Yom Kippur 5772

Rabbi YY Jacobson

• September 21, 2011
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• 22 Elul 5771
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  Yom Kippur Insights

  15 Yom Kippur Insights

  Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • September 21, 2011

  Index

  1.        The Apple Revolution

  2.        The Elephant Rope 

  3.        The Mountain

  4.        Steve Jobs & the Fragility of Life

  5.        G-d Runs Your Life

  6.        The Jewish Perspective on Guilt

  7.        Why Do We Pray?

  8.        The Value of a Life

  9.        Red to White

  10.      Dignity During Hard Times

  11.      The Carpenter

  12.      What Comes Around Goes Around

  13.      You Are Beautiful

  14.      The Old Mule in the Well

  15.      Suffering in the World

  
  1.     The Apple Revolution

  There was a time in the nineteen forties when Vyacheslav Molotov was Soviet foreign minister. He was a shrewd man and a hard bargainer but worked for Joseph Stalin, who was The Boss and one of the greatest tyrants in the history of mankind. He was once overheard talking to Stalin by trans-Atlantic telephone during the course of some very intricate negotiations with the West. He said, "Yes, Comrade Stalin," in quiet tones, then again, "Yes, Comrade Stalin, and then, after a considerable wait, "Certainly, Comrade Stalin. Suddenly he was galvanized into emotion. "No, Comrade Stalin," he barked, "No. That's, no. Definitely, no. A thousand times, no!"

  After a while, he quieted and it was "Yes, Comrade Stalin," again. The reporter who overheard this was probably never so excited in his life. Clearly, Molotov was daring to oppose the dictator on at least one point, and it would surely be important to the West to know what that point might be.

  The reporter approached Molotov and said as calmly as possible, Secretary Molotov, I could not help but hear you say at one point, "No, Comrade Stalin."

  Molotov turned his cold eyes on the reporter and said, "What of it?"

  "May I ask," said the reporter, cautiously, "What the subject under discussion was at that time?"

  "You may," said Molotov. "Comrade Stalin asked me if there was anything which he had said with which I disagreed."

  What made Apple so uniquely successful? It was the approach used by its founder and CEO Steve Jobs who died this past Wednesday.

  To quote Mr. Jobs: “It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.

  “We figure out what we want. You can’t go out and ask people ‘what’s the next big thing?’ There’s a great quote by Henry Ford. He said, “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’”

  Judaism needs to be thought of the same way. The Jewish people need to lead, inspire and teach morality, goodness and holiness to the world. We need to lead with the greatest product of all time: G-d’s Torah. Torah is the "Apple of G-d's eye." Don’t follow the lead of others and don’t focus on what others are doing. Show them what they can be, what they can achieve, how large they can become if they introduce the infinite presence of G-d into their lives.

  We must get rid of our insecurities and the need to see what “everybody is saying” and then mimic those voices. Wrong approach. We have a product singular in history. Let us carry it with pride.

  Three apples changed the world: Adam and Eve's apple, Newton's apple, and finally, Steve Jobs's Apple. But the Apple of G-d's eye, the Torah, is the most important “apple:” It will heal Adam's apple, it will teach us that despite Gravity we can touch the heavens, and will infuse Job's Apple with true meaning, teaching us how to use the miracle of Apple technology to spread goodness and holiness.

  Eternity of Judaism

  This idea is expressed in the Torah reading for Yom Kippur, from the book of Leviticus, the beginning of the Biblical portion of Acharei Mot. The Torah section discusses in detail the services the High Priest must perform on this holy day as he enters the Holy of Holies, the most sacred chamber in the Holy Temple.

  The opening of the reading tells us how Moses was instructed to tell his brother Aaron, the High Priest, these words: "Al yavo bechol eit el hakodesh," "He may not enter at all times into the holy Sanctuary." Simply, this is a directive to Aaron that throughout the year he is not to enter the Holy of Holies section of the Tabernacle. Only on Yom Kippur.

  Yet there is a deeper homiletical interpretation, which makes this instruction eternally relevant even in the absence of the Holy Temple and in the absence of a High Priest.

  There are many people who erroneously think that Torah is antiquated and not up with the modern times. As a result they feel that it is necessary to modify and adjust Torah so that it will be compatible with contemporary lifestyles. They try very hard to make sure Torah “fits in” to modern sensibilities.

  To negate this, the Torah declares "Al yavoh bechol eit el hakodesh," which can also be translated: “He may not enter with every ‘time’ into the holiness.” Don’t modify the holiness of Torah and Judaism according to the time. Every time, every era, every milieu, every decade, has its own trends and fads. They come and they go. What was popular 10 years ago is obsolete today. The truths of Torah transcend the fluctuations of time and space. These values and morals, these laws and statues, speak to that dimension within us that never changes. On the contrary, all of the changes in the time will be infused with meaning if they are nourished by those absolutes in our life which never change. These are the morals and the laws of Torah and Mitzvos.

  There is a story of an American who took his son to London to show him the interesting sights of that historic city. During the tour, the father made sure to take him to Parliament and point out the huge clock on top of the building known as "Big Ben." The child strained to get a full view of the clock, and so did the others who came to see it. "Daddy, I would like to ask you something," said the boy. "Why did they put the clock so high and make people strain their necks to look up to it? Couldn't they have made the clock level with the eyes so that everyone could see it easily, without trouble?"

  The father thought for a moment and replied, "It is this way: If they had placed the clock low, people would adjust Big Ben to the time on their watches. Now that the clock is high, beyond the reach of all, they cannot try to reset it. If they want to have the correct time, they must set their own watches in accordance with the time shown by Big Ben."

  The same is true about the Torah. Torah is the Jewish people's and the entire world’s Big Ben. The moment everybody starts altering the “clock” of Torah to fit with their own sensibilities, it become meaningless and futile. It is reduced to being merely a product of whatever the New York Times is advocating at that time. It has no real message. We should always regard Torah as being on a lofty plane so that it will not be changed by mere mortals. It is the correct "time" for all of us, and we must adjust ourselves to this Divine clock and not tamper with it and endeavor to adjust it to our opinion and convenience.

  Like Apple, don’t be insecure with your product. Expose it to the world and it will be consumed.

  2.     The Elephant Rope 

  “My pledges are not pledges and my oaths are not oaths…”—Kal Nidrei.

  As a man was passing the elephants in a large zoo, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

  He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

  The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

  Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us don’t liberate ourselves from our shackles, from our fears, from our inner voices of insecurity or negativity, and we never actualize our full potentials. We live life in captivity. If we would only give a little shlep, the ropes would tear swiftly, but we are accustomed to believe that we are indeed trapped by flimsy rope.

  Yom Kippur tells us: These ropes may have worked yesterday. But today you have grown up. Today you are empowered to set yourself free. The oaths that have kept you down, are no more. The sky is the limit and you are capable of living a truly liberated, meaningful and happy life, with a clear conscience.

  A Jewish mother walks her son to the school bus corner on his first day of kindergarten.

  "Behave, my Bubaleh" she says. "Take good care of yourself and think about your mother, Tataleh!  And come right back home on the bus, Schein Kindaleh.  Your Mommy loves you a lot, my Ketsaleh, my angel!"

  At the end of the school day the bus comes back and she runs to her son and hugs him.

  "So what did my adorable beauty learn on his first day of school?"

  The boy answers, "I learned my name is David.”

  There comes a point in our life when we must learn that we are adults, that we have our own name, and that we are responsible for our future, and that we cannot blame the entire world for our failure to live deeply and love deeply.

  3.     The Mountain

  You wait for man to return till the day he dies; if he returns, You accept him immediately —Yom Kippur prayer, Unetana Tokef.

  Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist, was the first man to climb Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953 he scaled the highest mountain then known to man, 29,000 feet straight up. He was knighted for his efforts.

  In his book High Adventure he tells of the challenges before him. You see, in 1952 he attempted to climb Mount Everest, but failed. A few weeks later a group in England asked him to address its members. Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness, but Edmund Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform. He made a fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain. He said in a loud voice, "Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I'll beat you the next time because you've grown all you are going to grow... but I'm still growing!”

  This is the greatness of man vs. every other creature, including all animals, all of nature and even angels. They remain fixed and etched in their mold and can never really transcend it. We are capable of never stopping to grow.

  4.     Steve Jobs & the Fragility of Life

  "B'rosh Hashana yi'katayvu U'v'yom tzom Kippur y'chataymu.” On Rosh Hashana the decree is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. Who will live and who will die. Who will achieve the measure of her time, and who will die before his time…"

  A wealthy Jew dies and in his will leaves millions of dollars for various organizations and for his family and friends. At the funeral, the Rabbi notices some stranger weeping uncontrollably.

  "Why are you crying so intensely? Were you related to the man?" asked the Rabbi.

  "No,” came the reply. "So why are you so distraught?"

  "Well, as I just said, because I wasn’t related to the man.”

  On Yom Kippur we stare at the truth of how terribly fragile life is. How short and finite our days. How limited our security. The awesome mystery of what one year can bring. How everything can turn around, so very quickly and without warning.

  Of all the things we think we control, what do we really control? Of all the protection—the walls—that we erect around ourselves, how much can we really shield ourselves from life? You don't decide when you're born. You don't decide when you'll die. You don't decide to get sick. You spend twenty years working loyally for a company, and then one day, there's a pink slip waiting on your desk. To live normally all year, we must pretend that we're in control. But once a year, we must face the truth. And the truth is that we control so very little.

  What this tells us is two things: Every day is precious. Every moment is valuable. Every day of our lives must be lived with meaning and zest and to the fullest.

  It also tells us not to become arrogant and narcissistic, to remain humble, kind and caring. Even when we are on top of the world, we should not become haughty and cold. We must be real and vulnerable.

  Take Steve Jobs, who died this Wednesday as the age of 56. Here was a revolutionary, the co-founder of Apple. He has changed the lives of hundreds of millions through his innovations. And suddenly an illness trikes him and he is gone.

  Steve Jobs summed it up well:

  "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose," Jobs said in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University.

  "Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new."

   “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

  5.     G-d Runs Your Life

  “Kebakaras Roeh Edro Maavir Tzono Tachas Shevto…” – Unetana Tokef prayer.

  I want to tell you a story:

  In Minnesota, there’s a world-renowned pediatric neurologist by the name of Dr. Galen Breningstall. Also known as “Dr. Nesanel”, he’s a highly regarded expert in his field.

  Several years ago, he traveled to Jerusalem where the annual Epileptic International Congress was being held - symptoms include brief seizures and loss of consciousness.

  There were a few hundred doctors in attendance at this conference to talk about the latest findings in this field.

  During one of the sessions, Dr. Nesanell noticed this Chassidic Jew with a long beard, sitting in the back and listening attentively… He stood out… So after the session, he approached him and asked, “Are you a doctor?”

  He said, “No”…

  “So why are you here?”…

  So the man explained: “I have a daughter that suffers from epileptic seizures, so whenever I hear about such conferences in Israel, I attend them, so that I can be up to date on the latest developments in the field… This way I can help my daughter get the best care and treatments available out there.”

  The doctor was impressed with this. The two men became friendly. And one day the Chasid invited him over for Shabbat.

  Friday night, after Shule, before they went into the house, the Chassid turned to the doctor and said: “I have five daughters. You will see them all sitting at the Shabbat table tonight. I’m willing to bet that you won’t be able to tell which one is the daughter who suffers from seizures. She gets them once in a while, but otherwise integrates so well with other children that you’d never know – not even a specialist like yourself!

  So the doctor said, “Okay, maybe you’re right… We’ll see.”

  And so, they came into the house. The guest was introduced. They recited the Kiddush and enjoyed a wonderful meal together. And just as the man said, all of the adorable children laughed and interacted beautifully with each other.

  Toward the end of the meal, the Chassid turned to Dr. Breningstall and said quietly: “Nu, Okay, doctor, what do you say? Which daughter is it?”

  The doctor looked around the table carefully and then, very softly, nodded his head in the direction of one of the girls and said softly, “That one.”

  The man was stunned. He was shocked. “You are exactly right, but how could you tell? She didn’t show a trace of a symptom all night.’

  Dr. Nesanell paused for a moment and said: “Like many fathers, you have the Friday night custom of having each of your children come up to you after the singing of Sholom Aleichem so that you could bless them. Earlier, when you blessed your children, when this girl stood before you and you placed your hands upon on her head, there was something extra in your voice. I could almost feel the intensity of your heartbeat at that moment. That’s how I knew.”

  This is the powerful comforting message in Untana Tokef. On Yom Kippur, our Father in Heaven blesses each of us. And for each one He offers a special prayer, granting us our unique blessings and challenges designed for our unique soul’s journey.

  Like a father blessing each of his children, no two children are a like. Every child gets his or her own attention, type of support, understanding and sensitivity. Each child is their own universe. G-d too, we are saying in Unetana Tokef, just not run a “massive factory,” with “massive production.” Rather every person’s life, journey, and destiny is carefully and individually evaluated and decided.

  This is the good and comforting news in this prayer of Unetana Tokef. We are vulnerable. We don’t know what awaits us. But it is G-d who makes the decision. It is not random. It is not nature or a terrorist or a doctor or the insurance company who decide when someone will die; it is G-d, our father and our best friend. G-d sent each of our souls down to this world for a mission. We are on a journey. Each of us is here for a purpose, and when we complete our mission, He takes us back to Him. G-d gives each of us exactly what we need in order to fulfill our purpose and mission.

  When we realize, it is G-d who navigates our life and our destiny, we can remain happy, assured, and tranquil.

  To quote again Steve Jobs:

  "We're here to put a dent in the universe."

  What’s this dent? Judaism says it thus: Creation is the conversion of energy into matter. Our job is to convert matter back to energy. G-d makes from spirituality physicality; we need to turn physicality into spirituality.

  Our world seems materialistic, egotistical, self-centered. Our job is to make a “dent” in that outer husk of our ego and of the material universe, to reveal the inner G-dliness and unity within ourselves and within all creation.

  6.     The Jewish Perspective on Guilt

  There is something special about a Yiddishe Mamme.

  ·        After all the money we spent on braces, is that the biggest smile you can give me? [Mona Lisa's Jewish Mother]

  ·        I don't care what you've discovered, you could have still written articles. [Columbus' Jewish Mother]

  ·        Of course I'm proud you invented the electric light bulb. Now be a good boy and turn it off and go to bed. [Thomas Edison's Jewish mother]

  ·        But it's your Barmitzvah photo. Couldn't you do something about your hair? [Albert Einstein's Jewish mother]

  ·        That's a nice “story.” So now tell me where you've really been for the last 40 years. [Jonah's Jewish mother]

  My mother is a typical Jewish mother. Once she was on jury duty. They sent her home. She insisted SHE was guilty. Which brings us to an important discussion on guilt.

  One of the most oft-repeated prayers in the Yom Kippur liturgy is the “ashamnu bagadnu” confession, "we are guilty, we have betrayed..." It lists in alphabetical order our whole range of possible and actual sins.

  It would seem that these confessions should be recited in a shamefaced undertone, after all we are confessing to having committed moral and ethical crimes, yet, during the prayers of Yom Kippur, we witness a fascinating Jewish custom. The custom is to sing the confessions to a stirring and even slightly upbeat melody! It almost seems as if we are rejoicing in the confessions of our own wrongdoings!

  One explanation is as follows:

  In recent generations, especially since Frederich Nietzsche (Germany, 1844-1900), philosophers and psychologists have declared war on “guilt.” They are determined to exterminate it. Guilt, they taught us, is the root of all anxieties, neurosis, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, and all psychological maladies; the sooner one can rid himself of guilt, the sooner he can find the secret of happiness.

   Were they correct? I will give a Jewish answer: Yes but also no.

  Guilt is like hunger. Is hunger good or evil? Without a question, hunger is tragic and terrible. Complete populations have died from famine and starvation and many nations continue to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Our sacred goal is to eliminate hunger.

  But not completely. A little hunger is good, and necessary. Maimonides (Hilchos Deos, 4:2) teaches that one should eat a meal only when hungry, and not on a full stomach. Today we often eat, not in response to the normal and healthy voice of hunger, but rather to gratify and indulge our eyes, nose, and taste buds; in response to the overpowering voices of what we see, smell, and taste, or to distract us from our stress. We eat because we crave the gratification and illusion of comfort that food promises.  In the battle over hunger, we have been too successful. We lost appreciation for a healthy appetite and healthy eating habits born from hunger. We are nation which has eliminated hunger and thus our motivation to eat and to stop eating often has nothing to do with hunger. Western civilization suffers more from over indulgence than from hunger pains.

  Guilt is like hunger; extreme guilt, like extreme hunger is a terrible sickness, which modern psychology has justly attacked and attempted to remove. The most tragic example of this is ‘survivor’s guilt’ when a survivor feels guilty for having lived when others did not. Another is when we feel guilty for everybody else’s problems and we give ourselves no slack. We just wallow in the quagmire of our guilt.

  But modern society has lost all respect for healthy guilt. Healthy guilt is the voice of inner conscience, our inner ambassador of morality, who berates us for our failures, and expects better and more from us. Today, we have been taught to exorcise this voice like a demon.

  A man walks into a bar. He calmly orders a drink and proceeds to abruptly pick up his glass and throw it at the shocked bartender. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he begins apologizing profusely, pleading for forgiveness: “I am so mortified, please understand, I suffer from uncontrollable rage, I am deeply ashamed of it. I don’t know what came over me; please forgive me for my embarrassing behavior.” The bartender graciously forgives him.

  This happens nightly for a week straight, each outburst is followed by sincere regret and expression of profound shame. Finally, the bartender makes an ultimatum: “Either undergo intense therapy or do not ever enter this bar again.” The man consents.

  A year later, he returns to the bar, hopefully a rehabilitated man. But lo and behold, he immediately takes his glass and again heaves it at the bartender!

  “What are you doing?” the bartender thunders, “I thought you went to therapy!”

  “I did,” he says, “and now I am not embarrassed anymore.”

  So there is something to sing about in confession; there is something to rejoice. Rejoice in the fact that the voice of your conscience is alive and is speaking to you. Rejoice in the awareness that you have a standard of living and of values that you are aspiring to live up to, and you feel guilt when you do not. Rejoice in the fact that you believe that there is an absolute morality, and that G-d cares about my decisions. And rejoice in the fact that there is a second chance, and that Yom Kippur is a time when we have the strength and courage to begin anew and rectify negative habits.

  7.     Why Do We Pray?

  An atheist businessman decided to open a disco business right opposite a church. The church started a petition to stop the disco from opening and the congregation prayed daily against the disco business. One day a violent lightning struck the disco and it was burnt to the ground. The businessman sued the church on the grounds that the church through its congregation and prayers was ultimately responsible for the demise of his disco. In its reply to the court, the church members denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons to the destruction of the disco building.

  The judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented: “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have an atheist businessman who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church congregation that doesn’t.”

  ***

  There were these two boys who lived with their Grandma. They were about to go to bed but before they slept they would pray. The older son started to pray. He prayed about the day he had and about everything he had done. He thanked G-d for his life and prayed for serenity and integrity.

  The younger son then started to pray, he prayed much louder than his elder brother, he prayed for candy and toys. And when he finished the older brother asked him: “Why are you praying so loud? G-d is not deaf!”

  The younger brother responded: “Yea… but Grandma is!”…

  ***

  There is an old question, why do we pray? Do we really think we can change G-d’s mind? If G-d decided something for me, will I really tweak His infinite psyche during prayer and have him alter His position?

  That would seem as brazen, ridiculous, and even a form of heresy. Did G-d not know your position on the matter? Yet He still decided to do so and so. So who do you think you are to pray?

  And if He is really G-d, He probably knows on His own what you want. Does He need you to pray?

  And also does not prayer contradict the most fundamental principle of faith, which is that we are called on to do G-d's will rather than ask G-d to do our will? What really happens when we pray?

  There are a few explanations for this enigma called prayer. One of them is simple and profound. Prayer is not to change G-d, it is to change ourselves. Through prayer I become a different person, I am not the same person I was before my prayer. Hence the decree that G-d has in store for me might change not because G-d changed, but because I changed. I am not the same person on whom He decreed that specific decree.

  Less than prayer changes G-d, it changes us. Literally, the Hebrew verb l'hitpallel, meaning "to pray," means "to judge oneself." It means to escape from the prison of the self and see the world, including ourselves, from the outside. Prayer is where the relentless first person singular, the "I," falls silent for a moment and we become aware that we are not the center of the universe. There is a reality outside. That is a moment of transformation.

  ***

  In the famous Genesis story, Jacob falls asleep and dreams of a latter reaching heaven upon which angels are ascending and descending. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he declares, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of G-d; this is the gate of heaven."

  There is one nuance in the text that is missed in translation, and it took the Chassidic masters to remind us of it. Hebrew verbs carry with them, in their declensions, an indication of their subject. Thus the word yadati means "I knew," and lo yadati, "I did not know." When Jacob wakes from his sleep, however, he says, "Surely the Lord is in this place v'anochi lo ya'dati." Anochi means "I." In this sentence, it is superfluous. To translate it literally we would have to say, "And I, I did not know it. Why the double "I"?

  To this, Rabbi Pinchas Horowitz (Panim Yafot) gave a magnificent answer. How do we come to know that "G-d is in this place"? By v'anochi lo ya'dati - not knowing the I. We know G-d when we forget the self. We sense the "Thou" of the Divine presence when we move beyond the "I" of egocentricity. Only when we stop thinking about ourselves do we become truly open to the world and the Creator of the world.

  More than prayer changes G-d, it changes us. It lets us see, feel, and know that "G-d is in this place." How do we reach that awareness? By moving beyond the first person singular, so that for a moment, like Jacob, we can say, "I did not know the I." In the silence of the "I," we meet the "Thou" of G-d. in that realization, we are altered. The person before prayer is not the person after prayer.

  8.     The Value of a Life

  The great confrontation today between militant Islam and Israel and the West is on the sanctity and value of life. The late Israeli Prime Minister Golde Meir once captured the contrast dramatically: “Peace will come when the Arabs start loving their children more than they hate ours.”

  The story is told, that before Mao-Tse-Tung (1893-1976), the founder nd leader of the "People's Republic of China," brought the Revolution to China and installed the Communist system there, he was warned that millions of Chinese could starve until they got things working properly.

   To which Mao responded, "If I have to lose 100 million Chinese peasants for the revolution, then it's worth it."

  Indeed, during his leadership, from 1949 till 1976, it is estimated that 70 million of his own people perished!

  Contrast this to Judaism, where the preciousness of life is underscored time and time again. Almost every single mitzvah in Judaism must be violated to save a life.

  The Lubavitcher Rebbe shared the following story in his last and final talk which he would since give on the Eve of Yim Kippur, 1991 (though he did not tell it with all the details, just alluded to it and without names):

  Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik (1853-1918), a revered Lithuanian sage, rabbi and great Jewish leader (grandfather of Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik), was known for his leniency in permitting Jews who were feeling ill to eat on the strict fast day of Yom Kippur. Normally the Day of Atonement is marked by fasting all day long, abstaining from all food and drinks. Only a threat to life permits one to eat. Yet Reb Chaim was extremely lenient on the matter. If someone felt it was even slightly dangerous for them to fast, even if they had 100 doubts on the matter, he demanded from them to eat.

  Reb Chaim was usually known as a strict rabbi. Someone once asked him why then he did not treat Yom Kippur more strictly? Why was he so lenient when it came to the laws of fasting on Yom Kippur?

  Rabbi Soloveitchik responded, I am actually not lenient at all; I am very strict. “It is not that my decision is coming from my being lenient in regard to fasting on Yom Kippur. No! It is coming from my being extra stringent in the mitzvah of guarding one’s life!”

  A story:

  This story was related by Reb Chaim’s grandson Rabbi Aharon Soloveitchik (1917-2001, the dean of the Brisk Yeshiva in Chicago).

  In the year 1905, when Rabbi Chaim Brisker (as he came to be known) was the Rabbi in Brisk, there was a young Jewish Bundist. In that period there were many different philosophies and movements that captured the minds of numerous young Jews. The Bundists—a powerful Jewish movement, founded in 1897, fighting for Socialism and substituting Judaism for Karl Marx’s ideas of economic equality—attracted the hearts of myriads of Jews. This fellow was a fierce Bundist who rejected everything related to Judaism. Whenever he would see Rabbi Chaim Brisker pass him in the street on Shabbos, he used to go out of his way to light up a cigarette.

  One day, this young Bundist, who naturally despised the system of monarchy, took a portrait of Czar Nicholas—the last Czar of Russia, dethroned during the Bolshevik revolution in 1917—and shot a bullet through the portrait. Czarist Russia did not know from Berkley and Colombia; the idea of freedom of expression was nonexistent. The young Jewish Bundist was arrested, brought to the local governor and was sentenced to execution for sedition and treason. The arrest took place right before Rosh Hashannah and the execution was scheduled fpr two weeks later on the day before Sukkos.

  During those days in Russia, bribery performed wonders. (This magic works wonders even in America in 2011.) Treason was of course unforgivable, unless money was handed over to the right places… Rabbi Chaim Brisker sent to inquire how much the governor would want to let the Bundist free. The answer was: 5000 rubles for this Jew.

  Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik gathered the leaders of the community of  Brisk and told them they were obligated to raise the money to save this Jewish boy. Some members of the community were taken aback. They told their Rabbi that it states explicitly in the Torah (in Shoftim) exactly the opposite of what he is advising them to do. They quoted the verse:  "And you shall eradicate the evil from your midst." What could be a bigger fulfillment of this Biblical command, they asked, than letting this Bundist go? After all, he was a terrible trouble-maker and did everything he could to undermine Judaism in his city; should they really intervene?

  They were also shocked at who was demanding this of them: none other than the Rabbi, whose authority this Bundist continuously undermined.

  Rabbi Chaim told them that they misinterpreted the verse. The context of the verse is crucial. Immediately prior to this sentence we read: "By the word of two witnesses or three witnesses shall the condemned person be put to death; he shall not be put to death by the word of a single witness". The Torah requires a very rigorous process to allow for the death penalty. There must be testimony by witnesses. There must be deliberation and ruling by a Jewish court of 23 members. The circumstances of the human being who sinned must be thoroughly investigated. To take the words "eradicate evil from your midst" as a carte blanche to say that we can get rid of every undesirable character in the city is an horrific misrepresentation of Torah law. Rabbi Chaim insisted that the community raise the money to free the young man.

  This happened, as you recall, right before Rosh Hashannah. The community, struggling even in good days to support its many needy, did not come up with the money.

  The eve of Yom Kippur arrived. Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik announced that the synagogue would not be opened for Kol Nidre, the holiest prayer of the year, until the full amount of the ransom was raised. What is more, no one would be allowed into synagogue on all of Yom Kippur until the money was raised. The saving of a Jewish life is more important than the observance of Yom Kippur.

  The community had no choice. They went and raised the money, presented the funds to the governor and freed the Bundist one half hour before sunset on the eve of Yom Kippur. Rabbi Chaim and the other people involved in this effort did not have time to have their pre-fast meal that year. They went straight from the governor's office to Kol Nidre!

  Rabbi Chaim Brisker was known for his zealotry concerning the scrupulous observance of Jewish law. But his greatest zealotry was for the Talmudic teaching that "whoever saves a single soul is as if he saved the whole world."

  9.     Red to White

  "Make our sins white as snow and wool, as it is written, 'Come now let us reason together, says Hashem; even if your sins will be like scarlet, they will become white as snow; even if they will be red as crimson, they will become white as wool,'" Isaiah 1:18, the Yom Kippur prayers.

  Why the color scheme red and white? The opposite of white is black and not red. The Prophet should have said in the name of Hashem, "If your sins will be black as coal, they will become white as snow."

  The answer was presented by the great Chassidic master (died in 1957) Reb Aaron of Belz.

  When we are ashamed, we blush and become red in our face. This is what the Torah is saying: “If your sins will be like scarlet, they will become white like snow.” Sin is inevitable to the human condition. We all make mistakes, we stumble, we fail we hurt ourselves and we sometimes hurt others. That in itself is not the problem. As long as we blush, as long as we sense how we have betrayed our inner goodness and holiness, there is hope that we will make mends and change our behavior to “white snow,” representing purity and cleansing.

  One of the great problems of our contemporary times is that we no longer blush; what is more, we scoff at anyone blushing.

  A kind-hearted fellow was walking through Central Park in New York and was astonished to see an old man, fishing rod in hand, fishing over a beautiful bed of red roses.

  "Tsk Tsk!" said the passer-by to himself. "What a sad sight. That poor old man is fishing over a bed of flowers. I'll see if I can help." So the kind fellow walked up to the old man and asked, "What are you doing, my friend?"

  "Fishin', sir."

  "Fishin', eh. Well how would you like to come have a drink with me?"

  The old man stood, put his rod away and followed the kind stranger to the corner bar. He ordered a large glass of Beer and a fine cigar.

  His host, the kind fellow, felt good about helping the old man, and he asked, "Tell me, old friend, how many did you catch today?"

  The old fellow took a long drag on the cigar, blew a careful smoke ring and replied, "You are the sixth today, sir!"

  Some People just don’t blush…

  10.                       Dignity During Hard Times

  The haftorah of Yom Kippur, from the book of Isaiah, is splendid and moving in its message. G‑d exhorts the prophet Isaiah to admonish the people regarding their fasting ways which G-d finds reprehensible, a message which resonated to this very day:

  “Behold, on the day of your fast you pursue your affairs, and from all your debtors you forcibly exact payment. Behold, with quarrel and strife you fast, and to strike with a fist of wickedness. Is this a fast that I will choose? . . . Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush and spread out sackcloth and ashes beneath him?"

  Instead, Isaiah teaches the Jews the proper way to fast: "Loosen the fetters of wickedness, untie the bands of perverseness, send the oppressed free, and break every oppressive yoke. Offer your bread to the hungry, bring the wandering poor into your home. When you see someone naked, clothe him . . . Then you shall call and the Lord shall answer.”

  During these economic hard times we must not only be there for people who are struggling financially, but we must also be sensitive to their dignity and to their anguish. Charity in Judaism does not only include feeding the poor; it also includes giving every human being the dignity and respect they deserve.

  A story:

  There was this Rabbi who once came to the home of a man who had given charitable support in the past to see if he could enlist his support for the community’s “Food for Shabbos” program.

  In many Jewish communities, money is raised to buy a full menu food for families who cannot afford the basic provisions of the Shabbos meals. The whole thing is handled very discreetly and anonymously. The needy family comes to the rabbi. They tell him how many members in the family. Volunteers put together these boxes of food, grape juice, challah, fish, chicken, cake, etc. never knowing the identity of who they’re boxing it for. And then another set of volunteers are brought in from other communities to deliver the boxes to the doors of the needy families on Thursday. So nobody knows who’s who.

  Anyway, this rabbi visits this man who was known to be rather affluent and tells him, “We are in desperate need of funds for this program, can you help us out?”

  The man thought for a moment and said, “It’s a very good cause. So I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a donation of $500 on the condition that you tell me who will be receiving these food packages.”

  The Rabbi smiles and says: “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. The beneficiaries are assured of their anonymity.”

  The man pauses a moment longer and says, “I understand. But you see, I have a thing about knowing exactly where my charity dollars are going. You give me a list of those who are getting the food and I will be a sponsor to the tune of $10,000.”

  The Rabbi said “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

  The man was exasperated “Alright, look, I really like the cause, but I need to know who and what I’m supporting. It’s just a hang-up I have. You email me a weekly list of the families and I will contribute $25,000 to this program! My final offer.”

  The Rabbi says, “My dear friend, I could never, ever, compromise that discretion we extend to the families we help without their consent. I’m sorry. Thanks for the good intentions, but no thanks.”

  At that point, the man broke down and started crying. He said, “Rabbi, I want you to know that I’ve lost everything; my family and I are destitute. I am out of work and struggling every day. I don’t have money to buy food for my family to have the Shabbos meals. I was afraid to call for help – thinking that others would find out I was getting the packages. I couldn’t handle that. I was trying to see if there was any way, under any circumstance, that you would reveal your recipients, but now I see that you would not. Please put us on your list.”

  11.                       The Carpenter

  “For the sin which we have sinned before you by being callous…” (Kalut Rosh).

  A story:

  A very skilled and extraordinary carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life.

  The contractor was sorry to see his amazing worker go and asked if he could build just one more house for full pay as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

  When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

  What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

  So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. As parents we sometimes think we can get away not spending real quality time with our children and just “getting away” with cheap substitutes. We buy them toys and games, to distract them, so that we don’t have to give them our energy, time and heart. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

  Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project" and you reap the results.

  12.                       What Comes Around Goes Around

  “And all believe that He preserves the kindness” [of every individual]—from the poem “Vechal Maaminim.”

  It is one of the majestic ideas of Judaism. No good deed goes unnoticed. Every kind thought, word, gesture and act, reverberates within us and without us and is returned to us in one form or another.

  A story:

  Israel’s Chabad center at the Upper East Side of Manhattan hosted last week a group of wounded Israeli soldiers. At last week’s Shabbat Kiddush, one of the Israeli veterans, Avichai Mumbaram, shared his army experience with the audience.

  While on a mission in Gaza with his unit, trying to stop the launching of missiles targeted to hit Israeli children, Avichai and his friend Oren somehow got separated from the group. When Avichai instructed Oren to don his bullet-proof vest, Oren got annoyed at being told what to do. It was not a minute after Avichai had won the ensuing argument and Oren had put on the vest, that a mortar bomb hit them and tore both vests right off them. While Oren thankfully escaped unscathed, Avichai’s entire body had been pierced by shrapnel. Oren stood aghast as he realized that Avichai’s persistence that he dons a bullet proof vest had literally saved his life.

  As Oren lay crouched over his wounded friend, they heard a loud commotion. A bearded terrorist approached them, and at a distance of about five feet, opened fire on Avichai with his kalachnakoff gun, shooting him in the hand. At this point, Avichai showed the crowd his shattered left hand where the bullet struck, leaving his hand completely paralyzed. After shooting Avichai once, the terrorist aimed at his heart, intending to finish him off. Avichai described how he saw his life flash before him as he faced his final moments on earth. He thought of his family and his loved ones. He thought of the Jewish people and their homeland. He thought of the millions of Jews he was trying to protect and the hatred they still must deal with. He said goodbye to his body and was ready for the bullet to strike. Just then, Oren managed to shoot the terrorist twice in the head, killing him instantly. Avichai was saved.

  Imagine: Avichai had saved Oren’s life through the bullet vest, and Oren repaid his debt a mere ten minutes later, through killing the terrorist.

  13.                       You Are Beautiful

  After Kal Nidrei we quote the verse, “Forgive the entire community of Israel, ki lechol haam bishgagah," for all the people acted unwittingly.

  This is strange. Do we really believe that G-d does not know that some sins we have done intentionally? Even in a court of law when standing before the judge awaiting a judgment, one would not make a statement which is contrary to everyone's belief and which will definitely arouse condemnation. How do we, standing before the Almighty on the holiest day of the year, filled with remorse and penitence, beseech G-d's forgiveness prefaced on a gross misrepresentation?

  Certainly nobody is lying tonight; everyone is telling the truth. It is here we discover one of the majestic ideas of Judaism about what a human being really is.

  There is a fascinating story related in a Mishnah in the tractate Nedarim (66a):

  מעשה באחד שנדר מבת אחותו הנייה, והכניסוה לבית ר' ישמעאל וייפוה. אמר לו ר' ישמעאל בני מזו נדרת? אמר לו לאו. והתירה ר' ישמעאל. באותה שעה בכה ר' ישמעאל ואמר בנות ישראל נאות הן אלא שהעניות מנוולתן. וכשמת ר' ישמעאל היו בנות ישראל נושאות קינה ואומרות בנות ישראל על ר' ישמעאל בכינה.

  According to Jewish law, when a person makes a neder, vow, he is bound to it. However, if the vow was made in error; i.e. if it was based on a mistaken premise, then a Torah scholar can nullify the vow so that he is not held liable if he violates it.

  The Mishnah cites an incident concerning one who had a lovely niece, and everyone encouraged him to marry her (this was common practice in the days of yore.) But he thought her to be not good looking, so he vowed forbidding himself any benefit from his niece. She was miserably poor. Absolutely destitute. They brought her into the home of Rabbi Yishmael the High Priest at the end of the Second Temple era, and he provided her with clothing and adornments. Suddenly it turned out she was a beauty. She was gorgeous. Rabbi Yishmael then asked the man, her uncle, "My son, is it from this woman that you vowed not to receive benefit? Did you intend to prohibit benefit from such beauty?" He said, "No, I did not mean to prohibit benefit from one of such beauty." Upon hearing this Rabbi Yishmael permitted him to marry her. At that time Rabbi Yishmael felt such compassion that he wept and said "The daughters of Israel are beautiful, but poverty sometimes makes them not so beautiful." Due to his great concern and compassion for the daughters of Israel, when Rabbi Yishmael died, the daughters of Israel raised a lament and they said, "Daughters of Israel, weep over Rabbi Yishmael."

  Every Talmudic story has also a spiritual and metaphoric interpretation. The Jewish people are defined as G-d’s bride, and G-d is our Groom. Sometimes G-d may look at us and see that we are not so comely, morally and spiritually. He may ask Himself, why would I marry this Jew? But there are always our Rebbe’s, our Reb Yishmael’s, our High Priest, who know the truth that every Jew is beautiful; every Jew possesses an intrinsic sacredness, an extraordinary holiness. Unfortunately, it is poverty that makes them sometimes not so beautiful. The poverty can be financial, but it can also be poverty in the sense of being deprived of a good education about the meaning of life, the lack of an understanding and an appreciation of what it means to be a Jew, or ignorance of the depth and majesty of Judaism. It can be “poverty” in the sense of the stress and pressures of life which make some of us look not so good.

  Sin is external, and the Jew who sins is not inwardly corrupt. No Jew wants to be separated from G-d. When a person commits a sin it is due to a lack of awareness of who he really is, and of his inner beauty and holiness. The root of our sins is thus "poverty" in one form or another.

  All you need to do is give the Jew the ability to express his or her glow; then their inherent beauty will come to surface and the "pintele yid," the spark of Judaism embedded in them, swill shine in its full splendor.

  Hence, on Yom Kippur we tell G-d, we may have sinned but it was all a mistake. Even if we did it intentionally, it was really unintentional. We were simply alienated from who we really are and what we really want. We were not fully in touch with our deep selves.

  14.                       The Old Mule in the Well

  “Shake yourself off from the dust, rise, don the clothes of your splendor…” – From the Lecha Dodi poem, recited on Friday night.

  A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying,' or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened, .and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

  Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up! This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up.shake it off and step up. shake it off and step up!" He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought panic and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

  It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him, all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

  In life, we always experience dirt being hurled at us. In one form or another all of us must face people and situations that hurl mud in our face. But how we respond to it is our choice. If we face our problems, respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us.

  When mud comes your way you have to be able to slip off your back, and use it as a stepping stone to become a deeper and better person. 

  15.                       Suffering in the World

  פיוט אלה אזכרה: שרפי מעלה צעקו במרה. זו תורה וזו שכרה. עוטה כשלמה אורה. אויב מנאץ שמך הגדול והנורא. ומחרף ומגדף על דברי תורה. ענתה בת קול משמים: אם אשמע קול אחר, אהפוך את העולם למים, לתוהו ובוהו אשית הדומיים, גזירה היא מלפני, קבלוה משעשעי דת יומיים.

  The fiery angels on High cried out in bitterness, “Is this Torah, and is this its reward?” The enemy is desecrating Your Great and Awesome Name, blaspheming and cursing against the words of Torah. Answered a Voice from Heaven, if I hear another sound, I will turn the world to water, I will make the earth chaos and emptiness, it is a Decree before Me, so accept it, you who take pleasure in the Law of two days [i.e. Torah].”

  This section of the Yom Kippur liturgy tells the tragic story of the Ten Martyrs. The Machzor tells in some detail of how Rabbi Akiva and nine other holy Rabbis and great sages and leaders were publicly tortured to death, each in a different way, by the Romans, in the years following the destruction of the Second Temple.

  After the gruesome death of Rabbi Yishmael the High Priest—the Emperor’s flayed the skin of his beautiful face—the heavenly angels complained bitterly: Is this the reword for Torah? How can G-d allow this horror in His world? The Divine response: One more sound and I will destroy the world, revert it back to nothingness.

  This is deeply disturbing. "Is it forbidden to ask questions!? Why would G-d would destroy the entire world just because someone complains?!

  Imagine, if a wife asks her husband: Why did you have to yell the kids last night? And his response: One more word I will destroy the home! This guy, you will admit, needs some help with anger management.

  G-d could tell the angels gently, “You will not understand. My ways are not your ways; my mind is not your mind.” G-d could have even said: “It is none of your business. When you will be G-d you will decide how to run the world.” But what type of strange reply is this: I will destroy the world just because you are protesting evil?!

  The Vilna Gaon explains it with a story:

  Once there was a great king who obtained the most fine, elegant and expensive piece of material the world has ever seen. He gave it to a Jewish tailor asking him to make for him a royal cloak the likes of which have not seen. The tailor asked him for six months to complete the job.

  Sure enough, six months later the garment was finished and presented to the king. It was even more exquisite than he had imagined. Smooth as the sea, brilliant as the sun, it was so expertly sewn and fashioned that not a stitch could be seen anywhere; it was the ultimate in comfort, regality and elegance.

  The king tried it on and was so overjoyed he rewarded the Jew royally.

  But that evening there was a knock on the king's door and entered the Bishop, who despised the Jewish tailor. "Your majesty! Let us measure the garment and ensure that all of the material was used.” They measured the material and lo and behold, it was smaller than the original material given to the tailor.

  Hu, the tailor had the brazen chutzpah of stealing part of this most expensive material of the king for himself! The King had him arrested, tried and sentenced to death for this audacity of stealing from the king.

  "'If so, if I am about to die,” the tailor begged, then may I have one last wish, your majesty?"

  "'Yes,” answered the king, “you may.”

  "Good. I want you to return me the garment I just made and give me a pair of scissors."

  The garment was given to the tailor. Slowly, he took the scissors and placed it on the garment, about to start cutting the garment.

  The king was aghast. “What are you doing?” Why are you cutting the most beautiful garment?

  “I have not stolen any of the material,” said the tailor. “But for me to prove that, I need to undo the entire garment thread by thread. Then I will show you how each piece of material was used. Right now, you cannot observe where every inch of the material is located, but if I undo the entire garment and revert it back to the way it was before my work I can show you how every inch material can be accounted for.”

  The Plan

  This is the answer to our question.

  G-d wasn't telling the angels not to ask questions. He was not threatening them with destruction just because they protested the evil in our world. Rather He was telling them that when He created the world He did it with a plan and NOTHING is missing from that plan. Every “thread,” every event, can be accounted for. Every moment, every experience, every life, every death, had meaning, purpose and some Divine plan.

  But in order to understand this, it would be necessary 'undo everything,' to undo the entire creation, to go back to the chaos and nothingness in the beginning of the world. G-d was telling the angels: If you want to understand the secret of how I run this world, I have to destroy the world, and start all over again.

  Right now all you see is a few minutes of the “movie” of history. All you appreciate are a few chapters in middle of the novel. If you want to understand the inner workings of the universe, I have to show you the “movie” from the beginning; I have to read with you the book from the beginning. I have to allow you to see existence from its very genesis till its very end, so you can understand what it is all about.

  If you want to understand the meaning of life and of history and of all events, you need to come back with me to the beginning of creation, to the beginning of the garment, and then you get the full picture of history.

   

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