Rabbi's Blog

Everyone needs to have a schedule or a routine and even though most of us would prefer to break the routine every now and then, most people accomplish far more by sticking to an organized daily plan. Schedules and routines come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from following a daily diet  to studying, to  exercising, organizing work, and even planning vacations. Maintaining a schedule or routine is a major key to success. Unfortunately, this is all well and good until we go ‘off’ schedule and break the routine. Invariably, everybody will ‘go off’ at some point, perhaps due to unexpected events or emergencies, or just because we can experience ‘burn-out’ which may require a change in routine.   I tend to falter from the former reason;  my usual schedule and daily routine break down during the Jewish holiday season. For me, it is essential to get back to the routine as soon as possible, but easier said than done.  

Truth be told there are at least two types of routines that each of us maintain: the private one and the communal one. Getting back on the public schedule - such as going to work - is a bit easier because most of us have no choice.  At least for me I find the private routines such as personal dieting or necessary projects to be more challenging to return to. We often have a dilemma when we fall behind on something; do we skip to where we are supposed to be or do we choose to just continue where we left off and try to eventually catch up?  A perfect example of this is Daf Yomi or any daily learning; when you fall behind do you skip and try to come back to it later or just trudge on from the current Daf? My nature is just to plow forward and try to gain ground slowly, eventually catching up. The answer, in my opinion, depends upon how far behind you are and then evaluate or assess whether it is even possible to catch up.  This varies from person to person and from subject to subject. I find that I need to keep on going without skipping for fear that I will never go back to the area I skipped over. Perhaps others, especially if they are very disciplined and organized, feel more confident, knowing   that they will return to the portion they skipped and would rather skip now and resume the schedule they had previously maintained. Of course, if a project is eminently due, it is mandatory that you must stick with that particular project. Otherwise, without anything pressing, it is preferred and recommended by many that you skip over the missed material in order to be current with the group or your own creative schedule. Personally, I have a stubborn personality and therefore it’s difficult for me to skip. I tend to force myself to march along, and at times fall way behind, never able to catch up. I would like to suggest that the Torah in Parshas Noach recommends skipping when we are behind and come back to skipped-over material later.  

Noach, his wife, and his children were the only people in the history of the world to see the world before the flood, during the flood, and after the flood. They lived through three different ‘worlds’, witnessing changes in the world from before, during and after the flood. After the Mabul/Flood the world was not as spiritual as it had originally been from the time of Adam and Gan Eden.  Noach met Adam HaRishon and probably heard about the paradise of Gan Eden where Adam and Chava once lived. Now, as Noah exits the ark he enters a new world, a world that is different from the original world which existed before the flood. He even waits until Hashem commands him to leave the ark, perhaps feeling the difference in this new world. Noach, being the new ‘first family’ of the world, attempted to bring the world back to the time of the very first days of creation. Nevertheless, the world was different. Noach had go back to work, just as  Adam had to after he was kicked out of Gan Eden. The Torah states in Bereishis 9:20-21 “Vayachel Noach Ish Ha’Adama Viyata Kerem. Vayeisht Min HaYayin, Vayishkar VaYisgal B’Soch Ohalo”. “And Noach began his career as a man of the earth and planted a vineyard.  He drank from the wine and became intoxicated, and uncovered himself in his tent.” This sounds like a very average man of the earth and not a person who was seeking spirituality. What went wrong?

Noach’s life and schedule was interrupted, but he felt compelled to try to return, to pick up where he left off instead of starting fresh.  He should have just adjusted to his new environment, working to create a new life despite the strange differences of life as he saw it compared to life  pre-flood. But there was something that made him think to go back, to try to return to the way the world was before the flood. The *Targum Yonason Ben Uziel explains the previously- cited verse ‘V’Ashkach Gufna D’Moshchei Nahara Min Ginunisa D’Eiden’ “And Noach began to become an individual working the land, and he found a vine that emanated from a river that flowed from Eden. And he planted his vineyard, and on that same day it blossomed and produced ripe grapes and he squeezed them yielding wine.” Finding a vine in a river that came from Gan Eiden, the original place where Adam had come from, was taken as a sign (perhaps from Heaven) that he should try to bring the world back to that place and time. It is conceivable that he was correct, but unfortunately he also sinned with some fruit,  got drunk and blew the opportunity for the world, in short, he behaved as Adam had behaved.

Hashem created the world to continue forward in a physical way while trying to bring back the spiritual life that existed previously. Every one of us is a Noach and an Adam.  We must continuously seek out ways to get the world back to its pristine state of paradise. This can be accomplished by looking at the spirituality and reinforcing it, avoiding the same mistakes that we make over and over again.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

*Yonasan ben Uzziel was one of the 80 tannaim who studied under Hillel the Elder during the time of Roman occupied Judea. He is the author of Targum Jonathan and a book of kabbalah known as Megadnim.

Yonasan ben Uzziel is mentioned in the Gemara Sukkah 28a.

According to Zev Vilnai, Rabbi Shmuel ben Shimshon wrote about the tomb in 1210: "There is a large tree next to it, and the Ishmaelites [Arabs] bring oil and light a candle in his honor and make vows in his honor." An illustration of Yonasan ben Uzziel's tomb appears in "Ancestry of fathers and prophet, a book printed in 1537.

The tomb of ben Uzziel is located in Amuka, Galilee near Safed, Israel. It is customary to visit ben Uzziel's tomb on Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the lunar month, and on 26 Sivan (the day on which he died, although visitors arrive all year round. A practice that began in the 17th century was to pray at the gravesite for a good marriage partner, for children, satisfaction from one's children, a good livelihood, health and happiness. Many unmarried men and women pray there for a match. Doing so is considered a segula (propitious remedy) for finding one’s mate within the coming year.