“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Re’eh
26 Menachem Av 5784/ August 30, 2024
Pirkei Avos – Perek 6
Mevorchim Chodesh Elul
A HERO INDEED
I never thought of myself as being
very tech savvy. In fact, I still don’t. If you would’ve told me two years ago
that I would be a media director I would have told you that you got the wrong
guy. But for the last two summers I’ve been the media director at Camp Dora
Golding and have enjoyed it immensely.
My role can be summed up as sharing a
taste of the magic of camp with the outside world, most importantly with
parents of campers and camp’s alumni. I oversee the pictures and weekly camp
videos that are disseminated and posted on the camp’s website. In addition, I
create videos for various functions within camp, such as Olympics, special
learning programs, videos shown as part of Tisha b’Av programming, and the
compilation of events video at the end of the summer.
Camp Dora Golding is renowned for its
incredible learning program. Under the tutelage of our esteemed learning
director, Rabbi Noach Sauber, the program has had tremendous success. Part of
its success has to do with the incredible prize auction held at the end of the
summer. The prizes include very expensive and coveted autographed sports
memorabilia. Many of those items are valued in the hundreds and some well over
a thousand dollars as well.
Throughout the summer the various
sports memorabilia are announced and shown to the campers to help maintain the
hype of the learning program. Usually, the item is introduced with a video
depicting highlights of that player. I am usually tasked with creating those
highlight compilations for camp.
Many campers who do not do well in
school report that their summer learning in Camp Dora Golding gave them their
first real experience of the sweetness of Torah study. Many alumni of camp
contribute to the prizes each summer, in an effort to “give back” to the
program that inspired them years earlier.
One of the most beautiful sights in
camp is to see staff members learning with campers on Shabbos afternoon. To
that end, this summer an autographed Mickey Mantle baseball was donated to be
given as a staff prize.
In preparing the intro video for the
Mantle baseball, I was looking for highlights clips about Mantle and I was
perusing some articles about Mantle.
I remember my father telling me how in
his youth he watched “The Mick” play for the Yankees. Mantle possessed
exceptional talent, including being a switch-hitter with speed, power, and a
strong arm as an outfielder. Coupled with his good looks and youthful vigor,
Mantle was the hero of many baseball fans, even beyond New York.
His personal legacy, however, is not
quite that impressive.
Mantle had a drinking problem that he
didn’t address until very late in life. Despite how great of a player he was,
there is always doubt as to how much better he could have been. To be fair, he
was plagued by numerous injuries that stunted his career. However, his terrible
off-the-field habits unquestionably had a deleterious effect. He was out
drinking and partying every night, including being unfaithful. During his years
with the Yankees his drinking didn’t impede his performance, at least not
visibly. Still, it’s impossible to know how much his negative habits made him
more injury prone.
His last years as a player were
subpar. He retired as a .298 hitter, despite the fact that he was an above .300
hitter for the majority of his career. In his later years, he agonized over the
fact that he retired with an under .300 average. Although he hit a whopping 536
homers, had he remained healthy he could have hit over 600.
Mantle also wasn’t very involved in
the lives of his children while they were growing up. He was too busy living it
up himself.
In his final press conference shortly
before his passing a contrite Mantle expressed his frustration with himself:
"G-d gave me a great body and an
ability to play baseball. G-d gave me everything, and I just … pffft! I'd like
to say to the kids out there, if you're looking for a role model… don’t be like
me."
It was amazing to me that a person who
was such a celebrity and hero on the field, could be such a failure in his
personal life.
Everyone wants to be successful. But
the golden and vital question is how one defines success.
Success is often measured in terms of
amassment and adulation. Being popular, wealthy and influential is the mark of
“making it”. But such success is temporal at best. No one remains young and
vibrant forever, and nothing remains forever.
The Torah tells us, “See that I have
placed before you life and good, and death and evil” (Devorim 11:26). “See”
doesn’t merely mean to look with physical eyes. It adjures us to look beyond,
to contemplate and ponder a deeper truth than what is immediately available. It
is a call to “see” the real truth; what is truly good and what is truly living.
So many individuals who are deemed
successful by society, and have earned the accolades and jealousy of millions,
have tainted personal lives at best. There are often multiple failed marriages,
they may have no relationship with their children, and they personally feel
empty inside. Many have been destroyed by their success.
On the flip side, there are many
people who seem to live an unremarkable life but attain inner fulfilment and a
beautiful legacy.
One can be successful by society’s
standards and live a fulfilling life, but only if he never forgets what true
success. Of course, one can also live an unremarkable life and have nothing to
show for it.
The Torah also tells us to choose life
(Devorim 30:19). It may seem like a trite statement. However, one needs only to
look at the foolish choices many make, sacrificing long-term fulfillment for
short-term, fleeting fun, to know that it’s not such a simple idea.
In the words of Robert Frost:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Long before Frost wrote those words, the
Sifrei (quoted by Ohr HaChaim at the beginning of Parshas Re’eh) writes that
there are two divergent paths. One appears straight and clear at the beginning,
but after a few steps, it will be overgrown with thorns. The second path has
many thorns at the outset, but later becomes straight and clear.
The path of Torah and the path to
fulfillment is not always smooth sailing. But it is an investment that will
always reap wonderful returns in the long run.
Shabbat Shalom
& Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and
Chani Staum
