We were playing handball against the western wall of Yeshivat Eitz Chaim in Toronto. I clearly remember that it was the western wall because there was a drawing of the Kotel – at that time called the Wailing Wall – posted on the wall. It was 1964 and Jews were unable to access the Kotel. The school posted the drawing so that we would remember and pray for the Western Wall.

The ball went flying behind us into the backyard of the house just next to the school. I was going to climb through the hedges to reclaim my “pinky” ball but everyone yelled, “Stop! You can’t go there. Grouchy lives there!”

Thank God, I listened. Grouchy came flying out the back door just waiting for his next victim to devour!

I noticed that Grouchy had a tattoo of numbers on his arm, just like Ben, the school-bus driver, and most of the teachers and rabbeim. In fact, almost all the parents I knew had similar tattoos. I was jealous because neither of my parents, and none of my grandparents had tattoos. My doctor had one, as did my dentist. The butcher had one, and so did the barber, and my building’s super. It seemed like most adults had numbers. I wondered how old you had to be to get one. After all, my parents were already ancient and they didn’t have numbers. My grandparents were beyond ancient; they were from a different century, and they didn’t get to have tattoos either.

I met Grouchy one day at the bus stop and he was very nice. “Why are you so scared of me?” “Because, you’re so grouchy!”

“You would also be grouchy if you had one of these,” he said pointing to his tattoo. When he saw the blank look in my face, he explained who tattooed him, where and when. I still tear when I remember his story. The Germans tortured and killed his wife and children in front of his eyes before sending him to a place called Treblinka.

Grouchy and I became friends. I asked the other kids to stop calling him Grouchy and retold his story. The most common response was: “My parents’ story is worse and they are not grouchy!”

I thought of Grouchy this morning on my daily walk. There is a man who looks just like Grouchy who never greets any of the other walkers. He refuses to move aside for anyone, despite the unspoken rule that you always walk to the right. I greet him every morning with a big smile and he refuses to acknowledge me. His grouchiness is infectious. It affects my mood.

This morning I saw his tattoo when I past him on my first lap, and remembered Grouchy.

There is another man I see every morning who is the polar opposite. He has the most beautiful smile and he greets everyone. We all call him “Smiley”. He lifts my mood even more than Grouchy ruins it. I passed him just after passing Grouchy and I was so infected by his smile that I decided to try again with my new Grouchy. “Good morning! How are you this wonderful morning?”

He stopped, looked at me, noticed my Curious George t-shirt and laughed. “Good morning to you.” Smiley infected me with his smile and I was finally able to infect Grouchy.

The power of a smile. No wonder God asks us to smile when we serve Him: “Because you did not serve God, your Lord, amid gladness and goodness of heart.” (Deuteronomy 28:47) The bible is describing the most horrible curses and explains that they will come because we are, well, so grouchy when we serve Him!

Imagine if everyone walked around with Smiley’s infectious smile when serving God! Awesome!

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“In the “Judgment” of the Book of Changes, whenever one encounters dangerous circumstances the advice is always: “Cross the river.” One can see from this that the real purpose of boats is to deliver people from danger rather than to provide comfort.” Pleasure Boat Studio by Ou-yang Hsiu (1007 – 1072)

We seem to take Hsiu’s advice quite seriously. We refer to our first patriarch, Abraham as “Ivri” – what Hsiu would call a river crosser. In fact, many people referred to us as Ivrim for a long time.

But we do not cross the river to avoid dangerous circumstances. We actually cross towards them: “For you are crossing the Jordan to come and possess the Land that God, your Lord, gives you.” We are certainly river crossers, not to avoid, but to confront.

Our definition of Ivri is not “from the other side” but one who can bridge both sides of the river. Our challenge is to stand on both sides of the river – to bridge the spiritual and physical worlds.

We also differ from Hsiu’s definition of a boat’s purpose: “This world is like the shore and the World to Come like the sea.” (Kohelet Rabbah 1:36) The Midrash compares the World to Come as a journey on the sea. There will be no dangers to escape. The journey will be filled with joy and comfort.

We are Ivrim – River Crossers and Bridges – in order to prepare for the ultimate journey on the sea of the Coming World. No wonder we live by Halacha – Instructions for Journeying!

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There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, (or) and a sorcerer. (Deuteronomy 18:10)

A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deuteronomy 19:15)

The Grand Duchess Olga, sister of the last tsar, described Rasputin as “changeable as a chameleon”. Vera Zhukovskaya recalls: “When you remember that amazing peculiarity of his changing in an instant…sitting there would be a simple, illiterate little peasant, a bit crude, scratching himself, his tongue barely moving and the words slipping clumsily out…when suddenly he would turn into an inspired prophet…and then another bound of the changeling and his white teeth would be crunching with a savage, bestial voluptuousness, and from behind the heavy curtain of his wrinkles something shamelessly predatory would nod, unrestrained, like a young animal…and then just as suddenly instead of an ungirded rowdy, a grizzled Siberian wanderer would be sitting there, someone who for thirty years had been searching the world for God.”

The singer Belling, who saw Rasputin many times, writes of his rotten teeth and foul breath. Zhukovskaya tells us that “his teeth were perfect and complete down to the very last one, and his breath was absolutely fresh.” (The Rasputin File by Edvard Radzinsky)

I enjoy watching a magic show, a skillful use of sleight-of-hand. Unfortunately, chameleons such as Rasputin have often hurt me: people who can present themselves one way and immediately switch to another role. They are the more frightening sorcerers. They cause us to question our sanity and weaken our power of observation.

I imagine that most people have met such chameleons, yet we still do not learn to pay better attention to our power of observation. We are so accustomed to the sorcerers and chameleons that we fail to pay attention to the second verse quoted above: We are willing to accept the testimony of a single witness.

We believe a single witness who shares some juicy gossip with us. We do not question his or her power of observation. We do not even try to use ours when listening before passing judgment on the topic of the gossip. We may not even be sure that the gossiper is not a chameleon himself: People often speak poorly of others to make themselves look good. Isn’t that an essential tool of the chameleon?

Do we practice the sorcerer’s chameleon? Do we portray ourselves one way to some and in an entirely different way to others?

Do our powers of observation suffer when we practice the sorcerer’s chameleon?

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At 5AM I was at the stop sign at the entrance to my neighborhood. I was on my way to my morning hike and I didn’t expect too much traffic, but this morning it was actually dangerous. A few cars refused to stop. Each time I was about to drive forward, a car came shooting past the stop sign and cut me off. Finally, one car stopped and it was safe for me to make my turn.

I thought about Sir Isaiah Berlin’s definition (in The Hedgehog and The Fox) of “Positive” and “Negative” freedoms. The former is the ability to do what I want. The latter is my acceptance of certain rules in order to allow me to function in society. A red traffic light forces me to stop. Although it limits my positive freedom; I can’t drive ahead just because it is what I want to do, it allows me the freedom to drive ahead when the light is green. I can rely on people stopping for the light that is red for them. The negative freedom allows me to drive with more security. When other people refuse to obey the laws, I lose my negative freedom. I gave up my ability to drive without stopping assuming that cars driving across the road would also stop. The cars I saw this morning did not stop. They deprived me of my freedoms, positive and negative.

It was remarkable that all the cars that refused to stop were quite expensive. They were high end BMWs, Mercedes, and Lexus. The car that finally stopped was more of my kind of car; an older Ford. It almost seems that the rules do not apply if you can afford a car worth more than $50,000 (Or, if you’re Argentine; but that’s a different story – See Broken Rules II)

One of the reasons that I love Halacha – The Torah’s Instructions For Traveling Through Life – is that it creates a system that makes sense and helps preserve our sanity. For example: I must rebuke someone for doing something I find hateful. I must speak with care and respect, but I may not keep my negative feelings inside. (See The Music of Halacha Rebuke Introduction, I & 2) The system actually works if the other person is willing to hear what I have to say. In fact, the Ibn Ezra explains that usually he will be able to explain why he acted the way he did, and everyone leaves the situation in a happy mood. The system only works if all parties cooperate. What happens when someone breaks the rules? What happens if I choose to function within the system and the other rejects it?

The Torah, in this week’s portion, Re’eih, addresses this issue and has a message for people who speed through stop signs: “Rather, you shall surely open your hand to him (the poor person): you shall lend him his requirement, whatever is lacking to him.” (Deuteronomy 15:8) The Talmud teaches that “his requirement” means that we must provide the poor person with the standard of living that he has lost. Hillel the Elder hired people to serve as runners for a wealthy man who had lost everything. The man was accustomed to great fanfare whenever he traveled and Hillel felt that it was important for the man’s dignity. One day, Hillel couldn’t hire anyone so he served as the runner.

The Mitzvah of Tzedaka – Charity – obligates us to pay attention to the specific needs of the recipient. The Torah wants us to see the world through the eyes of the other. We cannot survive when we only see the world through our own eyes. “His requirement” reminds us to deal with others based on their needs and perspectives.

Halacha wants the wealthy and secure person to pay close attention to those who also were once wealthy and secure. The wheels of life turn. The system continues whether or not we pay attention or obey the rules.

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The Name Without the Reality

A student who does not study the appointed themes is not a real student.

A mourner who feels no grief when condoling with the bereaved is not a real mourner.

An old servant who neither tidies things away nor chatters about family affairs is not a real old servant.

A host who escorts a guest no further than the door is not a real host.

A cook without an apron or knife and chopping block is not a real cook.

A teacher who does not correct his pupil’s exercises and studies is not a real teacher.

Underlings who not squabble and curse are not real underlings.

Li Shang-yin (858 C.E. – China)

How can we make sure that what we do and whom we are is real?

“It will be that if you hearken to My commandments that I command you today, to love God, your Lord, and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 11:13) The love must turn into action – service. We must reify each and every idea we learn by making them part of our service of God. We cannot allow our powerful experiences and insights to remain A Name Without Reality.

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In the Analects, Confucius’ definition of goodness starts with the “golden rule,” but he takes his concept further, famously stating that to be good, one must be “resolute and firm, simple and slow in speech.”

The Master said, ‘To be resolute and firm, simple and slow in speech, is to approach true goodness.’ (Analects 13.27 [17]). Commentator Wang Su said, ‘Gang [resolute] is to be without desire; yi [firm] is to be determined and daring; mu is to be simple; na is to be slow in speech. To be possessed of these four qualities is to approach true goodness.’ …

”

‘Simple and slow in speech’ becomes almost a refrain in the teachings of Confucius. For instance, in 12.3, he says, ‘The person of true goodness is restrained in speech.’

Throughout the text he repeatedly cautions his followers not to mistake eloquence for substance, as in 1.3: ‘The Master said – artful words and a pleasing countenance have little, indeed, to do with true goodness.’ …

”

Commentator Zhu Xi wants to understand why this is so. The answer for him is partly that restraint in speech indicates a general self-restraint, which, in turn, indicates that one’s original mind and heart, with its endowed true goodness, has been preserved and not won over by selfish desires. … For Zhu, words that are not simple but, rather, are ‘artful’ are evidence of ‘adorning oneself on the outside in an effort to please others, a matter of human desire having grown dissolute.’ ”

We confront the question of eloquence versus simplicity when we praise God. “One may only use Moshe’s words of praise to speak of God: “The Almighty, Who is Great, Powerful and Awesome.” (Megillah 18a) Rabbeinu Avraham ben HaGra insists that all prayer is based on these four Hebrew words: “HaKail, HaGadol, HaGibbor, V’HaNorah”.

There is danger in waxing too eloquent in praising One Who is Infinite. Our attempts to exhaust God’s praises imply that we can find words to describe this Infinite being.

We are limited in finding the proper words for the essential part of our prayers. If we must be so careful in our praise of God, should we not be as careful in all areas of our speech? We can use the discipline of speech in praise to train ourselves to speak so we may approach true goodness.

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The opening passage of the Parsha holds the key to understanding courage. Zimri desecrated G-d’s name by publicly flaunting his illicit relationship with the Midianite Princess, Kozbi bat Tzor. Pinchas reacts passionately and in accordance with the Halachah of that time, assassinates Zimri and kills Kozbi. Hashem responds by rewarding Pinchas with an everlasting Brit Shalom (Covenant of Peace) manifesting in the hereditary rights of Kehuna. From now on Pinchas and his male descendants would be Kohanim. Rashi and others ask if Pinchas was already a Kohen, the grandson of Aharon the Kohen Gadol, what was new in this “gift” of Kehuna that G-d now gave him? Rashi answers that Kehuna had only been given to Aharon and to Aharon’s sons (and their descendants) who were anointed at that time with Aharon. But since Pinchas was already born but was not anointed, he in fact did not become a Kohen until this moment.The Zohar however says that a Kohen who murders, loses his status and rights of Kehuna. The Sefat Emet[1] points out accordingly that Pinchas had lost his Kehuna when he killed Zimri, and G-d returned it to him as a reward for his intervention in the Zimri affair. Pinchas sacrificed his life (Zimri would have been fully entitled to kill Pinchas in self defense – that was a risk Pinchas took) and his Kehuna. He had no idea that Hashem would return it to him; he assumed it would be lost forever. He was willing to lose his Kehuna to do what was right. His reward lay exactly in the things he sacrificed: He was given eternal life (Pinchas is Eliyahu Hanavi who never died), and he and his descendants are given back the Kehuna they lost.

The fear of loss precludes courage: Herein lies the foundation of courage: So long as people fear loss they will lack courage. We have courage when we are willing to surrender our attachments to everything except our own souls. People who are inextricably attached to their physical lives, will not risk their lives for anything. People who are attached to relationships in ways they could never sever, will never risk them. People attached to power, will compromise their values to retain their power, and people attached to material belongings will never act in ways that could risk the loss of those belongings. The capacity to detach is the condition for courage. The idea in Mussar that best expresses detachment, is Perishut.

Detachment does not mean disengagement: Perishut does not mean disengagement, it means surrendering dependency. A person can be deeply engaged in a relationship, but not be attached to it in a needy or addictive manner. While the relationship exists he or she is fully committed to it and engaged in it. But should the need arise to take a stand on a matter of principle bigger even than the relationship itself, they will not hesitate to put that cause before the relationship. That is courage. The military hero, who has left a loving family at home as he goes into battle to protect his land and his nation, will sacrifice his relationship if that is what is needed for the safety of his land. That does not mean that he does not love his family, nor that he is not entirely committed to them. It simply means he is not attached to them in a way that would make it impossible for him to detach if need be, to do what is right.People who risk their status and influence to make a moral stand, have courage. People who sacrifice their popularity to talk the truth, have courage. People who sacrifice their wealth for the education of their children or to go on Aliyah, have courage. People who fight or whose children fight on our behalf in the Israeli army have courage: they risk, and sometimes sadly give, their lives for us. That does not mean that those people do not value their status, popularity, wealth or children’s lives. It just means they are not inextricably attached to those things, and if absolutely necessary would sacrifice them for a higher purpose.

The reward for sacrifice

The outcome of acting with courage is so interesting and counter-intuitive. We learn from the story of Pinchas that courageous people gain exactly what they sacrificed, but in a higher dimension. People that sacrifice status for a higher purpose, ultimately gain honor: sometimes honor in the eyes of others, sometimes they experience that honor only in their own eyes. The wealth gained from educated children exceeds the wealth of the money invested in that education. Even heroic soldiers who die al Kiddush Hashem (for the sanctification of G-d’s name[2]) and their parents who have sacrificed their sons, achieve an eternity in this world and the next to which no one else can aspire.

Growth manifests in diminishing attachments

As we evolve spiritually, increasing our connection with our own Ruchniut (spirituality), we decrease our dependence on all other attachments. It is a little like a child who grows out of his intense attachment to his childhood toys as he grows older. If we are as attached now to the same things we were some years ago, we have failed to grow. Ultimately, as we loosen our attachments (but not our engagement) with more and more of the things around us, we prepare ourselves for the ultimate evolution. An evolution to a state of detachment from everything we knew except our souls and Hashem. If we die before we detach, the pain of separation is severe.

The Three Weeks and Tisha Be’Av

Sometimes we detach from the things we are meant never to be detached from. Sometimes we feel detached from our own souls, sometimes even from Hashem. Many people wonder why they do not genuinely feel pain and sorrow during the Three Weeks or even on Tisha Be’Av. It is because they are detached from the idea of the Beit Hamikdash, and so do not feel its loss. That is misplaced courage! During these weeks we try to gain a deeper feeling of the glamour and majesty of life with the Temple and the tragedy of Jewish life without it. Then we feel the loss. Then we experience the pain.This is a time to experience loss for more than the Beit Hamikdash. During these hard Three Weeks we are all too aware of the millions of courageous people who sacrificed their lives for Hashem, the Torah and the Jewish people. Some had no choice but others willingly chose to sacrifice their lives rather than lose their souls. They are the heroes of this period. They valued their lives but were not so attached to life that they could not sacrifice it for something bigger: the eternity of the Torah and the Jewish people. Those men and women, like Pinchas, teach us courage.

Notes:

[1] Pinchas, 5641

[2] The Torah allows us to risk our lives (even for G-d) only in vary rare circumstances. In the case of military activity we may only do so only to defend our religion, our people or our land when their survival is threatened. This is a very opposite philosophy from that which drives the actions of Islamic Fundamentalist extremists.

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O would some Power the gift to give us

To see ourselves as others see us!

It would from many a blunder free us…

Robert Burns: “To a Louse”

Balak and Balaam offer us a wonderful opportunity: Balak hired Balaam to curse the Children of Israel. The king of Moab was terrified that Moses would lead his nation in battle against Moab and capture her cities and decimate her armies as Israel had done to Sihon the king of the Amorites.

Just a few portions earlier, the spies complained, “we were grasshoppers in the yes of the Canaanites.” Now we read of a king who saw us as giants and felt as vulnerable as a grasshopper. Did the Children of Israel understand how others perceived them?

Balak hired Balaam, the great prophet, because the Midianites had advised him that Moses’ power was in his mouth – his ability to communicate directly with God. Did the Children of Israel appreciate how others perceived them and their leader?

Balaam’s curses/blessings afford us ample insight into how an outsider, an enemy, perceived the greatness of Israel: Balaam celebrated their sense of community and modesty: “How goodly are your tents Jacob!” Did the Children of Israel know how even their enemies acknowledged their strengths?

The gentile prophet honored the role that Israel would play in history. He understood how they would survive as “A nation that would dwell on its own,” separate, but strong in their nationhood. Did the nation camped around the Mishkan – Tabernacle – unaware that Balaam was standing on a mountain observing them and honoring the great role they were to play in history?

The Children of Israel did not know that Balaam was there. They were unaware of the great respect and awe in which Balak and Balaam held them. Balaam knew this as well, and was able to suggest to Balak a devastating strategy to corrupt a nation unaware of its own greatness.

Would the Children of Israel have sinned with the daughters of Moab if they were aware of their greatness, or if they had an inkling of how others perceived them? I think not.

Perhaps this portion can serve as a reminder to stop and consider how others perceive us.

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No, it is not a typo or spelling mistake. The Manichaeans, (the original faith embraced by Augustine), the Cathars (from where we derive “catharsis”) and the Bogomils (from where we derive “bugger”) were early dualist faiths. They believed that there were, in fact, two sources of divine power in the cosmos, one good and one evil.

I was reminded of these dualists as I chanted the Haftarah – The Prophetic Selection – this past week. Micah has an interesting way of referring to Balak and Balaam’s attempt to curse the Children of Israel: “My nation, remember now what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered him.” (Micah 6:5) The prophet does not refer to Balaam’s equal desire to curse Israel or Balaam’s strategy to corrupt Israel through the daughters of Moab. Micah asks us to remember the plot and Balaam’s answer.

Balak understood that the battle would be a spiritual war, one with which he was totally unfamiliar. Aware that Midian was equally concerned with this new nation on the political and military scene, He turned to his ancient enemy for advice. Moshe spent many years with them and Balak expected that they would have a sense of his powers. The Midianites, who remembered the Moshe with the speech impediment before his experience at the Burning Bush and the beginning of his prophecy, somehow understood that Moshe’s power was his ability to communicate with God.

The two nations decided to hire Balaam, the great prophet of the nations, albeit a hedonist, to lead them in this battle of unfamiliar territory. The Midianites are too frustrated by Balaam’s corruption to stick with the strategy and Balak is left to handle the only prophet in history considered by the Sages to be the equal of Moses.

Balak was confused by Balaam’s constant reference to God – The God of Israel – as the One in charge. Balak and Balaam offer sacrifices to this great power, and even when the first curses come out as blessings, Balak, despite his frustration, asks Balaam, “What did God speak?” (Numbers 23:17)

Balak accepts that this hedonist, Balaam, is Moab’s only hope. He accepts that they must make offerings to Israel’s God. He even accepts that Balaam will only be able to speak God’s words. So how can he possibly believe that they will succeed in cursing God’s nation with God’s help?

Balak, much as the Manichaeans, the Cathars, and the Bogomils was a dualist, although of a different and more dangerous sort: He believed that the spiritual and physical worlds were completely unrelated. Balak accepted that the former did not function according to any of the rules of the latter. Balak, a supremely practical and insightful king, simply accepted Balaam’s “answers” that the spiritual war with Israel would not make practical sense to a simple human being.

This is why the Targum Yonatan describes the final confrontation between Balaam and Pinchas as he does: “When Balaam saw that Pinchas was chasing him, he used his magic to fly into the air. Pinchas used the Name of God, rose up to the heavens, grabbed Balaam, pulled him down to earth, and only then, killed him.” Balaam, the dualist, believed that Israel could only exist in the heavens. They would never live a physical life on this world. It could only be one or the other.

Pinchas pulled Balaam down to earth before killing him to make a statement that Israel does not believe that there are two separate worlds that are unrelated. The Children of Israel understand that the spiritual and physical function together. We do not strive to escape this world in order to live and flourish spiritually. We find the beauty and spirituality here on this world.

The Balaks, Balaams, and Manichaeans are all long gone, but we continue to thrive in both the spiritual and physical realms.

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Cook Ting is cutting an ox into pieces as Lord Wen-hui stands looking on. He carries out a virtuoso performance – as rhythmic and flowing as a dance. The lord, filled with awe and admiration, cannot suppress his delight. “Ah, your method is superb!” he says. Cook Ting lays down his knife and replies that, really, there is no method, except that after having carved thousands of oxen, it is the Way that guides him unerringly from his first cut to his last. He elaborates further, and when he has finished, Lord Wen-hui proclaims, “Excellent! I have heard the words of Cook Ting and learned how to care for life!” (Chau Tzu: Basic Writings)

The cook has carved up thousands of oxen. Have many hundreds of onlookers become enlightened? No. An awakening comes only to those who, like Lord Wen-hui, are prepared to receive the cook’s inadvertent lesson.

There are artists of life, artists of Chesed – Life Force Nurturers – artists of education etc. It is not their “method” that is superb, but, rather their Derech – their way. Judaism is a “Path” – it provides a direction, as we walk – Halacha. It encourages us to be Walkers Along The Path – “Mehalchim” (Zachariah 7) To learn from the Artists of Walking – we must, as Lord Wen-hui, be prepared to receive their lessons. The process of learning begins with the student’s desire for awakening.

Only then, will we see beyond the method and notice the path, which will then invite and direct us.

Moshe declared: “We shall travel on the king’s road.” (Numbers 21:22) The path is open and prepared. Are we?

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