Who's Stabbing You in the Back?

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“Seeing Israel thrive… is close to miraculous,” said American President Joe Biden during his trip to Israel this past week. He was almost right. But the success of the modern State of Israel in spite of every single threat and obstacle for the last 74 years, is not close to miraculous, it is miraculous. We all know Who makes miracles happen but somehow we find it so hard to give credit where credit is due. Instead, we pat ourselves on the shoulder and conveniently convince ourselves that our own ingenuity and persistence are the reasons we succeed. As for G-d, well, He helps those who help themselves. This somewhat faulty mindset is common for nations and individuals. But the State of Israel is not like any other country nor are the Jewish people like anyone else. We know because G-d told us. And so again, Biden almost got it right when he said that Israel is a nation that will never dwell alone as long as there’s the United States. As the expression goes, “close but no cigar.” Israel and the Jewish people will never be alone because the G-d of Israel lives among them. (Article continue below)

A nation constantly under attack, it’s no wonder that Israel relies heavily on the United States and feels eversafer because of that friendship as well as its great army, the Iron beam, the Iron Dome and Israel’s new peace and trade agreements with one-time enemies. All wonderful things which appear to be going in a positive trajectory, with a caveat, they best not replace the one fundamental that preserves a chosen people and its promised Land, G-d and His Torah. Beware of overconfidence and misplaced trust.

Despite our great successes, in honesty, we must acknowledge in all our worldly affairs we believe one hand washes the other. We work at our relationships to squeeze out the best results for ourselves. Yet when it comes to our relationship with G-d, we are ready to collect with both hands and serve with neither.  What right do we have to the Land of Israel altogether if not for the holy Torah? But the Torah is not just an eternal land deed, it is the holy word of Hashem teaching us how to live our lives, i.e., keeping Shabbat, observing kosher laws, giving charity, etc. Therein we also learn time and again the one on Whom we can rely and must rely on:  “I shall raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come? My help is from the L-rd, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to falter; Your Guardian will not slumber.” (Psalms 121:1-3)

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Interestingly President Biden cited this week’s parashah in his speech, Balak. Sad that the prez knows which Torah section we are reading when most Jew’s don’t. But that aside, he quotes Bilaam’s words calling us “the people that dwell alone.” That is a blessing not a curse. We are a people destined to stand out, yet we try so hard to fit in by trying to emulate the ways of the world in regards to culture, entertainment, food and fashion. Our job as Jews and a nation is to remain pure and distinct in order to illuminate the world with divine light in our every day-to-day actions. Yet, we seek security, strength and fraternity in ephemeral crutches instead of serving and relying on the Almighty: “Behold the Guardian of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep…The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from now and to eternity.”

In this week’s Torah reading we see how King Balak sought out Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. But Bilaam was unable to curse them. Why? Because the Jewish nation was behaving properly.  “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel.” The Israelites left no void or crevice for curses to sneak in like an open wound accommodating infection. They were impervious to any harm because they didn’t open the door to Satan by sinning.  As such, those who cursed them would be cursed, and the haters would drown in the deep end of their own hate. I will never forget the complaint of a disappointed Hamas member years ago who said, “Their G-d changes the paths of our rockets in mid-air.”

Kabbalists teach that each act we do creates an angel--either one that serves as our advocate or as our prosecutor, depending on our deed or misdeed. And so, the question is:  What kind of army of angels are you building for yourself and our nation, good ones or bad ones? Are you building spiritual Iron Domes by keeping the commandments or stoking civil war and assisting a nation to turn against itself?  When threat comes your way, will your own army deservingly stab you in the back or will it stand as a loyal protector for you, your family and our people, and escort us safely from strength to strength?       

                                                                                         Shabbat Shalom

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Until G-d Answers

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“There is an old adage which says, “Man plans, and G-d laughs.” Despite our best efforts and sometimes extreme manipulations to direct and control our life’s course, only the Almighty knows all the hurdles and twists and turns our journey will take. For most of us, our life’s destination scarcely resembles the idyllic imaginings we’ve conjured in our youth as if life was a travel brochure and all stops along the way were meant to be pleasurable and to serve us. But then divorce and sickness come, bankruptcy and betrayals, opportunities lost or stolen, anguish, death, Corona, recessions and deep, deep disappointment. And as we travel this highway through hell, at each of its toll booths we pay a heavy price: We toss away our faith, our kindness, our trust, our mercy, our honesty. After a road long traveled, what is left of who we used to be? Very little if you don’t believe that all of life is a G-d-given test to refine us and elevate us. There is only one audience in life and it is not your neighbors, your boss, your family, or your Facebook or social networking audience—they perhaps are the provocateurs or the elaborate ways through which the L-rd will work His way—but the sole audience is G-d. Have you walked with grace along your path? Have you walked in faith? Does G-d like the “show” He is seeing or will your review be a shameful embarrassment?

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 The space between “what we want” and “what we have” is HOLY ground, and how we walk upon that space tells G-d who we are. We teach children from day one that they can’t always get what they want, mostly because we know it’s not good for them. And yet as adults we throw the worst of tantrums when things don’t go according to the wills and wants of our self-inflated egos. We resort to cheating, stealing, lying, coveting, slandering, cursing, conniving, stepping on people, hurting people, using people, working on the Sabbath, scoffing beggars and ridiculing the religious all in our efforts to self-pacify but with the result of enraging G-d. And so we lament saying that we prayed to G-d, but He  ignored us. You must realize, however, that this waiting time is in fact the incubation period for our character. When we are left languishing, it is not G-d ignoring us, but G-d watching us closer than ever.  And sometimes we are just hard of hearing:  G-d does answer us but we just don’t like the answer, because His answer is “No!”-- What kind of person will you be when G-d says “No”?

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In this week’s Torah reading, Chukat, we read that G-d was so angry at Moses for hitting the rock twice to bring forth water, instead of SPEAKING to it as he was instructed to do, that Moses was prevented from entering the Promised Land.  Why was G-d so mad? Because, a man of Moses’ holy stature had no right to display such anger and impatience  while waiting for the rock to give forth water after initially just speaking to it, even if (or especially if) the people taunted him. We must never take even the small tests for granted. For it was not a Pharaoh, nor his breaking of the stones upon which the Ten Commandments were engraved, nor was it his initial reluctance to take the job which prevented Moses from entering the Land. It was a rock. How will you behave when you're caught between a rock and hard place?

But be assured that the truth is G-d doesn’t really laugh when meritorious plans go awry, He cries and He goes down into the darkness with us when we spiritually stumble and fall. Unfortunately we recurrently fail to learn that if we won’t fall on our knees in His worship, He will bring us to our knees in other more bruising ways.

Friends, how we behave while we are "waiting" says a lot about us,  even if we wait a lifetime. Let's not behave as small-minded sojourners who look to their feet and the stumbling stones as determinants; but rather  be  a mighty expeditioner who turns to the Heavens for guidance and to the Torah to chart the course. Travel through  hardships and disappointments with faith, dignity, courage and morality. Yes, my friends, the expanse we transverse to get from here to there is holy ground. So remove your muddy squawking shoes from thine feet and henceforth ennoble your gait. Walk like a conqueror who triumphs over the moments with light and illuminates the ground beneath him and the world around him. And G-d said, “Let there be light, and there was light!”

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Shabbat Shalom!

 

If Looks Could Kill--Or Do They?

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" Jealousy, lust and the [pursuit of] honor remove a person from the world.” (Pirkei Avot 4:21)

I would imagine that the best way to know if you are getting an evil eye is to walk around with a big mirror and flash it before everyone you meet. If people start dropping dead like flies around you, there’s a good chance they’d wished you bad. Ah, but if only it were so easy to ward of all those ill-intentioned people who seem to be subverting our good luck. And so, instead, we walk around with red strings, hamsas, little plastic eyeballs and all sorts of idolatrous amulets meant to keep the demons from our door.

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But are soft little eyeballs really something to fear? Well, the Talmud teaches that a person can cause damage just by looking at another's property. It also says that 99 out of 100 people die prematurely from the evil eye. Basically, it means the graveyards are filled with those who were victims of envy. But what did the ancient rabbis know? Right? Weren’t they just as susceptible as everyone else to myth and wives’ tales? But then quantum physics came along and taught us that observation affects reality. The mere act of looking at and sizing up a particle changes it.  That certainly offers us something to think about.

Today it’s easier than ever to be jealous and to give evil eyes. All we have to do is spend an hour on Facebook to eat our hearts out reading people’s status updates. But those who cast evil eyes are not immune from backlash themselves; for the sages also teach that the act of giving an evil eye also takes a person out of this world early. The dispenser of poison is not immune to the poison it dishes out. No person is impervious to a daily diet of dioxin. And forgive me for having the temerity to offer up my opinion in the shadow of the great Talmudic rabbis, but I say giving an evil eye also makes one so darn ugly. Jealousy hangs on one’s face like a dreadful accessory that just does not match any decent outfit. 

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Jealousy/coveting never ends well. In fact, the Talmud teaches that anyone who places his eyes on that which is not his is not given what he desires and loses what he has, as we can see in this week’s Torah reading. Korach, after whom the parashah is titled, was Moses’ cousin as well as being extremely rich. He had 300 mules just to carry the keys to his treasures. But why should that be enough? He still envied Moses and Aharon and struck up a rebellion. The earth-shattering results from such mutiny were unprecedented: the earth itself opened and swallowed him up along with those who supported him.

It was not the first case of jealousy gone wrong nor the last: The rabbis teach that upon creation, the moon was envious of the sun and questioned why the sky needed two great luminaries, and so G-d diminished the light of the moon; Cain envied Abel’s sacrifice to G-d and as a result he was cursed by G-d; the primordial snake which once talked and walked, envied Adam’s relationship with Eve, with the result that G-d punished him and made him crawl the earth, eat dirt and caused hatred between him and the woman; And make no mistake about it, the moon, Cain, the snake and Korach each had tremendous potential and talents and each had great destinies of their own if they would have been busy being the best versions of themselves instead of trying to be someone else.  

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We are so busy with identity theft in the sense that we want to live the lives of others, look like another, walk and talk like them, dress like them, spend like them, that we become impostors, when our real very special selves are being smothered to death. In effect, we are really committing suicide and like aliens assuming others' identities. But make no mistake about it. We will always be the cheap wannabee knock off. All the while we feign living their life, thinking we’re living the “high life,” when in fact we are just a “lowlife”; for coveting is the biggest sin of all the Ten Commandments because it leads to the violation of all the others. If you envy you will eventually lie, cheat, steal, kill, betray, etc.

So, what is the remedy?

🐟Firstly, you can avoid looking like Cruella if you acknowledge and have faith that every person has exactly what G-d wants him to have, not one hair less or more. He knows what’s best for each of us and tests us each in a unique way.

🐟Secondly, try being happy for people when things go well for them. Instead of being like the people of Sodom, a society which begrudged each other the very air they breathed—be magnanimous. The Sodomites were consumed by their burning envy and it is no wonder that they were destroyed by sulfuric fire. In fact, we are instructed to pray for the needs of others before our own needs. Such beneficence toward others inspires Divine benevolence toward us.

🐟Thirdly, be like a fish. In the Talmud it says that fish are resistant of the evil eye because they are under the water—what is hidden is impervious to ill-wishers. What is hidden has a chance to be blessed like a seed that grows beneath the earth. The philosophy of “when you got it, flaunt it” may not be so cost efficient when it all adds up. Drape yourself in modesty and humility so that you don’t have to accoutre yourself with 100 pounds of ridiculous amulets to ward off ill wishes.

🐟Fourthly, as they say, "Be careful what you wish for." Not all things are as they appear. You covet your neighbor because your view is framed by ignorance. Know his full lot, understand his full package and you may soon find yourself pitying your neighbor instead.

🐟And finally, the best counter to all evil is keeping the commandments, doing good deeds, giving charity and studying the Torah.

Just put your ear to YOUR own life and hear your own calling.  Keep in mind that upon judgment day we will not be asked why we weren’t as good others but rather we will be asked, “Why weren’t you as good as YOU could have been?” Enough with jealousy and identity theft! Be the best version of YOU!  It will be pretty sad on Judgement Day when your own life story will be played before your eyes and you are not even in it and are costumed as someone else.

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Who is Spying on You?

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As I’ve written before, there is nothing harder for a writer to face than a blank white page. Its void seems to be more powerful than all the wisdom and words we have inside of us. None of our previous literary accomplishments seem to offer the loving assurance, “Don’t worry we too all started with a blank page.”  But emptiness, my friends, craves to be filled. And so, the Evil One takes advantage and fills us with insecurity and injects us with his toxic words, “You can’t do it, so don’t even try.” Personally, I’ve learned to recognize this enemy and stymie him; instead, I listen to the reassuring sound of my fingers clacking against the keys. Clack, clack, clack but the results are in His hands.

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In this week’s Torah reading, Shelach, we learn how the Israelites, prior to their own entry, wanted to send spies ahead to scout out the Promised Land. They too were afraid of the “blank page” and the unknown that lay ahead.  Ten of the 12 spies came back and said the land and its inhabitants were unconquerable; they viewed their enemies as giants and superior warriors and by contrast themselves as grasshoppers believing their foe too viewed them as such. They also reported that the land consumes its inhabitants. However, two of the spies, in contradistinction said of the land, “We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we surely can do it.” Interestingly, all the spies observed the same reality on the ground; the singular difference between the naysayers and the optimists was self-confidence founded in faith. Time has changed nothing; the lesson remains the same: If you think of yourself as a grasshopper, you will be regarded as one. If you think the challenges ahead will consume you, they will. The optimists and faithful, Caleb and Joshua, had faith in G-d and believed in the land’s “exceptionalism.” They were the only ones to reach their destination.

An entire generation succumbed to the doom-and-gloom tales of the ten spies and cried to go back to Egypt. As punishment, none of them were allowed to enter G-d’s precious land. And thus, an entire generation wandered for 40 years, corresponding to the 40 days the spies surveyed a land flowing with milk and honey and brought back curdled sour reconnaissance. The fear to forge forward had them desperate to retreat--all the way back to slavery.  Before them lay a blank, but promising, G-d-blessed "page." However, they feared to write a new story for themselves. How many of us in our own lives are terrified of becoming and so instead we choose stagnation and stay put? We think what we are used to is keeping us alive while all the time it is burying us. We prefer to remain caterpillars all the while keeping the potential to become butterflies trapped inside of us.

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But life is not just about keeping a person breathing, it is also about creating and recreating ourselves to be better people and better Jews. If you are the same person you were yesterday, you are dying.

Both in our spiritual and practical lives we must always keep moving and striving for growth, fearlessly. Like the modern-day Israel that was transformed from a desert and malarial swamp into a blooming, booming and blossoming land by valiant pioneers and their descendants, we too must courageously cultivate the Garden of Eden within us. Don't tolerate the weeds, lest they strangle you. Don’t be a comfort-zone-Jew whose mantra is: “I’m happy the way I am.” When G-d told Moses to send spies, it was not merely to scout the land but a charge for each person to spy out themselves in order to identify and destroy the enemy within thus expanding the inner zone wherein G-d and His Torah can dwell.

Friends, the beautiful thing about the blank page and your life is that they can be whatever you want them to be and read how you want them to read. Every day you have the opportunity to rewrite the story of your life.  Just because you were not brought up religious or you were brought up very religious, don’t believe the GPS, you have not reached your destination. And if you live in faith instead of fear you just might find you have invented the struggle altogether. Don't worry too much whether or not the NSA, Facebook or others are spying on you, but rather refocus your concern to a reconnaissance mission of self-discovery  and what it is exactly you are doing with what you find.

                                                    Shabbat Shalom!

This article is dedicated to the refuah sheima of my mother Rivkah bat Menucha Mintzia who taught me symbolically through her amazing decorating skills that what’s old can be refurbished, refixed, reupholstered, revived and often repurposed. The same is true for our lives.

 

What Does G-d Do with our Complaints?

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With the high drama of the “plague” behind us many exhale saying, “I can’t wait for life to go back to normal.” Yet, I recall with great clarity how many of those same complainers were dissatisfied when life was “normal.” People have short-term memories and tend to be reconstructionists when traveling down Memory Lane. I can’t help but feel sorry and much worried for those whose future is obstructed by renovated nostalgia. Firstly, the alleged “normalcy” of the past is problematic in and of itself, i.e., please define normal. Secondly, we are never going back to that world of imagined happiness. 

The courageous and honest amongst us will start to remember our complaints and gripes, our disappointments and the gnawing emptiness that materialism and success could not fill. Some of us will even recall in the echo chamber of our conscience that rumbling grumbling sinful sentence we oft repeated: “I hate my life.”

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We read about people just like us in this week’s Torah portion, Behaalotecha: After being freed from slavery, “The people were looking to complain, and it was evil in the ears of the Lord.” (Numbers 11:1) The Egyptians had enslaved the children of Israel and embittered their lives with back-breaking labor. They cried out to G-d and He freed them. Do they in turn send G-d a jumbo thank-You note for their miraculous rescue? Not really. Contrary to the famous words, “Give me liberty or give me death,” the Israelites, once having obtained liberty, said give me slavery. They lamented the fact that were ever taken out of Egypt. “We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” They wanted to go back to “normal.” But as the commentator Rashi points out, it is written that the Egyptians wouldn’t even give them straw to make bricks. So, if straw was not given “free of charge” were these delicacies given to them free of charge? Nostalgia is a distortionist.

Some people’s eyes have been opened because of what the world went through for the past few years and they have pivoted their priorities. They saw through the shallowness and the fake and phony of their lives and decided to move, change careers and embrace family and G-d. Others, however, still cry for their figurative return to Egypt. After all, slavery offers routine and therein we find comfort even while serving fake shiny gods.

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The Israelites were given manna from Heaven, the food of angels. It was a perfect food meant to maximize spiritual health. Whatever food the eater desired, it assumed that taste. If that wasn’t enough, it was also completely ingested by the body and therefore the Israelites never had bathroom needs their entire 40 years of wandering. Further, their clothing never wore out and was laundered by the Divine clouds which escorted them through the dessert. Also, Hashem promised them He would fight their battles if they’d behave and would bring them to a Land flowing with milk and honey. He would elevate them above all the other nations of the world to be His treasured people. They left Egypt with all its wealth. Still the people cried and complained mostly for one reason: They missed sinning. Yes Egypt was “free”--they could sin without having to answer to G-d.

It’s time to choose my friends, who and what we are serving. G-d or the fake over-materialistic world that is killing us slowly? It's time to stop complaining and start counting our blessings. It's time to serve the source of all blessings. We must learn from the desert Jews who were never content and craved meat despite all their blessings. And so G‑d gave them as many quail as they could eat, but he punished their gluttony. Many of the complainers died there, giving it the name Kivrot Hatava, “the graves of those who craved.” Will we too let our cravings for sin become our graves?

If normal as we knew it were such a noble enterprise, why would it be called “a rat race.” G-d Himself sees the G-dly in us. He tells us be holy because I am holy. Be a royal nation. But we prefer to emulate the rat instead of royalty and eat all the garbage and lies that this idolatrous world feeds us. Yet, we learn from Perek Shira that even the rat praises the Almighty and knows its place and says, “The entire soul praises G-d. Hallelujah!"

Back to normal! What a sad joke. G-d opened the sea before us and gave us the Book of Life. Don’t look backward? There is nothing left for us there! “…For the L-rd said to you, ‘You shall not return that way anymore.’”

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Why is God So Quiet?

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Most of us can relate to the mobile phone advertisement of years gone by wherein a person had to stand on the roof of his building for good reception and made popular the phrase: “Can you hear me now?” Though most of us have not had to literally climb a cell tower to be clearly heard or to hear, we’ve each at one time or another had to embark on an exploratory “mission” and move about to and fro to have a successful conversation. And then of course there are those of us who pretend there’s a bad connection, even though it’s crystal clear, because we’d prefer not to engage with our interlocutor. 

The ideas expressed above, as simple as they seem, are the reasons for all of life’s problems, i.e., personal, spiritual, communal, national and global: We hear what we want to hear. The world in which we live is fraught with chaos, lawlessness, inflation, increasing concerns of food shortages, Covid, Monkeypox, the Ukrainian/Russian conflict and its implications, etc. The Almighty G-d is talking to us and He too is asking: “Can you hear Me now?”  But we don’t want to hear. Our apathy, laziness, obstinance and sinfulness have lulled us into living with the ruinous “static” which has enveloped the humanity and prompt us to proceed as usual. We don’t bother to get up from our figurative seats, our comfort zones, and to morally scan our lives for better reception in order to hear what G-d is saying. And then with Goliathan chutzpa we dare ask, “The planet's such a mess—where’s G-d?”  Lest we forget, the first question G-d asks mankind in the Torah is the eternal rebuttal to our own query: “Where are you?”

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Friends, if we can’t hear the voice of G-d in our lives nor see His Mighty Hand in all that occurs, we must question ourselves alone. “Where are we in relation to His will and His word?” Last week we began reading the fourth of the Five Books of Moses, Bamidbar. Translated, it means “in the wilderness” or “in the desert.” But, its root word means “to speak.” Why should we care? Because every single thing that happens to us in life is a conversation with the Almighty. Ein od milvado (There is nothing but Him). The world was created by G-d’s words and thus everything that happens in our life is the “words” of G-d manifested as “things,” i.e., happenings, incidents, sickness, a trip and fall, etc. If we want to change the course of our dialogue with the Divine, instead of turning a blind eye, or more aptly, a deaf ear to the truth, perhaps it is time to give ear to what He is telling us. If we don’t, there will be a price to pay. G-d’s words not mine.

In this week’s Torah portion Naso, we read how when Moses would come into the Tent of Meeting to speak with G-d, he would hear the divine voice speaking to him from the two cherubim above the covering which was over the Ark of Testimony. The rabbis teach that one might come to believe that G-d spoke in a low voice and so only Moses could hear Him. “So, the verse stresses that it was the voice—the same thunderous voice that spoke at Sinai and resounded throughout the universe which spoke to Moses in the Sanctuary. But when the voice reached the doorway, it stopped and did not extend outside of the Sanctuary.” (Chabad.org) Yet, there was no soundproof technology then and the volume of G-d’s words has not been lowered at all. So how was it possible that no one else heard?

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The answer is that spiritual proximity enhances our hearing. If one chooses to stand outside the sanctuary, outside the directives of the holy Torah and its life preserving commandments, then life will degrade to a chaotic cacophonic screech and the voice of G-d will seem muted. As an example (without wishing to reduce the holy to the mundane), we know that humans cannot hear a dog whistle and yet dogs are able to pick up the high-frequency sounds. A dog can be sitting in our lap and have an audio experience to which we are not privy. The same is true of our spiritual receptors. The more we do what G-d wants the better we can hear Him and the sweeter will be His message. In the interim we should begin to contemplate the idea that His voice is ever present, but it is we who have stepped out of the figurative sanctuary or listening room.

The sages teach that if we leave G-d for one day, He will leave us for two. Unfortunately, we are an idolatrous nation who puts everything before G-d. A society getting its moral codes and cues from the likes of Netflix and filthy song lyrics, instead of Torah, is in very big trouble. It is time to hit the mute button on stupidity and the degenerate filth we’ve normalized. For I truly fear that the next time G-d asks again “Can you hear Me now?” it will be painfully deafening and several decibels too late. 

 And it will be if you obey the Lord, your God, to observe to fulfill all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord, your God, will place you supreme above all the nations of the earth… You shall be blessed when you come, and you shall be blessed when you depart. (Deuteronomy 28:1-6)   Shabbat Shalom!

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Does Your Story Add Up?

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The salutation on the letter I received from the US Census Bureau was hardly warm and personal. It read, “Dear Resident.” Now, as a law abiding, patriotic and taxpaying citizen, it would hardly upset the Republic if I was greeted by the feds with, “Dear beloved citizen, Aliza Davidovit.”  So be it, even without Uncle Sam’s reciprocal sentiments, my heart will mend. Nonetheless, it is a humbling thought that our existence, as per the census at least, is a mere statistic. You have been counted, but do you count? 

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What have you counted for in this lifetime? Have you been a mere number or have you counted for one but lived as if you alone were an entire army, an indomitable force that gave life to your convictions, gave love to the world, gave hope to the downtrodden, gave kindness a home, and served the will of God?  Anyone who knows a bit about computer programming knows that any image we see on a screen is composed of pixels, and those pixels are composed of numbers. Change any number on the computer and the picture you see will change. Do you really know your own number and what spiritual image you are conjuring and casting? Where are you in sequence relative to your obligations to Judaism, to your fellow Jew, to our Holy Land of Israel? When we are at the DMV or a bakery, we all know our number; G-d forbid we should miss our turn. But in relation to G-d, we are hardly so conscientious.  Perhaps we have all stepped out of place and that is why the image of a fractured troubled world is being projected.

In this week’s Torah reading, Bamidbar, we read how G-d commands Moses to take a census of the entire assembly of the Children of Israel. The sages teach that G-d wants a counting of His people for a different reason than governments. G-d counts out of love. Each is precious to Him. For certain, as the All-Knowing, does He really need to count? Doesn’t He already know exactly how much of everything there is? He could have easily told Moses the census count is 603,550. But any collector of fine things knows that you count and count again what you love.  And this counting of His children was hardly impersonal; it was by name and father’s house and tribe. 

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But the count my friends is not only precious for the counter, but also for the counted. Imagine having three kids and in front of them only count two. The hurt is unfathomable. We each want to be counted and want to count. But with that acknowledgement comes responsibility. G-d is not just counting His children, He is counting on them as well. He is counting on you: Don’t just be a Jew at heart, i.e., “A Cardiac Jew,” be a Jew in thought, speech and action.

Fear not, G-d doesn’t want clones. He values your individuality or you wouldn’t be here. Just as each tribe had its own flag and color and gem, you too have a unique special attribute with which Hashem gifted you. And you are meant to use it in His service and in a concert with your fellow Jew. Yes, every Jew has to keep the commandments, but one is also compelled to offer what is unique in them. Look deep into yourself. The best mirror of oneself is the study and observance of Torah. It really shows you who you are, who you are not and what you should be and can be. The sages teach us that there are 248 limbs in the body corresponding to the positive commandments and 365 tendons corresponding to the negative commandments (equaling the 613 commandments), which comprise the entire commandments in the Torah. My question to you is how many of your body parts are acting in service to God? If the parts make the whole, then how much of you is acting Jewish? The statistical odds of being born Jewish is small. Value your uniqueness and rarity. Don’t just be counted or lazily count yourself out, count for something!  You can fool the whole world, but G-d Himself knows your number; and it’s your duty, as G-d’s treasured children, to add up to much much more!

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In memory of my best friend Phil Sieradski