Deeply ingrained in
our psyche is the desire for another person’s things. After all, being created in G-d’s image is a
double edged sword. On the one hand, we can make real decisions based on reason
rather than instinct. But, on the other
hand, we sometimes forget we are not G-d, and therefore, not everything is
meant to be ours (in various places within the liturgy, G-d is referred to as
the קונה הכל or the ‘owner of everything’).
I see this often in the budding relationship between my
daughter and her five months younger cousinly counterpart. They are both the best of friends and the
worst of enemies, simultaneously. They
can jump on the couch together amidst cries of glee and chase each other around
the dining round table chortling as they go, but once there is an object involved,
especially if there is only one, and surprisingly, even if there are two, the
screams of injustice begin. If they
weren’t under two years old, I’d think they’d gone mad. More
than that, when my daughter takes her cousin’s bottle it produces an otherworldly
ecstasy, even if it is just water and even if he didn’t want it. There is a deep seated pleasure in taking
from another despite the damage that results.
That is the way the world is
built- it naturally frays. If we don’t
actively put it together, it will fall apart.
Apart from experiencing this, as we all have, this is embedded in
creation itself. There are many lessons
to learn from nature. Why else would G-d
incessantly speak during creation? If we
look at Genesis, G-d is not only ‘creating’ as one might expect during ‘creation’,
but everything is prefaced with ‘G-d said’ over and over again to teach us that
creation itself is a communication to us. We can look at creation and learn
from it. Present cosmology- the
universe is constantly expanding and constantly moving farther apart-tells us
that personal growth should be daily and that the world naturally tends to
drift apart. And as we'll see, if we don’t
actively put it back together, we are held responsible for causing it to fall
apart, which is the lesson taught to us by Moses in his episode with Korach. (See Or Hatzafon 'The depth of preventing dispute')
Moses was plagued by two enemies
throughout his life, Dathan and Aviram. They
tried to get him killed in Egypt when he struck the Egyptian, and later when
Moses and Aharon are in negotiations with Pharoh they distrust that it is for
their benefit. And in various other
episodes, they are at the heart of the problem.
Yet, despite all of this, when they once again side with the villain,
Korach, Moses still goes to them in order try and resolve the issue.[1] Even more terrifying, the Talmud says that
had Moshe not done this, he would have been considered as if he fomented
dispute.[2] Imagine, not only is a person considered to
be non-peaceful from passivity, but even if you don’t actively attempt peace with
old enemies is a person considered non-peaceful. And that is because ingrained in us as kids, and
ingrained in the universe is that the world drifts apart. If we don’t actively stand up to fight it we
are in a sense causing it. That is why
the live and let live mentality doesn’t work.
If we are not building relationships, from the Torah's perspective, we are responsible for their
inevitable destruction.
