I live in a street which knows
the meaning of thrift. My neighbours set an excellent example of it in all
their domestic and community affairs. Many of its residents remember the
poverty and famine which followed on the heels of the Spanish Civil War and they all know how to
make ends meet. We have flower-pots made from empty paint cans, discarded
washing machine drums, and old concrete sinks- all painted the same terracotta
red in deference to Andaluz style. They are generous people who know how to
produce meals from thin air and who had been re-cycling avidly for many years
before that term was even coined. Recently, one of my neighbours wanted to make
a hand-rail for a particularly steep staircase in her house, and she came up to
me with a length of solid lead piping and two lightweight wooden curtain-rod
supporters asking would I put it up for her. I refused.
Instead I went out and bought two metal supports intended for a
stair-rail and said that, although I would prefer not to do it myself (though I
could) her son was welcome to use the specially long screws and rawl-plugs I
had and my old electric drill. We would all start looking for an appropriately
light but sturdy wooden rail forthwith.
There were two reasons for my refusal, both of them coincidentally
related to this week’s Torah parashah (Ki Seitzei) which concerns a guard rail for a roof.
Firstly I was not prepared to let her use the original curtain-rod supporters
and pole as they would surely come away from the wall in seconds and cause an
accident. Secondly I was not prepared to take the responsibility for the
installation as I did not feel qualified to guarantee its security: Even with
the correct accessories and tools, I would not trust my own workmanship in the
matter of someone else’s safety. Rashi’s commentary on the “parapet” text at Deuteronomy
22:8 reminds us that –as good things are the fruit of the labour of good
people, and bad things are produced by the work of bad people- if one neglects
to erect a safe parapet even if the person falls by accident, the owner of the
property is partly to blame. (Chazal apply the parapet rule to all issues of
building and safety- and so was I in this case.)
But the story I have just told you has other messages for me, and
possibly for you also.
In Haftaras Ki Seitzei we read of a situation in which the
Divine Voice declares:
“For a short moment I have
forgotten you,
But with great compassion I will
gather you up.”
Isaiah54:7
In this haftarah, we are reminded that apparent disasters and failures
may seem to be the result of our being abandoned by God, but that in fact these
are often educational experiences which are sent to us in love. At the time we
are experiencing them they may seem like endless torture, but in comparison to
the times when we are in what one might call “good fortune”, they are, in fact
merely momentary.
Furthermore, despite what we may be feeling –we are assured that the
Presence of God never actually leaves us, even in those times:
“For the mountains may depart and
the hills be removed
But my kindness shall never
depart from you”
Isaiah54:10
Psalm 89 considers the same realisation
when it focuses on the anguish of King David. On the one hand
David feels that he has been promised a special protective blessing from HaShem,
and on the other hand he feels that HaShem has most definitely deserted him, and
to all intents and purposes seems to have reneged on His promise.
Actually, David knew that the
Divine Presence is never completely withdrawn as well as did Isaiah. If this
were not so, David would not have been able to contain his rage against HaShem,
nor would he have wanted to continue in HaShem’s service. But he did. More
than he could ever say, despite his eloquence.
In the early verses of Psalm 89, David recounts all the promises HaShem
has made him during hisbodedus and expresses these personal blessings as
a form of personal covenant:
“Forever I (HaShem) will preserve
my kindness for him (David)
And my covenant will be steadfast
with him.”
Psalm 89:29
By verse 39, David is accusing HaShem of having neglected to support him
in his personal and national endeavours...a tirade which extends right up to
verse 47 with the cry:
“How long, HaShem- will you hide
yourself forever?”
Psalm 89:47
The most significant thing about the psalm - and about David- is
that he does not end with rage and disappointment. He brings his rebellious
nature to heel and declares in the psalm’s final verse:
“Bless HaShem forever. Amen and
Amen”
Psalm 89:53
David’s submission to God in this verse was not born of blind obedience.
It was the consequence of infused wisdom (da’as) and passionate love (deveykus).
He knew in his heart that HaShem had not
really abandoned Him and he accepted both the good and the bad with the
equanimity of one who is seeing the whole thing in the Divine perspective.
Despite his all-too-human rage and anguish, David is in love with HaShem.
The same vision, the same wisdom, and the same love pushed Isaiah to express
the same theology in the haftarah. As we read before, HaShem assures us:
“For the mountains may depart and
the hills be removed
But My kindness shall never
depart from you”
Isaiah54:10
In recording these emotional responses to spiritual difficulties, David and Isaiah are giving us something which is more than a mere record of a personal journey. They are setting an example for us by declaring that faith and trust during such trials are definitely possible....and that they are part of a promise made between HaShem and His servants. A promise which involves action as well a change in mind-set, as I hope to show in the next section of this little essay.
___________oOo___________
A Parapet of Compassion
In the Torah
Reading of Parashas Ki Seitzei we read:
“If you should build a house which is new,
you shall make a
parapet for your roof
so that you will not place blood
on your house if someone
should fall.”
Deuteronomy 22:8
The message of Ki Seitzei’s
“parapet law”, its “animal protection laws”, and its
“worker’s rights laws” is that they are all examples of compassion in
action. They are laws which are instituted in order to make Israel give
examples of the way in which it hopes to imitate the compassion of God.
Let me unravel that just a little.
We should never underestimate the power of good example. David and Isaiah show us ways to see HaShem’s
hand in seemingly dark times. We can show others that same light in
darkness—by demonstrating our own equanimity and by showing the depth of our
own faith. The Haftarah reading assured
us that the compassion of HaShem will never leave us. We are not invited to
wallow in the security which this promise may give us as contemplative
individuals. We are invited to put such
Divine Compassion into practice ourselves.
One of the special practices of the current month of Elul is
the recitation of Psalm 27. In this psalm we declare that HaShem is “our
Light and our Salvation”. There is a way
in which we ourselves can become bearers of that Light to shine it
on those we meet. The light of bitachon and emunah- of trust and
faith in HaShem- is not something which we store inside ourselves for our own
use. It is meant to be poured forth, shared, and spread out. If we have the intention of making a good example we are
allowing ourselves to become useful in this process as
lamplighters for the spread of that
bright Godliness to others.
When we say that “HaShem is our Light and
Salvation” we are expressing the truth that His Light
can bring about not just our
own salvation, but that it can be the
very saving of all those we meet and care for. Example can speak louder than the written or the spoken word, and
its lessons go very deep. Though I did not entirely agree with him, a very dear friend once told me that he believed that (in this world) we could really only ever
“meet” HaShem in the faces of those who represent Him
truly. He did not use the term “light of the Tzaddikim” but that’s what I
heard. Even for those of us who are
merely average “benonim”, the responsibility to set a good example is
always there too.
I picked up the same messages from the scriptural readings as I did from the "Tale of the Stair Rod" in my street. This is not surprising as This-World and the Other-World are merely facets of the same Divine reality:
A roof with no parapet can be seen from afar. If we are not
visibly concerned for the wellbeing of others (animals, employees, friends,
family, neighbours)— we are not helping others to grow in faith and in reliance
on HaShem.
We may think we are being practical or thrifty when we stretch our
natural and personal spiritual resources, but we should not think that this
will be of any use in the end-for ultimately only HaShem’s own resources
from His own "Treasury" can save lives and they are given as free gifts to the undeserving. The light which He gives us
counts for more than our own effort could ever achieve. Even the effort we think we are making is a gift from HaShem and not something we can congratulate ourselves on.
We may think we are helping others if we give them what they
want, but if we really want to help, there are times when we must refuse in
order to help them receive something even more valuable. This may hurt us and
them, but we have God’s example in this way of teaching hard lessons with love.
It is hard for us sometimes to accept such education, even at the hands of HaShem.
For most of us it is even harder to practice the teaching role ourselves-either
in our dealings with those around us, or in our management of our own soul’s
resources.
And in times of personal darkness?
Well, if we let “How long Oh Lord, How Long?” be followed
by “Blessed be HaShem for ever and ever”—Not only will we have erected a
parapet to guard our souls from falling into despair— We will also have
installed the safest and most effective handrail on the Ladder of Jacob that
there is: Trust in God. And we will have
learnt one of the key lessons of the contemplative life: that if we are to ascend on that ladder in private prayer and contemplation in order to
meet our God in hisbonenus, we must also return to bring
the Light of Compassion into the world we had left momentarily behind.
"And the Living-Beings (Chayos) ran and returnedLike the appearance of a flash of lightning"Ezekiel 1:14
For that compassion is the Light of bitachon
and emunah—of Trust and
Faith—expressed and shared with all Creation.
It is the flame of the Chayos sent to
fill the apparently mundane with Godliness.
N.R.Davies
August
26 2012
