“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos
Kodesh parshas Ha’azinu - Succos
12 Tishrei
5783/October 7, 2022
ROOSTER WOES
For the past few summers Camp Dora
Golding, our summer home, has had a bunch of chickens on campus. The director
of camp’s wilderness program constructed a sophisticated coop and the chickens
enjoy free room and board for the 8 weeks of the camp season. The chickens roam
the campgrounds during the day and return to the coop around sunset. At that
point the coop is locked to keep the chickens safe from predators overnight.
Our 6-year-old twins, Gavriel and
Michoel, were enamored with the chickens. Whenever they were in the vicinity,
no matter what was going on, they would make a beeline, or rather a
chickenline, for the chickens. They loved to watch them, feed them, chase them
and hold them. In Camp Dora Golding the chicken likely crossed the road to
escape one of the Staum twins.
Recently, our yeshiva, Heichal
HaTorah, had a beautiful shabbatone at Camp Nageela in the Catskills Mountains.
On the grounds of Camp Nageela there is an area where they have a bunch of
animals, including a mule, horse, rabbits, and… chickens.
Our twins were very excited with all
the animals, but they were most excited with the chicken. As soon as they saw
the chickens they started running after them like long-lost friends. The
chickens didn’t share their sentiment and scattered in all directions.
In the corner of my eye, I saw
Michoel running after a chicken. A moment later, I saw him running in a panic
in the other direction with a chicken in hot pursuit. It was rather comical
until I saw the chicken peck him on his hand. I don’t know if he was more
shocked than hurt, but Michoel was crying for a few minutes. He later told me
that he doesn’t like chickens anymore.
What Michoel didn’t realize was that
the chicken that pecked him wasn’t a chicken at all. It was a rooster. Unlike
docile chickens, roosters are more aggressive and protective of their
territory. Poor Michael had unwittingly encountered their cantankerous rooster.
That rooster also had a terrible
peculiarity of cockadoodling all day long. Every three minutes he would bellow
another call. It seems that not only was the rooster moody, but his body clock
was also completely out of whack.
In the first of the series of
berachos recited each morning we thank Hashem for giving the “sechvi” wisdom to
differentiate between day and night. The common definition of sechvi is
rooster.
Chidushei HarRim explained that
thanking Hashem for giving roosters the ability to distinguish between day and
night is indirectly thanking Hashem for giving us bechira - free will to choose
between right and wrong. Just as the rooster can differentiate so do we have
that ability throughout our lives.
Judaism rejects the notion that our
decisions and behaviors are predetermined, as if we are conformed to a computer
program encoded within our minds.
People would rather believe in
predetermination, because it means they cannot be held accountable for their
actions.
The gemara (Berachos 33b) famously
states, “Everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of heaven.”
In other words, everything that occurs to us is divinely ordained and we have
limited control. However, whether we choose to exercise our free will and
behave as G-d-fearing people is in our control.
Rambam (Teshuva 5:3) writes
that free choice is a principle of our faith.
Soon after he was appointed king over
the nation, when Shaul Hamelech set out to destroy Amalek, he failed to kill
Agag, the Amalekite king. When Agag was captured and brought before Shmuel
Hanavi, the pasuk (Shmuel I 15:32) states that Agag appeared before
Shmuel ma’adanos. Some commentators interpret this as “in
chains”, while others explain it to mean “with delights.”
Rabbi Yitzchok Hunter (Pachad
Yitzchak - Purim 29) noted that combining the two meanings symbolizes the false
ideology of Amalek. Amalek espouses that we are chained by our desires and
pursuits of delights and pleasures. Our desires are part of our genetic makeup
and there is nothing we can do to overcome them. We are chained slaves to our
whims. That belief stands in stark contrast to our belief that free choice is
granted to every person and therefore we must take responsibility for our
actions and their consequences.
The rooster who pecked Michoel did
not have free choice to decide whether to hurt a young child. Nor does that
rooster have the ability to choose not to crow all day long. But Michoel has
the ability to differentiate between a rooster and a chicken, or at least to
ask someone else who does.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum