Faces of truth

In a landmark 2005 paper from Stanford, John Ioannidis, a medical mathematician, argued that most published research findings were false.   How could this be?  Millions of dollars are shelled out each year to the most brilliant minds in the world to discover ‘facts’ about the world.  It turns out truth is not just elusive because scientific discovery is complicated and expensive, but because there is a key aspect to being wise which is often overlooked and, in fact, stifled. 

                That truth is multifarious seems odd.  One would think that truth is or isn’t. What are the shades of truth we are referring to? The mystical books describe that Yakov’s distinguished character trait was truth and that is what he bequeathed to his children. But it seems that his all-encompassing truth was split between his two main offspring- Yosef and Yehuda. Both are described as Kings in the Midrash because they each ruled over a different aspect of Yaakov’s truth.  What are these aspects?

                Yosef represents the common depiction of truth- reality. He maintained his identity against all odds as a teenager spurned by his family and residing in the pits of a foreign country.  He clung to reality even at the most difficult of times. For Yosef, there was reality and nothing else.  This is the type of truth that we all seek- a glimpse into reality.

                On the other side is Yehuda who displays a different quality of truth. He is able to view truth even at his own expense. The mishna in Pirkei Avos 5:7 highlights the difference between a wise person and a fool.  The seventh characteristic is that a wise person is able to admit to the truth. The implication of course is that a wise person is sometimes wrong, sometimes he doesn’t use his mind correctly, and that is part and parcel of wisdom- to see when he is not in step with the truth.  Bear in mind that this is a situation that Yosef is never in because he is never not in step with the truth.

It is the truth of Yehuda that we are meant to grow.  In our journey through life, when confronted with truths, do we adjust our self or do we adjust what we saw to fit what we are?  

A proper response

Isaac called over his eldest son Esav and told him, ‘grab your hunting gear, your sword and bow and go to the field and trap me a hunt.’  There are many strange things about this. We have known for quite some time that Esau was a capable hunter- he spent his youth in the field trapping. Why did his father need to remind him to grab his hunting gear and then spell out the weapons?  But even stranger, why ask Esav to hunt at all? Isaac is a wealthy man and has his own flock that could be eaten.  We know that because that is exactly what Yakov does. His mother told him to grab a couple of sheep from the flock in the back yard and feed it to his father.   And finally, wouldn’t Isaac taste the difference between some domesticated goat meats as opposed to hunted venison meat? 

                The answer goes back to a bigger problem. How did Isaac miss it?  Esav, the blood thirsty murderer, was right under his nose the whole time and Isaac didn’t see that he was evil.  Luckily, Rivka could see past Esav’s charades and corrected the situation.  What did Isaac respect in Esav and why did he send him on a hunt? 

                A hunt denotes that one animal has conquered another; it is an expression of might, an expression that in the face of struggle I can come out on top.  That aspect of Esav is what Isaac appreciated so much- the ability to overcome obstacles, to conquer adversity.  Struggle allows a person to tap into a level that he didn’t know existed inside of him. On a metaphysical level, Yakov had to demonstrate this same quality to get the blessing from Esav.  It is great to be righteous, but are you willing to struggle to stay righteous?  He risked everything to get the blessing having to bend the truth in front of his father- he showed real grit.  That is the taste that Yitzak was looking for in the animal he was about to eat. It didn’t matter what animal it was, only that the animal was conquered through struggle.  

             

               In the face of the adversity we currently face, the proper response is to be unwavering. Not in a vengeful way, but in a way that puts more grit behind our positive actions.  There is nothing else to be done because these types of act are purposefully random to show us that it is out of our hands. What is in our hands is to invigorate the good.  

               

               

Finding the silver lining

 

This Torah idea should serve as a protection for all of our Brothers fighting in Gaza…

            G-d’s final message to the Jews is strange.[1] The fourth book of the Torah is full of dramatic twists and turns in Jewish destiny. From a 38 year extension in the desert to the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, it ends with a mundane recount of their journeys in the desert.   What is the crucial message conveyed in the journey that it needs to be systematically recounted?  

            There are four paradigmatic ideas in highlighting the journeys. First, the wanderings in the desert were a consequence for the sin of the spies; yet, we see that the consequence was not a constant wandering without respite.  The Jews camped at some places for over a year.  We learn that even when there is a Divine consequence it is done with a sprinkle of love.  Perhaps, this recent war in Gaza is an example of this where the following story has been related:

Through our incursions into Gaza it was uncovered that Hamas had planned a terrible calamity. This Rosh Hashana they had planned to send out 200 terrorists from each of the tunnels and decimate and destroy the Israeli communities in the south.

The mother of one of the 3 murdered boys said "Now I know where all our prayers and achudut (Unity of Jewish People coming together) went."

On our children's behalf, everyone prayed and were united for 18 days all over Israel. This led to the Gaza War and discovery of the tunnels in Israel! Many thousand would have been murdered in an unparalleled tragedy!

With unity we will have turn sadness to joy and suffering to salvation.

            The second idea is the following metaphor.  The parent of a sick child who goes to different places to find a cure will recount his journey after the child has recovered. So too, it is the realization that the purpose of wandering in the desert was to cure the Jews of their spiritual blemishes and each place they went to had a unique ability to help them.  This is a level deeper than the previous answer- not only was the consequence not as severe as it could have been, but the consequence itself was not a mindless punishment, but a consequence with the power to heal. 

            A third idea has a different bent. Maimonides says that by highlighting the places where Israel journeyed we can confirm that indeed none of these places had food or water there.  So the fact that the Jews survived for forty years in the desert could only have been through a prolonged miracle.  In a sense, this miracle is much bigger than the exodus from Egypt as it was constant.

            Finally, the Kabbalistic perspective is that these 42 places that the Jews ventured reference a 42 letter name of G-d.  This name is also hinted at in the beginning of creation.  Again, within the complications of life, a person needs to find the divine and loving hand, but only a spiritually refined person can do it.[2]

            Israel’s journey is precarious at the moment, and we are not sure exactly how it will unfold.  But, with the proper perspective, we can find the silver lining that is always there.

           

---

[1] The book of Deuteronomy is written from man’s perspective and approved by G-d. The first four books are straight from G-d. 

[2] See Kiddushin 71a