Taking Sensible Risks
R. Yaakov Bieler
Parashat VaYetze, 5770
At one
point, Adam Gopnick, as part of his discussion about Charles Darwin in his book
entitled, Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln and Modern
Life (Knopf, New York, 2009) writes that great scientific discoveries are
such that when others learn of them, they can’t understand why they hadn’t
thought of this innovative idea that explains so many things and appears so
obvious. Sometimes a student of the Tora has a similar sensation when he comes
across an explanation of well-known passages which after-the-fact seems so
obvious and conveys an idea of deep significance. This is how I felt when I
read R. Amnon Bazak’s[1]
insight connecting Yaakov’s vision of the ladder stretching from earth to
Heaven and the
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11:4 “…A tower whose top is in Heaven.” |
28:12 “…A ladder standing on the ground and whose top reaches to Heaven” |
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11:3 “…and bricks served them in place of stones.” |
28:11 “…And he took from the stones of the place and put them beneath his head.” |
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11:5 “And God Descended to See the city and the tower that sons of Adam had constructed…” |
28:12 “…And behold Angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.” |
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11:2 “And it was when they journeyed from
the east and they found a valley in the |
29:1 “And Yaakov lifted his feet and went to the land of the children of the east.” |
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11:4 “…Lest ‘Nafutz’/we be scattered on the face of the entire world.” Ibid., 8-9 “And God Scattered them from there throughout the world and they ceased constructing the city. For this reason its name was called Bavel, because there God Confused the language of the entire land and from there God Scattered them on the face of the entire world.” |
28:14 “And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will ‘U’Foratzta’/burst out (a positive terminology for the more negative “scattered”) to the west, to the east, and to the north and to the south. |
From my perspective, the “Chidush”—iconoclastic concept—embedded in relating these two Biblical passages is a reorientation of how we think of what happened to the Dor HaFlaga (the generation of the Dispersion), as those who attempted to construct the Tower of Bavel are referred to in Rabbinic Literature.[2] Since the term for the people who were Divinely “scattered” parallels the manner in which the victims of the Great Flood are referred, i.e., Dor HaMabul, it is usually thought that just as the Flood constituted a punishment for activities that generated God’s Ire,[3] so too the Dispersion was similarly intended. However, in light of the fact that God Blesses Yaakov by Telling him that his descendents will be scattered in all directions, the Dispersion might also have been a “blessing”, albeit a challenging one, rather than a curse or an experience meant to purge some type of sin.
It is
notable that Yaakov is the twin who not only is told in his prophetic vision at
the beginning of Parashat VaYetze that his offspring will be scattered, but
that he himself has to leave his familial home in such an abrupt fashion in
Parashat Toldot. After all, Yaakov is originally depicted as (Beraishit 25:27)
“…a tent dweller,” in contrast to his brother Eisav, the outdoorsman.[4]
Consequently, for Yaakov to be forced to journey far from home, and according
to Rabbinic tradition to spend twelve years in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever[5] even
before dwelling with Lavan for another twenty plus years, no longer enjoying
the intense love and protection of his mother in particular (Ibid., v. 28),[6]
must certainly have been traumatic. But in light of R. Bazak’s reinterpretation
of the
Suddenly, a meta-pattern with regard to man’s natural general destiny becomes clear, a conceptual understanding that transcends the specific events in Yaakov’s life, who in contrast to someone like his father Yitzchak,[8] spends considerably more time “on the road.” The expulsion of Adam and Chava from the Garden of Eden appears to at least in part be the result of their transgressing the Divine Imperative not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as per Beraishit 3:17-9;[9] nevertheless it is also possible to posit that remaining within the “cocoon” of the Garden did not allow for mankind to “stretch”, learn about its capacities and weaknesses and maximize its growth potential. Consequently it was inevitable and, in man’s best interests, to have to live elsewhere.[10] [11] Retracing the Creation story to an earlier significant juncture, the Tora appears to insist that while each individual usually begins his life within a secure relationship overseen by his parents, this situation is not intended to continue forever. Following the creation of Chava, Adam’s primordial spouse and mother of all succeeding generations, the Tora’s narrative is suspended for a verse, and the following general directive is inserted:
Beraishit 2:24
Therefore a man must forsake[12] his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they will be one flesh.
Consequently, Yaakov experiences a process that essentially is meant to be replicated in one way or another in the life of every person. Rabbinic literature envisions the process of God Requiring each individual to enter situations “outside of his comfort zone” by contrasting the periods before and after birth:
Nidda 30b
And there
is no time when a person enjoys greater happiness than those days (in
utero), (and nevertheless he is soon expelled into the world outside the
womb!) for it is said, (Iyov 29:2) “Oh that I were as the months of old, as
in the days when God Watched over me.” Now which are the days that make up
months, and do not make up years? The months of pregnancy of course.
It is also
taught all of the Tora from beginning to end, (assuming that the happiness
experienced by the fetus is not only due to physical security and comfort, but
also spiritual knowledge) for it is said, (Mishlei 4:4) “And He Taught me
and Said unto me, ‘Let your heart hold fast My Words, keep My Commandments and
live’”…
As soon as
it sees the light, an angel approaches slaps it on its mouth and causes it to
forget all the Tora completely, (resulting in the conclusion that when a Jew
studies Tora, he is not doing so for the first time, but rather engages in a
type of “déjà vu” process, arising from a dislocation taking him from a
conscious state of knowledge, to at best an unconscious one) as it is said,
(Beraishit 4:7) “…Sin crouches at the door…”[13]
An even more evocative
Rabbinic passage that poetically establishes the beginning of this process to a
point prior to an individual’s conception appears in a Midrash:
Midrash
Tanchuma, Parashat Pekudei #3
(Following
the creation of the physical aspect of the future person) Immediately the angel
goes and brings the spirit/Ruach before the Holy One, Blessed be He. When it
comes, it immediately “bends its knee and prostrates itself” before the King,
King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He. At that moment the Holy One,
Blessed be He says to the Ruach, “Enter into the seminal fluid that belongs to
so-and-so.” The Ruach “opens its mouth and says” before Him, “Master of the
Universe! The world in which I have dwelled from the time that You Created me
suits my purposes. Why is it Your Will to Insert me into this putrid material,
since I am holy and pure and I am formed from Your Glory?” Immediately the Holy
One, Blessed be He Says to the soul, “The world into which I am Inserting you will
be better for you than the one in which you have been dwelling. In fact, at
the time that I Created you, I Created you specifically to be inserted into
this specific material.” Immediately the Holy One, Blessed be He, Inserts it
there against its will…
In light of the assumption that leaving one’s comfortable surroundings is
not only natural but beneficial and exactly what God Intends for all people in
all circumstances, then in fact, an exit from an essentially static Olam
HaNeshamot (World of Souls) in order to prepare to enter into Olam HaZeh (“This
World”) is a step up, at least potentially. The spirit will have to be
resourceful, flexible and persistent in attempting to sanctify not only the
body in which it finds itself, but also its greater surroundings, the
ubiquitous task of being Mekadech Chol (sanctifying that which is not holy.)[14]
In religious terms, what is
suggested by the need to “stretch oneself” and “reach beyond our accustomed
comfort zones”? With respect to philanthropy, even if one had given a certain
amount of Tzedaka in the past, what would it take to make a greater, more
significant commitment, without of course endangering other needs that one
might have? Is it possible that we have more than enough for ourselves and
therefore should seek opportunities to be of greater to others and institutions
that may be in greater need? As far as prayer is concerned, would it be
unreasonable for someone to decide to attend more Minyanim than he is used to?
Can a person strive to have more Kavana, to even come to the synagogue somewhat
earlier so that the cumulative effects of the prayer service will possibly have
a greater impact? Can one suppress the urge to engage in social interaction
during services in order to perhaps open oneself to be more moved by the
liturgy and the Nussach HaTefilla? What would it mean if I joined in the
communal singing rather than remain as an onlooker or a bystander? And then
there is Tora study. Can I make the additional effort to participate in an
ongoing Shiur? If not, do I have the commitment to obtain tapes, CD’s, audio
files for my Ipod, etc. that would enable me to engage in the great ideas of
our tradition to a greater extent than I have in the past?
Finally it is intriguing to
consider how on the one hand, traditional Judaism places great emphasis upon
preserving the legacies of the past, and yet were we to confine ourselves to
only the past, and not look to the present and future by trying to go further
and accomplish more, our religious practices and beliefs might lose their
vibrancy and vitality. How can we honor where we have come from, and yet reach
beyond to take the sort of reasonable risks that will continue to engage us and
our children today as well as tomorrow? The Tora suggests that this is the way
of the world. We would do well to embrace this pattern and use it to our
maximum benefit.
[1] Nekudat
Peticha, Tzomet,
[2] E.g., Bava Metzia 48a; Sanhedrin 38b; Avoda Zora 19a.
[3] See Beraishit 6:3, 5-7, 11-13.
[4] See my essay, “Raising ‘Difficult’ Children”, particularly the portion that deals with R. Elimelech Bar Shaul’s understanding of Eisav’s personality at http://www.kmsynagogue.org/Toldot5770.htm
[5] See RaShI on Beraishit 35:29.
[6] In an attempt to understand Yaakov’s strange behavior upon first encountering Rachel, i.e., (Beraishit 29:10-11) his single-handedly removing the rock that obstructed drawing water from the communal well and then kissing Rachel, Rabbeinu Bachya and R. S.R. Hirsch both suggest that the powerful emotion that precipitated these actions was the memory of his mother, Rivka, whom he badly missed. R. Hirsch even proposes that Rachel markedly resembled Rivka, a logical assumption since they were closely related to one another—Lavan’s sister and daughter respectively—thereby supplying the trigger for his bizarre actions. See Nechama Leibowitz’ Gilayon for Parashat VaYetze 5728 at http://tinyurl.com/yczfhcy
[7] In the
current issue of the American Society for Curriculum Development’s journal, Educational
Leadership, entitled “Health and Learning” (http://tinyurl.com/8pzosy ) one article
deals with a Middle School Physical Education Program that very much focused
upon the theme of the importance of adolescents “stretching” themselves and
engaging in reasonable risks. See the article “
[8] Yitzchak
did experience one lengthy relocation as a result of yet another famine in
[9] If Adam
is punished by virtue of his having to work for his food, then obviously he
will be expelled from the Garden where food was so easily obtained. However, it
is interesting to note that the expulsion is not connected by God to the change
in man’s relationship with the earth and the manner in which he will have to
obtain food going forward, but rather in terms of his not getting the opportunity
to eat from the Tree of Life (Beraishit 3:22-4.) While the imposition of toil
with regard to food collection and production would appear to be punitive, it
is possible that man’s mortality and being placed outside of
[10] Otherwise, it is unclear why the rest of the world was necessary for the Creation, if man was meant to spend eternity in the relatively small area delineated as the Garden of Eden!
[11] On this
point, I have chosen to differ with R. Bazak. In his essay on Parashat Noach, (Nekudat
Peticha, pp. 17-18), the author stresses the extreme difference between the
expulsions from
[12] The laws of honoring and respecting one’s parents continues throughout one’s life; however the psychic reality that they will be the only significant others for a person is rejected, and the expectation that the individual will mature from being someone’s child and become someone’s mate, and someone else’s parent.
[13] William Wordsworth captures a parallel sense of the Talmud’s depiction of first the learning by the individual followed by his “forgetting” what he has learned in this passage from his poem, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”:
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Our birth
is but a sleep and a forgetting: |
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The Soul that
rises with us, our life's Star, |
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Hath
had elsewhere its setting, |
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And
cometh from afar: |
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Not
in entire forgetfulness, |
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And
not in utter nakedness, |
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But trailing
clouds of glory do we come |
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From
God, who is our home: |
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Heaven lies
about us in our infancy! |
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Shades of the
prison-house begin to close |
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Upon
the growing Boy, |
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But he
beholds the light, and whence it flows, |
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He
sees it in his joy; |
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The Youth,
who daily farther from the east |
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Must
travel, still is Nature's priest, |
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And
by the vision splendid |
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Is
on his way attended; |
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At length the
Man perceives it die away, |
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And fade into
the light of common day. |
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[14] This is the ostensible sense of the passage towards the end of tractate Berachot (64a):
R. Avin HaLevi said: One who
takes leave of someone who has died, should not say “Lech LeShalom” (go towards
peace/wholeness), but rather “Lech BeShalom” (go in peace, i.e., whatever
wholeness you have achieved until this point must be sufficient, since in the
afterlife there are no longer opportunities for growth and development as there
were in “This World.”) as it is said, (Beraishit 15:15), “And you will come to
your fathers ‘BeShalom’ (in peace; a reference to what will occur
following Avraham’s death.)