PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

(5768)

 

JEWISH STRING THEORY

 

“The Lord said to Moses as follows, speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner.”                             (Numbers 15:37-38)

 

            This week’s portion ends with the commandment of tzitzit, the tied strings which Jews wear on the corners of their garments.  Jewish men and some Jewish women wear a four cornered garment (a tallit) during morning prayers.  Orthodox Jewish men will wear such a four cornered garment under their shirt at all times; some wear it with the fringes out so they can look at them any time during the day.  Most people no longer wear a fringe of blue since the exact process for making the dye has been lost, but some claim they have rediscovered it and do wear a fringe of blue.  The purpose of this very ancient law is to look at the four tied strings as a reminder of God’s commandments.

            What interests me is a custom followed in most synagogues including our own.  When we reach the words in the liturgy “gather us from the four corners of the earth”, we gather together the four tzitzit from the four corners of the garment.   Then whenever the word tzitzit is recited, we kiss the four fringes.   There is a powerful symbolism to that moment – a coming together from the four corners of the world and touching.  The theme is that items which are separated in space can and do come together and touch one another.

            This idea was developed by the masters of kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition.  Things may appear separated to our limited sight.  But underneath there is a hidden unity.  Everything in the universe touches everything else in the universe.  What we do here effects what happens there.  Things touch each other in mysterious ways and all things are inner related.

            I was speaking about this idea recently and a member of the synagogue pointed out that this is certainly true in the world of economics.  Everything touches everything else.  OPEC raises the cost of a barrel of oil and gas prices go up.  People drive less.  They stay home rather than taking a driving vacation.  Hotels on the road have less business, and must lay off employees.  Those employees have less money to spend and so local retail businesses are hurt.  Everything cascades.  In many ways it is like the butterfly effect in chaos theory – a butterfly flapping its wings on one continent creates a hurricane on another continent.  A small change in the price of oil causes a retail outlet across the world to go out of business.

             I believe the idea that everything touches everything else is true not only in the economic sphere but in the spiritual sphere.  At the end of last week’s portion Miriam is stricken with leprosy; she must dwell outside the encampment until she is cured.  Moses responds with the beautiful words “Oh God, please heal her.”  And she is healed.  How can Hebrew words spoken at one place effect a physical cure someplace else?  Every Saturday morning I say a prayer for the sick and read a long list of people’s names.  Many of those people for whom I am praying live far away, sometimes on another continent.  Our tradition teaches that my words here have spiritual ramifications that can affect people over there.

Kabbalah (and most other mystical traditions) teaches that everything touches everything else.  There is, what physicist David Bohm called an implicit order to the universe.  He used physics to show that everything is interconnected.  Tongue-in-cheek, I called this message about tzitzit “Jewish string theory.  Please indulge me one more time if I speak of the realm of modern physics.  There is a paradox in quantum theory called EPR (Einstein Podolsky Rosen) which says that a particle on one side of the universe can instantaneously affect a particle on the opposite side of the universe.  It is strange and yet it has been proven in laboratories.

Perhaps the symbolism of gathering the tzitzit, the lessons of kabbalah, and the meaning of modern physics all teach the same profound truth.  We live in a universe where everything touches everything else.

           

 

 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

 (5767)

 

            SEEING THE BAD, SEEING THE GOOD

 

“They spread calumnies among the Israelites about the land they had scouted, saying the country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers.”

                                                                                    (Numbers 13:32)

 

            Twelve spies were sent to explore the land of Canaan and bring back a report to the Israelites.  They traveled together and each saw the same sights.  Ten spies brought back an evil report; Canaan is a land that devours its settlers.  Two brought back a wonderful report; Canaan is a goodly land and the Israelites can conquer it.

            How can people see the same thing and bring back absolutely opposite reports?  How can one person look at the land and see giants and other mortal dangers, and another person look at the exact same land and see a place flowing with milk and honey?   How can one person see the glass as half empty and another as half full?  Some of us look at the world and only see the negative?  And some of us look at the world and manage to see the positive?  The spies who brought the negative report and the mass of Israelites who believed them were punished, forbidden from entering the land.  The spies who brought the positive report were rewarded; they were the only two permitted to enter the land.

            For many individuals, it is in their nature to approach the world looking at the negative.  Dennis Prager, the conservative radio commentator and Jewish lecturer, speaks of a person lying in bed looking at ceiling tiles.  Suppose there are 100 tiles, 99 properly aligned in place but one that is broken.  Invariably the person fixes his or her eyes on the broken tile.  It is so natural to be bothered by the one that does not work, not the other 99 that do.  I have this same weakness.  I give a number of lectures each year.  Sometimes 99 people will applaud my lecture with enthusiasm, but one person will walk out in the middle.  I will become obsessed with the one who walked out; why didn’t they like me?  It is the most natural thing in the world to focus on the broken, what does not work, and fail to see what is good.

            This is most prevalent in the great human adventure we call love.  When we look at our loved one, what do we see?   Do we see their failings and foibles, the negative points?   (We all have negatives.)   Or can we focus on the good, the positive points, the person’s values and accomplishments.  As a parent, I find it too easy to focus on where my kids go wrong.  Now and again I must step back and ask myself, what are they doing right?  And if I look at it objectively, there is far more that is right than wrong in my children.

            There is a Jewish value called hakarat tov.  It literally means “recognizing the good.”  It means looking out at the world and seeing what is good and positive.  It means training ourselves to ignore the negatives, or even better, seeing the positive growth opportunities in the negatives.  I remember from my Hebrew school days many decades ago the story of Rabbi Akiba, who was camping outside a town with a donkey, some chickens, and a lamp for light.  In the middle of the night his donkey and the chickens ran away, and a large wind blew out his lamp which he was unable to relight.  All he could say is that this too is for the good.  The next morning he learned that a group of marauders had passed through his neighborhood.  Had the animals been present to make noise or the lamp been burning, his life would have been in danger.

            In my counseling as a rabbi, I meet two kinds of people.  Some people are always negative, they tend to find fault with everything and everybody.  Life is an unhappy experience to be endured.  And other people are always positive, they somehow see the good even in difficult situations.  They look at the world and see the positive.  There are times when I am amazed to find holocaust survivors, who lost everyone and everything, who still manage to go through life with a positive attitude.

            Jewish tradition teaches that when we recognize good things, we bless God with the words, “Praised are You Lord our God King of the Universe, Who is good and causes good (hatov vehameteiv)”  It is a blessing we ought to train ourselves to say everyday.

 

 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

 (5766)

 

THE WOOD GATHERER AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 

“And while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day.”                (Numbers 15:32)

 

            When my oldest son was a little boy, I was walking home with him from synagogue on Saturday afternoon.  We saw a lovely flower growing in the ground and he wanted to pick it and give to his mom.  The thought was lovely, but I still stopped him.  “On the Sabbath we leave God’s earth alone.  We do not even pick flowers.”

            That is a lesson we learn from a rather strange incident at the end of this portion.  A man is captured gathering wood on the Sabbath day.  The Israelites put him in custody until they can decide on an appropriate punishment.   In the end the Israelites stone him to death for his flagrant violation of the Sabbath laws.

            What can we learn from this bizarre incident which could possibly be relevant to us today?  Nobody advocates the death penalty for Sabbath violations.  But certainly this story reflects the seriousness with which the Torah takes the protection of the Sabbath.  The theme of rest on the Sabbath day and of avoiding all work comes up over and over throughout the Torah.  But what is wrong with gathering wood on the Sabbath day?

            The Torah never defines precisely what is permitted and what is forbidden on the Sabbath.  The Oral law lists thirty-nine categories of activities which are forbidden.  All of these activities have one thing in common – they transform the world.  They show human mastery over nature.  What is forbidden is anything that changes nature, whether growing crops, creating a fire, sewing clothes, erecting a building, or even gathering sticks.  On the Sabbath we leave the world alone. 

            Perhaps the reasoning is that the world does not belong to us.  In common law there is a principle called adverse possession.  As a non-lawyer, I have tried to understand this principle.  If I make use of someone else’s property for a certain period of time and they take no action to prevent me from using it, eventually I can claim legal possession of that property.  For example, if I build my driveway on my neighbor’s land and drive my car across it for a period of time and my neighbor does not protest, after a certain period I have taken adverse possession.  I have gained the right to use my neighbor’s land.

            The Sabbath laws were given to us to prevent a kind of adverse possession.  The Psalmist taught, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Psalms 24:1)  We humans cannot claim ownership of God’s earth.  God gave us permission to work God’s holy earth.  We can grow our crops, build our buildings, make our clothing, or light our fires.  The Biblical view is not the Greek view; we are not like Prometheus who had to steal fire from the gods.  God gave us permission to use fire – for six days a week.  But one day a week we must stop and leave God’s earth alone.  Even sticks lying on the ground must be left alone.  We are proclaiming to the world that it does not belong to us.

            Today many scientists believe we humans have taken adverse possession of the earth.  We see it as an unlimited pool of natural resources set aside for our consumption.  And so we argue about global warming, the ozone layer, the shrinking rainforest, the fear that we will run out of fuel, and all the other global disasters which concern so many in the scientific community.  There is a belief that the earth is ours to exploit at will.  The beautiful idea of leaving the earth alone has been forgotten in our fast paced, 24/7 world.  Perhaps we humans need to learn to stop.

            The lesson of the wood gatherer is also reflected in a beautiful Midrash (Rabbinic teaching):  “When the Holy One created the first man, He took him and led him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him, Behold My works, how beautiful they are, how splendid they are.  All that I have created, I created for your sake.  Take care that you do not become corrupt and thus destroy My world.  For once you destroy it, there is no one to repair it.”   (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:13)

 

 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

 (5764)

 

LEADERSHIP

 

“So Moses, at the Lord’s command, sent them (the twelve spies) out from the wilderness of Paran, all the men being leaders of the Israelites.”                    (Numbers 13:3)

 

            This week marks the passing of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States.  Whether one agrees with his particular policies or not, there is no question that Reagan was an inspirational leader during a difficult time in our nation’s history.  I am convinced that his leadership was a major factor in the downfall of communism in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

            Remembering Reagan gives me an opportunity to reflect on leadership, both good leadership and bad leadership.  In this week’s portion we see leaders who failed.  Twelve leaders from the twelve tribes were sent into the land as spies, in order to prepare the Israelites to conquer the land.  Ten came back with an evil report – there are giants in the land, we are mere grasshoppers, and we can never conquer the land.  As a result of their negativity, the Israelites were forced to wander forty years through the desert, until a new generation could take over.

            The spies were failures as leaders because they lacked courage.  They could see only failure.  There was no vision, no feeling that there mission would be a success.  They were the wrong men at the wrong time, and their failure as leaders led to tragedy for the Israelites whom they were appointed to lead.

            On the other hand, throughout history there have been some great leaders who were ready and willing.   History has changed because a Lincoln, an FDR, a Churchill, a David Ben-Gurion, and a Reagan were there at the right time.  What qualities did each of these leaders have that the Biblical spies lacked?

            I believe there are three qualities which define a true leader.  First, a leader must have a vision of where he or she is going, and must hold unwaveringly unto that vision.  Second, a leader must have courage, looking forward and not backwards even when the going becomes difficult.  Finally, a leader must have charisma to inspire others to follow.

            The first quality is vision.  Where does the leader want to go and how does he or she plan to get there.  “Where there is no vision the people perish.”  (Proverbs 29:18)  Reagan’s vision was that America was a land of freedom, and freedom can triumph over the tyranny of what Reagan called “the evil empire.”  His love of America exuded optimism in a nation wounded by the Iran hostage crisis and economic woes.  Certainly Reagan was willing to make political compromises when necessary, but his vision of America has never wavered.

            The spies on the other hand lacked vision.  They saw themselves as weak, unable to flourish in a land of giants.  It is small wander that they faltered.

            Courage is the ability to continue on a path even when one is under attack, not only by an adversary but by one’s own followers.  The modern state of Israel has a tradition of officers being willing to say, “After me.”  There is a Jewish parable that a leader cannot be like a dog on a leash.  The dog walks ahead thinking he is leading, but continually turns around to see which way its master is going.  So, some who wish to lead are always looking at the followers to see which way they are going.  If you only lead after reading the polls, you are not really leading.

            This point was made by Joshua ben Levi in a classical Midrash.  The tail of a serpent said to the head, why do you always get to walk first?  Let me lead.  The head said okay.  The tail then dragged the head through water, through a fire, through the thorns.  So it is when the leader allows the rank and file to set the way.  (Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:10)

            Finally, a leader with a vision and with courage cannot truly lead without charisma.  Even Reagan’s political enemies admitted that his strength was his likeability.  People follow people they like, people who they feel care about them, people who they can identify with.  To be a leader is to love those you choose to lead.  The leader who is contemptuous of his or her followers, who is arrogant, who believes his or her leadership is a prerogative of birth or money, will eventually have no followers.

            Many of us are in positions of leadership today.  We may not lead a nation, but we lead organizations, businesses, our families, or our children.  Perhaps it is time to remember these lessons of leadership.   Without a vision, the leader will lead to nowhere.  Without courage, the leader will flee at the first sign of adversity.  And without charisma, the leader will have no followers.   Ronald Reagan embodied these qualities.  He will be sorely missed.

 

 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

 (5763)

 

A THREAD OF BLUE

 

"Let them attach a cord with a thread of blue at each corner."

(Numbers 15:38)

 

Last week we looked at light from a scientific point of view.  This week I want to look at light from a more mystical point of view.

When we see light, it usually appears as white.  Of course, white is a mix of all the possible colors of light.  Spin a wheel with a variety of colors and it will appear white.  Hold the light to a prism and it separates into the variety of colors.  Or let the light reflect through water vapor in the air and a rainbow appears.  The rainbow recalls the Noah story and God's covenant with humanity.

In this portion we are commanded to place fringes on the corners of our clothing.  The fringes are white, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow.  However, one fringe is techelet, a purplish blue.  (Today Jews keep this commandment by wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl, while at prayer.  Very pious Jews wear an undershirt with four fringes all day long.  Today most Jews no longer wear the thread of blue, since the precise procedure for making the dye has been lost.  Some Jews have begun to wear a thread of blue once again.)

Why this purplish blue?  Why pick one color, when white contains all the colors.  According to Jewish tradition, techelet  is the color at the far end of the rainbow, the highest energy color we can see, the edge before radiation becomes ultraviolet rays and invisible to the eye.  It is the color that stands for God=s presence in the universe.

According to the Talmud (Menachot 43b), "Rabbi Meir said, Why is techelet different from all other colors?  Because it is like the color of the sea, and the sea is like the color of the sky, and the sky is like the color of the divine throne."  According to one understanding of this, when an astronaut travels into space, techelet is the last color she sees before the blackness of space.  We have a thread of blue because it represents God's color, God's presence.  In a very mysterious passage, the Bible speaks about how seventy elders beheld God's throne, and "under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity."  (Exodus 24:10) What color is sapphire?  A dark, purplish blue.

We look at the fringes and see white (all the colors) and see the one thread of blue.  The thread of blue symbolizes God's presence.  Some have said that the word techelet comes from the Hebrew word tachlit which means purpose.  We see the thread of blue and recall God's purpose in creating the universe.  We are reminded of our role in fulfilling God's purpose and completing creation.

Several years ago I received a mystical insight from a rabbi out in California.  (Forgive me, but I do not recall the rabbi's name.)  He mentioned that if purplish blue is at one end of the rainbow, what is at the other end?  What is the most low energy color?  The answer is red.  The red of the rainbow is next to the infrared spectrum, more low energy radiation that cannot be seen. The Hebrew for red is adom.  And the Hebrew word for mankind is adam. If God is at one end of the rainbow, humanity is at the other end.  Our job is to cross the rainbow, start with humanity and reach out to God.

Now suddenly, the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" makes mystical sense.  My only question - did the Wizard of Oz wear a tallit?

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

(5762)

 

COMMUNITY: FOR GOOD AND FOR BAD

 

"The Lord spoke further to Moses and Aaron, How much longer shall this wicked community keep muttering against me?"

(Numbers 14:26-27)

 

Anybody involved in Jewish life has experienced waiting in synagogue or in a house of mourning, hoping the tenth Jew would show up to make a minyan.  Anyone involved in Jewish life has also experienced the phone call, "Drop everything, don't worry what you are wearing, hurry down, we need you for the tenth." 

I have a vivid memory of serving as student rabbi over the festival of Shavuot at the garment synagogue in Manhattan.  It was time to begin the afternoon service to end the festival, and only eight men were present.  The neighborhood was not the nicest at that time of day.  The ladies of the night were out soliciting their customers.  And up the street, I was out soliciting for two more Jewish men to make up a minyan.  (Eventually I pulled in two unsuspecting souls.)

One of my favorite television shows used to be Northern Exposure, about a Jewish doctor in a small quirky Alaskan town.  One episode stands out vividly in my mind.  Dr. Fleishman has to say kaddish for his uncle, and his friends try to round up nine other Jewish men in Alaska.  They find some of the most eccentric Jews ever found on tv.  In the end, his friends in the community decide that they would become the minyan, allowing him to say kaddish.  His minyan of gentile friends from the Alaskan village was not exactly kosher by Jewish standards.  But it makes the key point; the minyan represents the community.  (Incidently, in real life the Jews of Alaska are far more normal.  I once helped make a minyan in Anchorage.)

In this week's portion we are introduced to the notion of a minyan.  Twelve men were sent to spy out the land.  Two had praise for it, and ten spoke evil about the land and the Israelite's chances of ever conquering it.  God said, "How much longer shall this wicked community keep muttering against me?"  From this we learn that a community is made up of ten.  Traditionally, a minyan was ten Jewish men over the age of thirteen.  Most non-Orthodox synagogues will also count women toward the requisite ten.  However one counts them, a minyan represents the community.

A minyan is needed to read the Torah and recite some of our most important prayers, including the mourner=s kaddish.  Observant Jews during the eleven months they say kaddish for a parent, do whatever is necessary to make sure there is a minyan available.  And there is nothing more frustrating than arriving in synagogue to say kaddish and find only eight or nine people.  That is why it is such an important mitzvah to drop everything and help make a minyan.

The number ten representing community comes up frequently in the Torah.  Ten spies spoke evil about the land.  Ten brothers threw Joseph into a pit and sold him into slavery.  God promised to save Sodom and Gemorrah is ten righteous people could be saved.  In the end, God could not even find a community of righteous people.

It is noteworthy that when the Torah speaks of community, it often refers to a community of evildoers.  Sometimes it is too easy to become swept up in the community of people doing the wrong thing.  In the Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King acquittal, a group of men attacked and maimed truck driver Reginald Denny.  They successfully argued in court that they were caught up in passions of the community, and were therefore not guilty.

The Torah teaches that we should not follow the community to do evil.  Community is vital from the Torah point of view.  The great sage Hillel taught, "Do not separate yourself from the community."  (Avot 2:5)  When a community is doing good, we need to join in.  But when a community is doing evil, we need to stand apart. 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

(5761)

 

PERCEPTION IS REALITY

 

"Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one man from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them."

(Numbers 13:2)

 

Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land of Canaan.  They traveled together and saw the same territory, yet ten spies brought an evil report about the land.  Only two spoke of the goodness and the Israelites= ability to conquer the land.

How common for different people to see the same events and walk away with totally different perceptions.  On a regular basis I will meet with one partner in a troubled marriage and hear a story of pain and difficulty, usually with the other partner at fault.  Then I will meet with the spouse, hear the same events, but the viewpoint is precisely the opposite.  I hear it when family members are estranged, two siblings or a parent and child are not speaking to one another.  Each will describe the same events with totally opposite interpretations.

We often hear the words that for every disagreement there are three sides, one party=s interpretation, the other party=s interpretation, and the truth.  I find with most disagreements, the truth is often somewhere in the middle.

However, with the help of modern science, perhaps we ought to rethink this entire view.  We always assume that beyond our limited interpretation there is an objective reality out there.  If only we could see more clearly, be more objective, find the truth, we can pin down that reality. 

According to quantum mechanics, there is no objective reality.  Physicists have shown that everything in the universe is simply a probability wave, interpreted through a mathematical formula known as Schrodinger's equation.  Only when we actually measure the event does the wave collapse and reality is decided. This strange law creates such paradoxes as Schrodinger's cat, who is alive and dead at the same time.  (I won=t even try to explain this one.)

Modern physics have shown that in a rigorous, scientific way, there is no objective reality.  Or to put it another way, perception creates reality.  How we see the world effects how the world really is. 

If spies view the land as a vicious place, filled with walled cities, giants, a land that swallows its inhabitants, then that becomes reality.  If other spies view the land as a very, very good place, flowing with milk and honey, ready to be conquered, then that becomes reality.

If one partner in a marriage sees the others as selfish and manipulative, that becomes reality.  If that same partner sees the goodness and kindness in the other, the willingness to sacrifice and give for the welfare of the family, then that becomes reality.

Perhaps the lesson is that we humans can change reality.  All we have to do is change our perception.  We can look at the same events and see the negative, the ugly, the unhappy, or we can see the positive, the goodness, the value.  When we change perception, we change reality.

There is a tradition in Judaism of hakarat hatov, recognizing the good in everything.  The mistake of the ten spies is they did not see the goodness of the land.  Too many of us fail to recognize the goodness that is all around us. 

PARSHAT SHELACH LECHA

(5760)

 

LOVE YOURSELF

 

"We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them."                  (Numbers 13:33)

 

Whitney Houston sings the beautiful song "The Greatest Love of All."  "Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all."  It is a song about teaching our children dignity and self esteem.

Why is loving ourselves the greatest love of all?  Is it not more important to love our spouse, love our children, love our neighbor.  The wisdom of this popular tune is that if we do not first love ourselves, all of these other loves do not work.

The same insight grows out of our tradition.  The Torah teaches "love your neighbor as yourself."  If you do not love yourself, how will you possibly love your neighbor?

In this week's Torah reading, twelve spies searched out the holy land and brought back a report.  Two of the spies gave a positive account of the land.  Ten brought back a negative account.  They told the people that it is a beautiful land, but we are too weak to be able to conquer it.  The ten spies end with the words, "We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them."   

If we see ourselves as grasshoppers, soon other people will see us as grasshoppers.  If we put ourselves down, how can we expect anyone else to respect us?  If we have no dignity, how can we see the dignity in others?  If we fail to love ourselves, how can we ever learn to love anyone else?  That is why learning to love ourselves is "the greatest love of all."

How do we learn to love ourselves?  It begins with the teaching that each of us was created in the image of God.  Each of us has a unique purpose and a unique destiny on this earth.  The rabbis taught that a human can stamp out many coins with a single die, but each one is exactly like every other one.  God, on the other hand, stamps out every human from the same original stamp (Adam and Eve), and yet each and every one of us is unique.  Even identical twins, who share a genetic code, are different and have their unique backgrounds and destiny.  We are each individually stamped with the stamp of God.

I once saw a little boy with a tee shirt, "God made me, and God don't make no junk."  Sometimes we can learn theology from tee shirts.  Self love begins with the belief that God formed us to do our particular mission on this earth.  God loves us, and we ought to learn to love ourselves.