Omer Day 30
“Such is the way of Torah: you shall eat bread with salt, and rationed water shall you drink; you shall sleep on the ground, your life will be one of privation, and in Torah shall you labor. If you do this, ‘Happy shall you be and it shall be good for you’ (Psalms 128:2): ‘Happy shall you be” in this world, ‘and it shall be good for you’ in the world to come.” (Pirke Avot 6:4)
Eat bread with salt (and butter or olive oil or cheese) ✅
Rationed water (by the glass) ✅
Sleep on the ground (with my back?!) ✅
I find meaning in living minimally at times. The discipline; the conscientious eschewing of gluttony; the rootedness in the essentialness of life. All of this resonates with me.
But there have also been times when I have eaten too much, had too much to drink, and collapsed on a soft mattress after a long hard day and awakened with a foggy brain and a sore lower back.
Discipline usually serves to get me on track but even after 61 years of life, I still slip easily into what we might call an improvised way of living. The structure is there, to be sure, but I admit to the thrill of discovering what notes will be played.
Richard Davis’s jazz history classes in Madison served up particularly enthralling moments of learning when he clearly and joyfully traced the music’s evolution from strict structures to freer forms. I remember his smile and his body moving across the lecture hall stage, a celebration of human creativity.
“And in Torah you shall labor. If you do this, “Happy shall you be and it shall be good for you” (Psalms 128:2)” When I was a young rabbi and kvetching to my teacher Arthur Hertzberg about having to write a sermon, he said, “If you study Torah every day, you’ll always have something useful to say.” And Torah doesn’t say much that is not directly related to a result. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Be kind to the stranger. Honor your parents. Remember the Sabbath. Don’t kill. Don’t steal.
You get the point. Make your words useful.
Usefulness. Herein lies Judaism’s message: “Make yourself useful.” Many an exasperated parent has said this to a child; and so we might imagine God saying this to us.
“Happy shall you be” in this world, “and it shall be good for you” in the world to come. Make yourself useful. Let the rewards take care of themselves.
Omer Day 31
“Do not seek greatness for yourself, and do not covet honor. Practice more than you learn. Do not yearn for the table of kings, for your table is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown, and faithful is your employer to pay you the reward of your labor.” (Pirke Avot 6:5)
Early in my training a big shot rabbi came to talk to our class of wet-behind-the-ears students. He wore a very handsome, well-tailored suit and beautiful, soft leather loafers. His hair was perfectly quaffed and I’m pretty sure he had just had a manicure. He wore a pinky ring. He dropped names of mayors, senators, and governors like a Lower East Side gangster tossing nickels to street kids from the earlier decades of another century. He was full of a lot, mostly himself, and he clearly enjoyed the company at a table for kings.
With Rabbi Hertzberg’s words in my satchel of thoughts, I shared my impressions of this big-wig with one of my teachers after class. “We didn’t learn anything except how important this rabbi thinks he is!” My teacher said, “Sometimes we learn by negative example. It’s as important to know who you don’t want to be as it is to know who you want to be.”
But then I think of what Shimon ben Shatah said in Pirke Avot 1:9, “Be diligent in examining the witnesses; and be careful with your words, lest from them they learn to falsify.” As I grew into being a rabbi and serving Jews from all walks of life, I learned that none of us can be all things to all people. Some loved me and some hated me. Many were indifferent. The Gangster Pinky Ring Rabbi was much loved by many of his congregants. He showed up at the hospital and the nursing home; he danced at every wedding and cried with joy at every birth; and with love he laid his deceased congregants to their eternal rest. So testified those who knew him best.
In my youthful zeal, I was judging without looking beneath the surface.
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said, “Do not look at the jar, but what is in it; there are new jars full of old wine, and old jars which do not contain even new wine.” (Pirke Avot 4:20)
Listen. Observe. Say little. Do Much.
Amen.