As a teenager, a trip to Argentina meant two things: great food and great
greetings. Granted it was strange to be
embraced and pecked on the cheek by complete strangers, better that than the
plastic, ‘I am a bit too cool for a real greeting’ hand gestures I was
accustomed to. Argentinians love to take credit for whatever they can, from the heart bypass surgery to
Maradona, but I don’t think they can take credit for this one.
An auspicious kiss is mentioned
this week when Moses greets his father in Law.
There are various remarkable things to note about this meeting, not
least of which is this kiss. It says that, ‘Moses went out towards his father
in law, and he bowed and kissed him, and the man asked to his friend about his
peace, and he brought him to his tent’.[1] Bear in mind that according to various
opinions, this took place after Moses spent forty days and forty nights without
food or water in the divine presence receiving the Torah. Still, Moses went out of his tent to greet his
father in law.[2] Generally speaking, when visiting the important
people of the world, we go to them. But,
if that wasn’t enough, we have a bow and a kiss, though ambiguous in the verse,
is ultimately attributed to Moses towards his father in law. But, if that wasn’t
enough, we have a friendly ‘how are you? ‘Again, Moses just encountered the
divine in a way that no other human being will or ever has, but before he goes
into details about that encounter, he shows Yisro how much he cares about
him. After all that, he invites him
inside and divulges the world’s secrets.
Any effective teacher has to show he cares about his students first.
Now,
why did the Torah have to tell us about this kiss? The Torah does not tell us what shoes Moses
wore, or how long they embraced, but the kiss was left in. What is the importance of a kiss and when should
we use it? Actually, the midrashim say that a kiss is appropriate in four
places: when a person ascends to greatness, when a person sees a friend after a
long time, when a person leaves for a long time, and when a person is family (I
suppose the South American custom is rooted here). But the depth of what is behind a kiss is the
idea of the greatest love. Love at its
finest is the desire to help another person reach their potential. And that is a kiss, a moment beyond words,
where as one sage expressed, two souls meet.
What he means is that a kiss is a romantic CPR, it gives life to another
person by showing that finite words are not sufficient to capture what I
believe about the potential of this person.
Thanks for the insights!
ReplyDeletesaw this in another dvar Torah:
Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, joins the Jewish people in the desert, advises Moses on the best way to serve and judge the people - by appointing a hierarchy of intermediaries - and then returns home to Midian. He seems to have started the trend for in-laws to come, tell you what to do, then leave.
Keep up the great work