I consider myself a fair optimist. With strong doses of faith, perspective and creativity, I do my best to seek out the meaning in tough moments and find a narrative to hold on to - a glimpse of Hashem's hidden but ever-present, guiding Hand. But it’s feeling like a slog in his homeland, more than ever before in my lifetime. Particularly this week.
I'm not scared of our enemies - I'm scared of us. Our enemies’ hatred for us is so deep - that it is distilled and ‘pure’ in its impurity. In its extreme form, it draws out our response from the parallel place of core identity - which is clarifying and unifying. But, when we don’t feel that existential threat, we are gloriously bad at staying unified.
In the most difficult moments, we know how to survive in unity, but we haven’t worked out yet how to live in unity - and it’s frightening. Our enemies have caught on to this. They have learnt that we can defend against a direct external threat - but if they ignite an internal threat from amongst us - we haven’t yet discovered the antidote. (It seems a lot like how Balak changed strategies in Chumash - from sending external ‘curse missiles’ to igniting internal ‘moral grenades’ to bring us down.)
The solution is obviously complex - because we're smart people and we’re dumbfounded here. We’re stuck in an illusion that after Oct 7th we chose to be united and now we’re choosing not to. They’re starkly different realities that require vastly different strategies. At present, we have to make nuanced decisions in a complex environment as to how to rebuild, assert authority, run a country, contain the rising cost of living, manage the world’s perception fueled by veiled anti-semitism, maintain a welfare and education system - all while we have our precious brothers and sisters held captive, thousands displaced and the unseen battle of reservist families trying to hold their homes together. That’s a lot more complex than what it takes to fight back for the same clear cause immediately after the most horrific attack by the most evil people in recent history is streamed to your phone via GoPros.
Does Parshat Shoftim this year perhaps have a suggestion to help us get closer to a solution?
I’m constantly perturbed and disturbed by this dilemma. The unity we need now is so nuanced because we need to have strong opinions, firm visions and concrete action to keep our country going, living and at least aim towards - thriving. We know Israel is the ultimate melting pot of cultures and we are extremely diverse in our religious and political profiles. So when it comes to working out a plan of action for our little country, it seems so elusive.
How do we decide on a way forward? And if we manage to decide on a way forward, how do we keep everyone on track and supportive - without having factions burn the house down because their way is not the one being followed?
In Parshat Shoftim, the Torah presents us with the concept of a Jewish king - the ‘ultimate’ human being and appointed decision-maker to rule the People. There is an important fundamental that can’t be overlooked by the Jewish king - the Jewish king is commanded to write and then carry his own Sefer Torah wherever he goes.
The king needs to be authoritative and lead with certainty. But he needs to do this while carrying a Sefer Torah. I believe that there are two key reasons. Firstly, while he may be appointed as the ultimate voice of authority, he needs to remember that he is limited in his wisdom. There is an ethereal and lofty wisdom that preceded him and exists beyond him - the wisdom of the Creator of the World - distilled in our holy Torah. He may have an opinion - but it is not of Divine origin. Secondly, our Sages z”l teach us that there are, ‘Seventy Faces to the Torah’. The raw truth of the Torah cannot be expressed by one human being alone - there are seventy facets to the Divine truth and each person accesses only their unique manifestation of that truth. Only together and with the other, can we come close to accessing and expressing Hashem’s truth. The king needs to lead with the humility of knowing that there is a wisdom beyond his and with a respect that he can only access one facet of the truth and others around him hold other facets of the truth, no less valid.
In tech product development, I came across the ideology of having “Strong Opinions, Weakly Held” (Paul Safo, technology forecaster and Stanford professor). Have the courage to build your belief confidently and the humility to learn what you need to along the way - allowing for change, iteration, improvement, regression, progression and, ultimately, authentic growth. This occurs with the necessary humility and respect to hear others around you and allow your view to be shaped and refined as you listen, learn and experience.
I think this may be at the root of our problem. Perhaps driven by understandable insecurity to find something to hold on to in these tempestuous times, we hold on to our views way too tightly. It’s painful. It’s tough for the individual to hold that grasp so tightly and for so long - the fingers go white and lifeless. It’s destructive when that grasp turns into a clenched fist fired at the person opposite you holding just as tightly on to their opinion.
We need to learn, grow and express our truths. But we need to hold a Sefer Torah with it - so that we express them humbly and respectfully - making room for the other and ultimately making room for a much richer and more reliable truth.
We are a nation of kings - but lest we forget to carry our Torahs. Say what you believe in, while knowing that not you nor anyone else has the patent on the truth. Surely we can hold on to our fundamentals without becoming fundamentalist!!
The Gemara (Yoma 72b) teaches that Torah can either be the elixir of life or the elixir of death. If we engage the Torah without Yirat Shamayim - only to make our opinions firmer and more extreme - it will bring death. If we hold the Torah gently with Yirat Shamayim, as a source of guiding our beliefs, then we can dance with it in a circle containing others - and the beautiful multi-faceted truth emerges from the space amongst us.
אמר עולא ביראה אמר רבי אלעזר עתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא לעשות מחול לצדיקים והוא יושב ביניהם בגן עדן וכל אחד ואחד מראה באצבעו שנאמ' (ישעיהו כה, ט) ואמר ביום ההוא הנה אלהינו זה קוינו לו ויושיענו זה ה' קוינו לו נגילה ונשמחה בישועתו: (תענית_לא.)
I think last Simchat Torah we held on to our Torahs far too tightly. We lost more than we could have ever imagined. That horrific day was sown with the elixir of death. This year, we need to hold on to our Torahs more loosely - sharing the truth and the burden with those next to us - especially those far away from us.
We need to have our opinions - we need to take action - we don’t have a choice but to move forward. But if we don’t step towards the Aron Kodesh with both humility and respect, it’s best we stay in our starting places and keep quiet.
This coming Simchat Torah, may we daven like kings - that hold constantly and loosely on to their Sifrei Torah - wherever they go.
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Online Post-Script (Facebook)
I still don’t know how to describe the experience Sarah Bernstein and I had with our precious, remarkable and courageous friends, אורית סלמן עדני and רחמים עדני. In the midst of this unwanted darkness, we meritted to take part in the Mizrachi UK Sefer Torah Project - and see them holding the Me’il for the Sefer Torah dedicated to their king of a son - Elay Adany Hy”d. Our hearts are broken with you at every moment, Orit and Rami. In the Makom HaMikdash - may HaMakom yenachem. החיוך של איליי - Eily’s Smile
We did not know you before this all happened and you made space for us to come close and share this Sefer Torah with you. Thank you for the privilege of coming close to the light that is Elay and learning his humble, respectful and courageous Torah that he lived his life by. If only the world studied his Torah more and more - it would be a better place so swiftly.
May the Jewish nation merit to have the humility and respect of these holy Sifrei Torah to unite and save ourselves from ourselves and restore our way forward as a ‘Light unto the Nations’.
Thank you, Rabbi Andrew Shaw for conceiving of this incredible idea ahead of Simchat Torah 5785. Thank you to Michael Goodman and Kevin Swaine for driving the project for the Tel Mond Mevaser Zion Community. And to my dear teacher, mentor and friend, Rabbi Doron Perez and World Mizrachi for helping bring it all together - your courage and your Torah, and that of your precious son, Daniel Hy"d, is so necessary.
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