Tag Archive for Self Respect

Parshat Shelach

“A Cup of Coffee 

 

&

A Quick Thought”

 

 

Steaming Cup of Coffee
Spark Of Jewish Experience
 
 Shelach

June 16, 2011

14 Sivan, 5771

Dear Friends,

The first article, “The Spy Who Loved Me”, is based on a lecture called “Jewish Spy in History” written by Rabbi Avi Matmon.

A special thanks to Joey Garelic for editing and to the Afikim staff for all their help.

In This Issue
The Spy Who Loves Me
Shelach

The Spy Who Loves Me
spy

 

 

One of the main stages of the Sephardic (Bukharin) cantorial recitation is the reading of the prayer “Nishmat kol chai” on Shabbat morning. I remember my father and I anxiously preparing to go to Synagogue, trying to get there before the Chazzan starts the Shacharit prayer. Moreover, when the high holidays arrived, the excitement was even greater having guest Chazzanim like Yigal ben Chaim and Eli Balchioff who happen to be regarded as from the best of their generation. It was a pleasure and a privilege to hear them recite “Nishmat kol chai.” It was without a doubt a tremendously moving and inspiring experience.

 One may ask, why is Nishmat the measuring stick of the cantorial recital? The prayer Nishmat is so important that if one comes late to services and the congregation is reciting this particular prayer at that point, he must recite it with them and delay his own prayer from the beginning part of the teffilah which he missed, due to being late. Furthermore, the sages say, Nishmat is the jump start of the “neshema yetera” (the additional soul which one receives on Shabbat that elevating us to a holier level).
 What is it that is so special about this particular prayer?  In order to reveal the understanding of the prayer of ‘Nishmat’ we have to look back at a little Jewish history.Approximately 2000 years ago an off-shoot religion, Christianity, was just stemming from Judaism. The Great Sanhedrin (the 71 judges of the great court of Israel) was led by their president, Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel. He discreetly approached a fellow by the name of Shimon Kaffa concerning a very important mission. Apparently the Jewish leaders were very concerned that their people might abandon Judaism for this new Christianity. They wanted Kaffa to infiltrate their hierarchy of the Church. His mission was to make a clear distinction between the two religions, so that Jews will not err and be lured in, believing it is just another stream of Judaism and a valid form of Jewish worship.
After many years of being undercover Shimon Kaffa became one of the primary players of Christianity. Some say he was none other than Peter. (Although history is a bit unclear at that time, many maintain that this is in fact accurate.) While the spy business can be exiting, it is very dangerous in many ways. It happened that Shimon Kaffa’s true identity was revealed and soon thereafter he was tortured and executed. He did, however, succeed in his mission. Under his influence, the Christian Sabbath was changed from Judaism’s Saturday to Sunday; Jesus was specifically and individually labeled the son of G-d (note that all Jews are labeled as G-d’s children); the Christian messiah did and will not come from a natural human being as Judaism commands, but rather a supernatural creation resulting form immaculate conception. These differences were stark and were sufficient to make it clear to Jews that Christianity was indeed a separate entity and not merely a new flavor of Judaism. Thankfully, Shimon Kaffa skillfully crafted these fundamental deviations from Torah Judaism so that only a minute few Jews expressed interest in following Christianity.
Perhaps a good example which will clarify my point is a motion picture based on a true story called “Donny Brosko.” The film depicts an undercover police officer who infiltrates the mob. In the beginning of his assignment the officer wore his badge while not undercover with pride; “I’m doing the right thing” was the impression he conveyed.  There was a clear distinction between right and wrong – good guy versus bad guy. Dr. Goldman, the psychologist at Yeshiva Chaffetz Haim, says that even when there is a clear cut right and wrong, people are very sensitive and are affected by the social influences surrounding them. The spy is a lone believer in his values surrounded by those with diametrically opposed views.  His only venue of expression is internal given his hostile surroundings. This presents a major problem according to Dr. Goldman. While pretending to be somebody else with polar opposite values, often times the spy himself can wind up inevitably questioning his original set of values and ideologies. It takes a very high level of conviction and devotion to one’s own values to maintain such pretence over a period of time. “Frankly,” Dr Goldman says, “it is almost impossible.” On a subconscious level, intellectual dishonesty does not sit well with human nature.
The police officer in the film did in fact begin to sympathize with some of the mob members. At a startling moment in the film, he smacks his wife which was tremendously out of character for his regular self. Was it possible that his true self was being sucked into his fictitious persona? Perhaps his intellectual armor was cracking and as with many, he begins to think and act like those around him. Perhaps he, like others, begins to actually embrace his new identity. After all, that’s the reason his superiors selected him in the first place, because they felt he would be “perfect” for the part.
At the conclusion of the film when the officer received his medal of citation for a successful mission by sending those mob members to prison, he conveyed an expression of uneasiness and a sense of guilt. What happened to his strong ideology? One has to realize the enormous difficulty of a spy’s mission. How difficult it is to maintain one’s beliefs and ideology in such an atmosphere!
This has all been quite interesting, but how does this story relate to the point I am trying to speak about? It relates quite strongly as it was none other than Shimon Kaffa who wrote “Nishmat kol chai.”  This prayer is about ultimate appreciation of G-d through the eyes of a Jew.  Perhaps he wanted to show that even though I am away from my people and cannot express my true feelings outwardly I am still able to maintain my allegiance to G-d and to the Jewish people – a most difficult and daunting task for him. We, therefore, sing this prayer outwardly as a congregation; whereas Shimon Kaffa could only scream it inwardly with silent devotion to G-d. We do this not only as a tribute to Shimon Kaffa’s mission but to show that whatever situation we are in, we must find away to appreciate G-d, for He is the true epicenter of our lives. G-d created human nature such that Shabbat morning a person reaches the highest level of spirituality as well physical and mental relaxation. Shimon Kaffa paved the road for us to use ‘Nishmat’ as a tool to get close to G-d at a very lofty level. And that is what inspired my father and continues to inspire me.  May we all be so inspired every Shabbat morning.

Shelach
 self power

In this week’s Torah reading, the Israelites were about to enter the land of Israel. It was long anticipated because of the promise G-d gave our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov that their children will enter and inherit the land of milk and honey. Despite G-d’s overt declaration, the Jews were still apprehensive and concerned of the dangerous inhabitants that were rumored to be roaming the land. So they asked their leader, Moshe, to send reconnaissance spies to tour the land and to report if their fears were founded or unfounded.

        The report came back with only the exception of two of the 12 spies who represented each respective tribe, that their fears were justified. This only increased the fears of the Jewish people. The spies were not truthful with their findings and their motives were tainted. As a result they were punished severely with death. The Sages explain their motive was the concern that their high positions held in the dessert would be in jeopardy once they entered the Land. Losing their kavod (honor) was the primary motive for their despicable act.
       Scripture describes these men as tzadikim, top guns, and the cream of the crop. These men were leaders as well as torah scholars. How then could they have erred so egregiously? Furthermore, it is hard to believe that these men were hand picked by the greatest leader of all time – Moshe Rabbeinu with the approval none other than G-d! Something must have taken place between the time they were selected and the time they returned. What happened? What changed?
       Rav Dessler questions in his book Michtav Me’eliyahu, what propelled these otherwise honorable men to decline to a level of feeling that it was a imperative to maintain their position (kavod) to the extent of filing a malicious report? Obviously, the spies considered this an important and dangerous mission and they were proud of their appointment to this tough task. After all, they were performing G-d’s mission. Rav Dessler contends that what tends to happen is that one often times get too caught up in a new appointment and that one forgets about the most obvious, being careful to protect oneself. In a way, a person can be very vulnerable. He lets his guard down and forgets about his basic fundamental manners and sensitivities towards others. People may feel that because they are doing a mitzvah for G-d, that they now have the license to step on anybody and anything to achieve their G-dly mission. As a result, they become insensitive and hurt people along the way.
       Rav Yisrael Silanter mentions an episode where a man was walking to synagogue on Yom Kippur and he was praying on the way. A fellow Jew stops him and asks him for the time. The response was of one of agitation and anger. The one who was praying ignored him “I’m on a holy mission – I’m praying to G-d.” This person ignored the need of someone else because he was so preoccupied with his own prayer.
      I remember every Sunday morning they had baseball games organized by the New York Synagogue baseball league. This fellow was in charge of our Synagogue (Bet Hakneset) team. Unfortunately, he took the volunteer leadership role a little too seriously. He removed a close friend of his from his second base position and asked him to leave the team because he wasn’t good enough. “I am managing this team to win” he said. He did not realize the objective of the organized baseball league was to have fun and relax on a Sunday early morning and bring all the kids together in a spirit of sportsmanship teaching them to relate better with one another in all aspects of life. It seems that the drive to be anointed as the winner above one’s peers is hereditary. When one is appointed to a responsible position often times their teeth grow long and sharp, their ears grow a little long and their jaw extends downward. The human element disappears.
      Rav Dessler writes when one lets his guard down even just a little, it opens the door to negativity. In the situation of the spies, it was overlooking and neglecting an individual conscience awareness which helps protect oneself daily. This led them to entertain the thought of “not losing my status and kavod” as they were preoccupied with trying to be the best and most honored spies out there.
      Life is full of opportunities and growth. One has to realize when taking these progressive steps not to overlook a very important person – “yourself.” This is not necessarily in the conventional sense of self power. Quite to the contrary, it is in the sense that one must be vigilant not to let success and honor go to one’s head to extent that it is nurtured and sought after at the expense of all else. One must be careful to protect one’s “midot” or virtues and realize that there is a larger picture beyond ones self. It was Yehoshua Bin-Nun from the tribe of Efraim and Nachshon ben Aminadav representing the tribe of Yehuda that held true to themselves and ultimately true to their people and G-d. This is a lesson we can learn from the spies and to mirror the acts of Yehoshua and Nachshon in our own lives.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Avi Matmon
Spark of Jewish Experience