a rare sight

                In front of the Smithsonian museum of Air and Space, a tour group of Asian students sat on the steps waiting for the bus to come.  Out of the ten students in front of me, I counted eight engaged with their ipad oblivious to the other members of the group.  Although these gadgets are produced in Asia, I don’t think this sight had anything to do with their Asian background. This is a standard scene for most young adults in the developed world and it may explain a strange incident that took place a few days earlier.

                We were seated for breakfast at a coffee shop in the heart of Jewish Long Island with another religious couple and their baby.  My two kids were mostly on the floor crawling around and playing with some books.  We chatted amicably and caught up about the happenings of the last three years since we last saw them.  In the midst of our conversations a middle aged man with pinkish skin, light eyes and upturned nose approached our table. He looked dignified in his business suit and didn’t appear to be unbalanced; in fact he was in a business meeting with a religious Jew a few tables away.  He turned to us and said in a confident, but slightly nervous tone, ‘this is beautiful to see two families having a nice meal together with their kids, it is really great. You guys are awesome*’.

                We thanked him and returned to our conversation, not sure what exactly we had done to warrant such lavish praise. Was it the kids, or was it that adults were having a conversation without a smart phone or a computer on the table, or did we just look happy?  But, a compliment was not enough. A few minutes later, the man, on his way out says, ‘you guys are really awesome’ as he plunked a fifty dollar bill on the table, ‘I want to pay for your meal’.  Stunned, we politely refused, but he insisted and walked out. We ran after him and forced him to take the money back.

                I am not sure if this man was an evangelical Christian who wanted to fulfill the promise that G-d makes to Abraham that he will bless those that bless Abraham (or his descendants) or if he was genuinely moved by the scene or if he was in a midlife crisis and he missed having family or we can get cynical and maybe he lost a bet. I’ll never know, but if we did move him in some way, it could be that the display of real connection is not common place, but a commodity in our distracted world.  Indeed, as the parsha warns us in the first line, there are no small things in the world and we don’t know which mitzvah it is that will ring the highest bill of all.

                

A sore thumb

A sore thumb

                If we look at our hands, there are four fingers and then a fifth finger that is so different, it warrants a different name, a thumb. Despite its less than regal name which means ‘swollen’, the thumb is the most important finger.  Its movements and strength decides what makes it into the hand and what doesn’t- it is the key to a good grip. 

                The number five’s claim to fame is not only the hand, but also the famous five books. The fact that our hands, which help us act in the world, are modeled after the Torah which also helps us act in this world is no surprise. But the comparison goes deeper as they are structured similarly.

The last book, Devarim, is akin to the thumb in many respects as it is set apart from the other books in both tone and content. The tone is more human and the content is largely a repetition with explanation of what came before.  Even on a technical level, each of the previous books begins with a connective letter ‘vav’, which means ‘and’: V’ele Shemos, Vayikra, Vayomer Hashem Bamidbar since they all flow naturally from the first book Bereishit, while Devarim starts without a ‘vav’ to signal that it is different.[1] 

In Bereishit we find out there is a creator involved in the world, and then in Shemos the plagues demonstrate G-d is One and controls everything, and then in Varyikra we are commanded to bring sacrifices as a constant reminder that everything is part of G-d, and finally we have Bamidbar that expresses the idea that G-d’s unity is most easily seen in the land of Israel, ironically in today’s fractured age.  Where does Devarim fit in to the picture? 

                It fits as the human struggle with the previous ideas- would they receive it, would the thumb chose to grasp it or let go?[2] Moses admonishes the Jewish people in his own words throughout and reminds them of how they erred. It is clear that the idea of One G-d involved in the world was a tough pill to swallow even then, revelation and all.  But, as we approach T’Sha Be’av, we are reminded that our struggle with these ideas is not worth it as the alternative is much worse. When we don’t integrate values that befit the knowledge of one G-d into our life and treat each other accordingly, the result is opposite of connection, ‘chibur’ and becomes ‘cherev’ distruction.[3]

               

               

---

[1] Rabbeinu Bachya Intro to Devarim

[2] Maharal Tiferes Israel 43

[3] חבר becomes חרב- the same letter in opposite order