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DEVARIM 5784
Going for Gold!
Rabbi Andrew Shaw Chief Executive, Mizrachi UK
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’
So begins a Tale of Two Cities.
I think over the last week I have paraphrased that slightly…
‘It was the best of humanity; it was the worst of humanity’
Maybe not the best and the worst but hopefully you will understand my thoughts.
To watch some of these athletes at the Olympics, it has been inspiring. It is not just about their physical strength or endurance that these athletes are to be admired for. It has been the commitment, the hours of training, dedication and application. When you hear some of the stories of what it took to be Olympic champion it is just remarkable. Some of them are just out of school, when many of their peers are partying and drinking, they are spending hours every day in the pool, on the track or in the gym. They have a vision, a goal, a dream – and they are going to dedicate their lives to hopefully achieving it, while bringing so much pleasure to their families, their communities and their country.
Yet in the same week as we are watching this, we see riots on our streets both from farright thugs waving the Union Jack and far left groups and Islamists waving the Palestinian ag! Both groups who are lled with hate and a determination to inject fear and terror into people’s lives. Groups who bring shame to their families, their communities and their countries
What must be noticed is that so many of those causing fear, damage and violence on our streets are the same age as those competing in Paris.
What motivates one 20 yr old to dedicate their time to self-improvement and others to violence and destruction?
The answer is complicated, but in a way, we can ask ourselves that same question!
Now of course, none of us are dealing with the extremes of aiming for Olympic Gold or setting re to a police car, but yet, we can still ask a similar question when it comes to our marathon through life.
What is our focus? What are we aiming for? Are we striving for Hashem and goodness or are we unaware of the potential we have been given, unaware of the Creator of the World?
As the Navi Yeshayahu laments in the Haftarah this week, Shabbat Chazon
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken; Children I have raised and exalted, yet they have rebelled against Me. An ox knows his owner and a donkey his master's crib; Israel does not know; my people does not consider. (Yeshayahu 1:1-2)
The shocking thing about the Haftarah, is that he does not mourn the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, but the causes of its destruction. Areas of life that we today, over 2,500 years later, still have not learned the lessons of the past
The extremes we have seen this week are because we are human. We have the ability to soar to incredible heights, to achieve in areas unavailable to animals. Yet, we also have the ability to live our lives at a lower level than the animal kingdom as there is no rebellion for an ox or a donkey, only we as humans fail to ful l the mission we were created for.
As Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch says:
The natural world around us – all achieve what they are created for Only we neglect our mission, our goals in life and swerve from our path, tempted off our trajectory by a myriad of
distractions All the created world knows their Master – all work as part of a bigger picture, for their own good and for the good of the whole. Only we act in ways to damage and destroy our neighbour and intern damage and destroy ourselves.
In one of the most painful statements, Yeshayahu also condemns the people for their ‘observance’ of Judaism!
Of what use are your many sacri ces to Me? says the Lord. I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and sheep and he goats I do not want. When you come to appear before Me, who requested this of you, to trample My courts?
You shall no longer bring vain meal-offerings, it is smoke of abomination to Me; New Moons and Sabbaths, calling convocations, I cannot [bear] iniquity with assembly. Your New Moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates, they are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing [them]. (Yeshayahu 1:10-13)
As Rashi adds:
I cannot bear the iniquity in your hearts that is inclined to paganism, and the convocation with it, for these two things are incompatible: to call a convocation to gather before Me, and the iniquity that is in your hearts for paganism, and you do not take it out of your hearts. (Rashi - Yeshayahu 1:13)
Unlike the Olympics, connection to Hashem is not just about the physical action but the action combined with the inner workings of the spirit. Hashem is saying to the Jewish nation that we must strive to make sure that our inner feelings, our kavanot, match our outer actions.
So, this Tisha B Av we are clearly reminded of the evil that exists in the hearts and actions of man as we re ect on the painful realities both in Israel and around the world. It will not be dif cult this year to sit on the oor and weep.
Yet Tisha B Av is also about the internal, to remind us of our failings as a nation and how the solution to xing the tragedies of the present is for us as a nation to repair the damages of the past.
To me, the solution is the Olympics.
We must realise that we should aim to be spiritual Olympians. Striving to achieve personal bests in so many areas such as chesed, te llah and tzedakah. Dedicating hours to personal growth, whether learning Torah or exercising– both are required. Having goals and dreams to motivate us to realising our potential.
We can learn volumes from the start and the middle of the Haftarah for Shabbat Chazon, but we can most of all hope and pray that our actions can lead to the ful lment of its end.
And I will restore your judges as at rst and your counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City. Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through righteousness. (Yeshayahu 1:26-27)
And then we as a nation will nally have achieved gold!
fully rebuilt Yerushalayim Shel Zahav!
A
Shabbat Shalom
Watch: DvarTorah from Rabbi Benjy Rickman >
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