“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Ki Savo
20 Elul 5781/August 26, 2021
Avos perek 3-4
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לרפואה שלימה נטע יצחק בן רחל
ON THE BALL
I have
been a member of the Camp Dora Golding administration for almost two decades.
During those years, the administration has not had any vocal Mets fans. Yankees
fans have ruled the roost which means that announcement of scores during meals
has always been Yankees biased, which suited me.
That
changed this past summer when Rabbi Danny Konigsberg, my former camper,
returned to CDG as the assistant head counselor. Rabbi Konigsberg brought many
innovative ideas and programs, and it was great to have him as part of the
team. But, as mentioned, he is a Mets fan.
It should also be noted that at the beginning of the summer
the Mets were sitting comfortably in first place and playing well, while the
Yankees were struggling, languishing in third place.
To be
honest, by fandom standards, I’m not so much of a sports fan. I grew up in a
home of Yankees fans and I enjoy listening to games when I’m in the car and
finding out the scores. But I’m not so in the know beyond that. I can’t tell
you the starting lineup or all the names of the Yankees pitching rotation.
But even
though I’m not such an extreme fan, I am very competitive. So, when Rabbi
Konigsberg showed some highlights of New York Mets victories early in the
summer and was bragging about how well the Mets were playing, I felt that it
couldn’t go unanswered.
I
procured a clip of one of the most infamous moments for Mets fans from June 12,
2009. It was during a subway series when the Yankees were playing the Mets in
Yankees stadium. The Yankees were batting in the bottom of the ninth and the
Mets had a 7-6 lead. With two runners on and two men out, the batter for the
Yankees was Alex Rodriguez who popped up to shallow right field. It was a
routine fly ball and Mets fielder Louis Castillo was perfectly positioned to catch
the ball and end the game. But Castillo didn’t catch the ball; he dropped it!
His shocking error allowed two runs to score, which gave the Yankees an
underhanded victory. It was a very bitter moment for the Mets and their fans,
and definitely one that they don’t like being reminded of. Perfect!
For the
last many years, I have the microphone during breakfast in camp because I run
the “CDG morning show” during breakfast.
The
following morning, before beginning the morning show, I played the clip from
the blundered play, with the announcer screaming, “pops it up… Castillo….
DROPPED THE BALL! HE DROPPED THE BALL! OH MY GOODNESS… AND THE YANKEES WIN IN
THE MOST IMPROBABLE FASHION!”
Then I
played the same clip again the next day, and then the next day, and then the
day after that.
Basically,
it became a fixture throughout the summer. Mets fans would groan and roll their
eyes while I laughed to myself when I played it again.
As the
summer wore on and the slumping Mets slipped out of first place while the
Yankees surged ahead, it became that much more vexing for Mets fans.
Aside
for the opportunity to rub it in again, why would I share this here in my musing’s
column?
As the
days of Elul rush by and we move closer to Rosh Hashanah, we often feel
somewhat despondent. We know there’s a lot on the line, and the judgement is
serious, but we wonder what we should be doing practically. The shofar blasts
after shachris just make us feel worse.
In an
uncertain and volatile world, we don’t need much to fuel our anxiety. It’s
inconceivable that Elul is only about feeling unworthy, anxious and uncertain.
It’s clear that Elul is somehow supposed to prepare and initiate the
foundations of the process of teshuva that we hope to engage in as Yom Kippur
approaches. But how exactly? Many of us feel we just wish someone would tell us
what to do. How can we feel we are taking advantage of Elul in a positive way
that elevates and energizes us?
I would
like to share an approach I have been considering this year.
Why did Louis Castillo, a professional Major League
Baseball player, drop a routine fly ball, a play he has made so easily so many
other times?
I would venture to think that as the ball was making its
descent, Castillo was already picturing himself pumping his fist in the air in victory
and running over to his teammates to high-five them. In other words, he got
ahead of himself and lost focus. He closed his glove a second to soon and that
made all the difference.
Sound
familiar?
How
often do we try to juggle twelve things at once in our own lives? We may feel
we are doing a great job, but, in reality, our fragmented focus causes us to
sacrifice quality in every area. This is especially damaging when it comes to
relationships, especially with the ones we love most, as well as in our spiritual
endeavors.
In a
word, Rosh Hashana is about malchus - accepting upon ourselves the divine
monarchy.
The
Kotzker Rebbe once quipped, “Where is G-d? Wherever you let Him in.”
Accepting G-d’s monarchy upon ourselves means letting Him
into our lives by recognizing that He orchestrates and guides every facet of
our lives. One of the many symbolisms of shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah is
that it symbolizes the sound of the King’s coronation. In that sense, it is a
joyous call.
If one
begins the mental process of accepting Hashem as King on Rosh Hashanah, he is
late in the game. On Rosh Hashanah one spends most of his day immersed in
prayer and being spiritually focused. Truly accepting the monarchy of G-d
however, requires doing so in the mundane as well.
In a
nutshell, Elul is about focus and awareness. It’s about reminding ourselves
throughout the day that Hashem is always with us - at work, on vacation, in the
pool, on the basketball court, when we are surfing the net, when we are alone
in our bedrooms, and when we are eating. The more we focus on G-d, the more we
allow Him into our lives, which helps us live accordingly.
My
rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, quipped that a Jew should always feel G-d is looking
over his shoulder. If one has such an awareness, it will save him from trouble.
The negative publicity and terrible indicting stories published periodically in
newspapers and on blogs about Torah-observant Jews committing shameful acts is
the result of the fact that, for a few moments, those people forgot that G-d
was looking over their shoulder.
Elul is
a time to strengthen our awareness that G-d is always looking over our
shoulder. We shouldn’t perceive this in a condemning and punitive manner.
Rather, in a manner that helps us maintain the path we desire in being and
becoming the great people we want to become.
In our
daily lives we are often guilty of dropping the ball, because we don’t
adequately focus on what we are doing at the moment. Elul is about not dropping
the ball. In everything that we do, especially when we daven and perform
mitzvos, we need to increase our focus and knowledge that we are performing His
Will.
If we do
so, then accepting the Kingship of G-d on Rosh Hashanah will feel like a
natural result of our previous month’s efforts.
When we
feel connected to G-d and feel we make a difference, then it naturally becomes
easier to do teshuva as well, in our quest to continue growing ever higher.
It all
starts with us making sure that we don’t drop the ball!
Shabbat
Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum