Coolest Thing I Learned This Week 11/11

The last installment was late, but this one is right on time.

Every week, on Wednesday's, we have Israel seminar where we discuss the modern Israeli state. This week, we began discussing the situation regarding the settlements in relation to the 6 Day War. We had two speakers come in to talk to us, but we spent time in class discussing as well. One of the speakers gave a great example about what needs to happen for peace to come to this part of the world.

He said there are three variables: a democratic state, a Jewish state, and the whole land of Israel. He said that you can only have two of those at a time, but not all three. If you have a democratic Jewish state, you have to give up the territories. If you have a democratic state in the whole land of Israel, you have to give up the Jewish aspect of the state. If you have Jewish state in the whole land of Israel, you have to give up democracy.

This is a very simple way of looking at the situation, but also very obvious. Having all three of these together is impossible. If you have to choose, which one would you give up?

Coolest thing I learned this week (11/8)

It's been a little more than a week, but here is the coolest thing I learned recently:

The Hebrew word for ladybug is פרת משה רבינו. For those of you who don't read Hebrew, that says parat moshe rabbeinu. That literally translates to 'cow of Moses our teacher.'

This is something I've known for a long time, but not one person was able to answer why that was the word. Until last Tuesday...

We were on a field trip to the Academy for the Hebrew Language, essentially a place where a bunch of people sit in a room and make up new Hebrew words. At the end of the trip, I asked our 'guide' why ladybug was called פרת משה רבינו. He didn't have an answer for me at the time, but took my phone number and said he would look it up and call me back.

The next morning, I got a phone call, and it was the Professor from the Academy. He explained to me that in many different languages, including Russian, the word for a ladybug has devine influence. In Russian, it is called the cow of God. When Mendele Mocher Sefarim was creating the word for ladybug (its great, they know who created the word) he was originally going to call it פרת אלוהים, the cow of God, but instead, changed it from God to Moshe Rabbeinu.

Now you may be thinking, ladybug in English has nothing divine about it, but you would be wrong. The Lady of ladybug refers to Mary, mother of Jesus.

For more information, check out the wikipedia page of ladybug, it is very interesting.

I hope you learned something

להתראות

My Dvar Torah

Here is the Dvar Torah I delivered this morning:

Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, 1861 dash 1865

Michael Jordan, NBA superstar, 1985 dash 1993 and 1996 dash 1998 (let’s not talk about the years he played for Washington)

Jacob, son of Isaac, Middle Bronze Age, circa 1800 dash 1653 BCE (give or take)

There is a great short story by Linda Ellis about how the dash of people’s lives are what matter most, not the dates that began and ended them. These three people, Lincoln, Jordan, and Jacob, did great things in their time. But it is not what they did with that time, rather how they did it, that made them great.

In our פרשה this week, תולדות, we learn about Jacob and Esau. We all know the story. Jacob and Esau fight in the womb, Jacob comes out second holding onto Esau’s heel, he exploits Esau into giving up his birthright, then eventually, one day while Esau goes out to prepare food to receive his blessing, Jacob swoops in and ‘steals’ that. It seems that Jacob doesn’t come off as the most honest person in the world.

Before we get into the consequences for Jacob’s actions, we have to look back and see exactly what happened. After Rebekah became pregnant, and she felt some struggling inside her, she went to God and asked מה פיתום, whats happening?. God told her that, “Two peoples are in your belly; two nations shall branch off from each other…the elder shall serve the younger.” When they came out of the womb, Jacob came out second, meaning God prophesized that Esau would end up serving Jacob.

What if Jacob and Esau knew about God’s prophecy before they were born? What if they were not struggling inside to get out first, but rather, to stay in longer? What if Jacob was not holding onto Esau’s heel, rather he was pushing him out first?

If Jacob knew that he was destined to earn the blessing and birthright, and had been humble and patient, he would not have needed to run for his life from his brother, because it is not as important what you do, but how you do it.

There is a great story about Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai from the Talmud Bavli in Eruvin 13b (about halfway down the page if you want to find it). They are arguing for three years about who the הלכה agrees with in regards to pure and impure objects. Eventually, the voice of God comes down from the heavens and says ”אילו ואילו דברי אלוהים חיים, which literally means ‘these and these are words of a living God’.” Essentially saying you’re both right. That is confusing enough, but if you keep reading, you’ll see that even though they are both right, the הלכה will be set according to Beit Hillel. Why? Because “נוחין ועלובין היו, they were patient and humble.” The הלכה was set according to Beit Hillel because of how, not what, they did.

In essence, it is important to always try to do things with intention, to always strive to be the best version of yourself you can be. We do this in prayer when we pray with Kavanah. Saying the prayers fulfills Gods commandments, but praying with Kavanah fulfills ourselves.

And it is not just in prayer that we should use Kavanah. In something as simple as meeting a new person there can be Kavanah. One of my favorite examples of a way we can improve is by not using, what my camp director Jerry Kaye calls, the convention handshake. The convention handshake looks like this. You go to say hi to someone or meet someone knew, shake their hand, but already look past them for the next person you are going to meet. Instead, we should be in the moment; make eye contact, learn the person’s name, use ‘active listening.’ We all know these skills and by using them, we can help fulfill ourselves.

Now, back to our great people.

Within his dash, Lincoln freed the slaves in the south and worked diligently his entire presidency to bring peace back to the country during the Civil War.

Michael Jordan, in his dash, was known as the best and hardest working basketball players ever, he is also know because he won 6 NBA championships, 5 MVP awards, had 14 All star game appearances, 2 gold medals, 10 all NBA 1^st team selections, and so on

So what about Jacob? In his dash, he extorted a birthright he knew he would get, usurped a blessing he was destined to have, and was forced to flee his homeland to protect himself from his own brother. But that wasn’t the end of his dash. He was able to make things right. When he met his brother again, he purposefully and meaningfully apologized. When Esau saw this, he was no longer angry with Jacob. Esau forgave his brother and embraced him the way brothers should.

Jacob eventually made the most of his dash by doing things with intention, with a purpose. He learned that it is not the events and dates, the what, that define our lives, but the dash, the how, that is truly defining. What’s in your dash?

Boker Tov