Jew Jitsu Challenges

Yesterday morning, I awoke before dawn. Pitch black outside, I left the house without breakfast. My weigh-in weight had to be exact and I couldn't go over. I drove to Irvine and put on my "Gi". I went downstairs to the weigh in area and checked in, surprised to find that I was 4 lbs. under. I nervously stretched and jumped up & down, trying to get loose and warm up. Before I knew it, I was at the scorer's table, getting some last second advice from a friend. "He looks like a wrestler, be ready to sprawl if he charges you." We shook hands and in Portuguese, the referee announced "Combat." The battle was a blur, but in the end, my opponent had my right arm fully extended ready to break. It was time to give up. Live to fight another day.

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After the disappointment of losing my 1st Jiu (Jew) Jitsu tournament match began to wear off, I realized some of the lessons I took out of the experience. First, the power of commitment to an ideal and goal. Many ask me how I can keep kosher, how difficult it must be. With Passover coming up & its many food restrictions, this question is as relevant as ever. But when it came to my food preparation for this tournament, it was relatively easy. My desire to be able to compete and realize my goal far outweighed my desire for pizza (and I LOVE pizza). It's a powerful thing to have something you believe in to the point of self sacrifice.

When challenged, sometimes we have to give up and ask for help. Ego would dictate that we can never accept help from others, that we have all of the answers. When I "tapped out" and submitted to my opponent, I realized I was outclassed and have more to learn. We mustn't be afraid to ask others for advice and help, to navigate life's challenges. We win some and lose some, but we continue to fight the battles of life.

Ultimately, I learned that showing up to a challenge is more than half the battle. Win or lose, you showed up. We have challenges throughout life, that we can shy away from or confront with a positive attitude. As a Jew, we are taught that every challenge or hardship, really comes from a good, Divine place, and has a purpose. Our job is just to show up and give it our all. 

Life is short, but what we do rings for eternity. Hillel the Elder stated 2,000 years ago: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?" (Ethics of our Fathers 1:14). Wishing you lots of success on your journey ahead!

Shabbat Shalom!

Bringing Heaven Down to Earth

This week's Torah portion is Mishpatim - "Laws."  As we say in Southern California, this seems like a total bummer! Last week in the portion of Yitro, we read how the Jewish people witnessed the amazing miracles at the giving of the Torah, where G-d spoke "face to face" with them, something that has never occurred before or since. Many religions stem from a supposed Divine revelation to one man, but here we had an entire nation, from the children to the elders. 

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But right after this intense prophetic experience, we're now mired in the nitty-gritty details of the various laws of the Torah, laws that are expounded at great length through tens of thousands of pages in the Oral Torah. "What if your dog bit my leg and put me out of work for a week? How much is the fine?" Our Sages teach a beautiful idea about this: The entire purpose, the essence of that incredible experience at Sinai where our souls left our bodies, was all in order to bring that same G-d and inspiration into our mundane, everyday lives. This is the purpose of the Mitzvot. To bring G-d's Infinite Will into the details.

In Medieval Europe, as often happened, there was once an accusation against the Jewish way of life. The court decided to hear out the claims of the prosecutor and a Rabbi who represented the Jewish community. The prosecutor argued to the judge: "How silly is this religion! There are so many laws; There's even a directive on how one is supposed to tie their shoes!" The judge looked thoughtfully at both men, and before the Rabbi could speak, he answered: "Actually, I think it's quite beautiful to think that G-d wants a relationship with us, even down to the most simple details of our lives."

True love is in the details. When one shows his or her's attention to the desire of the other, they are showing their true love for the other's inner desire. May we work in our own lives to pay more attention to the desires of our Divine friend, perfecting this world to its very last detail. What a fitting way to bring Mount Sinai down to earth.

Shabbat Shalom!

Joseph & His Brothers

'Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me," and they drew closer. And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you.' (Genesis 45:4-5)

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In this week's Torah portion, Vayigash, after an intense and moving dialogue between Joseph and Judah, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, that he is the viceroy to Egypt's kingdom and their long lost brother. Our Sages remark that the shock and surprise they felt at that moment is akin to the shock we will feel at the time of the redemption and coming of Mashiach, when we will understand God's Presence was here all along.

What's so powerful and insightful here is Joseph's magnanimous reaction to his brother's ill treatment of him in the past. Hated by his brothers, Joseph was thrown into a pit and instead of killing him, his brothers sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelites. We know the rest of the story, as Joseph moves from servant to prisoner, and then rises to 2nd in command of the strongest nation of his time, with the vision and interpretation of Pharaoh's dream that famine was on its way that ultimately saved not only Egypt's people, but the entire Middle East. 

How often do we focus on the deeper reasons behind what happens to us? Judaism teaches that everything that happens to us has a Divine plan and significance behind it. Yes, those that execute those plans toward us have free choice to do so, but that event was meant to happeneither way. It is up to us to choose to focus on the messenger of that plan, or the Director of the plan behind it all. Joseph chose to live his life according to the latter. He was meant to experience hard times, to descend into Egypt and servitude, in order to save the world. His brothers did wrong him, but he chose not to dwell on their mistake, but on the Divine plan behind it that was no mistake at all. 

{Mind and perspective are crucial to interpersonal peace. At the end of Ch. 12 in his magnum opos, Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi writes a radical idea when we are wronged: So, too, in matters between man and his fellow-man. As soon as there rises from his heart to his mind any animosity or hatred, God forbid, or jealousy, anger or a grudge, he will bar them from his mind and will, refusing even to think of them. On the contrary, his mind will prevail over and dominate the feelings of his heart, to do the exact opposite of that which the heart desires, namely, to conduct himself toward his fellow with the quality of kindness and to display towards his fellow a disproportionate love, in suffering from him to the furthest extreme, without being provoked into anger or to take revenge in kind, God forbid, even without anger; but, on the contrary, to repay offenders with favors, as taught in the Zohar, that we should learn from the example of Joseph’s conduct with his brothers, when he repaid them for the suffering they brought upon him, with kindness and favors.}   

Like our forefather Joseph, let's try to focus on the deeper plan and not on the superficial experiences that occur to us. This doesn't mean to roll over and accept abuse, but rather to recognize that those around us have zero control over our fate, and that what happens to us has a deeper purpose.

Shabbat Shalom!