Bechukotai

Inner Avot
This is a re-edited version of something that I rethink when Parshat Bechukotai comes around. Last year when I posted this the feedback focused on the story of the kite, because President Richard Joel told it shortly after I posted it. If you only have time to skim I recommend the story at the end about the Cherokee - I found it online. A friend of mine who is finishing up her psychology PHD has since used that one with clients.

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The lines of consolation which follows Bechukotai’s description of our punishment for straying (which consists of G-d saying that he will remember Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov) are absent from the Tochacha - rebuke in parshat Ki Tavo. Why?

Daily we pray to G-d in the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. What right do we have to ask for things in their merit? The name Pirkei Avot means Chapters of the Fathers. Why is it called the words of the fathers and not the rabbis? Why is each chapter introduced by a Mishna stating that All of Israel has a share in the World to Come?

Rav Nissin Alpert explained that the hopeful note on which this Tochacha ends is hinged upon the Jewish People maintaining an attachment to the values of the Avot. If G-d sees that we have not severed our ties to the qualities of Chesed-Kindness, Gevura-Strength, /Avodah-Service, and Torah - there is hope. In praying daily bizechut Avot-in the merit of our forefathers we invoke G-d's mercy based on the merit of the attributes of our forefathers that are inside us, rather than based on the historical merit of their deeds.

Pirkei Avot is appropriately named because statements that we read in this book are not remote words of distant Sages. These are words of fathers, words that live inside us. We must recognize and nurture this connection if there is to be hope. This idea of connection is reinforced by the Mishna read before each chapter which assures our share in Olam HaBa, the world in which all souls are connected. This idea comes up again, early in the second Perek (2:2) when we're told that the merit of the community’s predecessors helps the community's members.

A little boy was flying a kite. The wind was strong so it was a good day for it. He continuously released string, as the kite soared to the sky. An old man passed and asked the what the kid was doing. The boy said he was flying a kite. The man pointed out that there was no kite in sight, only a taught string leading to the clouds. The boy insisted that his kite was at the end of the line. The man demanded: "How do you know the kite is there?" The boy replied, "I can feel it's tug."

We have the tug of our ancestors inside us. Many of us, like myself, have been blessed with parents that value and passed on Jewish tradition. It would be wise to heed the spirit of the Avot inside us. We must foster Chesed, Gevura/Avodah, and Torah in ourselves and our community. As long as we feel the tug, there is hope.

It takes effort to cultivate the good inside ourselves. In life we become what we make ourselves, not what we simply wish to be. And there is always competition for our attention. One evening a Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle going on inside him; "My son, it is between 2 wolves. One is evil: Anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.The other is good: Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it and asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee replied, "The one I feed."

May we be blessed to nurture the good inside ourselves and to merit great spiritual success.