“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos
Kodesh parshas Vaeschanan – Shabbos Nachamu
15 Menachem Av 5782/August
12, 2022
Tu b’Av – Avos perek 3
FLIP CHALLENGE
In October 2016, the New York Times
published an article entitled, “Bottle-Flipping Craze Is Fun for Children but
Torture for Parents.”
Like many other fads that develop
these days, the bottle-flip challenge began based on a video posted online.
During a talent show held in a school in Charlotte, North Carolina, a student
holding a water bottle, strutted up to a table while music was blaring in the
background. With a dramatic pause, he flipped the bottle, which landed upright
on the table. The crowd erupted in pandemonium. The video was quickly viewed
millions of times. Since then, the internet has been flooded with videos of
people imitating the flip.
As a rebbe in yeshiva and in camp, I
can testify that the craze has not abated. Students will often start flipping
bottles just before, or after, and sometimes in the middle of shiur. My
students know that doing so is an easy way to rankle me.
Apparently, I’m not the only adult
that can’t stand the bottle flipping. The main issue is the annoying sound it
makes, especially when it’s done repeatedly, as it usually is, because the
first eight attempts are unsuccessful. Part of the problem is that kids are
forever trying to do harder bottle flips, like on faraway places, moving
targets, or narrow ledges.
Despite my disdain and annoyance with
the bottle flip challenge, I feel that it carries some important symbolic
significance. We like when life is smooth and predictable. The problem is that
it hardly is. I often tell people that these days I’m trying to find, or even
buy, a dull moment. The challenge is how to remain on your feet even after life
has cast some harsh curveballs at you. It’s inevitable that events in life
“sweep us off our feet” by pulling out the rug of stability from beneath our
feet. Being able to maintain our composure and sense of equanimity during such
trying times is no easy feat. The challenge is whether we can remain upright
even when we feel like we are “on a narrow ledge”.
Whenever camp goes on a trip to an
amusement park, my motto is that if G-d placed me on the ground, that is where
I’ll stay. I sample the different benches and concession stands around the park
and enjoy watching campers on the rides. But you can’t pay me enough to get on
a roller coaster. But it seems that many people do enjoy that experience. They
are willing to wait on long lines, for the relatively brief ride. They enjoy
having their stomach, head and legs get mushed together, while they get shaken
up like a lulav.
There’s a thrill in going through
loops and backwards at high speed, feeling like you’re in an out-of-control
descent, all the while knowing that you’re going to end up back where you
started in one piece.
Life is often a roller coaster. The significant difference is
that life lacks predictability and we don’t know where we will end up. For that
we need faith that life isn’t as random as it may feel.
The history of the Jewish people can
aptly be described as a frightening roller coaster. There have been many great
moments, but many vicissitudes as well. Our national greatness is that we have
never lost our footing. Despite having to endure endless suffering and
wandering, through faith, courage, and commitment, we have never abandoned our
mission.
So, while bottle flipping may
enthrall millions of teens worldwide, I am not so impressed. The Jewish people
have been successfully personifying the bottle flip for thousands of years and
will continue to do so until the end of time.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum