“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Lech Lecha
10 Cheshvan 5780/November 8, 2019
Last week, Air Canada announced that
flights attendants will no longer be addressing passengers as “ladies and gentlemen”[1]. They
claim that the move is being made to respect “identity, diversity, and inclusion”.
From now on passengers will be
addressed as “Everybody”.
Well, I am thinking of suing Air Canada
for discrimination, for not respecting my individuality. You see, I identify
myself as a soul trapped in a human body. Therefore, when they address “every-body”
I feel like I am being left out.
The Torah refers to man as Adam. The
Hebrew word adam has two opposite connotations. On the one hand, adam comes
from the word adamah - earth, a reference to the finite, physicality of
man and his needs for food and shelter. But it also is similar to the word adameh
as in the pasuk “adameh l’elyon –
I will liken myself to the Most High” (Yeshaya 14:14), a clear reference to man’s
quest to transcend his physical confines and identify with his spiritual soul and
lifeforce and to connect with its Creator.
Our struggle in life is always about
which meaning of adam we identify ourselves with – adamah or adameh.
Every Shabbos, we put aside all
technology. We are perhaps the only community in the world who are active
members of society all week and yet won’t check emails, social media, or the
news for twenty-five hours. There has even been discussion in the modern media
about the need and benefit of adapting a “tech Shabbat” where people exorcise themselves
from their devices for one day in order to reconnect with life.
Although we must respect and care
for our bodies and physical needs, we strive to view ourselves primarily as souls.
We are in this world with a purpose and mission that transcends the finite
physical life of this world.
When Avrohom and his entourage
arrived at the foot of Mount Moriah where Avrohom was instructed to offer Yitzchak
to G-d as a sacrifice, Avrohom turned to Yishmael and Eliezer and said, “Remain
פה - here
with the donkey and I and the youth will proceed עד כה - yonder”
(Bereishis 22:5).
Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt’l
noted: “Here is represented the difference in outlook between a Jew and a
non-Jew.
“The word פה here represents
the universal commitment of every human being to adhere to the seven Noachide mitzvos.
Avrohom tells Yishamel and Eliezer ‘you only come until פה- here; your
obligation ends here.
“But I and Yitzchak will proceed
beyond. Our mission is to go כה- yonder –
a point further added. A Jew must traverse פה and always
be yearning and seeking[D1] כה –
higher ideals of spiritual attainment.”[2]
The holiday of Chanukah begins on כה' – the
twenty-fifth day of Kislev. The philosophy of the ancient Greeks was built on
glorification of the human body and physical beauty. They were a people rooted
in the concept of פה
– the pleasures and beauty of the here and now. They sought to
acculturate the world and to compel all peoples to adapt that outlook. But in
us they found an adversary willing to sacrifice their lives to maintain their beliefs
that life is not merely about the ephemeral here and now. The miracles of the
holiday occurred for those who lived their lives with that transcendent feeling
of “going yonder”.[3]
Chanukah is a celebration of כה over פה.[4]
Ours is a tall order. We are to live
in a world seeped in hedonism, selfishness, and pursuit of materialism and to
be a beacon of light of morality and meaning. We accomplish that in the way we conduct
ourselves, the way we speak, and by maintaining our integrity in all
situations.
That’s why I say that Air Canada’s
attempts to prove to everyone how liberal and open-minded they are is an abject
failure. “Everybody” does not include me. Perhaps they should address their
passengers as “Every being”, or maybe they should adapt the slang of the times
and just start with “Yo, listen up!”
I should mention in closing that I have
another friend who is also upset with Air Canada. He told me that he identifies
as a roasted marshmallow…
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] As a side
bar, I feel it’s insulting that men must be addressed as “gentlemen” while it’s
assumed that ladies are gentle. It’s either that, or the idea is only to
address the gentle-men and not even bother with the rest of the men.
[2] Rabbi
Soloveitchik Rosh Hashanah Machzor p.409
[3] When discussing the
origins of the holiday of Chanukah, the gemara (Shabbos 21b) states that “the
twenty-fifth of Kislev is eight days of Chanukah.” That phraseology is difficult.
The twenty-fifth of Kislev is the beginning of the eight-day holiday, but that
day itself is not an eight-day holiday?
Homiletically, perhaps
it is alluding to this idea. The entire holiday of Chanukah is rooted in the
concept of כה-
not the number twenty-five but the concept of yonder.
[4] Chanukah
may still be quite a few weeks away. But its message is one that needs to resonate
throughout the year and throughout our lives. Besides, in Israel they are
probably starting to mass produce donuts any day now.