem to converse with G-d much. In fact there are only two recorded dialogues between Isaac and the Almighty, both of which are actually just reassurances that G-d will protect Isaac in the same manner that He protected his father Abraham. What then do we, his descendants, learn from Isaac the second of the three Jewish Patriarchs?

 

I would like to suggest that it is from a seemingly mundane and unspiritual storyline in this week’s Torah portion of Toledos. In a short episode of just ten verses (26:13-22), we read of Isaac’s troubles with his wealth. Living in the deserts of southern Israel water was a valuable commodity, so Isaac re-digs the wells originally dug by his father Abraham. This simple exercise though caused him untold headaches, for the neighbouring Philistines would constantly refill them again. Determined to find water he leaves the area and digs fresh wells, but here too he is troubled, for roving shepherds claim the first two wells as their own and it is only on the third time that he finally is able to take ownership of his own water supply.

 

As with everything in the Bible, these are not just historical stories, but are guiding stars for the future generations.

 

Abraham, the first to publicly recognise G-d, the father of the Jewish Nation, had to break virgin ground. He had the difficult task of forging new paths and facing the unknown without the safety net of experience and past protocol to rely on. But with that risk of the frontier came the exhilaration of discovery. Isaac his son, may not have had the same risk but neither did he have the adrenalin rush of innovation.

 

Our first lesson from this episode is the difficulties one will face if we simply retrace our predecessor’s footsteps.  The philistines in our lives (and we all have them) will smother our search for living waters with dull earth. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz points out that the Biblical word used for their treachery is a derivative of stam, whose equivalent in modern Hebrew is a dismissive shrug of the shoulders. The easiest way to quench someone else’s fire is to dismiss it out of hand, and if we are already lacking the cliff-edge excitement of being the innovator then what hope do we have? Isaac tries this a few times, but with the constant disdain of the Philistines blocking his quest for water he realises he has to move on and break new ground. He is not looking for something new, the traditions of his father and the lessons taught by him are still his goal, Isaac just needs to discover his own path to appreciate the truths and discoveries of his father.

 

Yet here too, Isaac faces difficulties and the Bible once again teaches us a valuable lesson.

 

For even when we realise that we need to find our own individual path on our ancestors’ map, there is no guarantee. There will always be the roving shepherd who claims that your discovery is in fact theirs. You have done nothing new and cannot take ownership of your newfound well of fresh water. Isaac tries not once, not twice, but three times. The 13thcentury Spanish Rabbi, Nachmanides explains that Isaac’s three attempts refer to the Three Temples of Jerusalem. The first two were new and innovative breaking new ground, first by King David and then by the returnees of the Babylonian Exile, but they were ultimately destroyed (first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then the Romans in 70 CE). Our job though is to continue searching, to persevere and dig again for the life-giving waters of our Religion. To discover our generation’s frontier within the path first walked by our ancestors.

 

This comes with the promise of that third well dug by Isaac. The end of his long and arduous journey was rewarded by an uncontested and ever-flowing well of fresh water. For us that is the promise of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. A promise of peace for all mankind, with no dismissive shrugs of a philistine nor the quarrels of ownership.

 

Theodore Roosevelt probably summed this all up best: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

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 by Dovid Lewis

TNT Heal v. Heel Eikev 5777

TNT

Heal v. Heel

Eikev 5777

Say TNT and most people will think of explosives; discovered back in 1863, it has been the main component of artillery since the word wars. Now however, TNT stands for something totally different; tissue nano-transfection. This is a process whereby scientists can transmogrify skin cells; change them and adapt them to grow into other cells. It sounds like science fiction and the stuff of Marvel comics, but the scientists write new instructions which are encoded in DNA and loaded on to a chip applied to a patient’s skin. This chip uses a small electric current to open channels in the cell’s surface, so that the code can tap into the DNA of the patient and reprogram it into a pluripotent state so that it can then heal any area of the body. It is currently only in use in animals, but its possibilities to save people’s lives is beyond imagine – and beyond the scope of this essay!

 

However it did help me answer a question on the name and opening verse of this week’s Sedra. The first time we encounter the word Eikev is in the Garden of Eden after the Sin; one aspect of the punishment is that mankind would crush the snake’s head and the snake would bite our eikev – heel.  The second time is after the Binding of Isaac when Avraham is praised, eikev – because he listened to Hashem.

 

Eikev can thus be translated either as “because” or as a “heel”. Most famously Yaackov was named so because he was holding the heel of his twin brother at birth. Eisav also uses a derivative of his name, ya’akveini implying deception to accuse Yaackov of stealing the birth-right and blessings. However after his famous night-time battle with the angel, Yaackov’s name is changed to Yisrael meaning Prince of Hashem. He shrugs off the Yaackov – heel image and re-emerges as Yisrael – the Prince.

 

Why then when the word eikev is used at the start of this week’s Sedra does Rashi translate it as heel? The Torah says; all this (blessing) will happen to you, eikev- because you will listen to My Mitzvot. But Rashi translates it with the lowly heel connotation; the blessing will happen to you, even though you only keep the Mitzvot with your eikev – heel. Why the negative aspect? And especially at this critical point in our history when we are just about to enter into Eretz Yisrael!

 

Enter our TNT.

 

I believe that the Torah wasn’t discouraging us, but just the opposite, it was empowering us. At this critical moment in our history we were being injected with TNT, and what an explosive power it was! Hashem was saying to us that even when we keep Mitzvot with ‘just our heel’, we are still transforming the world. We sometimes belittle ourselves, or listen to others knock us down with the accusation that we aren’t good enough, that we aren’t committed enough, that we aren’t fulfilling Hashem’s charge to make this world a dwelling place for Him. Well I believe that we are, for that is the unique quality of the Jew; even when we are ‘just’ keeping the Mitzvot with our ‘heel’, we are still changing the world. For our Spiritual DNA, our Neshama is pluripotent; it has the properties of TNT and we can transmogrify this world with our every action.

 

Sir John Gurdon of Cambridge and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto may have received the Nobel prize for physiology with their research and hopeful breakthrough, but you and I receive a far greater prize every single day. And no electronic chip needs to be inserted into our skin, we have all the tools already at our disposal: Jewish TNT!

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 by Dovid Lewis

Red Skies and Shabbat Wonders

Red Skies and Shabbat Wonders

Va’eschanan 5777

Walking to Shul last week for Shabbat Mincha, we were greeted by the most phenomenal sunset. The entire western sky was a deep and vibrant red, whilst to the east was a perfect double rainbow. Of course, we then debated what that meant, and what indeed was the meaning of red sky at night – shepherd’s delight; although one of the Minyan men said red sky at night – shepherd’s cottage alight!

 

But I was thinking about that when reading the repetition of the 10 Commandments in this week’s Sedra. There are a few grammatical changes from the first account of the 10 Commandments in the Sedra of Yisro, but those are due to the fact that this time Moshe is saying them as opposed to Hashem. However, when detailing the fourth commandment, the Mitzvah of Shabbat, we are presented with an entirely different reason for keeping the Mitzvah. In Yisro it is to remember the creation of the world, whereas in our Sedra of Va’eschanan it is to remember the Exodus from Egypt.

 

Why two totally different reasons for the same Mitzvah?

 

The answer is that neither of those are the reason for the Mitzvah of Shabbat, but rather a guide as to how to appreciate Shabbat. For Shabbat is unique in that it is actually about creating a partnership with Hashem and His involvement in the world. We stop working to remind ourselves that we aren’t the ones in charge of our livelihood, but are part of the greater story as written by the Master Author. The reason for the Mitzvah of Shabbat it to enforce that partnership.

 

The two aspects of Creation and the Exodus are guides as to how we understand that partnership and the reason for Shabbat.

 

When speaking to the Jewish Nation at Mount Sinai, Hashem was speaking to an inspired Nation, a Nation that could literally look at the world around them and see the Hand of Hashem. For them to understand Shabbat and our partnership with the Almighty it was enough to connect Shabbat with the 6 Days of Creation. 40 years later however, Moshe was speaking to a generation later on, to a Nation that was about to enter into the Holy Land and would have to be more intimately involved in nature. We would see the rising of the sun as the norm not as proof of Hashem. We would have to toil the earth ourselves instead of receiving the Manna from Heaven, and would understandably get lost in the nature and lose sight of the Divine Hand. Moshe therefore connected our partnership with Hashem that is spelt out by Shabbat with the Exodus as opposed to the Creation. We needed the ‘aha moment’, the miraculous nature of the Exodus as a visual reminder of Hashem constantly creating the world.

 

Moshe was telling that Generation, and indeed every Jew right until the 21st century and beyond, that whilst it might be nice to recognise Hashem’s constant connection with the world through the everyday nature of life, it is probably easier to do so when confronted by the different, unnatural and miraculous moments. Watching the daily sunrise might not do it, but seeing a spectacular bright red sunset probably does. A regular day in the office undoubtedly doesn’t, but bumping into the right contact at exactly the right moment, just when you are about to close the deal and desperately need their expertise, does – or at least it should!

 

Moshe was letting them and us know, that when we have those ‘aha moments’, such as the Exodus or the birth of a child, such as the miraculous rescue from the devastating car crash or the right-place/right-time event, that we need to grab hold of them as our personal gift. The gift that we are presented with every Shabbat, but unfortunately also take for granted. Shabbat is not just about letting Hashem into our lives, it is about letting ourselves recognize that Hashem is already part of lives.

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 by Dovid Lewis

Whovians and Women – Mattot-Massei 5777

Whovians & Women

Mattot-Masei 5777

As a ‘Whovian’ I was disappointed with this week’s news that the 14th Doctor would be a woman! And no, not because I’m sexist, but because I am disappointed that it was such news. If the Doctor can regenerate, can travel through space and time, if he can defeat an entire army of Daleks with nothing more than a screwdriver, sonic or not, then what is the big deal if he is a she? I know that this might identify me as a traitor, I will most probably be accused of not being a real Whovian, but those that have an issue with it have totally missed the whole concept of being a Time Lord.

 

And what greater example of a Time Lord than to pick up on something that began in last week’s Sedra, and then crosses over to the end of the 2nd of this week’s! Last week’s Sedra Pinchas, presents us with the issue of women inheriting. The original Halacha was that a daughter does not inherit her father’s portion in the Land of Israel. Along came the five daughters of Tzelafchad; Machla, Noah, Choglah, Milkah and Tirzah who complained that they were losing out. Their father had passed away a number of years earlier, although not due to being part of the Sin of the Spies, and his rightful inheritance in the Land of Israel was being lost simply because he had no sons. Their complaint is heard and the Halacha was changed to allow a daughter to inherit as well. There remained a caveat that she had to marry within her father’s Tribe so as to ensure that the property remained within that Tribe and not get swallowed up by another. But the Halacha was now changed.

 

Why though wasn’t it ‘correct and just’ to begin with? Surely Hashem knew what was right! Why was it necessary to manufacture the situation? We can’t just say that Hashem was offering us ‘free choice’, for if so why specifically this case and not any other?

 

I would like to suggest that this was the litmus test of the Jewish Nation, a young People who were about to enter into their Ancestral and Holy Land. How would they treat those people within society who by nature might be at a disadvantage? Helping out the stranger and the disabled, that is a profoundly Jewish trait, but it is also what is expected. How though were we going to deal with those whose disadvantage was not as blatant and obvious? And how do we deal with those who refuse to go quietly into the night, with those who don’t simply sulk away and nurse their grievances but without actually doing anything about it?

 

This was our test and we passed it. The daughters of Tzelafchad passed their test when they refused to simply accept the status quo. They taught a valuable lesson to Jewish women throughout our history; stand up and fight for what you believe in. And secondly, we as a Nation learnt our lesson, listen to our women and ensure that they too receive their fair share. It would have been all too easy for Hashem to write that law in the first place, but then we would never have gone on the journey of discovery and learnt that lesson. How fitting it is then, that the next Sedra (the start of this week’s double) records all of our journeys through the desert to get to the Land of Israel. The literal journey was not complete until we had gone along the spiritual and intellectual journey that culminated in equality for all. The final Halacha at the end of the double Mattot-Massei then records the actuality, that the five sisters did indeed inherit the land. This was no theoretical exercise, but also came to a real conclusion.

 

So yes, as a Whovian I was disappointed, but not because the Doctor was now a woman, but because the BBC made such a deal out of it. Or maybe it was just a cost cutting exercise by the BBC, since as we now all know, their female stars get paid substantially less than their male counterparts!

 

These Sedras are always read during the Three Weeks, where 1) we increase in our desire for a full return to the Land of Israel and 2) where we are reminded to treat everyone with respect.

 

May we merit to pass our ultimate litmus test and be rewarded with an end to our exile and a return to our ancestral home in peace and holiness.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Rabbi Dovid

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 by Dovid Lewis

Fake News – Pinchas 5777

Fake News or just a different perspective

Pinchas 5777

 

Whilst at a Rabbi’s conference this week in Bosworth, Warwickshire (yes, we do get to all the most exotic places) I was reconnected with an old Chassidic story. A Chossid from Kharkov, Ukraine was visiting Rabbi Shalom DovBer in Lubavitch, White Russia. The Rebbe asked him how things are in Kharkov. The Chossid answered that everything was good, people were friendly to each other, the learning was stimulating, the Davenning was inspirational and the Brotherhood of Chassidim was just as it should be. The Rebbe gave him a gold rouble and thanked him for his good news.

 

Later that day, another Chossid from Kharkov visited the Rebbe and was asked the same question. He however answered exactly the opposite and told the Rebbe how in truth everybody was fighting with each other, the learning was non-existent and the Davenning was flat and perfunctory; in short, the Brotherhood was at an all-time low. The Rebbe thanked him and sent him on his way, albeit without a gold rouble.

 

As luck would have it, that Shabbat the second Chossid became aware of what had transpired when his friend had gone to the Rebbe and given him his report. He was upset and complained to the Rebbe; why was I penalised for telling the truth? The other Chossid just told you a bubba meiseh and he got a gold rouble for it, surely I who told the truth should be likewise compensated.

 

The Rebbe replied and said “do you really think that I don’t know what is happening in Kharkov? I just wanted to know in which Kharkov you were living!”

 

What a powerful statement indeed. Kharkov is Kharkov, it’s down to us to decide which Kharkov we choose to live in.

 

In this week’s Sedra we are once again told about all of the Chagim, about Rosh Chodesh and the Appointed times. The one thing in common with all of these festivals, different to Shabbat, is that they occur due to our actions. We as a community, under the direction of the Sanhedrin, would declare the day Rosh Chodesh and thus the subsequent Chagim would fall on their appointed times.  Shabbat happens automatically, but Rosh Chodesh and the Chagim need our involvement. At times we might even miss seeing the new moon, Rosh Chodesh could be delayed because of the cloud or for any other reason and with that Yom Kippur would be celebrated a day late; we would in fact be eating on the day which officially would be Yom Kippur and fasting on what is officially a regular week day!

 

The Almighty created this paradox, whereby we can celebrate a festival on its wrong date, precisely because of the sentiments expressed in the story above. He knows the truth about Kharkov, about our world, He just wants to know which Kharkov are we living in. Can we see this world and elevate it? Can we look at our surroundings, be they our personal lives, our Shuls, our friends or our business, can we look at them and declare them good or do we complain?

 

This isn’t about burying our heads in the sand. It is about having the right positive attitude, for with that a normal day of the week can be transformed into an Appointed Time of the Almighty. That is our Power. That is His gift to us. Now what are we going to do with it?

 

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Dovid

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 by Dovid Lewis

Jewish Flintstones – Balak 5777

Jewish Flintstones

Balak 5777

Yes, even the Flintstones were Jewish! And I’ll prove it to you.

 

This week’s Sedra records the attempt by Balak to hire the sorcerer Billam to curse the Jewish Nation. Unfortunately for him, it was money poured down the drain, as instead of curses, what flowed from Billam’s mouth were some of the most powerful and rich blessings written in the Torah. He tried multiple times, he tried to change his vantage point, he tried offering up sacrifices, but nothing worked and all he was able to say were blessings.

 

All of Billam’s blessings were said as parables, and one of those looked at the ancestry of our Nation. He describes our forebears Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaackov together with Sarah, Rivka, Rochel and Leah as the sturdy rock mountains upon which our Nation rests. The powerful foundations which keep the Jewish People standing tall and strong regardless of the buffeting winds of change that have accompanied us throughout the millennia.

 

And here come the Flintstones, for instead of using the usual word for rocks and mountains, even and har, Billam uses the word tzur, which actually means a flint-stone! And as Billam told Balak at the very beginning of his quest; “only the words which Hashem puts in my mouth, can I say”, there is obviously a reason why he used tzur instead of har.

 

The unique quality of a flint stone is that although one can extract a spark from it, there is no evidence from the outside that this spark is there. In fact, if you break the flint stone into many small pieces, if you take it apart, you still can’t see the spark, although you can still produce one. Soak the stone in water and it makes no difference, the spark is still inherently there.

 

The reason is that the power of that spark is not just invisible, it is in fact not there within the flint, it is the flint. The potential is so much a part of the fabric of the flint that trying to extract it is a futile task. It is not a divisible part of the whole, it is the entity itself. That is why that word was chosen by Hashem to describe our ancestors, to portray the image of the foundations of the Jewish Nation. Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka together with Yaackov and Rochel and Leah are the DNA of each and every Jew. We don’t just wear our heart on our sleeve, we are our heart. And the beating heart of the 21st century Jew is the same as that of our father’s and mother’s heart 3000 years ago; one that is inherently made up of a spark. A spark that does not go out. A spark that cannot be divided from the flint. A spark that cannot be drowned, destroyed or ever be dulled. Strike a Jew, any Jew anywhere in time or place and what you will discover is the spark of G-dliness. And that spark can, and does, ignite a fire that will continue to burn.

 

Yes, the blessings of Billam were beautiful back then and they should inspire us today to go out and ignite the fire of another Jew. For remember, that no matter how many candles you light up, nothing gets detracted from your own flame.

 

 

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 by Dovid Lewis

Mature Learning – Chukas 5777

Mature Learning

Chukas 5777

I was asked a very straight forward question this week: If the Israelites were guided through the desert with the Clouds of Glory, why did Moshe ask the Edomites if they could pass through their land on the way to Israel? (See this week’s Sedra 20:14) Surely they should have just followed where the Clouds went, which in this instance was down South in order to circumnavigate Edom and enter Israel from the East of the River Jordan. So who was leading the Israelites, Moshe or the Clouds of Glory?

 

The strange thing is, that in over 30 years of learning that Sedra, and repeating it every single year, I had never been struck by that thought. I read it and just took it for granted that Moshe asked the Edomites, who then refused to grant permission. I may have been blinded by this very early example of anti-Semitism, or possibly just not curious enough.

 

My questioner was much like Albert Einstein, who is rumoured to have credited his amazing plethora of scientific discoveries on the fact that he was a slow developer as a young child. Thus when he was introduced to complicated topics later on in life, he couldn’t fall back on the conventional wisdom that everyone else had absorbed as children, but instead had to analyse them from a fresh point and with a more mature brain. If one learns Chumash properly for the first time as an adult, then you look at it with a mature brain and ask those questions.

 

I now had to think; why indeed did Moshe ask for permission? I was forced to relearn the Sedra, to look at it with a critical eye and not just read the Hebrew as a story. Either we were led by the Clouds of Glory and were blindly following the directions set for us by Hashem, or we were being led by Moshe and relying on his navigational, and in this instance ambassadorial, skills.

 

I have not yet come across an answer in any of the Biblical commentators, (possibly because there is a simple explanation that I have just not considered!) but I would like to suggest my own answer, and one that struck me from the very fact that I had never been bothered by the question in the first place.

 

At this point the Israelites were literally on the border of the Promised Land, their 40 years of wandering were up and they were about to make the transition from the generation of the desert to the generation of Israel. It was time for them to grow up. For the last 40 years they had been led with the Clouds of Glory, much like little children (we were called the Children of Israel!) but now it was time to look at the situation as adults and use our own skills, in this case as showcased by Moshe. It was now our own responsibility to discover our path through life. How indeed do we enter into the Land of Israel? How do we deal when confronted by an intransigent adversary? Does every problem need to be cracked or are we sometimes better off detouring in order to avoid them?

 

Learning Chumash in Cheder and even in Yeshiva, I was being led by my teachers but now I am being led by my students – and lucky am I. For that forces me to look at the text once again and ask the questions, analyse it and come to a deeper understanding and appreciation. Much like everything else in life.

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 by Dovid Lewis

Innocent Arguments – Korach 5777

Innocent Arguments

Korach 5777

Have you ever looked back at a raging argument and tried to understand how it all began? Have you ever had the opportunity to step outside of a controversy and look at it in a dispassionate light?

 

Often times, if we are lucky enough to do so, we discover that the seed that was sown at the outset of this Titanic sized storm, was not only insignificant but possibly also innocent, but once the match has been struck the entire edifice is alight.

 

The Mishna’s definition of a Machlokes is that of Korach and his followers as detailed in this week’s Sedra. {It is interesting to note that the Mishna describes it as the ‘Machlokes of Korach and his followers’ and not as the ‘Machlokes of Korach and Moshe’.} We all know how it ended but how did it start? The flash point was ostensibly to oust Aaron as the Kohen Gadol, but the underlying issue was with Moshe’s authority. Therefore, Korach began with a Halachic question: if a room is filled with Sifrei Torah, each one containing 275 chapters, including the single one of the Shema, do we still need a Mezuzah with a but one single chapter on the doorpost?

 

Leaving aside the motive, on the face of it, the basis of the question seems innocent enough. {The motive, explain our commentators, was that Korach really believed that Moshe would say that no it did not need a Mezuzah, thus allowing him to question why the Community of Israel needed an extra Leader if they were all individually filled with Torah?} How did this innocent, and possibly quite valid Halachic question, explode into such a conflagration that ended with a miraculous opening of the earth and Divinely sent plague that killed thousands?

 

Korach’s mistake, and one that he was simply unable or obstinately unwilling to step back from, was confusing quality over quantity; thinking that he could drown out the truth with an avalanche of innuendos and well-argued polemics. So much within Halacha and Judaism is pin point specific, and so it should be, for Truth walks a very finely balanced line; there is no such thing as something being 99% true, it either is or it isn’t. Of course there is room for manoeuvre, Judaism was the inventor of compromise and case specific application, but those must work within the boundaries of the Law. If there is a Mitzvah to place a Mezuzah on the doorpost to a room then it doesn’t help if the room is filled with holy books, you still haven’t fulfilled your obligation to put one of the doorpost. That’s akin to saying that because someone has given so much to charity he doesn’t need to pay taxes. Or because I buy my wife presents so often, I don’t actually need to tell her that I love her! Extra credits are nice, but they don’t cancel out actual obligations.

 

A little bit of what is correct weighs far more than a ton of useless, even if well meant, platitudes.

 

Unfortunately it is a trap that we are all prone to; we cover up our deficiencies by drowning them with ‘good deeds’, when what might just be needed is one simple act. And such traps are so much harder to escape from, precisely because they are tied up with good. When one is categorically wrong it is easier, if humbling, to be able to ‘fess up. But when the mistake is wrapped up within the legitimacy of truth, albeit twisted, then it is so much harder to correct.

 

Korach’s argument is chosen by the Mishna as the prime example of a Machlokes specifically because it started so innocently. We all know that an evil person can create rift and poison an entire community, but how often do we fall into the innocent trap? It is specifically such an argument that the Mishna warns us about, because it is so easy to start but incredibly hard to end.

 

May Hashem grant us all the humility and intelligence to avoid these arguments,

 

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom

 

Rabbi Dovid 

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