Father and Son Israel Adventure
I am here in Israel on a father and son Israel adventure! Every time I come, I am reminded of timeless Jewish truths. Here's what has struck me so far on this trip.
1. The Talmud says: "Just as no two people’s facial features are the same, so too, no two people’s personalities are the same." I was in the middle seat on my way to Israel and the lady in the aisle seat to my right could not have been more rude. I introduced myself at the beginning of the flight. I said, "Hi, whats your name?"
She said, "Why do you want to know?!"
I answered, "Just being polite, making conversation." She ended all conversation right there. Every time I sneezed or got up she gave me a dirty look. She was just super rude. On the other hand, there was this secular Israeli man in the window seat to my left, and he could not have been more friendly. He was so nice, and courteous, and helpful.
I don't know if it's because I've developed a thicker skin over the years, or because I have been training myself to not let other people's negativity affect my mood, but I was pretty impressed with myself that I managed not to let the rude woman’s negativity bother me at all. It's kind of like the old quote, "Don't let someone live rent-free in your brain."
So, being that no two people have the identical personality, lesson number one that I was reminded of on the plane ride was: don't take things personally. Mean people are usually sad people. Don't let them drag you down too.
2. I took my son to the Kotel one night. We went to pray, and decided that we would only stay there for 15 minutes. I have to say it was my shortest Kotel visit, and quickest prayer service (“Mincha and Maariv”) I have ever recited in recent memory. It reminds me of the timeless lesson that the Torah teaches us about Moses. He wanted to go into the land of Israel and the Talmud says that he prayed 515 separate prayer services asking G-d to change His mind and let him into the land. But when his sister Miriam was sick, he felt that brevity was important, and offered a five-word Hebrew prayer. If fact it was only six syllables, but it did the trick.
So the message there is: it's not always about quantity, but rather it's the quality. There is a time for long prayers (Yom Kippur comes to mind) and a time to be brief (“oh my G-d”). Sometimes it’s quality over quantity.
3. This lesson is a crash course on why the Messiah has not arrived yet. The taxi driver who took us to the Kotel this evening informed us that every time the Messiah wants to come, his gear gets stuck in reverse and he heads back up to heaven. I asked the driver what he meant and he said, "Well, people talk about making peace with the Arabs, but the Messiah can’t come until people learn how to make peace among each other." And he gave me a case in point of how a person came out of the Kotel, finished praying to G-d and then, when he heard that this taxi driver was not available for hire, cursed him out in the worst language.
The taxi driver then said, "How can somebody come from the holiest house of prayer in the world, and then curse out a taxi driver, a fellow Jew, for no good reason? No wonder the Messiah gets stuck in reverse.” Only in Israel, where the taxi driver is your brother and feels comfortable telling it to you like it is. Unsolicited perhaps, but often on the mark. There’s something fresh about that. A sense of home away from home!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Koval
