Kolel - Behaalotecha 5768
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Parashat Behaalotecha, Numbers 8:1-12:16
The more we have at our disposal, the less we are spiritually satisfied. With summer fast approaching, the lines at amusement parks are getting longer, the prices higher, and the roller coasters taller. I know this because of my-son-the-roller-coasteraficionado, who every year looks forward to the latest thrilling ride: How high, how fast; will it go upside down and backwards? I always wonder: when is enough, enough. He wonders if it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Our ancestors would answer "yes." At least that appears to be the case in Behaa'alotcha. In what could be termed a spiritual roller coaster ride, the parasha begins after the high of revelation at Sinai and quickly heads towards the low of our constant kvetching. As with much in Jewish life, it's all about the food. It seems that God's cooking isn't good enough for us: The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!" (Numbers 11:4-6) Okay, it was the same food day in and day out, but this was really not a case of "meatloaf, again!" With God doing the cooking, we know this was gourmet-quality food, yet the Torah still finds it necessary to point this out. Why did the people complain about the manna, when the Torah makes a point of telling us how delicious it was? To feel prosperous, it is not enough for a person to have everything that is needed. One must have more than one's neighbors have. The manna was psychologically unsatisfying because everyone had it in abundance. Jonathan Eybeschutz, Number 11:6, as quoted in Etz Hayim p. 828 Abundance detracts from value. If this is an emotional version of economic supply and demand, we are still having trouble dealing with it. The classified sections of newspapers and Web sites such as eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji are full of advertisements posted by sellers trying to unload almost-new items. For the most part, these file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (1 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%20documentos/COL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm
are not impulse buys but the fulfillment of a recurring itch or lifelong dream. The buyers have done their homework, they've shopped around. So what went wrong? Was the only-worn-once mink coat not warm enough? Was the driven-less-than-30-hours JetSki not a smooth ride? Is German engineering not all it's cracked up to be? Although some sellers will tell you they were saddled with a lemon, a few brave souls admit to something else. The item just didn't do what they thought it would do: It didn't change their life. This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008 The problem with this approach was discussed in the article by psychologist Dr Cheryl Ackerman: The idea that a material thing can fix an emotional issue is a common mistake. "Luxury items are associated with images of affluence, happiness, success, confidence and attractiveness," Ackerman says. "People think that if we get these things we will perceive ourselves -- and have others perceive us -- as having it made." "If an individual is buying something to fill a personal or relationship void, the item will ultimately fail to satisfy and end up in the want ads. You can't resolve an emotional or spiritual issue with any material object." This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008 The great Mussar (ethics) teacher, Rabbi Israel Salanter made a similar observation when he said that "The luxuries we indulge in eventually come to seem to be necessities, as if we could not live without them" (as quoted in Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis, p. 183) Just when we think we're at the top, the roller coaster starts barreling down. In his ethical treatise, The Path of the Just, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explored the trait of abstinence. Though today we tend to think of abstinence in sexual terms, Luzatto analysed it as dealing with material items where a lack of self-control sends you down a slippery slope: You will eventually be forced to subject yourself to the clutches of the drive for livelihood and possessions so that your table could be set the way you would like it to be, which will lead you to wrongdoing and thievery, which themselves lead you to vain oaths and all sorts of transgressions that naturally follow these. Ultimately you will remove yourself from Divine service, Torah and prayer. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, The Path of the Just, p. 119 (Jason Aronson, publisher, Yaakov Feldman translation). The more we have at our disposal, the less we are spiritually satisfied. So what are we to do? We've got a greater problem than using material items to plug up the holes in our spiritual file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (2 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%20documentos/COL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm
dams. While we can't seem to get enough material goods, we have built up a tolerance to other aspects of life. Cyclones, earthquakes and the suffering they bring hold our attention for a few short moments. How long has it been since the Myanmar cyclone or the Chinese earthquake? We made a donation. Move on to the next item. Too often, that pressing item that holds our attention is the latest gizmo that we think will make our lives better, more comfortable and more satisfactory. Given a choice of keeping up with the Joneses or improving the lives of the Smiths, we opt for the former. Judaism does not preach asceticism, but it does encourage moderation. Who is wealthy, the one who is happy with his lot. (Mishna Avot 4:1) While our tradition teaches that we must take care of ourselves, it also demands that we be engaged with the needs of others. As Rabbi Israel Salanter noted, worrying about the material needs of another is my spirituality. Shabbat shalom, MS
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (3 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Parashat Behaalotecha, Numbers 8:1-12:16
The more we have at our disposal, the less we are spiritually satisfied. With summer fast approaching, the lines at amusement parks are getting longer, the prices higher, and the roller coasters taller. I know this because of my-son-the-roller-coasteraficionado, who every year looks forward to the latest thrilling ride: How high, how fast; will it go upside down and backwards? I always wonder: when is enough, enough. He wonders if it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Our ancestors would answer "yes." At least that appears to be the case in Behaa'alotcha. In what could be termed a spiritual roller coaster ride, the parasha begins after the high of revelation at Sinai and quickly heads towards the low of our constant kvetching. As with much in Jewish life, it's all about the food. It seems that God's cooking isn't good enough for us: The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!" (Numbers 11:4-6) Okay, it was the same food day in and day out, but this was really not a case of "meatloaf, again!" With God doing the cooking, we know this was gourmet-quality food, yet the Torah still finds it necessary to point this out. Why did the people complain about the manna, when the Torah makes a point of telling us how delicious it was? To feel prosperous, it is not enough for a person to have everything that is needed. One must have more than one's neighbors have. The manna was psychologically unsatisfying because everyone had it in abundance. Jonathan Eybeschutz, Number 11:6, as quoted in Etz Hayim p. 828 Abundance detracts from value. If this is an emotional version of economic supply and demand, we are still having trouble dealing with it. The classified sections of newspapers and Web sites such as eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji are full of advertisements posted by sellers trying to unload almost-new items. For the most part, these file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (1 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%20documentos/COL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm
are not impulse buys but the fulfillment of a recurring itch or lifelong dream. The buyers have done their homework, they've shopped around. So what went wrong? Was the only-worn-once mink coat not warm enough? Was the driven-less-than-30-hours JetSki not a smooth ride? Is German engineering not all it's cracked up to be? Although some sellers will tell you they were saddled with a lemon, a few brave souls admit to something else. The item just didn't do what they thought it would do: It didn't change their life. This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008 The problem with this approach was discussed in the article by psychologist Dr Cheryl Ackerman: The idea that a material thing can fix an emotional issue is a common mistake. "Luxury items are associated with images of affluence, happiness, success, confidence and attractiveness," Ackerman says. "People think that if we get these things we will perceive ourselves -- and have others perceive us -- as having it made." "If an individual is buying something to fill a personal or relationship void, the item will ultimately fail to satisfy and end up in the want ads. You can't resolve an emotional or spiritual issue with any material object." This Story is Classified: The boys and their toys: When will we learn that more stuff won't fix a hole in your soul? Rebecca Field Jager, National Post, May 24, 2008 The great Mussar (ethics) teacher, Rabbi Israel Salanter made a similar observation when he said that "The luxuries we indulge in eventually come to seem to be necessities, as if we could not live without them" (as quoted in Everyday Holiness by Alan Morinis, p. 183) Just when we think we're at the top, the roller coaster starts barreling down. In his ethical treatise, The Path of the Just, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explored the trait of abstinence. Though today we tend to think of abstinence in sexual terms, Luzatto analysed it as dealing with material items where a lack of self-control sends you down a slippery slope: You will eventually be forced to subject yourself to the clutches of the drive for livelihood and possessions so that your table could be set the way you would like it to be, which will lead you to wrongdoing and thievery, which themselves lead you to vain oaths and all sorts of transgressions that naturally follow these. Ultimately you will remove yourself from Divine service, Torah and prayer. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, The Path of the Just, p. 119 (Jason Aronson, publisher, Yaakov Feldman translation). The more we have at our disposal, the less we are spiritually satisfied. So what are we to do? We've got a greater problem than using material items to plug up the holes in our spiritual file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (2 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%20documentos/COL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm
dams. While we can't seem to get enough material goods, we have built up a tolerance to other aspects of life. Cyclones, earthquakes and the suffering they bring hold our attention for a few short moments. How long has it been since the Myanmar cyclone or the Chinese earthquake? We made a donation. Move on to the next item. Too often, that pressing item that holds our attention is the latest gizmo that we think will make our lives better, more comfortable and more satisfactory. Given a choice of keeping up with the Joneses or improving the lives of the Smiths, we opt for the former. Judaism does not preach asceticism, but it does encourage moderation. Who is wealthy, the one who is happy with his lot. (Mishna Avot 4:1) While our tradition teaches that we must take care of ourselves, it also demands that we be engaged with the needs of others. As Rabbi Israel Salanter noted, worrying about the material needs of another is my spirituality. Shabbat shalom, MS
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cafe/Mis%...OL.FR/SAM%20HARRIS/Kolel%20-%20Behaalotecha.htm (3 de 3)10/06/2008 11:40:26 a.m.
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