Then You Will Shape Many Students

"Have you had this exact situation many times before?" a student recently asked me. I was saying things that resonated to his unique predicament, listening with a whole heart - as best I could. I had never heard a situation like his before. And I have heard situations like his hundreds of times before. The Rabbis teach, "Hevei metunim bedin." Rabeinu Ovadia MiBartenura explains that even if the same scenario seems to present itself one hundred times, you should look at it like new each time. This is true for a court officer, but more importantly it's important for anyone who wishes to be an evolved human being. By seeing a case as new you are enabled to draw on common denominators from the foundations of cases, so different and so similar. Sophisticated wisdom comes with conscious effort combined with time. True wisdom is the blessing from G-d to take what we've seen and taken in once and applying it to another context that arises later.

A colleague recently complimented me sincerely, saying that he was impressed, calling me Machiavellian. Oy. I don't know where to start on that one. I hope and pray and work to be decent, sincere, and kind. Adding some goodness to the lives of others is on my to do list every day. I confess that efforts toward survival on various levels are something that in this "real" world (portrayed so well in Bang The Drum Slowly) I've learned, despite my tender inclination, to try to remember to keep on my radar. But Machiavellian? What's that saying about what Peter says about Paul? As Michael Stipe put it, "I've said too much, but not enough."

Here and here I speak about the expression, "man's inhumanity against man." It's funny [not ha ha]; this is the third year in a row that at around the same time I felt compelled to mention this reality. I am reminded of what someone wise once said, that some tragedies make belief in G-d difficult, but the greatest tragedies in life are the ones that make belief in man impossible.

That reminds me of sweet moment that happened this morning in Davening. A student who doesn't seem to normally groove on prayer asked if I could recommend any tefila for him to look at on his own, to read and take in. I showed him Ahavti, Haleli Nafshi, and Brich Shmei (the latter, which I hope to never forget my father -HSLABW- once turning to me in Shul and saying, "Take at look at the English on this, it's beautiful.") He liked what he read, but was troubled by the theme in both Haleli Nafshi and Brich Shmei of not putting any trust in man. "Don't you sometimes need to trust other people?" An excellent question. I told him some of my thoughts. Perhaps I should have told him what my supervisor Ruth used to tell me whenever I had a question relating to my life/work, "Think about it." Instead of writing more here, I will ask/tell you to "think about it."