Rabbi's Blog

Beth Jacob Congregation the center of your Jewish life is replete with davening, learning for all ages, fun and educational activities for children, meaningful life and community-wide comings and goings for all. One of the great activities is the Melava Malka (aka men’s basketball) on Saturday nights. From time to time I participate with two goals in mind: the first is for the exercise and the second is for the comradery with the younger members of the Shul. Every so often I choose not to play, primarily to give the guys a break from me and let someone else dominate. Recently, perhaps because more people are around during the summer, many more people have been showing up so the amount of playing time drops. Since I go to exercise, I tend to exercise at home or, the best yet, take a walk/jog with my wife.

Last Motzai Shabbos I /we went for our jog and the unexpected and astonishing happened to me. I couldn’t believe it but I tripped and fell hard onto the pavement. I was momentarily quite shaken, feeling really upset and taken aback at the same time. I regained my composure (despite my wife asking a hundred times if I was ok) and clinically assessed the damage. Baruch Hashem, the immediate diagnosis resulted in addressing some bruises and large scratches; some heavy-duty aching appeared a few days later. As I back on my feet, working to regain my dignity,my wife told me to take it easy, suggesting that perhaps we should go straight home. She said there is nothing to prove or to show off to someone as we were alone. I, on the other hand, wanted to continue walking, or better yet even jog, demonstrating that nothing had really happened. Something, however, really did happen.

I mentioned earlier that I was upset that I had tripped and fallen. . I analyzed the situation and asked myself why I was upset, and, more importantly, why did I feel the need to continue? Thinking about how I may have tripped over my laces or perhaps just made a misstep are all excuses or reasons why I or anyone else might fall. But I was upset because I thought to myself ‘these kinds of things don’t happen to me!’ I am not a clumsy person and I don’t lose my balance; I’m usually very careful – even cautious. I think the underlying reason I was upset was that I felt vulnerable because of my age. This realization hit me hard, both emotionally and psychologically. I physically wanted to ignore my weakness as it is no secret that neither I nor anyone else is as young as we once were. In my mind, I always feel half my age, but as time goes on, the gap between how I feel and my real age is narrowing. Every morning I see my once-black beard now almost completely white, but this has been a gradual change, occurring slowly over time. I, along with everyone around me, has grown used to this gentle sign of aging, not really identifying the white beard with aging. The aches and the pains and the slow recovery from a fall, however, is an awakening to my current reality. But, the Derech Hashem, the way God wants us to live our lives, is to get up and try to carry on - just as we did when we were younger - with a sense of zeal and excitement.

If we analyze which limbs of our body show their age, I believe it would be our legs and feet. As we grow older we just slow down. Slowing down only limits us physically, not mentally. Nevertheless, we continue to use terminology such asI’m going to run or walk or jog or sprint. We don’t necessarily use these terms literally; they’re typically used as figures of speech. The verbs we choose to use which refer to physical movement also have us going somewhere mentally or following an idea or philosophy.

338903. week’s parsha is replete with words describing to go, or to follow, using different parts of the foot. In this week’s Parsha Eikev Moshe is giving us direction as we ‘walk’. In Devarim 11:22 the Torah states: “Ki Im ShamorTishmirun Es Kal HaMitzva Hazos Asher Anochi Mitzaveh Eschem LaAsosa, L’Ahava Es Hashem Elokeichem LaLeches B’chal D’rachav U’l’Davka Bo”. “If you carefully safeguard and keep this entire mandate that I prescribe to you today, and if you love God, walk in all His ways, and cling to Him, then God will drive out all these nations before you”. It also mentions in Bereishis that we were created in the image of God and therefore we are supposed to emulate Him. A famous idea is said over in the name of Reb Itzele of Volozhin (son of Reb Chaim) on this verse. Rashi states that since Hashem is compassionate, we should show compassion. God is a God of loving kindness, so we, too, should display loving kindness. If this is the pattern, why don’t we say that since God is a jealous God, we should also be jealous? The Yerushalmi answers that God can rule over jealousy, but jealousy does not rule over Him. It is impossible for a person to be blessed with the ability to rule over jealousy; therefore we need to work on ourselves not to be jealous. A simple but effective measure against becoming jealous of someone is not lingering around and watching, looking and observing what others have. Rather get up and keep the freshness of who we are and continue a path without slowing down. Psychologically and emotionally we must not look around. We must stay focused on what is in front of us and push on.

This outlook connects to the opening words of the parsha. From the very first words of the parsha “V’Haya Eikev (heel) Tishma’un”: If only you listen to these laws life will be wonderful. The sages teach us the word ‘V’Haya’ is used as a message of joy and simcha. If we follow the laws and don’t step on the mitzvos with our heels (a play on the work Eikev), good things will eventually come in the end of days. However, this will not come to us easily, but rather it will come with great difficulties and hardships. The word ‘Eikev’ (on the heel of) is imbedded in the word ‘Ikvesa D’Meshicha’ (Mashiach at the threshold) and we might get stepped on, kicked about; we might undergo tests and bitter struggles. We will be kicked down to the floor, and as long as we continue to listen ‘Tishmaun’ to the laws and follow the Mitzvos then we will truly have simcha and joy.

Falling when we are aging or being pushed down in our youth come with the same results and a need for similar resolve. We must pick ourselves up and continue through the tests and tribulations on a personal and national level. We must persevere and continue the path, the road of doing the things we know are the key to bringing about Moshiach. We might have some bruises from the long exile, but as we personally age, and also as we age as a nation, we call out Am Yisrael Chai, the Jewish people live on despite the rest of the world with the resolve of who we are and from where we have come.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky