“RABBI’S MUSINGS (&
AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas
Yisro
17 Shevat 5778/February
2, 2018
I am always amazed by airports. It’s incredible that from
every gate throughout the terminals, planes depart for different places all
over Earth. One gate off, and you can end up in Frankfurt, instead of Honolulu,
Istanbul instead of Tel Aviv.
Airports are designed to be a microcosm of its country. As
soon as arrivals walk into the terminal they are greeted with signs and sights
that clearly display where they are.
Last week, I and my daughter Aviva, had the opportunity to
visit our friends, Rabbi Menachem and Shifra Moskovitz, in their home in Las
Vegas, Nevada. As soon as we walked off the plane, we were greeted by slot
machines, and the endemic bright lights. That was even before we encountered
the trademark “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.
We very much enjoyed the warmth and vibrancy of the
burgeoning Jewish community. I had the opportunity to speak at the Mesivta of
Las Vegas on Friday, and in the Las Vegas Kollel on Shabbos morning. I noted in
my speech that the only thing in Vegas that is definitely not a gamble, is the
warmth of the community.
On Sunday morning, Aviva, Ahuva Moskovitz, and I visited the
Hoover Dam, which is fairly close to Las Vegas. It’s quite an imposing and
breathtaking structure, built in the 1930s. From there we headed to the Western
Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Standing before the Grand Canyon is a humbling experience.
The sheer majesty of the incredible canyon is breathtaking. It is hard to fathom
how gargantuan it is, and it is surely impossible to describe. They are so
vast, that it is quite noticeable from the window of a plane flying overhead. All
of the beautiful panoramic sceneries and beautiful views that I have seen
during my life, are dwarfed by the ‘opulent depth’ of the Grand Canyon.
The next day I saw a picture of a beautiful scenery. My
immediate reaction was to think that the picture was nothing in comparison with
the Grand Canyon! “If you think that’s anything, you should go to the Grand
Canyon!” But the truth is that such an attitude is a mistaken perspective about
that experience.
There is a fundamental passage in the Ramban at the end of
Parshas Bo, in which he details important ideas about faith and service of Hashem.
He writes there that “from the great and widespread miracles, man will come to
admit/thank (G-d) for all of the hidden miracles, which is the foundation of
the entire Torah, for no one has a portion in the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu until
he believes that all of our happenings are miracles, and that there is no
nature…”
Seeing the Grand Canyon, or any other incredible sight,
should not make its viewer feel unimpressed by anything less. Au contraire! It
should fill him with a sense of wonder at the beauty of G-d’s creation, and
bring him to feel love and appreciation for every facet of His incredible
creation. My experience at the Grand Canyon should lead me to feel a greater
appreciation for the mundane of nature, not the other way around.
I type these words in the waning moments of Tu B’Shvat. It is
a minor holiday when we do not recite tachanun, try to eat some fruits, and
perhaps daven for our esrog on Succos. On a practical level, it is a day to
contemplate the miracle of fruits, and nature generally. The fact that we are
able to partake of numerous fruits with various textures, colors, and tastes,
during the dead of the winter is itself incredible.
Tu B’shvat is a celebration of the miracle of nature. It is
also thirty days before Purim when we celebrate the uncanny miracles which were
also cloaked in natural events. From there we set out for Pesach, the holiday
of redemption, when G-d displayed His power of nature and bent all its rules,
to demonstrate His unmitigated love for us.
Tu B’Shvat is celebrated after the reading of the parshios
which detail the exodus and all of its miracles. As Ramban states, the open
miracles help us appreciate the hidden miracles. Reading the Torah’s account of
those miracles serves as an appropriate introduction to Tu B’shvat. Then, we
continue the progression, until we actually celebrate those open miracles on
Pesach. In that sense, it is a beautiful elevating circle – from the miraculous
to the natural, back to the supernatural – all a combination of G-d’s Hand.
I should conclude by saying that when we arrived back in
Newark Airport, I knew we were home when I found my shoes sticking to the
sticky and dirty floor. Like I said, every airport wants to make you feel what
its city is like.
Shabbat
Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum