a dollop of honey

Weeks ago, late at night, I was driving home from work in a hurry, and on my way out of the compound where I work, I spotted a twenty shekel note at about 100 meters. I stopped the car and picked it up, sure enough it was a 20 shekel bill. (Equivalent to about $5.70) It was such an unusual event it stuck with me, it taught me that if HaShem wants you to have money there's always a way for you to receive it. As ridiculous as it sounds every time I drive by that spot, I look to see if there's another 20 shekel lying there, even though logic says chances are money will never show up in that exact spot again.

This effect, where a positive experience means we will always associate a place or thing with that positive experience, is extremely powerful. It's the first time I've ever seriously appreciated the minhag of putting a dollop of honey on a child's first chumash or siddur.

fair is fair

One of the basic underpinnings of science is the idea of conservation of energy. This idea basically sets the playing field for scientists to examine the theoretical limits of perceivable reality. What conservation of energy basically means is that reality is a self-contained system. Whatever was part of the universe when the universe was born, that's all there is.

The reason they base all of science on this assumption is that they are trying to frame reality in a set of rules that can completely describe all the natural phenomenon. If energy was arbitrarily entering and leaving the system, it would create a fundamental unknown that science couldn't readily address.

Think about it in simple terms, if objects could 'magically' vanish into thin air, then how could we go about living day to day life? Would we be terrified to walk up a flight of stairs when every step might evaporate from beneath us? I'd hate to be driving a car or riding a bike when it suddenly chose to leave my frame of reference.

In the same way, the scientists basically said, let's assume that what is will continue to be, and let's ignore the possibility that new things might just pop into being or old things pop out. Which is a perfectly reasonable thing to assume, when your goal is to gain the best insight into the world that surrounds you.

We aren't going to delve any further (at this time) into whether or not the world is a closed system, at face value, miracles seem to violate such a system, but that's beyond the scope of our discussion.

Instead, I wanted to think a little about what we think of as 'fair.' If the world has no order and it is a mad chaotic confusion, then to us, it isn't fair. If we are meant to make sense out of the world, and more importantly, function within the world, then HaShem needs to make the world fair.

It is very good news then that Rebbe Natan teaches in Likkutei Halachoth, in the name of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, that every single action that a person does for the sake of heaven is never lost. Every movement, every thought, every word that is performed, uttered, or imagined in holiness, comes to our aid in a moment of weakness.

We can rest comfortably knowing that the world is fair and every ounce of effort we put in stands as an eternal reminder to HaShem of our deeds and our intentions. Even more than that, every drop of sweat comes back to aid us and further us in our cause when we most need it.

HaShem's creation is fair. (Even if it may not be the closed theoretical paradise scientists are betting on.*)

[*note to think about, or not: the point is moot, from within the system, I don't believe we can ever prove whether it's closed for certain, and in either case, when you are talking about a being with infinite perfect foresight and infinite perfect insight, any miraclulous phenomenon could be built into nature, meant only to occur once throughout the entire history of the universe. On the other side of things, don't be mistaken, God doesn't meet the criteria of a closed system. That would limit God. The words system and closed (and all other words) are bounded by God and not the reverse.]

a universal how-to

I wanted to build on and discuss the previous post conflicting tasks. The intellect, as it stands has certain attributes, particular strengths and weaknesses which we know differ from person to person but are more or less common to all people. Almost everyone learns how to read and speak, to perform arithmetic, to think rationally in one form or another, to understand hints, to throw and catch, to make jokes. Yet, being that the mind is limited and must handle many complex tasks, it specializes in a few and becomes passably proficient in a larger group. As far as modern science is concerned, we go through various stages of mental growth and though we can always learn new tasks and ideas, the overhead and effort necesary to learn in later years is far greater than in youth.

The Judaic and Torah view of this is vastly different. With regard to Torah specifically we acknowledge that it always arrives as a gift from heaven. One's age or mental acuity is irrelevant, Torah is open to all to master. There is no point short of death that prevents one from being able to master the Torah. The only prerequisite to enter into the gates of Torah is the will to connect to HaShem, the unrelenting will to keep diving deeper into the sea of Torah. This is so extreme that the Gemara makes a blanket statement that anyone who claims he tried and failed to master Torah should no be believed. If s/he really tried, they would have succeeded.

Rebbe Natan explains in Likkutei Halachoth (Hilchoth Tefillin 6:37-42) that while our body is impure, our intellect is incomplete, and until our body is worked like the leather of the tefillin, until there is no further repugnant smell, then our intellect cannot be trusted. Instead we must bind our will and emunah to the Tzaddik, whose body and intellect are refined so that he may guide us. For the spiritual intellect is something else entirely than the natural intellect which we relate to.

Since it would seem that real comprehension in Torah is dependent not on our natural intellect, but on our spiritual intellect, the only thing that limits our accomplishments in Torah is our devotion to the task.

In this way, we can understand how multi-tasking is virtually impossible with our natural intellect. Still, through deep study of the Torah we may begin to access our spiritual intellect which is not constricted and bound by the same worldly limitations that make multi-tasking a challenge. When we see things in this light, it starts to become clear why things that may seem impossible become entirely elementary when we connect ourselves to Chazal and rely on their testimony to the real possibility.

Shabbath is a perfect example. Someone who grew up in a Shomer Shabbath environment barely needs to think in order to avoid performing all 39 melachoth and their many many derivatives. Yet if you were to explain what keeping Shabbath entailed to an outsider, they might easily think that such a rigorous level of observance is impossible.

What I'm trying to get to is that performing even the most complex of the mitzwoth in the Torah has more to do with (1) accepting the yolk of heaven, (2) relying on and trusting in the Rabbis throughout the ages, and (3) faith in HaShem that He will bring about your success than it does any particular mental or physical aptitude.