Beshalach: Leadership 4 U

Follow the Leader

In this week's Torah portion, we read about the splitting of the Red Sea, and the subsequent songs and praises offered up to God afterwards.

Concerning the men, the verse tells us that "then Moshe sang and the children of the Israel (sang) this song to God". But concerning the women's song, the verse tells us that "the women came out after her (Miriam) with tambourines and dancing".

What is the difference between these two songs? Why did the men simply join in the singing, whilst the women sang and danced with tambourines?

The women did not delegate their responsibilities to their leader. They did not sit back and let Miriam the prophetess do all the work.

Rather, each and every women made a tambourine for herself, which showed a personal effort to trust in God's redemption and rejoice in it when it arrives.

There is a growing temptation with us to sit back and let our leaders to all the work. We may think that being inspired and inspiring others is better left with the Rabbis, lay leaders, etc.

But we learn from Miriam and the righteous women that we need to join the collective effort with a personal effort; we need to be individual leaders. Thus we can boost the collective effort and ensure that we and others and left inspired and the connection with God is thus renewed and invigorated.

BO - Ethics from the Weekly Torah Portion

It was this week some years ago that I celebrated my Bar Mitzah - the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony.

A Bar Mitzvah is when at the age of thirteen (for a girl, the Bat Mitzvah is at the age of 12) a boy, strictly speaking, turns into a man. One becomes obligated to do the Mitzvot; they are no longer optional. One is able to be counted in a minyan - quorom of 10 men required for prayer.

So I remember delivering my first public address - and to the letter - remember the impact it has had on my life.

R' Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, the founder of the Kotzker dynasty to which my family has remained connection even to this very day; asks a fundamental question.

This week's Torah portion is entitled "Bo" which means come. God tells Moses to "come to Pharaoh".

Asks the Rebbe of Kotzk; why does God instruct Moses to "come" to Pharaoh? Wouldn't "go" to Pharaoh render more appropriate?

Rather, in this world, there are many times when we feel alone. We feel we are on a journey into the abyss; a struggle against the invincible.

But God tells each and every one of us: "Come to Pharoah".

Pharaoh symbolises the wickedness that exists in the world.

But when we seek to go against the tide, we must know that we are not alone.

And who is better to have on your side than the Creator of the world?

Thus, Moses, and every Jew to this very day is reassured that when there is a battle to fight; one will never fight alone.

Ethics from the Weekly Torah Portion: BO

THE EXODUS AND US

I am constantly challenged by numerous people as to how practical the traditionally high moral and ethical standards of Judaism can be relevant in a "spiralling world that is filled with the pursuit of money and physical pursuits?"

This challenge can be answered using he story of the Exodus from Egypt.

One of the most fundamental aspects of the exodus story is the unlimited "bitachon" - absolute reliance - on Divine providence.

Imagine a whole nation; men, women and children; numbering several million; leaving a developed country with bountiful crops and a prospering economy to a long and perilous journey, without provisions and seemingly low chance of survival.

Why did they do it?

Because it was the word of God.
Just like in the past when the Jewish nation trusted God wholeheartedly and they were thus rewarded both spiritually with the Torah and the commandments, and physically with the land of Israel, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This faith; the Torah, Mitzvot (religious commandments) have kept us going for centuries, and through this alone can we liberate ourselves from all "natural" restrictions and limitations.

And it is through this that we can achieve true happiness; both material and physical.

Ethics from the Torah Portion: BO

Mussar in the Parsha: BO

This week we read the Torah portion entitled "Bo" which begins with Moses trying to convince Pharaoh to let the Jews go, and Pharaoh's stubborn refused for God had "hardened his (Pharaoh's)heart".

Many Torah commentaries address the case of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and the apparent contradiction it presents us with. Was Pharaoh not entitled to free will?

On this issue, the S’fat Emet differentiates between one’s heart and one’s will; thus solving the entire problem.

God accused Pharaoh, “Until when will you refuse to be humbled before Me?” (10:3). Targum Onkelos translates this to mean that God is asking Pharaoh refuses to be subjugated before Him.

At first glance, Pharaoh could have answered by explaining that God had hardened his heart; but he doesn’t do so. Although God did harden his heart, the option still remained for him to will to be subjugated. In his wickedness, Pharaoh did not even have the internal willpower deep inside to improve.

We see the following scenario play itself out in reality. A person may fall and sin, and then sin again; but internally he doesn’t want to sin. Also in this scenario the person’s appetite for sin prevailed over his moral compass, he agrees that what he did was wrong. His awareness is still fighting through his battle with the inclination to sin.

Despite this, Pharaoh “refused”, even his moral compass refused to acknowledge what was right and what was wrong; and therefore he was punished.

 Even if we slip and veer off the path of righeteousness, we must never block off the path of return. If we insist that there's no going back, there won't be.

VA'EIRA - Ethics from the Torah Portion

ETHICS FROM THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION

OF PRINCES AND PAUPERS

PARSHAT VA'EIRA

In this week’s Torah portion, the Jews are still enslaved by the Egyptians, and God tells the Jewish people: “and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage”.

R’ Avraham Mordechai of the Gerrer Dynasty, was the son of the Chiddushei Harim, the first Rebbe, and the father of the Sefat Emet, the Gerrer Dynasty’s second spiritual leader. He was also my great-great-great-grandfather.

He brings a parable to explain the aforementioned verse.

There was once the son of a King who strayed from the path of goodness and decency and started wasting his father’s resources and within a short period of time had succeeded in throwing away and wasting millions of dollars / pounds / gold pieces, etc.

The King’s anger against his son grew and grew until he could bear it no longer. He exiled his son, the prince, to the poorest part of his Kingdom. Thus the son would appreciate money and not take it for granted.

The King’s son sat with the paupers, and integrated to the point that he no longer remembered he was the prince.

After many years, the King was confident that his son would have learnt the value of money, and he felt pity for his son who had been ejected from a life of luxury to a life of poverty and devastation.

The King’s ministers went to retrieve the prince but couldn’t find him; he had blended in very well to his surroundings.

Finally, the minister found the prince. However, to test if the lesson had truly kicked in, the minister asked the Prince if he needed anything.

The prince replied saying that he needed a new “beggar’s sack”.

My ancestor then relates the message of the parable. We sometimes request the wrong things, confident on what is and isn’t right for us.

However, we fail to realise that the bitter exile we are in is the Prince’s exile. We have to value the true value of the basic necessities in life.

Only when the ultimate spiritual redemption arrives, will we be able to look back at our journeys in exile and reminisce about our actions; whether we acted correctly or not.

But let us strive to illuminate this dark exile, and ensure that we get returned to the King’s palace as soon as possible.

Va'eira: Ethics from the Weekly Torah Portion

Va'eira: Mixed Feelings

The Fourth plague inflicted upon the Egyptians was the plague of wild animals. These beasts ravaged the land and wreaked havoc to all that crossed their paths.

The Torah described the animals as being a “mixture” of various types of dangerous creatures (scorpions, snakes, beasts).

One may incorrectly deduce from the Torah’s inclusion of the seemingly unnecessary word “mixture” a rather negative message. One may think that this indicated that God favours mixtures, and that all moral, ethical and spiritual barriers can or should be broken down.

The Torah teaches us that this isn’t the case, by proclaiming that God “set apart the Land of Goshen where my people remain” so they shouldn’t be attacked by the ravishing beasts.

This teaches us an extremely important lesson that we take with us into our daily lives.

Sometimes, a Jew has to venture out into the unchartered waters of “mixed” values and blurred boundaries. However, one must realise, and constantly remind himself and others, that God does not favour this mixing and diluting of moral and ethical values.

Rather it is the Divine will that the Jews should be “set apart” and removed from the rest of mankind, in the way that we must uphold our Jewish identity and remain proud of who we are.

We must not give in and become assimilated with perverse, crooked reasoning and values of today’s dark world; we must strive, even whilst subjugated to this very “slavery”, to be a shining light to the nations of the world.

Tips for Life: PRIORITIES

The story is told of a college lecturer who came into class and dumped a glass bottle down on his desk, proceeding to fill the bottle with stones. He turned to his students and asked ‘is the bottle full now?’ and when they responded with an enthusiastically confused ‘yes,’ he took some small shells out of his case and poured them into the bottle. Asking the class again, ’is it full now?’ the students once again replied in the affirmative.

However, again the class were surprised to have been proved wrong - the teacher took out some sand and gently poured the grains into the gaps between the stones and shells. The lecturer asked one last time ’is it full now?’ and though half the class were silent (they didn’t want to be proved wrong again), the other students responded with a confident ’yes, it’s definitely full now.’ But again, to the shock horror of the now thrice-wrong students, out came a cup of water which was poured into the bottle (accompanied by a wry smile) to finally fill it to the brim. ‘Now it’s full,’ beamed the lecturer.

He went on to explain the point of this demonstration. Had he put in the contents in the other way round (water first, then sand, then shells and stones), they would never have all fit into the bottle. Only when one goes in order of size; starting with the stones, then putting in the smaller things, can all these materials make it in.

The moral of this delightful little tale is that in life one has to prioritise. Make sure the bigger, more important things in life are taken care of first, and then move the smaller things around that. This works on a bigger, life scale too. Sort out the important things, the things that really make you happy in life - family, kids, meaning and fulfilment - and try and plot the rest around that.

Similarly, when going for a partner for life (a wife/husband), don’t fall into the trap of being blinded purely by their looks - it’s their personality and character that will be around in the future, together with your common goals; looks tend to get ’no better’ over time (don‘t say that to their faces). If you want something that's going to be meaningful, happy and something that will last, it’s all about making an intelligent choice of priorities.

by Rabbi Daniel Fine

Time is everything - Mussar from the Parsha - SHEMOT

Pharaoh commanded that "Let the workload be made heavier on the men and let them do it; and let them not be occupied with idle talk".

The Ramchal - Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato is one of the most renowned authors of works of ethics and rebuke - Mussar - the most famous of with is Mesilat Yesharim - Path of the Just.

In the "Path of the Just", the Ramchal writes that one of the cunning techniques of the evil inclination is to keep a person so busy with sinful and destructive activities and thus to deny him the opportunity to actually stop, think and ponder the direction his life is taking, and where he wants it to go.

"For the evil inclination knows that if people had the time to stop and plan their life plan carefully they would feel regret for their sinful actions, and eventually transform their lives into lives of righteousness and goodness."

This is the same principle as Pharaoh's plan. By keeping them preoccupied with their back-breaking labour they had no time to focus on serving God or their redemption from slavery.

However, the Shem MiShmuel points out that this exact same stratagem can be inversely used for the good. By filling up one's time with constructive and useful good deeds, one has no time to sin. When one is so absorbed in good, it is just impossible for any sliver of wickedness to creep in.

The Talmud relates that Rava, the 4th generation Babylonian "Amora" Talmudic sage was once so engrossed in his learning that he failed to realise that a bench had falled and completely crushed his foot to a pulp. He did not even notice this severe fose of excruciating pain.

Similarly, the great Chassidic Master, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk told his Chassidim - followers:

"I want you to refrain from sinful activity not because you are repelled by its defilement and baseness, but simply because you have no time for it."

We are all so busy these days, running to and from work, school, home, etc but we have to set aside time for the things that really matter to us in life.

A recent global campaign was held a few months ago which encouraged users to disconnect from all digital devices - iPhones, Blackberries, iPads, Android, Windows mobile devices - you name it - and devote one hour - smartphone-free - for the things that really matter; from spending time with the family to volunteering at an old-age home or an institution distributing food for the needy. The principle was that we should fill our time with what is good and important - and we should just open our eyes and realise what is what.

Commencing with Pharaoh and continuing with all the "Pharaohs" that have been around since, they strive for our spiral into despair. We must only move uni-directionally.

And that way is up.

Ethics from the Parsha - SHEMOT

SHEMOT: STAYING POSITIVE

In this week's Torah portion, Moses replies to God's command of leaders and responds by saying that the Jewish people "will not believe" that God has spoken to him and "will not listen" to Moses' voice.

However, Moses knew the Jewish people were awaiting for a leader to come and lead them out of Egypt. Even Pharoah knew that a leader would take the Jewish people out of Egypt, which is why he issued the command to drown all newborn Jewish baby boys in the Nile.

Why therefore, was Moses confident that the Jewish people wouldn't allow him to be their leader?

Moses' fear was actually that the Jewish people would be so crushed by the years of servitude and back-breaking labour that redemption just seems too far off the horizon. He knew they would believe him in the theoretical sense, but he needed a sign to make their belief concrete and palpable in the physical realm.

If a miraculous sign was given, this would arouse their inherent belief to a more tangible state.

However, why was God upset at Moses' comment? He did not completely deny the Jewish people's belief in God and His messenger?

However, by speaking in such a manner, Moses was subtly insulting the Jewish people. God was upset that Moses didn't fully realise that the Jewish heart and spirit remains intact; and is impervious to the sufferings of the lengthy exile.
This can be comparable to an account recounted in the book and subsequent film "Defiance" that chronicles the remarkable bravery of the Bielski brothers, who led a Jewish partisan group in the forest and is renowned for protecting non-combatant civilians as well as fighters. There is an account that in order to rally the Jews and to raise their spirits, Tuvia Bielski recounts the story of the Jews and their exodus from Egypt. Just mentioning the story of the Egyptian slavery and exodus is seemingly enough to raise spirits.

But going back to Moses; surely this slight oversight wasn't so demeaning and shouldn't have been severe enough to warrant God's upset?

This is just testimony to Moses' greatness. The greater one is, the more severe his demeanours become. Take, for example, a student in school. At age 7, one can write several grammatical errors but still get a high mark in an English essay. However, at age 17, a lot more is expected form the student and even 1 or 2 grammatical errors can result in a low grade.

Therefore, from this incident, we learn the tremendous importance of always speaking positively about the Jewish people.

Ethics from the Parsha - Vayechi

OPEN YOUR EYES - VAYECHI

This week’s Torah portion entitled Vayechi is unusual in one respect; it continues without pause from the previous Torah portion of Vayigash, which we read last week. Usually, there is a gap or pause between two portions, which indicates where each one starts and stops. But not so for Vayechi. Why is this so?

The biblical commentator Rashi explains that the Torah portion is “closed” – meaning that it continues from last week’s portion and there is no gap or indicative spacing in the text, is because the “eyes of the Jewish people were closed.”

In today’s world, we are truly witnessing amazing phenomena. The strides the world has taken in politics, economy and technology, amongst other fields is outstanding.

On a daily basis we witness sighs of redemption in the world; but not always do we realise this and take note of what is happening.

One such sign that redemption is on its way is the general treatment of the Jewish people by would leaders. More Jews than ever now have full access to Judaism, with no regimes such as the Soviet Union to restrict religious observance.

The fact that there is also a Jewish state; one in which religious observance is unhindered and where one can fully live like a Jew in the open without the existing levels anti-Semitism that is still prevalent even in civilised western countries is another such sign.

The Jewish perception in the world is another such sign. Whilst persecution of the Jews was ripe even until just before the Second World War and beyond; where a religious Jew couldn’t even hold a job in America as working on the Sabbath was required. Today one can see Jews sporting traditional Jewish garb on the executive boards of major global companies and corporations.

However, what is painful is that many of us take these signs for granted. The world is changing and it is changing in the path of eternal good.

The longing of thousands of years is no longer an unrealistic dream - it is within grasp.

All we have to do is open our eyes.

Only then will we be able to usher in the ultimate redemption.

Shabbat Shalom.