Life is Good
Driving back home from a bris in Pittsburgh one week ago, I stopped off for a cup of joe at a rest stop near the Ohio-PA border. As I was filling up the coffee cup a middle-aged couple approached me and the husband said: “We like your tzitzit.” (Tzitzit are the Biblically commanded fringes many Jewish men wear.)
Well, I was used to being “bageled” by fellow tribesmen, but this couple did not at all seem to be members of our tribe. (Did I get white-breaded?) “How do you know the Hebrew phrase tzitzit?” I inquired.
“What do you mean? It’s in the Bible, in the Book of Numbers,” he replied, his wife nodding along approvingly. So, of course we started talking and playing Biblical geography. It turns out that they’re from the Bible Belt (duh) and that he spent many years working in corporate America in Texas.
Once their kids got older and left the house they decided to go and see America together. How? He became a truck driver and she, his companion. They went together wherever his shipping company sent him, and wherever they go, it is by definition a vacation!
I was fascinated by their story. Imagine that! You can be a truck driver, spending your days driving along America’s roadways, but if you’re with someone you love, and your attitude is that "we’re on an adventure together," then it becomes a vacation! It’s all about our attitude. It all starts with a positive mindset. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as "perception bias." It's not always easy to think positively, but it is the gateway to experiencing positive relationships and creating positive realities!
This upcoming Sunday, Jews all around the world will be commemorating Tisha B'av, the day that we remember and mourn the destruction of the Holy Temples in Jerusalem, as well as many other national tragedies which befell our people throughout our long history. The Talmud teaches us that it all began with the sin of the 12 spies that Moses sent to scout out the land of Israel, while our ancestors were wandering in the desert. 10 of the 12 spies came back with a negative report of the Land of Israel.
They processed everything that they experienced in the 40 days of their trip in a negative light, and they projected that negativity to the rest of nation. That story happened on Tisha B'av of the Jewish calendar, and that day became slated for national negativity.
Our job this weekend is to try and repair the negativity by thinking positively/ How? By viewing people, places and things with a positive mindset, by judging people favorably, and by seeing G-d's world with rose-colored glasses, with G-dly eyes. If we can experience life as a vacation, then we can bring redemption and shalom to our lives, speedily in our days!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Koval
