Ellul- nurturing curiosity

On the plane ride back to Boston, I saw a unique sight.  As I stepped on to a small Jet Blue Embraer, trying to keep my bags and kids in order, the flight attendant by the door said, ‘Shalom Aleichem’.  Perplexed, I looked at his name tag, Anthony, and it only increased the mystery. But as I looked at the attendant I saw a subtle kippah.  Its colors matched his Jet Blue vest to perfection.  And under his vest, his tzitzis stuck out in a small loop as opposed to the typical hang down look.  He wasn’t flaunting them, but they weren’t tucked in either as is permitted by Jewish law if one wishes.  I was not expecting to meet my first orthodox male flight attendant on this flight and I was intrigued- I had to find out more.

                My opportunity to get the story came midway through the flight when my four year old needed abba to help cope with the noisy flush of an airplane toilet.  The attendant was organizing drinks in the kitchen when I asked how long he had been a flight attendant for. He said three and a half years. I asked how he managed with Shabbat flights. He said that he was now a senior attendant and he had the leverage to organize his schedule as he pleased.  He continued that he had only been religious for just over a year.  I prodded him to explain how that happened.  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I had been an attendant on a route from New York to Florida and during Channukah the flight was packed with religious Jews.  I realized that I was Jewish and I knew nothing about what it means to be Jewish, so I picked up a book and started reading.  That was that’.

 

                My daughter then tugged at my arm and it was time to go, though, I wanted to hear a more detailed version.  Nonetheless, the moral of the story is there.  Granted, I am sure his journey was not that simple and fraught with twists and turns. At the same time, all it takes is curiosity, a small desire to understand.  Because the Torah speaks for itself.  Its wisdom continues to be ahead of our time and the Jewish story that is playing out before our eyes is evident.  Scientific discoveries continue to demonstrate the complexity of creation in a way that makes it less and less likely that it happened ‘by accident’.  The facts are there, it just takes desire. 

                Ellul is the time to reawaken that desire to know, to understand on whatever level.  As long as the curiosity is nurtured and one chooses to learn, the rest will often fall into place.