Friends ? To my great perturbation, I'll never quite be able to see the world through the eyes of Lionel Richie… I'll never be able to sing, with the deepest meaning and purpose and intentionality unto which the verse was written, "I'm easy like Sunday morning…" I mean, even though I now live in Israel and the whole CONCEPT of being "easy like Sunday morning" has little-to-no-relevance in my life (seeing as how "Sunday morning" here is basically like "Monday morning" in the rest of the known universe), I'll never be able to reflect on exactly which emotional confluence took place within my soul that stirred me to write that verse down (presumably on one easy Sunday morning) and set it to music. No matter how internationally famous I may become as a black 80's soul musician/sex symbol, no matter how many Grammy Awards I win, high-class music-industry parties I attend, Gold-Record albums I cut, or posh, split-level suburban townhouses I choose to occupy in my endeavoring to emulate or even REPLACE Lionel Richie, I will never have completely inherited the man's portion in life… it will remain his forever, as it should.
The Talmud tells us that "Anyone who has not read Parshat Behar (this week's parsha) before Shavuot (which is coming up in less than 2 weeks) simply doesn't understand what receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai was all about." Okay, so let's read the parsha… mmmmmm, lots of agricultural laws about resting the land and returning it to its proper inheritors, laws about not charging interest or overcharging for the usage of land before it's returned to its proper tribal inheritance… Where's all the laws about "loving your neighbor as yourself" or "not coveting your neighbor's wife" or "being holy?" Where's all that moral/ethical stuff that Jews love to tote around as "God's Main Message to His People?" Furthermore, why does the verse that introduces all of these laws about proper relationships to our land begin with the word "Behar" - that they came from from Mount Sinai? At this point in the story, aren't the Jewish people chronologically much removed from the whole experience of receving the Torah at Sinai? Why need we be reminded?
Well, friends, we all need to return to our root at some point. As the Mai HaShiloach tells us, "Each person is given an inheritance, according to his level, that is appropriate to his root… however, since human beings will inevitably request to take part in the workings of the world, the phenomenon consequently occurs within which a man can become wealthy and successful and acquire his friend to work for him, while another man's wealth will decrease such that he must sell his inherited portion and his service to survive… But since 'God's word stands forever' and the workings of man cannot effect that 'word…' whichever of God's judgements are effected on a person will not effect the depth of his root… because there is a moment at which every created thing must return to its inheritance (Pg . 142)."
Essentially, our collective experience at Mount Sinai taught us that in order to be truly moral and ethical, in order to truly "love our neighbors like ourselves" and "be holy," we must learn to distinguish between what is truly our inheritance and what is truly someone else's. Through returning what is not truly ours, we learn what IS truly ours. Moreover, says the Mai HaShiloach, when we return someone else's inherited portion or item (or role) after having lived with it or worked on it ourselves, we do not suddenly crumble into nothingness, the workings of our own hands abruptly and forcibly amputated from our lives, all the benefits and goodnesses we've come to expect from our work simultaneously evaporated, though it may very well FEEL that way! Mysteriously, we receive "haganah mu'etet," a bit of the "protection" that we experienced when we worked with our neighbor's inheritance, a foundation of familiarity and experience with that person and his God-given root which creates an ability for sympathy and aspiration within us that we otherwise may never have known, and which allows us to recognize our own true inheritance even more clearly.
The Ethics of our Fathers tells us, "Who is happy? He who is contented with his portion." God willing, this and every Shabbat we should be blessed to feel, within the comings-and-goings of property, inheritances, roles, and relationships in our lives, that we are truly being brought closer to our own roots, and that with each fluctuation we gain a bit of "protection" and foundation towards recognizing and clarifying what our TRUE portion is for ourselves. Amen, Good Shabbes!
Jerry Silverman
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Jerry Silverman is a former student of Yeshivat Bat Ayin. He is working in new media, designing and managing media projects. He lives in Riverdale, NY with his wife Sarah and their two children. |