Be a Beracha

Abraham had difficulty with his nephew, Lot.  I suspect that if he had his druthers Abraham would have placed Lot anywhere… but nearby.  But when it comes to relatives what choice do we have?  No one ever asked us if we would like our Uncle Max or not.   If they had….

The problem with Lot was that he felt that he owned (or should own) everything that he saw.  Lot’s axiom: Most anything can be done for the sake of enlarging your business empire.  For example, Lot was not averse to letting his flocks graze of other people’s property.  Granted, it is no major crime but wrong is wrong.  Lot’s ethical standards left much to be desired.  The modern equivalent might be to pick your neighbors flowers when your table needs a bit of sprucing; or not being forthright at the checkout counter with unmarked merchandise.

Tradition tells that when we approach the portals of the Next World, Olam HaBa, one of the questions that will be asked of us is, “Did you conduct your business matters honestly?” (Shabbat 31)

A story is related of two men who came to their rabbi to ask his advice on an urgent matter.  “We wish to form a business partnership,” said one.  “Yes,” echoed the second, “but we want your blessing on the project.”

The rabbi thought.  He then picked up his pen and wrote the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  “Let is be your contract,” the rabbi began.  “The aleph stands for emunah (faith), the bet is for beracha (blessing), the gimel is for geniva (theft) and the dalet is for dalut (poverty).  In other words, when one of you acts in good faith, the outcome will be a beracha.  If you treat one another dishonestly the venture will end in poverty for both.”

Theft, misrepresentation and cheating are all primary sins in our faith.  Ina sense they can never be fully rectified, made right.  Wrongs breed a mistrust and suspicion.  Once someone has been deceived they have been stripped of their naiveté and trust.  A part of them has been destroyed.  Additionally, money that has been stolen is lost.  Of course, it can be returned but who knows what could have been done with it in the interim?  What opportunities were lost?

The emotional and financial damage inflicted by us is critical.  It is a crime against humanity.  From the verse in Torah, “You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind,” the rabbis deduced a literal as well as metaphysical meaning.  While we are not to place objects in front of the visually impaired, there is also a harm that follows when unsuspecting people are exposed to obscene literature, drugs, offering non-kosher food to an observant Jew.  Those too can be a “stumbling blocks before the blind.”

Abraham was right to separate himself from his unscrupulous nephews. The temptations would have been too great.  But there is a loftier moral to that story: business practices belie our true character.  If we harm people, there is blood on our hands.  If we act righteously, as menschen, we bring beracha, blessing.

Truth in Torah

There are many Torah passages which could raise eyebrows well into the nether regions of the forehead.  Among them are the age of the universe versus our almost six thousand year calculation, manna feeding at least 1 1/2 million freed slaves for forty years, burning bushes and parted seas to name a few.

The question of reliability actually runs yet deeper:  If the Torah cannot be read at face value, if we cannot trust it to tell the truth all the time, how can we depend on it for truth any time?

No one who studies Torah with any degree of seriousness will fail to notice these and other incongruities.  In fact, it is probably the most frequent question asked of rabbis today.  What do I tell people?  Even more, how can anyone, including a rabbi, have faith with such unbelievable tales and inconsistencies?

I am fond of telling an story of a grandfather who greets his little one at the door. 

“So how was Hebrew School today, Yacov?”

“Oh great!  We learned about how General Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.  Cornered by the Egyptians with their troops, General Moses fired bazookas and strafed the advancing army while the Israeli navy placed pontoons across the Sea.  The people narrowly escaped!”
“Oy,” said the grandfather. “Is this what they taught you??”

“Grandpa, if I told you what they said, you’d never believe it.”

On a primary level, the Torah is filled with stories.  The tales we tell are human, full of adventure, achievements, falls, and recoveries.  They are great stories that we know well and retell through generations.  Think of Adam and Eve.  They tell the story of reward and punishment; listening to God and the penalty of disobedience.  Think of Noah, the savior of a world.  What about Abraham, the one who discovered and was discovered by God?  The narrative then follows Abraham through his trials and triumphs.  This is story-telling at its finest.  These are well worn tales that have traveled the world many times over, through millennia.

On a secondary level, each story contains kernels of knowledge and philosophy that we often miss (because we stop in step 1).  For example, the depiction of Adam and Eve serves the purpose of telling us we are free.  God rewards and punishes but the real lesson is about personal control and responsibility.  And Noah?  It is all about choosing your destiny regardless of what the outside world does and thinks.  Consider that Noah’s righteousness was singular in a world gone bad.

On a tertiary level, we are guided by the Zohar which states, “If the Torah were mere tales I could tell better stories myself.”  We learn through metaphor.  In Eden, we understand the trappings of Paradise.  We are not meant for utopia.  Our lives are only validated through struggle.  We are Adam and Eve.  We choose banishment because there lays our greatest hope.  Abraham is the paragon of self-discovery.  We must pass through walls of flames, become scarred before we can contemplate wholeness.  We must travel far in our youth to eventually find what is most close, so close that it cannot be seen; only felt.

Is there more?  Yes, there is always more.  That is why it continues to feed our souls after all this time.