Dear Friend,
We have the power to lift up the people around us and thereby be uplifted ourselves.
A rising tide lifts all boats, even the simple looking and poor performing, but unlike boats, when people are uplifted they become better, nicer and empowered which in turn lifts up others around them and so on.
Judaism believes very much in the power of the individual who is created in G-ds image and therefore each individual has g-dly infinite potential. It is however our circumstances or challenges that can bring us down and make us think we are simple and incapable.
We can lift ourselves by lifting others, by being nice, helpful, kind and thoughtful of others and engaging in true acts of kindness, we generate positivity which is the tide that lifts all up to a higher place, from which facing life's challenges becomes realistic and possible.
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Four Catholic mothers and a Jewish woman were having coffee.
The first Catholic woman tells her friends, “My son is a priest. When he walks into a room, everyone calls him Father.”
The second Catholic mother chirps, “My son is a Bishop. When he walks into a room people call him Your Grace.”
The third Catholic mom says, “My son is a Cardinal. When he enters a room, everyone says Your Eminence.”
The fourth Catholic woman declares, “My son is the Pope. When he walks into a room people call him Your Holiness.”
They all turn to the Jewish woman, and give her a subtle, “Well?”
She replies, “I have a son. He’s argumentative, confrontational, self-centered, narcissistic, impulsive, impossible and irrational. When he walks into a room, people say, Oh My G-d!”
WEEKLY eTORAH
This week's Parshah tells the story of the Golden Calf, the worst national sin in the history of the Jewish people. Frankly, if I were the editor of the Bible I'd have left that part out. How humiliating to the Jews! Just weeks after the greatest revelation of all time, when they saw and heard G‑d up front and personal, they go and bow down to a cow?! How fickle can you get? But the Torah is unflinchingly honest and records this most unflattering moment of ours in all its gory detail.
Why?
Perhaps the very important lessons we need to draw from this embarrassing episode are, firstly, that people do sin, human beings do make mistakes, and even inspired Jews who saw the divine with their own eyes can mess up — badly. And, secondly, that even afterwards there is still hope, no matter what.
In the very same Parshah we read how G‑d tells Moses to carve a second set of tablets, to replace the first set he smashed when he came down the mountain and was shocked by what the Jews were up to. (Sort of "You broke them, you fix them" — like the guy who fell asleep during the rabbi's sermon and the rabbi tells the shamash to go and wake the fellow up. The shamash says, "Rabbi, you put him to sleep, you wake him up!") The Torah does not intend to diminish our respect for that generation, but rather to help us understand human frailty, our moral weakness and the reality of relationships, spiritual or otherwise.
G‑d gave us a perfect Torah. The tablets were hand-made by G‑d, pure and sacred, and then we messed up. So is it all over? Is there really no hope now? Are we beyond redemption? After all, what could possibly be worse than idolatry? We broke the first two commandments and the tablets were shattered into smithereens because we were no longer worthy to have them. It was the ultimate infidelity.
So Torah teaches that all is not lost. As bad as it was — and it was bad — it is possible for man to repair the damage. Moses will make new tablets. They won't be quite the same as G‑d's, but there will be Tablets nonetheless. We can pick up the pieces.
I once heard a colleague speak about the significance of breaking the glass under the chupah (wedding canopy). Besides never forgetting Jerusalem and praying for her full restoration, this ceremony teaches a very important lesson about life to a bride and groom who are about to embark on their own new path in life. What happens immediately after the groom breaks the glass? Everyone shouts "Mazel Tov!" The message is clear. Something broke? Nu, it's not the end of the world. We can even laugh about it and still be happy. Nisht geferlich. Lo nora. This too shall pass. A very practical, peace-keeping tip for the new couple.
There are most definitely second chances in life. It is possible to pick up the pieces in life. Whether it's our relationships with G‑d, our marriage partners, our kids or our colleagues, we can make amends and repair the damage.
If the Jews could recover from the Golden Calf, our own challenges are small indeed.
adapted from www.chabad.org
