Breathtaking Speech

Life is so expensive these days but we took some comfort in thinking that at least the air we breathe is free. And then came along the Coronavirus with its cruel ability to asphyxiate its victims and we are painfully reminded that breathing is a gift and a very expensive one at that with ventilators costing thousands to build and even more to use. You see my friends, breathing was never a freebie to do with as we please; it comes with great responsibility and accountability. For certain, man cannot count his every breath in order to display his appreciation of them. But how one uses one’s life and speech, which those breaths afford us, says a lot. There are no words without the breath that carries them forth. So I must ask: What have you been talking about? Have you made talk cheap?

The power of speech is so mighty that God created the world not with His hands but with ten utterances: “And G-d said, ‘Let there be light,'” etc.(1:3) With love and great aspirations, G-d breathed life into our mouths and gave man alone the ability to speak and yet with that very same vessel we spew hate, mischief, curses and falsehoods. We use the very tools He used to build the world, to destroy it. The Talmud states that every word which issues from our mouths, whether good, evil, by mistake, or on purpose, is written in a book. They never disappear even though we plead with our interlocutor to not repeat what we said.  So please tell me, with the stakes so high, from all the role models in the Torah, from Moses to Queen Esther, why would you want to emulate the snake whose venomous tongue brought down mankind? 

In last week’s article I wrote how Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit diminished his physical and spiritual beauty. In this week’s Torah readings we learn how talking slander about people can you make you ugly. The punishment for it is a skin disease called tzarat (miscalled, leprosy). The Talmud says that even when the Messiah comes and all people and animals will be healed of disease and the impure will be made pure, the snake whose scaly skin which actually is leprosy, will not be healed because of his evil words. In this Parasha we also read that it is the duty of the Kohanim, the priestly spiritual leaders, to evaluate the skin diseases of the people, not doctors. Why you ask? Because its cause is spiritual, not medical. There is no suffering, our rabbis teach, without sin. “Plagues only affect a person on account of the evil speech which comes out of his mouth” (Talmud). We must look at our punishment and see how it fits the crime. Covid-19—It’s breathtaking! 

Words never die! We are taught in a Midrash that when Moses smashed the first set of tablets indeed the tablets were destroyed but the words and letters that were upon them, they lived, and they all flew back up to heaven (Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit 4:5). So detrimental is the misuse of words that we see in the Book of Psalms how King David praises God and says “Arise, O Lord, save me, my G-d, for You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have broken the teeth of the wicked.” (2:8) Of all things, why would David be happy G-d broke the teeth of the wicked? Wouldn’t he be happier if He broke their necks? And the answer is that teeth are necessary to speak and to curse and to galvanize armies and stir up hatred. But teeth also allow people to pronounce blessings and prayers. And that is exactly what G-d is waiting for and wanting from us. He wants us to pray to Him when we have a problem, not to verbally sabotage the person who may have given it to us; he wants us to bless the food we eat and the lives we live not curse humanity for our perceived injustices; don’t cuss, don’t slander, don’t be a yenta. “You shall not go around as a gossip monger amidst your people (Leviticus 19:16). Use your breaths as if your life depended on them, because it does.

So my dear friends, what are you talking about? I know when someone calls me and asks me, “So have you heard the latest?” I know we are not off to a healthy start. If all your friendships revolve around gossiping about others, perhaps it’s time to question who your friends are. If today they yap about others be sure that tomorrow they will talk about you. When’s the last time you walked away from a conversation smarter than when you started, more inspired and motivated? Do your friends make you better people or vile and base?  It’s time to question your life’s purpose. Are you a creator or a destroyer? Life and death are in the tongue. If you don’t believe that words have power, then why bother praying on Yom Kippur at all, or anytime for that matter?  You wouldn’t use your finest crystal classes to gather a urine sample. So why use the same mouth you use to pray also for despicable, undignified and sinful speech.

I know it’s not easy to stop and that being a yenta ironically is as contagious as the plagues it causes. But we are better than that. How can we not be? G-d made us! Remember the simple advice we’ve all been told, “Think before you speak.” Save your breath, guard your words, watch your mouth and remember most things are better left unsaid.

A Killer Menu: Bon Appétit

A universal visceral reaction upon first hearing about the Coronavirus was, “Of course it came from China; they eat dogs, snakes and bat soup.” One didn’t have to be religious or Jewish to get nauseated at seeing animals that we call pets hanging from meat hooks or imagining bats doing laps in our broth. Our brainless stomachs and rudimentary retch reflexes just know some things just shouldn’t be eaten. With subtle feelings of superiority we question, “What kind of person eats things like that?” Certainly there will be consequences. All of our own health crazes and the billions society spends on them strongly indicate that we fundamentally believe that we are what we eat, that healthy items help make us healthy and that bat broth breeds deadly viruses. How coincidental, it turns out that G-d believes the same thing. We may deem foods as “gross”; G-d deems some foods as unclean and an abomination. I tend to trust Him more than the Chinese, W.H.O., or the FDA as to what is consumable, after all He did create the world and everything in it. I certainly vouch for His very famous “diet book” that ensures that His people will be not merely healthy, but also HOLY; a diet that has endured through the millennia. “For I am the Lord Who has brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. Thus, you shall be holy, because I am holy.” (11:45)

The sages teach that the food we eat affects much more than our bodies. By eating not kosher we sully our souls, distance ourselves from the Almighty and bring on sicknesses. The kabbalists teach that our soul is in our blood and seeing that food feeds our blood it affects our souls as well. The more we learn the depths of our commandments, the more we realize that God is the best diet guru, even if He doesn’t have an infomercial. 

The Jewish people are allowed to eat only ten animals, none of which hunt for prey. They are docile and peaceful. Our sages have taught that eating animals that lust for blood and go for the kill affects our characters and personalities. If eating an energy bar gives you energy, then how hard is it to believe that eating violent and aggressive animals can transform your energy as well making it ever harder to keep the Torah's commandments, all meant to elevate our animal soul? 

The Torah admonishes that not only eating certain foods renders us impure but even touching the carcass of some has an effect on us and contaminates us. But there is no hand sanitizer or alcohol percentage to counter the effects on our soul. Interesting how we are afraid to shake hands, touch doors knobs, or come within 6 feet of each other because we fear to be physically contaminated, but the Torah, which predates our modern-day germaphobia and virus avoidance protocols, takes this concern even deeper. What we touch, who we touch and how we touch also results in spiritual contamination. 

People dismissively ask if God really cares what they eat for lunch? And the answer is a resounding thunderous, YES. So much so that Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. The first sin revolved around eating and brought about the fall of mankind. It is said of Adam that he was the most gorgeous man that ever lived, but by eating what he should not have, his stature and beauty were diminished. Simply because God said so, food affects us profoundly. When we sin with food, and in general, our inner light is diminished and it shows in the spiritual realm as well as on the earthly plains. 

Eating kosher doesn’t just mean avoiding pig and its non-kosher cohorts, it also means not eating “like” a pig. Be a mensch in all your appetites. Have restraint and limitations. Don’t listen to the slithering snake offering you the “forbidden flavors.” One day we will have to give an accounting for our vast intake, not just as regards our fitness but before the Eternal Witness who gave us His menu along with the commandment that we not contaminate ourselves.  The next time you pick up your spoon, pause for a moment and know that G-d is looking at you in the same bewildered and repulsed manner that we look at those who shop at wet markets and eat bat soup: “Why would they eat that? It’s killing them on so many levels.” The Master Chef of the universe, the King of nutritionists specifically commanded his children, to “distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.” (Vayikra 11:47). Stop being impressed and lured by the fancy French names on killer menus. They are euphemisms for physical and spiritual “poison.” “Do not defile yourselves with them, that you should become unclean through them” thus said the Lord.

                                                          Bon Appétit!

Sorry, Closed--Due to Us

G-d created this world and if you think the Chinese are solely responsible for shutting it down, you are wrong and dangerously mistaken. The Angel of Death is diffusing with avidity. Mankind has been driven into its homes just as the Israelites were driven into their own “isolation” on the very first Passover so that death would pass them over. Goat or sheep’s blood marked their doorposts. Today we have Mezuzot instead with its three highlighted letters “shin,” “dalet,” and “yud”— an acronym which stands for Shomer D’latot Yisrael, “Guardian of the Doors of Israel.” It is as it has always been, the words of G-d, the Torah, will protect us--if only we would let them.

But man can’t live by words alone. Say the word “food” a hundred times, but you will still be hungry. G-d has driven us into our homes, via His puppets, i.e., governors, mayors, presidents and their like, not only to rediscover our family relationships and reevaluate our priorities, but also to rediscover our relationship with Him. His words demand actions: body and soul partners in time — a very limited time. In many places in the world because mankind has been pushed into hiding, animals are breaching the boundaries of their natural habitats and roaming city streets, goats running rampant in Wales, wild pigs in Paris, coyotes in San Francisco and monkeys in Thailand. When G-d looks through His celestial window, can he tell the difference between us? How different from animals have we become? We worship our animalistic needs and desires while starving our souls. We emptied the supermarket shelves, but the shelf that holds our bibles and prayer books, they are still full, untouched.

One of the Hebrew words for plague is “Dever” דבר. The very same Hebrew letters, Dalet, beit, resh  also spell the word “Davar” which means word  or utterance. Hence the Ten Commandments in Hebrew are Aseret Hadibrot, really meaning the Ten Utterances. G-d’s words sustain us. “And [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it within the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the Lord spoke we will DO and we will hear." (Exodus 24:7) But when we break that vow and violate G-d’s word, davar, we get dever, the plague instead. Perhaps having to wear masks is symbolic of what we’ve become, hypocrites with our true faces hidden. Moses had to wear a mask because his face beamed with the light of G-d; our faces however, bespeak a godless pallor.

Last year at this very time, with unwitting prescience, I wrote that destiny is as brittle as a matzah and that it can pivot in a second. And woe, how it has. Breathtakingly so. With the upcoming holidays, keep in mind that Passover is not just about cutting bread from the menu, it is also a divinely sanctified time for us to take an introspective look at ourselves, to clean up our spiritual crumbs. It is a time to remember that G-d alone has saved us and can save us, not Dr. Fauci, or Trump, or medical masks or ventilators made by General Electric. Yes, GE may “bring good things to life,” but G-d alone decides who lives. 

Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, nor the strong man boast of his strength, nor the rich man boast of his riches.” (Jeremiah 9:22). 

Friends, it’s time to flatten our egos like yeast-free bread and start serving the one and only Who is puffing the air into our well-being. The difference between this night and all other nights is that G-d is no longer asking, He is telling. Oh beloved humanity, be expeditious and afraid, lend Him your ears and obey the word of G-d, or the ark will surely sail without you.

I'm Sorry for What I Did!

Like most days, I asked a question on Facebook this past week. This one however, relating to the coronavirus, was rhetorical. I asked: “Is there really anybody who is saying right now, "I can't understand why God would do this to us because we were so well behaved?"  We have lost our way my friends, lost our souls, become high and mighty, turned ourselves into gods—selfish and heartless ones at that--created our own morality and conveniently altered G-d’s Will like a custom made suit that fits to a T.  But we who just last month thought we were gods in our respective microcosms and fiefdoms, who would command Alexas and Siris and Amazon to give us what we want, who lavished in a life of plenty manufactured in China, that same “we” has been brought to its knees. And our custom-made lives are popping at the seams. We would not humble before the invisible G-d, so now we kneel before the invisible virus. Unlike us, this invisible virus does not discriminate, it hates Democrats and Republicans, it hates the unknown and the famous, it hates Jews, Muslims and Catholics, it hates the rich and the poor, it hates democratic countries and it hates tyrannical ones. And in its universal hate, it has reminded mankind that we are one and G-d is one.  Some, in stubbornness, will still blame the Chinese; they played their part. But the Talmud teaches that not one blade of grass grows in this world without Divine supervision, so much more a virus that pretty much has overnight changed the world as we know it, perhaps irreversibly. Now each of us, like a punished school child, is sequestered to his corner, to shelter in place and to think about our behavior. Perhaps it’s time again to pull out our ruled notebooks as in years gone by and write a thousand times. “I’m sorry for what I did,” I’m sorry for what I did,” etc.

In this week’s Torah reading, God “calls” Moses, and once again it was to assume a momentous duty. So important is his new duty that the book of Leviticus is titled Vayikra, which in Hebrew means, “He called.” God “called” Moses to instruct him how the Israelites should “say sorry” to atone for their sins. What a beautiful gift G-d gave mankind: forgiveness. But unlike cute modern-day catchphrases, such as “love means never having to say you’re sorry,” we indeed have to be sorry, say we are sorry and behave as if we are sorry. 

The means to atone for sin was through animal sacrifices.  More graphically, it involved slaughtering a living animal, cutting it into pieces and sprinkling blood, etc. And be sure, those who brought sacrifices were cognizant of one thing: that the animal before them was dying in their stead. God takes “sorry” very seriously. Yes, Moses got the “call,” but we have dropped the “ball.”

Today we have no Temple and therefore no more animal sacrifices can atone for our sins. Today, what stands between us and the dispatched Angel of Death is the Torah: Penitence, prayer and charity can avert the evil decree.  “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. And you shall choose life, so that you and your children may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19) 

Friends, I know a lot of fancy words, but I can best summarize by saying mankind has become low. Even those who teach G-ds’ laws in every religion, many are liars, cheaters, panderers who became too business oriented instead of soul saviors. The secular have become too open-minded, too accepting of moral decay. We’ve been bumping off each other in close proximity in an “everything goes” mindset and have brought out the worst in each other. Politicians who are elected to lead are instead ready to ruin their countries for greed and internecine hatred. G-d had enough. Now we are isolated with only G-d to keep us company. We have no more audience to see our clothes, our cars, our jewelry, our manicures. It seems karmic that China, which has manufactured our phony lives, has also manufactured our death. We are all in hiding with only who we really are as our company. If the power goes out, taking Wifi and Netflix with it, what will be left of you? Can you stand yourself?

When a person dies, in the Jewish faith we say, “Shehalach lolamo,” meaning the deceased went unto his world. Why “his” world? Because in the afterlife we go to the world we’ve created for ourselves. The time to change is now!!!  I pray G-d will forgive us and this plague will disappear as quickly as it came. But friends, while we are already “figuratively” on our knees, I do believe it’s time to say, "G-d we are so, so sorry. Please let us out of solitary confinement and we promise the next time we won’t do it again." In the meantime, a vibrant rainbow has appeared in my window; it’s time to build my ark.

Are You G-d’s Gift to the World?

Are you G-d’s gift to the world? You look beautiful, “sexy,” healthy, strong, fashionable and fit. What beautiful packaging. You certainly must be G-d’s gift to the world. You got it (whatever “it” is) and you flaunt it. But when we pull the ribbon and look beneath the eye-catching wrappings, what exactly do you have inside? We are a world so absorbed in appearances but the content is lacking. Pretend, G-d forbid, all the world was blind, would you still be G-d’s gift? If we are all driven into isolation by mandatory quarantines due to the ever-spreading Coronavirus and with no audiences to notice our biceps, our coffin-shaped manicures, our designer wear, who and what are we really? With your face covered by a medical mask and only your eyes showing, the windows to the soul, what would we see inside? A blank stare or a soul as deep and pure as the waters of G-d's Torah.

Most of us are always putting on a show—whether it’s out of arrogance or insecurity, only a therapist can know.  Yes, it’s hard to admit because we like to think of ourselves as authentic individuals, as real people. But it's all a show. A perfect example of this point is basketball player LeBron James who just said he will not play in an empty stadium after the NBA warned teams to prepare for games without spectators due to the coronavirus crisis. Our life is all about audiences. But in truth, Hashem is the only real audience, the eternal Spectator who sees what we are when the curtains come down on the show and when there is no one left to applaud our "fabulousness." If we were to examine our lives with honesty, we’d soon recognize that we are all actors in the imaginary show we’ve created for ourselves. We are the stars and the moon and the sun. In those roles we can never be one with our neighbors or G-d. In the Tanya, the fundamental writings upon which Chabad teachings are based, we learn that an individual who focuses on the animal soul, i.e., the body's wants, can never love his neighbor as himself. For the animal soul, the one that craves constant attention and “nutriment,” albeit from artificial sweeteners, sees everyone as an enemy. “If we are a body, the other person always threatens us; if we are a soul, the other person always complements us.” (Rabbi Yehoshua B. Gordon, Z’L).  It turns out that showing off and showing too much doesn’t make us G-d’s gift to mankind but its enemy. Yet, when we keep the commandments of the Torah we optimize all our relationships, with G-d, man, animals and all creation; when we make up our own convenient rules, we destroy the entire universe. The Coronavirus, as example, for the sake of timeliness, shows us how contagious we can be to one another from one end of the world to the other. What’s true in the physical world is true in the spiritual world. Good deeds beget good deeds; sin begets sin.

One of those sins is dressing immodestly. By doing so you are definitely no gift of G-d, just a toy of Satan, of the Angel of Death destroying yourself and the beholder. You provoke jealousy and lust. Whose husband are your trying to steal? Whose eyes are you trying to catch? With whom are you competing? Where will it all lead? If you want to be G-d’s gift, find the G-d in you and harness it. Let not the wrapping be more beautiful than the gift.

In this week’s Torah portion we learn how important our clothing and appearance are in interfacing with G-d and mankind. Funny how golf clubs, gyms, restaurants, schools, all have dress codes which we respect and yet, when it comes to religion and serving God, we think wardrobe doesn’t count. It does! In reading,  Tetzaveh, we learn about the detailed description that God gives to Moses regarding the clothing of the Kohanim who were to serve in the Temple: “You shall make vestments of sanctity…for dignity and adornment.” (Shemot 28:2). The mystical reverberations of the priestly garments are beyond our comprehension, but the lesson they seek to teach is very understandable. God does care about our outfits. He was the first designer and was quick to make Adam and Eve clothes for modesty’s sake.

Through the years I’ve often heard people make fun of the Orthodox Jewish community and its fashion customs that vary from sect to sect. Laugh no longer because they are smarter than you and I when it comes to dressing for success—success in the eyes of the Almighty. We hide in hazmat suits not to get sick; they hide too, so their souls shouldn’t get sick by the dirty, depraved, lustful world we find ourselves in. Fashions may trend, but holy garbs mend. The outfits we wear have spiritual impact; they either subdue the animal soul and elevate our higher spirits or do just the opposite. Interesting how often the same people who mock the spiritual impact of clothing are the same ones sporting red string bracelets to ward off the evil eye, counterintuitively expressing that a whole outfit makes no difference to their well-being but a single thread can.

In the Torah, God says, “Do not ascend My altar by steps, that your nakedness may not be exposed upon it.”  When reaching up to God, He demands modesty from men and women. Even the Kohanim, who by merit of their positions and other virtues had a close relationship with the Almighty, were specifically commanded regarding modesty. The Sages teach that what is covered is blessed and also what is truly treasured is hidden, not flaunted. Peel the fruit and it begins to rot.

Stop being so devoted to serving your body for it is not nearly as loyal to you.  We shed over a million flakes of skin every hour and like a serpent within 2 to 4 weeks we too shed our entire skin. Within seven to 10 years we are an entirely new set of cells. The us that we cater to regularly abandons us on a regular basis. Going, going, gone. The body leaves us regardless of our opinion: We die and the worms eat us. But our soul lives on and too late we realize that that is our true gift from G-d, the gift we were meant to share. It gives us life and yet we treat the soul like a silent partner. We muffle its calling and instead feed the beast. But one day it will have a lot to say. So, perhaps my dear friends it's time to question, "What will your soul “look” like before G-d and the Heavenly Court when the beautiful wrapping is rotting in a dumpster?"

A Healthy Distance

The other day I was at the bank when two Asian people entered, one wearing a white medical mask. Everyone’s heart lurched. Were they protecting themselves or us? The tellers told me it wasn’t the first time and wished they themselves were permitted to wear them. How funny I thought it would be if robbers came and for a change saw all the tellers masked too. But the bigger picture is just not funny at all.  People are avoiding each other and public venues like the plague, and maybe it is one.

I can’t help but think of the teachings of our rabbinical sages who have cautioned us through the ages, “Keep a distance from an evil neighbor, do not become attached to the wicked, and do not abandon faith in [Divine] retribution.” (Perkei Avot 1:7). When our own Talmud and Torah tell us to stay away from bad influences, whether they be Torah shirking people or sinful environments, we shrug a shoulder and deem ourselves invincible. We think our friends who drink too much, or are liars, or lazy, or cheap, or gossipers, or gluttons, or classless, or thieves won’t affect us. When we are intimate with the wrong people in the wrong ways, we seem not to worry too much. We deem the rabbis and the teachings they preach obsolete and quite frankly, irritating. We block our ears. After all, it’s only our souls at stake. We take the risk. Yet now, with fear of the Coronavirus, the world is coming under lockdown with nations and peoples banned and or isolated willingly or by mandate. Why? Because we want to live. Now it might affect us physically; we have skin in the game. All of a sudden the consequences of congregating in the wrong place or with the wrong people are existentially clear. It could kill me! And just as a virus is microscopic and beyond our natural means of perception, so too are the ravaging repercussions on our soul by engaging in what is forbidden and by not discriminating with whom we "hang out' and where we hang. Perhaps violating the Torah won’t produce a cough and fever, but when mankind violates G-d’s law it sickens itself and all creation. 

Judaism teaches that every physical manifestation has a spiritual counterpart. Nothing happens here on earth that is not reflected on High. Thus even if it’s currently a manufactured fear and hype, perhaps it is time to question our behaviors on many levels and on many fronts. G-d wants our attention.  Perhaps it’s time to start saving our souls and not just our hides. I have often written how our entire lives, mostly make-believe, are manufactured in China from knockoff designerwear to, well, everything. But now the supply chain is suspended, production halted and the stock market  is in free fall as a result. Now, with no access to a life made in China, we are compelled to look at that which is made by G-d: Our soul.

There is a story of the Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who was tortured and interrogated by the Soviets for his “counter-revolutionary” activities, i.e., setting up Jewish institutions. When his interrogator put a revolver to the rebbe’s head to “inspire” his cooperation, the rebbe calmly replied: “That toy is persuasive to one who has many gods and only one world; I have one G‑d and two worlds [this one and the world to come].” While entire communities are under lockdown and people driven into isolation, I can’t help but think of my kindergarten punishment when I was put in a corner or left alone in a classroom and told, “Now sit there and think about what you did.” Perhaps now with much of air travel grounded, it’s time for our souls to take flight and to think about what we did.

Pharaoh VS. The MVP

Not sure exactly how old I was when I developed the terrible habit of leaving everything until the last minute, from doing my homework to packing a suitcase to writing my weekly blog. I shirked off my mother’s wise words, “Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today.” After all, I always thought I had all the time in the world. We watch the sands of time trickle through the hour-glass and never internalize that the passage of time pertains to us too. Me! I’ll be young forever, I have forever. I never thought the hands of times could lay a finger on me, never dreamed they’d have me in a choke hold. I reflect on my habit and realize it is not as benign as it sounds. Now it’s a chronic condition. Indeed, it is our habits, not our wishes, that shape our lives.

Yes, habits seem so benign. Even phonetically the word is soft and subtle unlike such words that grate on our ears and sensibilities like cancer, Al-Qaeda, foreclosure and Coronavirus. But habits, though they be silent infiltrators, often wreak more havoc in our lives than the aforementioned. That glass of vodka is ever so comforting as we go through our divorce, our financial troubles, our rough patches, after a hard day’s work or just to keep sociable. And, as with all bad habits and sin, the rabbis teach it enters one’s life like a guest but it proceeds like the host. So big deal if I text a woman or man who’s not my spouse, it’s just one cute text. You soon find yourself booking a hotel room. What’s one small cookie? Then with Houdini-like skill you make the bag disappear. Habits are the momentary appeasers that wear away your will. They are little devils that steal your life away, with a smile.  

Pharaoh, too, had bad habits. He liked to sing a familiar refrain “No, no, no, I will not let them go.”  In this week’s Torah portion we read about the last of the ten plagues and how Pharaoh’s hardened heart lead to the demise  of his country. It is interesting that in Hebrew when the letters of Pharaoh’s name are rearranged they spell the word oreph (neck)  which represents the stiff-necked people, a stubborn people who won’t let go of bad habits, of idol worship and rejecting G-d. A people addicted to self-destruction. The question regarding  Pharaoh has often arisen as to whether he ever had free choice because it says that it was G-d who hardened his heart. But Maimonides teaches that the Egyptian ruler was himself responsible because he used his free will to “deal wisely with the children of Israel” and refused to let them go. He developed some pretty bad habits and the more a person engages in wrongdoing, the harder it is to do good. He became a victim of his own actions. His lash may have enslaved the Jews, but the repetition of his own misdeeds enslaved himself and prevented him from repenting.

Satan, like a bacteria, needs just a small point of entry and weakness to come in and start destroying. The initial performance of a wrongdoing may arouse serious guilt, but when a person repeats it over and over again one eventually comes to deem it as permissible and soon elevates it to the status of a good deed: “If I don’t have that drink or weed, I’ll go crazy”; “If I didn’t sleep with that other girl, my marriage would have never survived”; “If I don’t eat that chocolate bar, I’ll faint.” The evil inclination, with the sole intent of ruining us, is a master at manufacturing excuses for our weaknesses. But the prosecutor has the winning argument-- Exhibit “A”: Let the results speak for themselves.

Do we want to be like Pharaoh and self-destructive because change is challenging? Because we are stubborn, egotistical, too proud and slaves to what we are used to, friends, houses, foods, sin, routine, particular clothes, etc?  Even Pharaoh’s own servants advise him that his behavior is destructive: “How long will this be a snare for us? Send out the men that they may serve Hashem, their G-d! Do you not know that Egypt is lost?”(Exodus 10:7). A snare! A trap! How often do we ensnare ourselves with our habits?

In last week’s Torah reading G‑d commands the first mitzvah to the newly freed people— establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. Time, a gift from G-d, became our responsibility. The moon will renew itself 12 times during a lunar year with or without our permission. Will we renew ourselves?  Interestingly, in the language where nothing is a coincidence, the Hebrew words for “year,” “change” and “repeat” are all spelled with the same letters (שנה/shin-nun-hey). Will you “repeat” your bad habits or “change”? And if you have good habits will you change them for even better ones?  The rabbis teach that even as the moon waxes and wanes every month and rejuvenates itself we too have to “rebirth” ourselves through repentance and self introspection and through changing our behaviors.

The word year in Hebrew (Shana) has the numeral value of 355. There are a maximum of 355 days in a non-leap-year lunar year. If we want to change our  “year” and basically our life, we must change each month, each week and each day. We are the guardians of time and responsible for how we use it. We must fight our bad habits every single day, not just with great pronouncements on Rosh Hashanah.

Yes, Pharaoh is a great teacher for us all. Whatever he did, we should do the opposite. We shouldn’t harden our hearts everyday and dig in our heels until we dig our own graves. Rather we should atone everyday and kill the Pharaoh within. Rabbi Hillel teaches that there is no time like the present. And the Israelites too leave Pharaoh in a rush, so much so that their bread didn’t have time to rise. In 355 days from now I hope another you, a better you, will be reading articles by another and better me. With G-d’s help, next year at this time, we will each be the MVP in our own lives.