STAM TORAH
PARSHAS SHEMOS 5780
“PAY ATTENTION”[1]
One day Josh, a young successful
executive, was driving hastily down a neighborhood street in his new sleek,
black, 12-cylinder Jaguar XKE.
Suddenly, something smashed into his
car. Josh immediately slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. A brick
had clearly been thrown at his car. He turned to find a young boy standing
nearby. He grabbed the boy, pushed him up against a parked car, and with
his eyes bulging with rage Josh began screaming, “Just what did you think you
were doing? That's my new Jag you threw the brick at. You know this is
going to cost your parents a lot of money!”
The boy’s voice quivered as he meekly
replied, "Please mister, I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to
do! I threw the brick because no one would stop to help when I waved my
hands at their cars."
Tears were streaming down the boy's
face as he pointed around the parked car. "It's my brother,
sir." he said, "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair
and I can't lift him up." Sobbing the little boy asked Josh,
"Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's too
heavy for me."
Josh tried desperately to swallow
rapidly the lump building in his throat. He bent down and lifted the young
man back into the wheelchair and took out his hanker-chief to wipe not only the
brother’s tears, but his scrapes and cuts as well. Then he watched the
grateful younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the dented
Jaguar. Josh never fixed the side door. He kept the dent to
remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick to
get his attention.
Chumash Shemos introduces Moshe
Rabbeinu, the quintessential leader.
After escaping death in Egypt, Moshe
became a shepherd for his father-in-law, Yisro. One day while shepherding in
the desert, Moshe encountered a wondrous sight. A thorn-bush was aflame, yet it
was not becoming consumed. Moshe declared, (3:3) "I will turn now and see
this wondrous sight; why is the bush not becoming consumed?" When he
approached, G-d called to Moshe from within the burning bush, and thus began
his unwitting rise to leadership.
My Rebbi, Rabbi Berel Wein, notes that
Moshe’s reaction symbolizes one of the qualities of Moshe that made him worthy
of leadership.
Life and world events are often
unusual and intriguing. Most people take note of things that occur and then
move on. We are too busy to invest any extra time or energy to contemplate the
events. Life is fast paced, as well try to juggle seemingly endless
responsibilities and expectations. We don’t have time to "stop and smell
the flowers".[2]
The Kotzker Rebbe noted that others may have seen the burning bush. But no one
else stopped to ponder and analyze it. They may have snapped a picture and
posted it on their social media page, but then had to rush back to work or pick
up carpool. Moshe was the only one who declared “asurah nah – Let me
turn now” to ponder the unusual occurrence. That was the first indication that
Moshe had the qualifications of leadership. A leader must always be attuned to
his people and his surroundings. He can never be so busy that he doesn’t
recognize things happening around him.
After World War Two ended, along with many other high-ranking Nazis, the
infamous Nazi Adolph Eichmann escaped to South America after the war. The Israeli
Mossad tracked him down and in May 1960, in a daring raid, they abducted Eichmann
and brought him to Israel to stand trial for his innumerable war crimes. In
1961 after a fourteen-week trial, Eichmann was indicted and hung.
During the trial, agents guarded
Eichmann around the clock. The sadistic villain who nonchalantly watched adults
and children being gassed, had become a reserved, even somewhat intellectual, person.
The evil was all hidden beneath the veneer of German etiquette.
Eichmann once declared to one of his
guards “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad". He explained to the shocked
guard that if you want to beat your enemy you have to know your enemy. During the
war he wanted to understand the religion he was destroying and so he learned
what those words – the words he heard cried out so many times as Jews were
going to their death - meant.
Pharaoh also understood the Jewish spirit. He knew that there was one
guaranteed method to keep the Jews under his jurisdiction. Mesillas Yeshorim[3] explains that when Moshe
began declaring the imminence of redemption to the nation, Pharaoh responded by
commanding "tichbad ha’avodah – Let the work be heavier upon the
men and let them engage in it and let them not pay attention to false
words."[4]
Pharaoh did not grant the Jews any respite so that we would not be able to even
fathom or entertain any notion of liberation or revolution.
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a 200,000-man march on Washington to
protest segregation and racial inequality. He is most remembered for his now
famous words, "I have a dream".
Pharaoh ensured that the servitude was so complete and restricting that his
Jewish slaves could not even entertain a dream of better times and redemption.
If there is no dream, there is no hope!
The first curse of the tochacha (‘rebuke’) of Parshas Bechukosai, is that of ‘behala’.[5] Simply translated, behala
means panic. It includes the curse of lack of equanimity, of constantly running
and never feeling calm and settled. Our daily lives are often filled with a
modicum of behala[6]. The antidote for "tichbad
ha’ovodah" is "asura nah v’ereh", to pay attention
and to contemplate life as it happens, and not allow everything to pass by
aimlessly.
This week I had the privilege to participate in a Hachnosas Sefer Torah.[7] It was quite chilly as the
procession made its way up the local street that was blockaded by the police.
As we danced in front of the Torah, singing and dancing I couldn’t help but
think about the contrast of the events of the previous night. One night earlier
in Manhattan a far greater gathering had taken place. Tens of thousands of
people braved the winter cold to watch the ball fall in Times Square as the
secular New Year was heralded in.
There are always things in life for which one is willing to sacrifice time,
money, comfort, and sometimes even health and well-being. The question is what
those things are. It’s up to us to decide, not only based on what we say we
value, but based upon our actions.
“Let the work be heavier”
“I will turn and I will see this
wondrous sight”
Rabbi
Dani Staum LMSW
Rebbe, Heichal HaTorah, Teaneck, NJ
Principal, Ohr Naftali, New Windsor NY
[1] This essay
was from the second year that I sent out Stam Torah in 2001/5761
[2] Rabbi Wein quipped that one should talk to himself
periodically. He adds that when he personally does so, those conversations are
sometimes the only meaningful ones he has all day.
[3] chapter 2
[4] Shemos
5:9
[5] Vayikra
26:16; “…I will assign upon you behala….”
[6] Part of
the greatness of the priceless gift of Shabbos is that it affords us a reprieve
from the endless running of the week, so that we can rejuvenate body and spirit
and reconnect with what really matters.
[7] This was
in January 2001. It was a Hachnosas Sefer Torah in Edison, NJ in memory of Mrs.
Dina Eisner a”h, mother of my friend, Moshe.
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