What to Expect (25:6)
Monday mornings are all the same. Wake up early, learn Chassidus with a small group of insomniacs, pray with the Minyan, give a class of Chumash and head off to school. In fact, by that time I am hurrying. It’s already 8:00 AM.
Non-coincidentally, that’s the schedule for Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning…you get the idea. However this Monday was different. After studying and davening I was off to the airport. Rhode Island was our first destination. I mention the word our, even though this was not a family vacation. Not quite. It was the Hebrew Academy Community School, Hirsch Ben Yehuda Middle School Annual Trip, or the HACSHBYMSAT for short.
Obviously, the weekly TIMELESS TORAH is not the medium for a travelogue. We’re here to explore not the trail of the Pilgrims, but the highways and byways of the Torah. And so we shall…even if I have to drag you to Boston’s Logan Airport to do it.
Our group had spent four days traveling and touring. The children were physically exhausted and mentally heading home. But upon arrival at the airport, we discovered that regional weather conditions had cancelled dozens of flights - including ours. A gentleman, and I use the term loosely, accompanying us from the Tour Company bolted from sight. We, chaperones and students, were all shocked. True, his contract to us had been fulfilled, but the callousness of his actions was repugnant. Still to leave us all stranded so that he could rush to the head of the line concerned with only his return ticket was a painful and bitter reminder of how myopic some people’s visions could be.
In stark contrast, there was another gentleman, and I use the term accurately, who had also been an adult member of our entourage. His official connection to us could have been viewed as less binding. He was not hired by our school nor was he obligated in any other legal sense to our group. He was, and is, a parent of one of the 35 children on the New England foray. This individual, whom we will call Dr. K., stayed and paid for our hotel rooms and shuttle services.
On behalf of the students who personally benefited and the rest of the Hebrew Academy, I say thank-you, not only for the generous donation but for the generosity of character.
Why are some people nice and others not? Is it inherent nature or acquired traits? As we know it is a combination of both, as we are all born with potential for being both selfish and selfless. Mix those ingredients in with our respective environments that cultivate our personalities and voila you have a unique human being.
The fellow from the Tour Company is unfortunately being fed a strict diet of American self-centeredness and thus a product of the “me-generation”. Dr. K. on the other hand, is a Jew who spends a part of his day drinking from the eternal wellsprings of the Torah. He therefore is fully aware of this week’s Biblical law of She’mitta that among other ramifications removes private ownership of all produce found growing every seventh year.
Why did the Torah legislate such a drastic upheaval of the conventions of society whereby the landed gentry and the beggar were now on the same playing field…literally?
The answer is quite simple. While we all accept the principle that we are responsible for one another as a cardinal rule, most of us find it difficult to put this teaching into practice. One of the psychological reasons for this natural disinclination is related to the practice of private ownership.
In a free society man enjoys complete mastery over his possessions. We may be members of one community, but it is our material goods that establish a dividing line between individuals. Thus every man fends for himself.
What is the solution to this problem? The Communists prescribed abolishing any private ownership. It is obvious to all that this view has been completely discredited. Yet their utopian ideal like all promises made by man for a brighter future have their origins in our Jewish teachings: In this particular case, the rule of Sh’mitta.
Thus for six years, acquisition of wealth is provided for so that man may nurture the incentive necessary for full human growth. But once in every seven seasons, man is given the seeds to develop more than his own sense of individuality. Since realistically, we would not do it on our own, the Torah creates the model of Sh’mitta.
Should we blame Mr. Tour Operator for the way he acted? Based upon some of the dictates that our present society advocates such as: enjoying life to the fullest and what’s in it for me, could we expect any more?
And given the resources that Dr. K. had access to and utilized: the Torah that he learns on a daily basis and the education he knowingly provides for his son, could we expect any less?
It’s easy to tell our children: be good, share the toy with your sister and don’t be selfish, but if we don’t place them in a supporting milieu and they act like the Tour Operator, should we expect anything different?