The Friday Evening Post

.
.
On Scrubbing

To me a neat poem is real, a clean toilet less so. Yet, these things must be cared for and so this morning I am cleaning house. I like when things are ordered but making them so is not my forte. Yet, I value the concept, and even the thing itself and occasionally force myself to dive in - or more aptly, to wet my toes.

One of the odd jobs I did, while spending my twenties in yeshiva in Jerusalem, was that of pot washer. I did it a handful of times, but it was for hours each time. There was something otherworldly and also uniquely real about the act of washing dishes. The kitchen was an old school operation. I wore a giant rubber apron and sprayed water at high speeds onto large quantities of large cooking and eating utensils. There was little choice but to throw myself totally in to the moment and thus into the water and metal and rubber. And I sweated. And it felt very different, very difficult, and very good.

As much as I am disinclined to doing housework I sometimes think back to that yeshiva kitchen. I just now sat on the floor of my bathroom scrubbing away. And when it started to hurt I escaped to the computer. But, perhaps if I go back, push, and sweat it out, I'll get more of what I got in yeshiva that the learning didn't provide. Perhaps as I return now to clean I'll find something that this typing can't give me. I'm not sure what it is, but I know it when I experience it. Maybe it is the simple joy of hard physical labor. Or it is simply a clear example of how effort can remove dirt and purify. Perhaps it is the use of mostly body and a little bit mind, as opposed to the writing process which is the reverse (if the tapping of fingers counts at all). What it is is good. And while I sigh as I leave my keyboard, the same time I am happy to go back to the floor to scrub some more.

-----------------------------------------------

In the past I posted a family related thought on Nassa. Here's a different angle of the parsha:

Chanukah In May

Aharon HaKohein became disheartened upon seeing the heads of the tribes bringing offerings, while his tribe did not. G-d told him not to feel bad, because they had something greater to do. That is the traditional explanation for why the offerings of the Nesi'im and the command to light the menorah appear next to one another.

The Ramban says that this text alludes to the future lighting of the menorah at the time of Chanukah. The Ramban's approach serves to clarify why the simple act of illuminating the menorah lifted Aharon's spirit.

G-d told Aharon not be overly impressed by the hoopla that the Nesi'im made when the Temple was dedicated. It's typical that people when celebrate a new phenomenon they are enthused. Hashem consoled Aharon by telling him that his tribe would remain committed long after the honeymoon had ended. Years after the Mishkan was dedicated, during a time when Jews were attracted to foreign values the Kokanim stayed connected. Chanukah was a time of darkness when it was only the Kohanim who rekindled the menorah, remaining steady and loyal in their task.

It's so hard but so important to work to stay thrilled by the things that matter in life. It is normal to lose the charge that we feel at the start of anything we love. And when the excitement fades we must gently remind ourselves that it's only human to come down from our initial high. A sophisticated human trait is to struggle with downfalls from initial bursts of inspiration. And one of the greatest marks of a spiritual individual is to rekindle the spark of enthusiasm that burned when we first dedicated our souls to G-d.

May we be blessed to stay committed and excited.

PS - Another example of this idea is that in Shema we are told to serve G-d with all our life (to be willing to gve up our life) and after that we're told to serve G-d with all our money (or whatever is very dear to us the way money is to some people). The idea here is that we must try to be in it for the long hall. Heroic as it s, giving up one's life for G-d can only be done once, but dedicating one's precious resourses to G-d again and again is a lifetime's work.

(For a list of related examples about keeping commited in the long run after initial passions fade see here.)

--------------------

On The Accepted Protocal of Anonymity in Blogging

Last Shabbos I had three Friday night guests, all bloggers. One of them assumed that I know his secret blogger identity, but I don't. He was listed on Gil Student's blogs recommended for RCA rabbis, but I have no clue what his blog is.

--------------------

A Good Book

In the summer of '89 in Boston I discovered The Bathroom Reader. I thought, as the editors may have too, that it was a one time deal. I recall walking down the street reading the book that I purchased along with Leo Buscaglia's Love as I went. Today, it's become a major series. They've put out at least twenty, probably a lot more. A dedicated parent of one of my Public Speaking students told me that her daughter's history of chocolate chip cookie's came from one of those volumes. Here are two unelated tidbits that struck me from the 16th volume of The Bathroom Reader earlier today in The Reading Room:

In four seconds three million gallons of water flow over Niagra Falls.

Tommy Cooper observes: "It's strange, isn't it? You stand in the middle of a library and go 'aaaaagghh' and everyone just stares at you. But you do the same thing on an airplane, and everyone joins in."

--------------------

Weak Point Scream Like Hell

A man was once curious what kind of words were in the scribbled notes that his preacher wrote in the margins of his sermon's notes. So he looked and saw in bold letters on one section's side the words WEAK POINT SCREAM LIKE HELL.

I could write forever about that story. It seems to apply often in almost ubiquitous ways. At meetings both formal and in I find that people tend to talk loud, bully, cut off, push, when they feel insecure about their point or position. This relates to the Gemorah (Megillah) that says Hedyot Kofeitz BeRosh. It literally means that a simple/regular person jumps to the head. It includes the notion that someone who feels like less pushes to the front.

---------------------

Absolutely Nothing

After Shul last night the rabbi asked me if I had a good joke for him. I asked him whgat his next sermon was going to be about so I could offer a possible introductory joke. He said his topic for Shabbos was going to be why he didn't want to speak on Shabbos. This is what I came up with. He liked it. So if you are reading this here and on Shabbos hear/heard it from your rabbi you'll know where I was for Maariv last night.

A man is showing a newcomer around Shul. And when services start he tells him what different signals and cues mean. He explains "When the rabbi lifts his hand up, it means all should rise. When the rabbi motions down with his hands it means all should sit." The other man asks, "What does it mean when the rabbi is delivering his sermon and he glances at his watch?" And the other fellow replies, "Absolutely nothing."

--------------------

Another Hint

I heard a wide array of Torah Talks over YT.

Rav Herschel Schachter spoke about Shemitah. He mentioned that the Heter Mechira goes back to the 1600s and was set by several Sephardic Rabbis that were described by a later Gadol as having thicker fingers than our wists in terms of Torah Greatness. Rav Yitzchak Elchanon Spector signed on after seeing the original heter in print in a sefer that was procured for him with great effort (after he said that he might agree to it if someone showed him that sefer). Rav Soloveitchik went like his father who felt in an extreme way that the heter was not acceptable because it couldn't get off the ground because Eretz Yisrael can't possibly be sold. He told Rabbi Genack that the OU, being outside of Israel in particular, should not rely on the heter in its hashgachas. On the other hand Rabbi Soloveitchik, when asked about the heter mechira by Baal HaBatim that made aliya asked them, "do you sell your chametz?" He didn't impose his adherance to his father's view on them.

Also heard Rabbi Akiva Bloch On BeChukoteihem lo Teileichu. He discussed how the 2 times in VaYikra (18:3 and 20:23-26) and one time in Devarim (12:29-30) all present different angles on the prohibition. The two clear angles of it are either to be separate and distinct or to be a fence of protection from idol worship. He aplied this to flowers in Shul on Shavuot and other issues.

Also heard Rabbi Jeremy Weider on Torah SheBeAl Peh. What is DeOraita? Why is there machloket? I found what he said to be fascinating, but I also find it hard to "say over." The topic of Torah SheBeAlPeh is a crucial one to be discussed. Most people's issues with traditional Judaism IMHO boil down to acceptance of Torah SheBeAlPeh - in other words - Rabbinic Authority. He made a lot of interesting asides, but I hope one day I can re-present the whole talk. (One of the asides was that he doesn't b elieve that the "tzurat hadaf" was given at Sinai, but suspects that some might. Another was that he thinks that just like Moshe didn't understand Rabbi Akiva's Shiur, so too Rabbi Akiva wouln't have understood Rav Chaim Brisker's shiur. Here's a bit of the part that I find hard to formulate - according to the Rambam these changes are because later rabbis can reinterpret (as long as there's a Beis Din HaGadol standing) and that these interpretations can in certain cases still be considered Deoraita - Torah law.

I gave one shiur myself, perhaps to be presented here at a later time.

Proffessor Alan Brill presented a talk on the Zohar's view of Torah, which is deserving of a post of it's own (and I mean that in a good way) at another time.

---------------------

Gut Erev Shabbos

Shabbos is approaching. Life is ticking by. Factors are encroaching. I don't want to die. I don't want to sever any part of life. I want to live forever. I don't want to die. Shabbos makes it feel, like my dream is real, that my essence will live on, even after my body is gone. Shabbos is a taste of life, a taste of life without haste, a day when Shabbos is complete, a day when peace is an achievable feat.

Shabbat Shalom