Jewish Ecology

"And G-d saw the earth and behold it was corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth." (6:12)

The Rosh Yeshiva’s wife had to make a decision. Her dining room suite was on its last legs. An investigation was made. It would cost almost exactly the same amount of money to repair the old suite as it would to replace it with an identical new one. Obviously she would want to have a new suite, rather than an old one that had been patched up, however good the repair.

Obviously. However, without a moment’s hesitation she decided to have the old suite repaired. One of the yeshiva students asked her why she didn’t prefer to have a new suite.

"It’s not for sentimental reasons." she replied. "Around this table sat all the great Torah sages of Europeat one time or another. When they came to Baltimore, they would always stay with us. It was at this table that Reb Chaim Ozer learned Torah, that Reb Boruch Ber ate gefilte fish on Shabbat. It was on this chair that the Chafetz Chaim sat."

When we think of ecology, we tend to think of our physical impact on Nature. However our spirituality and our morality also impact the ecosphere.

Two identical tables come off the factory assembly line. One table finds its way to a bar. One to a yeshiva. The table in the bar is not the same table as the one in the yeshiva. The table in the yeshiva, supporting holy books and thoughts is a different table. Not metaphorically – but in reality. Its very essence is altered and uplifted.

Such is the power given over to man. We can alter the very eco-structure of the world.

We can destroy the world by polluting it with sin. Or through the mitzvot of the Torah we can raise ourselves and the world with us to the Heavens.

Life’s Rear View Mirror

"And G-d saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." (1:31)

No need for rear-view mirrors in our cars! No need to worry when walking down dark alleys at night that someone is going to jump you from behind! For teachers, the highly dangerous practice of writing on the blackboard would lose its trepidation!

Come to think of it, wouldn’t life be much easier if we had three feet? Think how much more comfortable standing in shul on Yom Kippur would be! People would be able to shift from one foot to the other – and to the other. Shoe and sock manufactures would be able to make a better living!

Another thing. Why is it that only the chosen few of us can walk on our hands, and that only with some difficulty? If we could walk on our hands we would be able to see the world from an entirely different perspective! We could revitalize the cerebral cortex with all the blood flowing to the brain! We could do Yoga and aerobics at the same time!

And what about if we had four kidneys, we could donate two of them to people in need with much less problem! And why not two hearts?

While we’re on the subject, I really don’t understand why aren’t our faces coated with plastic so we don’t need to use soap? Just a damp cloth would do the trick!

"And G-d saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good."

When G-d created the world He consulted with His Heavenly court. G-d premeditated the creation of every organ. The evidence of G-d’s wisdom shines from every creature. If you assembled all the greatest Nobel Prize winners throughout history and gave them unlimited funds and time, they still wouldn’t be able to put life into the tiniest insect.

And even if we can admit that G-d knew exactly what He was doing with the physical creation, sometimes we question His wisdom in other areas. For example, "Why does this guy have so much money? If G-d had given it to me, I’d use it much better." Or, "Why did G-d give this person such talent, such a mind? It’s wasted on him. I’d have put that talent to much better usage."

Just as G-d created the physical world with perfection, and we need neither eyes in the back of our heads, nor hands on which we can walk, nor a third leg, so similarly, each one of us is uniquely and perfectly equipped to fulfil our mission in creation.

• Sources: Midrash Hagadol 1:26, Bereishet Rabba 39:21

The Last Day

"Moses went and spoke these words to all of Yisrael." (31:1)

A thought for Shabbat Shuva (the Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur).

What would you do if you knew that you had just one more day to live?

How would you spend that last day?

Would you drive to the ocean with the top down for a last glimpse of the sun rising over the waves? Would you book lunch at the best restaurant in town? Or maybe you would indulge in the thrill of a dangerous sport like skydiving or bungee jumping, safe in the knowledge that there is no such thing as a dangerous sport on the last day of your life.

Or maybe, if you were a more contemplative sort, you’d spend those last few hours writing down your thoughts and feelings as you were about to depart this world.

How many of us would spend those precious last moments calling on our friends to say goodbye, to give them comfort and consolation?

That’s what Moshe did when G-d told him that he had awoken to his last day on Earth. Moshe, the humblest person to walk this planet understood that his duty on his last day was to take leave of the Jewish people and comfort them over his impending death.

And how did Moshe comfort the people? What were his words of comfort? He said, "I am an old man of a hundred and twenty years. I am no longer permitted to teach you Torah; G-d has closed the wellsprings of Torah from me. G-d will not let me cross the Jordan River, but do not be discouraged! The Divine Presence will precede you, and Yehoshua will be your leader."

What did Moshe mean when he said "G-d has closed the wellsprings of Torah from me"? Moshe was telling the people that he had lost the power to communicate Torah to them. Moshe wasMoshe Rabbeinu, Moshe "our teacher." An essential quality of a teacher is that he can adapt his knowledge to the level and understanding of his pupils. When Moshe passed from this world, however, his understanding of Torah was so elevated that he could no longer present the Torah on the level of the Jewish People. Hence the metaphor of the wellspring. A wellspring flows outward. Moshe’s ability to flow his wisdom to the people was closed up.

In fact, Moshe never found it easy to teach the People. When G-d told Moshe to return to Egypt and take out the Jewish People from their slavery, Moshe replied, "I am not a man of words… for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of speech" (Shemot 4:10). In other words, Moshe’s connection to spirituality was so elevated that it was extremely difficult for him to clothe his perception within the sinews of speech.

Moshe comforted the people with the knowledge that though he would not be there to teach them Torah, the Torah would still be with them. They would still have "The Guide To Life" and teachers who could bring its supernal wisdom into each and every life throughout the generations.

Journey To Beyond

"…to love the L-rd, your G-d, to listed to His voice and to cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…"(30:20)

It seems that for once, curiosity has not "killed the cat".

In a mind-boggling feat of near-science-fiction, the United States has managed to send a remote exploration vehicle called “Curiosity” weighing nearly a tonne,the biggest capsule Nasa has ever used, bigger even than the Apollo Command Module, to explore the surface of our nearest planetary neighbor in space – the planet Mars.

Let’s consider this journey: Eight and half months after leaving Earth, a distance of 250 million kilometers, it found its “entry keyhole” in the sky just a few kilometers across. Had it not done this, it would have had no chance of arriving at its target. The capsule entered the outer limits of Mars’ atmosphere traveling at 20,000km/hr. All that speed had to be reduced to a mere stroll, for when the rover’s wheels touch the ground a mere six-to-eight minutes later it was moving at no more than half a meter a second.

As the capsule raced downwards, it ejected ballast blocks to move its center of gravity and tilt its angle of approach. This gave the vehicle lift. And with the aid of thrusters and some dead-reckoning, the entry capsule flew a path through the upper atmosphere, the underside of the capsule heating up to over 2,000 degrees Celsius.

Then more ballast blocks were ejected to straighten the vehicle before, at 11km altitude and with the descent velocity now reduced to 1,400km/h, the capsule deployed a supersonic parachute. This immense canopy opened instantaneously and absorbed an impulse of almost 30 tonnes.

The parachute further slowed the fall to about 450km/h, and at that point, at an altitude of about 1.5km, we saw what flight system manager Mike Wallace called the “crazy” stuff.

A “sky crane” holding the rover dropped away from the parachute and using thruster rockets to further slow its descent, it headed down towards the surface of the planet.

At just 20m above the ground, the sky crane hovered and lowered the rover down to the surface on three nylon cords. The wheels made contact, the cords were cut, and the crane flew away to crash at a safe distance.

Quite a journey!

But this journey pales in comparison to another journey.

It says in the Book of Ecclesiastes, "…and the day of death is better than the day of birth. It’s better to go to a house of mourning than to a wedding feast." (Kohelet 7:1-2)

The best advice comes from someone who is about to leave this world, someone who can look back over his life with the objectivity of someone who is leaving it.

And the best advice comes from the best teacher, and no teacher was better than Moshe Rabbeinu.

And what was Moshe’s advice to his beloved people on the last day of his life as he looked back over his journey through this world?

“…to love the L-rd, your G-d, to listen to His voice and to cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…”

When we are born we face a journey that dwarfs the journey of "Curiosity." From the moment we leave the "launch pad" of birth, our days are filled with difficult and sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles. At every turn we can make mistakes, sometimes fatal for our spiritual well-being.

Only when we touch down on the surface of the World-to-Come can we finally relax. The whoop of exaltation in the control room of the JPL in Pasadena when Curiosity landed is nothing compared to the whoop of the soul when it finally touches down in the World-to-Come to be satiated with its just reward for having traversed a universe of trials and challenges.

Why He Missed the Bus

As the bus to Bnei Brak approached the young man at the Beit Shemesh stop, he put his hand in his pocket to take out the 13 shekels he had prepared for paying the fare. He was shocked to find only three shekels and decided to forgo that bus and go home to get the rest of the money.

No sooner had the bus pulled out than a neighbor pulled up in his car and asked him why he didnt get on the bus. Upon hearing his explanation he informed him that he was driving to Bnei Brak and would be glad to give him a lift. They rode for a while behind the missed bus and suddenly saw it swerve off the road and fall into a deep gorge, an accident which resulted in injuries to many passengers.

Realizing that he had almost been on that bus the young man began to weep. He put his hand in his pocket to get a handkerchief to wipe his tears and what did he find hiding in it? The missing ten shekels!

One Message With One Voice

“If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother…” (21:18)

Three of the essential ingredients in raising happy, well-integrated children are "The Three F’s" – Firm, Fair and Friendly.

Firm: Children need to know where they stand. They like nothing more than clearly defined limits. A parent who makes a demand and then backs down gives a child a sense of insecurity, for the child never knows exactly where the boundary is. Children push the limits precisely because they wish to know that there are limits. When we are firm, we give our children a defined world in which they can establish their relationship to the world at large rather than a vast expanse of frighteningly unknown possibilities. Of course, as parents we should therefore limit our demands to those things over which we are prepared not to back down. We must choose our battlefields wisely.

Fair: A child has a sense of what’s fair and what’s not. True, children are somewhat biased in their view of what fair consists of, but they are the first to recognize uneven-handed treatment. As parents, we must be unstinting in guarding against any kind of favoritism, either to siblings or to our own agendas.

Friendly: The correct proportion of positive interaction to negative interaction should be 80/20. In other words, every interaction that requires disciplinary words or action should be balanced by four times as many positive and loving experiences. In addition, however exasperating children can be, it’s always more effective to oblige them in a friendly manner. When they need correction, it should be done in a friendly tone of voice. Shouting certainly makes one feel better, but it’s nearly always counterproductive in the long run. It shows weakness and insecurity.

Apart from The Three F’s, there’s a fourth ingredient that is equally as important.

Consistency.

Consistency is necessary not just in the behavior of each parent, but between the parents themselves. We learn this message from this weeks Torah portion:

If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son, who does not listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother…

A child is considered to be in the halachic category ofwayward and rebellious onlyif he does not listen to the voice of his father and his mother. Among other things we learn from this verse is that both the father and the mother must have similar voices. The deeper meaning of both the parents having similar voices is that they must both speak with one voice, that they should not contradict one another in what is expected both of themselves and the child. The message that is broadcast in the home must be consistent, for without this keystone in child-rearing the child cannot be considered at fault.

• Sources: based on Rabbi Noach Orlowek

No Stone Unturned

"Do not erect for yourself an altar of only one stone."

‘Organized religion’ is one of those phrases which is guaranteed to bring distaste to the Western liberal sensitivity.

Being part of a group smacks of regimentation. We who were educated in the ‘liberal enlightened’ tradition were taught to cherish the moment alone with one’s Creator, in a field, on top of a hill, under the stars. And, to be sure, the individual communicating with his Creator not only finds a place in Judaism but is Judaism’s bequest to the world.

But there is another side to Divine worship. One that is much maligned and misunderstood: that of the klal (the entire group) and its Maker.

There are two kinds of altars. An altar made from a single block of stone and an altar made from many stones. There are two kinds of Divine service. That of the individual and that of the klal. The single block represents the service of the individual; that of many stones represents the service of the complete group.

In this week’s portion of the week we learn that the Torah forbids an altar consisting of only one stone. Even though in the times of the Avot the fathers of the Jewish People) the single stone altar was beloved, subsequently, however, it became the preferred method of idolatry and thus was no longer fitting for the service of G-d.

The prophet Eliyahu erected an altar of twelve stones. Twelve is the number of the Tribes of Israel. The Altar of twelve stones symbolizes the unity of the Jewish People in the service of G-d; the klalbecoming like one person. The stones are separate but they join together and become the instrument through which Man can serve his Creator. The individual’s desire its appropriate expression when channeled through this mystical ‘one person’ who is the Jewish People.

Thus it was that the Forefathers were able to build altars of only one stone. For they were the entire Jewish People in embryo. But once the Jewish People are ‘born’ at Sinai, the service of the individual finds its proper fulfillment in making up the ‘one person’ who is Israel.

The spiritual light that we receive in this world is radiated as a totality to all parts of Creation. There is no place which is devoid of His radiance. Thus, when we approach our Creator, it must be as a totality, joined like the stones of the altar. For with even one stone missing, there is no altar.

Fire

"The carved images of their gods you shall burn in the fire… for it is an abomination of Hashem, your G-d." (7:25)

Our Sages teach us that extreme anger is like worshipping idols. What is the connection?

Imagine you’re a courtier in the palace of the king. While walking past you, one of the other courtiers treads on your toe. Rather than apologize, he turns around and pokes his tongue out at you.

Do you curse and shout at him? I doubt it. Not, that is, unless you are unconcerned about you head staying in nodding contact with the rest of your body. Your awe of the king, not to mention the fear of his punishment, make it easy for you to swallow your pride and smile a wan and insincere smile at your fellow courtier.

When a person becomes angry it’s as though he’s saying that he’s not in the courtroom of the king. Or worse – there is no courtroom, no king.

Everything in this physical world has a spiritual cause. Anger is always compared to fire. Anger ‘consumes’ like a fire the person who feels the anger. Anger turns the face flame red. Anger ‘burns you up’.

Sometimes, we even may get a glimpse of the connection of the spiritual to the physical.

The Hayman fire, the largest fire in the history of Colorado consumed tens of thousands of beautiful forestland. The fire was caused by a 38-year old Forest Service technician who took a letter from her estranged husband and burned it in anger. Apparently, she thought that she had extinguished the fire and left, only to find later that it was spreading out of control.

When we ignite the flames of wrath, it’s very difficult to put them out. If one act of anger can burn half a state, one shudders to think what happens in the spiritual forest-lands above when a Jew’s anger flames.

Forever

“Ascend to the top of the cliff, and raise your eyes westward, northward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.” (3:27)

Picture the feelings of longing that Moshe must have had as he stood on top of the cliff, gazing out over the land that he given so much to enter.

There it was stretched out in front of him like a map. The Land of Israel. So close and yet so far. G-d knew how much Moshe wanted to go into Eretz Yisrael, so why did He ‘tantalize’ Moshe by telling him to go up and gaze at this land that he knew he was never going to enter?

Furthermore, our Sages tell us that by prophetic insight G-d showed Moshe every single square inch of Eretz Yisrael – which only must have increased his longing!

What was G-d’s purpose?

Each of the Avot, the Patriarchs, are associated with a specific quality: Avraham with Chesed, Kindness; Yitchak with Gevurah, Self-control; etc. The quality that is associated with Moshe isNetzach – Eternity.

Everything that Moshe did was forever.

If Moshe had gone into the land of Israel with the Jewish People, then their entry would have been an ‘eternal entry’. Everything that Moshe did had the touch of eternity. After such an entry, the Jewish People could never again leave the Land. G-d knew that the Jewish People would have to go into exile, for they would not be able to maintain the high spiritual standards that the Land requires. If they could not leave, and they could not stay, they would be caught, as it were, in a spiritual vise and they would be in the very real danger of annihilation.

Thus, Moshe could not enter the Land of Israel.

However, G-d made Moshe’s non-entry into the Land serve a positive purpose. G-d wanted to sear the memory of the Land of Israel into the collective psyche of the Jewish People. By showing Moshe every blade of grass, by taking him and showing him every corner of the land he was never to enter, G-d planted in Moshe’s heart a longing for the Land of Israel which would be eternal.

Look at our daily prayers. Look at the blessings after eating a meal. Our petitions to G-dare saturated with the name of the Land which we long to return to as a Holy People.

Throughout the long, long night of exile, the Jewish People have never lost that same longing forEretz Yisrael that Moshe felt when he stood on the top of the cliff and gazed into the Land he would never enter.

Ready When You Are, Mr. De Mille!

"…and from there he saw the edge of the people." (22:39)

Cecil B. De Mille, the Hollywood director who invented the ‘epic’ movie, stood ready to shoot the climax of his latest epic.

No expense had been spared to re-create a mind-boggling authentic depiction of the collapse of an entire city in a massive man-made earthquake that would rival the real thing.

De Mille was taking no chances and he had a then-unheard-of three cameras shooting the convulsions and death-throes of the city.

Everything was set.

He signaled the special effects team. A massive explosion rent the air, followed by another, the ground heaved and surged upward, manipulated by vast unseen hydraulic lifts; specially trained stunt men and women risked their lives, dodging falling Doric pillars and the lunging floors careering skyward.

Buildings were falling in every direction; fires poured out of the carcasses of those that had already fallen.

After the dust had settled, De Mille picked up his bullhorn and roared to the first camera, "Didja get it?"

"Mr. De Mille, I don’t know what happened, I’m so sorry! The film jammed just before we started."

"Okay, don’t worry, we still have two cameras."

"Camera two, didja get it?" "Mr. De Mille, right at the beginning, during the first explosion, a stone hit the camera; we didn’t get anything!"

"Never mind, we’ve still got one camera. Camera three, didja get it? Didja get it?"

"…Ready when you are, Mr. De Mille…"

It seems like the Jewish People are like extras waiting to come on the set in this week’s Torah reading.

Had the Torah not told us of the episode of Bilam trying to curse the Jewish People, we would never have known about it.

All the other events that the Torah writes concerning the Jewish People could also be known from tradition, but not this week’s parsha. When this week’s parsha was taking place, the Jewish People were way out of earshot. You could only see them somewhere in the distance – from the top of a hill; across a field; in the wilderness. But we never see them close up. They’re like extras in their own movie. Had it not been for the Torah, we would never know what a narrow escape we had. The Jewish People walk through this week’s parsha blissfully unaware of the machinations of Balak and Bilam.

At the end of sixth century, the Byzantine Empire completely destroyed the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Unbeknownst to the Jews of Babylon, the Byzantines then poised themselves to also make Babylon ‘Judenrein’. Before they could implement their plans, however, the Moslem revolt toppled them from power.

Jews played a prominent role in the overthrow of Czarist Russia and in the subsequent Soviet government. Secretly, however, in 1953, Josef Stalin tried unsuccessfully to destroy the Jews in what became known as "The Doctors’ Plot." According to one theory, if the “Doctors’ Plot” had carried on and reached its climax, there would have been a mass expulsion of Soviet Jewry. But these plans died along with Stalin on March 6, 1953.

In the series of Psalms that make up Hallel, there appears the shortest Psalm (117). It speaks of a world in the time of the Mashiach:

"Praise G-d all nations; laud Him all the peoples; for His kindness to us was overwhelming."

Once, a Russian prince asked Rav Itzaleh of Volozhin why non-Jews will be expected to praise G-d for His kindness to Israel. Rav Itzaleh replied, "The princes of the nations constantly plot our annihilation but our Merciful G-d foils your plans. You keep your plots so secret that we Jews don’t even realize in how many ways you have tried to harm us and in how many ways G-d has saved us. Only you, the nations of the non-Jewish world, truly see the extent of G-d’s kindness to us, and therefore only you can praise Him adequately.

• Source: Based on an idea heard from Rabbi Reuven Subar