Spark of Jewish Experience

    ‘These are the words that Moshe spoke to Israel’….The word ‘Devarim’ which is the name of the last of the five books of the Torah (bible) is defined here as ‘words’. Many commentaries including the Vilna Gaon say that the first four books were heard directly from the mouth of G-d through the throat of Moshe. However, in the fifth book, Moshe was the speaker. Although he received divine prophecy, nevertheless, Moshe chose his own words and conveyed the commandments to the Israelites as he understood them. The importance of calling this book Devarim, which literal translation means ‘things’, conveys the power of speech. It is no coincidence in the Hebrew language that Davar (thing) and Deeber (speak) are spelled and sound similarly. G-d created the world by using verbal expression ‘and G-d called the day….’and G-d called the earth….’ so we see that words are the root of things. We too have the capability to create things with words.

A powerful unique gift in which Jews possess is speech; we learn this message from what our forefather Yitzchak prophesized, ‘the hands are the hands of Esav but the voice is Yaakov.’ The commentaries say we can control the world and our destiny by using our speech wisely in accordance with the Torah. This is our weapon; it’s a tool to fix life and the ticket to heaven.

However, we see from past history, the Egyptians were aware of this trait and neutralized it as they enslaved us. They cleverly knew how to psychologically take the wind out of the Israelites by working them till exhaustion. ‘The Jews moaned and screamed’ and could not verbalize their feelings. This was a designed plan to rob them of expression, their power source.

We learn this lesson from another important incident where we find that Moshe was afraid to go to battle with Israel’s nemesis, Ogg the giant. Apparently, many years before, Ogg had told Abraham that his nephew Lot, was being held captive and it’s important to go to battle and save him. One might think it was quite a noble gesture of Ogg. However, Ogg had ulterior motives; he had hoped that Abraham would die in battle so he can then marry Abraham’s wife Sarah, who happened to be one of the four most beautiful women that ever lived. Why then was Moshe afraid of Ogg? We see clearly that he had malicious intent! Moshe realized that although Ogg wanted Sarah, nevertheless, he used verbal expression by alarming Abraham about the condition of Lot his nephew. While Moshe missed out the great opportunity to sanctify G-d through verbal expressions by hitting the rock as opposed to speaking to it as G-d commanded, apparently, Moshe was afraid the scale might be tipped the favoring Ogg because utilized his power of speech and Moshe – in that case – did not.

We find many leaders in history who were able to push their agendas by their powerful orating skills. The world was almost destroyed by the evil Hitler (y’mach shemo); this was made possible by him hypnotizing the crowd through his speeches. There were many fine skills that John F Kennedy had as a politician; one of them was that he was able to win over Americans through his press conferences with his sharp humor. There’s a saying, ‘It’s not the mighty hand but the powerful tongue.’  There’s a lot of truth to those words.

Lastly, the greatest gift one can give a deceased relative is to say kaddish (yitgadal v’yitkadash shemeh rabah) or to learn Torah in his memory. The soul can move further up towards a better place in heaven by a mere kaddish. Again, we see how powerful and meaningful words can be.

We can create and destroy worlds in an instant through our speech. If we only realize and give some thought of how powerful our speech can be, we would be a little more careful in watching our tongue, and hesitate just a little before those powerful words come out.

Personally, one of the scariest times of the year are the two of the six fasts that we keep – Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. You see, I’m a coffee addict and I have to stop drinking coffee a week before the fast and wean myself from it to prevent caffeine withdrawal headaches, which occur on the fast day. (With some people, if they fast without getting their daily dose of caffeine, in other words they stop cold turkey, then the symptoms get so severe that they experience excruciating headaches to an extent leading to nausea.)

We are all trying to observe G-d’s commandment, but how can we stop the painful experience?

I’m sure you are probably wondering, what about the other four fasts and how do I handle the headaches? You see, those fasts start at daybreak and not the night before. Therefore, one would get up before daybreak and guzzle down three cups of coffee. But the two remaining fasts which begin the night before, are problematic.

A week before the fast, I try to wean myself from coffee, decreasing it daily until I’m caffeine-free a day or two before. Unfortunately, the headaches are prolonged that week; however not as severe.

There is always a price to pay for something good. However, this addict (myself) is a fighter and is trying to find various ways to not interrupt the addiction, while at the same time, observe the mitzvah of fasting. Perhaps Excedrin might be a solution; it has caffeine in it. But the Rabbis say it’s problematic taking it on a fast day. I have heard of time-release capsules or laxatives. Excitingly, I asked a pharmacist who did not hear of such a thing on the market. He mentioned it could be compounded, but he doesn’t recommend it, sighting coffee is a potent laxative and could cause uncontrolled accidents throughout the day if taken. Plus, there is a health risk, potentially affecting the heart.

I love the taste of coffee and find it hard to depart from it. Breakfast and coffee is a marriage made in heaven. Doughnuts are not fun without it; neither is a bagel. Plus, it keeps a person awake. I tend to sleep very late and get up very early. Without the coffee infusion, sleep catches up with you; it interrupts a person’s very busy schedule.

If you only knew what us addicts have to go through to fast, I’m sure there is a great reward awaiting us in heavens (probably the best cup of coffee you ever tasted.)

I would like to end by asking, is there is anyone out there that has a solution? This addict would like to know.