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Introduction
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For those who have asked and those who would like to, Bill is progressing well. He is back to work, for the most part and his voice is sounding pretty much like the guy I married. He says that he still feels weak when he stands too long and tires more easily. However, things appear well on the mend.
This week was also the first week back to classes at the CCJS, so things are getting back to full swing there, as well. And then there is the push of getting the thesis done in time for the timetable that will allow me to actually graduate with the masters this summer. One more step on the staircase of my life.
The crash of the water, the Mitzrayim of my recent crises, that is behind me. I now have to see about making my way through the mid'bar (wilderness, words, thing), the causative things that convert the thoughts and ideas in my head into the words and papers and teachings I, in turn, pass to others. Classes to complete, independent studies to do, private lessons and teaching, working on the thesis. While it is not nearly the work of Moshe, it leaves me with some of the same issues, namely finding enough time for me and my family.
This is a common problem throughout our civilization. Some tell me it is the American Puritan work ethic, but I think it is more. First of all, it is in more cultures than America, so that destroys the Americanism part.
There was even an email that ran around for a while describing how the busy day goes on, chasing one distraction after another, never getting anything really done, but incredibly busy.
So what is it about? I think in some ways it is an addiction -- an addiction to activity. (activitism for those who want an ism for it). If it is a behavioral addiction, let's look at that mechanism. (Other behavioral addictions include compulsive shopping, gambling, etc) The physical mechanism behind it is an endorphin quest that comes from the activity because endorphins make us feel better. We naturally release endorphins when we are happy and things are going well. We also naturally release endorphins during periods of pain and stress. And so, our bodies can learn that to associate adrenalin with endorphin release. This is the physical mechanism behind the behavior.
So does that mean that all busy people are to be lumped together with those exhibiting compulsive behavior? Not necessarily, but worth looking at, at least if you are the busy person. A fellow rabbinical student taught me a type of question to ask people to help them see if they are really having a disconnect issue of if things have just gotten a bit out of kilter in a situational kind of thing. The latter is the more common and we all do it from time to time -- it is the failing to recognize the disconnect that is the illness, not the disconnect itself.
So the acid test, if you will is do you have enough time for yourself, your Self and your family? The daily davvening is Self time, so you can Breathe and remind yourself that there is a higher Power and that the Holy One is there for you. The time with family, just watching the kids for a few minutes can also be one of these breathing times. The little bracha is a moment to be breathed and settle down and enjoy the gift of food before you.
So if you are too busy to do these things -- can a Yitro say, "What is this thing that you do .... from morning to evening? ... this thing is too heavy for you."(18:14, 17) and you will look around and say "wow, let me organize things and make time for me and my family" or will you deny the addiction? And, having said that things needed to be done, will you do it -- or will you be powerless to the compulsion to be busy?
So I test myself every day -- do I make time for the davvening, do I make time for the little things? It's okay to push hard for the big things, like the MA -- but I need to be mindful of how close I come to the edge because I might not be lucky enough to have a Yitro to ask me what I am doing.
JOIN ME IN AUGUST!! I will be speaking at the Children of Abraham Journey Together Interfaith Chautauqua at Lakeside Ohio (Aug 17-24, 2002). It is a beautiful site and the conference was fantastic last year. Check out the website: http://childrenofabraham.homestead.com/index.html and join us!
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1. Parsha details: Ex 18:1-20:26 [Haftorah Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 10:5,6]
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2. Questions and a few observations
Summary: Moshe meets with Yitro, his father-in-law and his family rejoins him. Yitro gives Moshe some sound fatherly advice and Moshe sets up the system of judges in Israel. The children of Israel move to Har Sinai and there are several interchanges with God, including the offer of covenant and Israel's acceptance. Then we receive the Ten Rules (Asara Dibreya) and some lesser mitzvot. This is a powerful Parsha!
I have not included any discussion of the Ten Rules and will not in this week's discussion -- this topic warrants a separate discussion, which I will do at another time.
Last year I spent a fair amount of effort looking at the implications of transition to nationhood for Yisrael (1.2 million + from 600,000 men and 600,000? women and ???? children and ??? mixed multitude). So let's look more at this interchange between Yitro and Moshe from a one-on-one perspective.
Yitro, after hearing what Moshe says he is doing says "Listen now to my voice, I will advise you, and God shall be with you."(18:19) Now, wouldn't you like to have someone tell you how to have the One with you? And Moshe recognizes the gift and the truth in Yitro's advice. Yitro offers him the time to meditate and think about and to ask the Divine if that is the best method -- but Moshe does not need do think about it at all. All that Yitro suggested is wise and Moshe sees clearly the wisdom of the advice.
WOW -- Moshe, who just stood up to Pharaoh, who just led this nation of all kinds of people though an amazing sea and, with them, witnessed the destruction of their enemies just in time, has no problem hearing the truth in Yitro's words and following his advice. And from his wife's father, no less.
It is such a key into Moshe's absolute openness to ideas and knowledge that Yitro's word is heard so clearly and completely. After all, Yitro's very first words after hearing from Moshe what he was doing was "The thing that you do is not good." (18:17)
We are taught today to ask questions like "Do you enjoy what you are doing? Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of .....? Do you....." We ask these questions to enable people to see the situation before them and then chose the appropriate response, only giving advice when specifically asked -- and not always then.
But not Yitro. He looks at Moshe standing there with a line of people, with questions and disputes, stretching out before Moshe as far as the eye can see. And he says "What's this???" Moshe tries to explain that he has to do this because he is the most knowledgeable, etc. (sound like anyone you know?) And Yitro says "That's a bad thing. You and the people will suffer. Listen to me and ..."
And Moshe listens -- Moshe organizes things so that he is not so busy -- so that he is doing only those things that he needs to be doing and working with others to get them to do what they can. He is getting help -- he is building community. That is such a key part of Judaism and it is what we are about. Helping each other is helping ourselves.
And living in community means caring about the other person, following basic guidelines and principles and treating each other with respect. Is it any surprise then, that the ten keys to how we treat each other is the very next thing Torah teaches?
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3. Some Observations
Ten keys to rightful existence -- now they make common sense. Were they so obvious then? It is so easy to look back with today's eyes and think that things were always the way that they are now. It is also easy to look at all we have learned and wonder how people managed. Both approaches do not do justice to the time of Shmot.
People have not changed. If you say they were superstitious then, well, we are superstitious now. People want to carry lucky talesmen and they knock wood and say "kenahorah poo-poo-poo" or something similar. If you say people were idolatrous then, well, people might just make the same judgement about us today -- we might just look to an outsider like we are bowing to a Torah scroll or the Ark. The treatment of holy might appear to be a deference or a devotion to the Divine. A few years ago I had six grade students tell me that a tallit was not kosher unless it had the "Hebrew stuff" on the neck. I asked about the tzitzit and what they were for and they told me that was decoration. With more questioning it was apparent that the tzitzit and decorative fringe had blended in their minds. But they knew something was important about the Tallit. If I didn't know that these children would be b'nei mitzvah within a year of that class, I might have thought it almost humorous.
I saw it as the tragic modern day counterpart to the wonderful parody of the Kosher Hams at OHaLaH when they were talking about needing to buy a cross so that they could hang the sacred cross-cover cloth proudly.
And so we start building community remembering the ten word-sets, the ten rules, the ten basics that many people look to and only know, even if by heart, through a less than perfect translation. It is always a wonderful exercise in Hebrew to translate both sets of ten, the one in this week's Parsha and the one in Deuteronomy and to discuss the differences.
So what did they think of them when they saw the thunderings? What did you think of them?
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4. Balancing Harmony
This Parsha is truly about Balancing Harmony, the Beauty of Beauty. Beauty is when we can balance accurately the freely flowing grace with the restraint born of strength. When the people can understand the lesson that Yitro gave Moshe to find the balance between the work and the rest of his life, they, like he, will find the beauty, that it may indeed be in the world.
Israel is becoming the people in this Parsha and we are there, seeking the beauty that is there when we arrange our lives and make time for the One. The offer is given at Har Sinai in the words and in the thunderings and in the sapphire. Will we need to be commanded to hear and to see, or will we find the balance of the harmony and be found thereby. What is our answer to the offer of beauty?
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5. Exercises
1. Breath: Sit in a quiet place and get as absolutely quiet as you can. Close your eyes as you chase all of the rest of life out of your conscious thought. Focus on the quiet thundering sound of life in everything around you. See the thundering of life in the plants around you. Hear it breathe and feel that breath come into you. Hear your breath as it exits and know when it enters the plant. See the fire of the thunder of life all around you.
2. Fire and smoke: Consider a candle. Focus on the flame and see the fire as it connects and meets the Fire. Feel the fire within you and through you. See the smoke as it surrounds you and encompasses you. Expand the Fire within your heart and notice the gentleness of the fire. Expand the Fire within you Being and feel the Smoke as it permeates your very inner core.
3. Anochi: Feel yourself connecting through the plumb line that connects us with the One and with the earth. Feel the Energy as it flows up and down through your innermost being. The flow strengthens and grows and fills and penetrates. It flows up to the Heavens and back through you and down to the earth and back. As it grows it permeates and enters the very fibers of your being as you become one with that flow. There is only One, only One.
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ADS: ALEPH -- the Alliance for Jewish renewal. www.aleph.org If you aren't a member yet, please give very serious consideration to joining. The magazine, New Menorah, alone, is worth whatever you give. (Plus it helps pay for the rabbinic program where I am studying!)
You can order the Torah Cards and my jewelry through Mercaz at (216)595-0707 -- ask for Larry)
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There are many traditional interpretations of the parsha that I neither talk about nor mention. That is done from a position of space. I trust that the average reader is either familiar with these or can find many of them easily in other commentaries readily available.
Thanks for reading this. If I have offended you, please forgive me -- that was not my intention. If you found some joy or happiness in reading this, thank you for allowing me to be a part. If you found a reason to think about something more deeply - kol hakavod and thank you!
And to the people giving me feedback thank you so much! I enjoy all of it. (Including the typos) You have made this weekly practice wonderful.
b'v'rakha,
Candy
(c) 2001 Candy Lobb All rights reserved
