“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Lech Lecha 5785
7 Cheshvan 5785/ November 8, 2024
BFF WOES
Shortly before Rosh Hashanah I saw an
article entitled “His best friend was a 250-pound warthog – one day it decided
to kill him.”
It told the story of Austin who lives
on a ranch in Texas. Austin loves animals and has spent years caring for them.
But there was one animal that Austin invested in more than any other: Waylon
the warthog. From when Waylon was born, Austin felt deeply connected to him. “I
just kinda became his parent – His Dad, really. Early on I’d take him to the
drivethru at Whataburger, and he’d sit in the front seat, happy as can be.”
Austin loved to play with Waylon and Waylon would often fall asleep on Austin’s
stomach.
Warthogs are not predators and will
usually not seek confrontation. But if they feel threatened, they will use
their speed – they can run up to 30 mph – agility and strong tusks to attack
effectively.
The article ominously noted that
“Experts say a reputation for docility can be the very quality that makes a
particular animal dangerous.” One unremarkable October day, Austin entered the
enclosure and scratched Waylon’s back. Waylon then trotted alongside him to a
nearby feeding trough. By all indications, Waylon was his usual playful self.
However, when Austin began walking towards his car parked at the gate, he
suddenly felt his right leg crumble and he was thrust forward fifteen feet.
I’ll spare the rest of the unpleasant
details, but Waylon had unexpectedly entered murder mode and was attacking
relentlessly. Waylon viciously gored Austin about 15 times. By the time Austin
was brought to the hospital he had lost almost half the blood in his body. It
took doctors eleven surgeries to repair the damage to his body. Obviously,
Waylon had to be put down afterwards.
The article concludes with a quote
from Austin: “I don’t think it was Waylon who attacked me. I was attacked by a
warthog.”
Being that I read the story during the
“teshuva season” I had an interesting reflection from the story.
Human beings are a composite of a
neshama (soul) and a guf (body). A body without a soul is just a lifeless mass
of blood, bones, and organs. It is the soul that gives it the spark of life.
On the other hand, a soul cannot
“live” in the physical world without a body. Although what defines us is
essentially our soul, our body enables us to live in this world.
The gemara (Chagigah 16a) notes that a
human is like an angel in three ways and like an animal in three ways. Humans
have knowledge, walk upright and speak in lashon hakodesh like angels. But
humans also eat and drink, procreate and excrete like animals.
Mesillas Yesharim compares the
soul-body connection to a peasant who marries a princess. Despite his best
efforts to prepare his greatest delicacies for her, she will be unimpressed. He
simply cannot relate or match up to the royalty she is accustomed to.
Our bodies enable us to connect with
others in this world, actualize our aspirations in life and function in this
world. Still, we must never forget that the body is a loose cannon. If we keep
it under control and ensure that we properly discipline ourselves, our bodies
will be our most valuable asset, our best friend. However, if left unbridled
and given free rein, our body can lead us into a dangerous abyss, and we can
drastically hurt ourselves and others physically and spiritually.
A century ago, a mere handful of evil
individuals - Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. were responsible for the
deaths of tens of millions of people. They may have been born with souls but
their bodily desires led them to the nadir of humanity.
In contrast, the Midrash (Devorim
Rabbah 11:10) relates that when the time came for Moshe Rebbeinu to die, his
soul didn’t want to part from his body. Even after Hashem promised Moshe’s soul
that it would ascend to the highest heights, it begged Hashem not to be
separated from Moshe. Finally, Hashem removed the neshama against its will and
Moshe died.
Moshe had lived his life with so much
discipline and had raised himself to a level of holiness that his holy neshama
was completely comfortable remaining with his holy body.
My rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman,
mashgiach of Yeshiva Ohr HaChaim in Queens, NY, notes that he often encourages
parents to ensure their children are adequately protected from the dangers of
technology. This includes ensuring that any electronic device is adequately
filtered. Parents will sometimes counter that they trust their child. In
addition, children themselves will often strongly protest efforts to filter or
set limits on their devices by accusing their parents of not trusting them.
Rabbi Finkelman’s reply is poignant: “Trust your child. But don’t trust your
child’s yetzer hara!” Even the best of people have an inner force that can
cause devastation if not monitored and guarded.
It’s no less true for our own yitzrei
hara.
The heartbroken Austin was only able
to make sense of the tragic end of Waylon by reasoning that it wasn’t Waylon
who killed him, but a warthog. But at the end of the day a warthog can be no
more than a warthog, no matter how pleasant it may seem to have been for so
many years.
If we allow our bodies free rein to
pursue its whims and lusts we can become degenerate and dangerous people.
On the other hand, we have the
capacity to attain greatness and holiness. Doing so entails that we contend
with our physicality. Although we cannot negate our body, we can channel its
drives and desires productively and become wonderful people not despite it but
because of it.
The choice is ours!
Shabbat Shalom
& Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and
Chani Staum