blogs/rabbi-huberman

Punch Line of the Entire Torah

What if there were a punch line to the entire Torah -- and it arrived just in time for Rosh Hashanah?

In a few days, we will enter synagogue in search of answers to some of life's most profound questions.

Why are we here? Where is God? What am I supposed to do with my life?

Our rabbis have chosen two Torah readings to inspire us. On Day One, we read about Sarah conceiving a child at age ninety. On the second, we read about God's request of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Yet, alongside our Rosh Hashanah preparations, our regular weekly Torah readings continue -- and it is within the reading for this Shabbat that I find the greatest inspiration.

This week's Torah portion, Nitzavim ("You stand this day") reminds us that the road to a good life is really not that complex at all.

It suggests that we don't need a rabbi, or a cantor, or aphilosopher, or a theologian to teach us life's meaning. 

The answer according to the Torah,  "is not to baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not found in the heavens, or on the other side of the sea." (Deuteronomy 30:11-12)

Then, in one of its most brilliant passages, the Torah teaches us a lesson about attitude. It challenges us on the matter of free will, prodding us to remember that, every morning, it is up to us which side of the bed we get up on.

"I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse," we're told. "Therefore, choose life, if you and your descendants would live." (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Choose life.

This past year, I presided over many funerals. A single theme underpinned a great many of them, especially for those who had lived well into their golden years: life is full of challenges.

It is how we choose to confront our challenges -- our obstacles and our setbacks --- that ultimately strengthens our souls.

Rabbi Shais Taub mused that, if we were to pick up a book and read about a man who woke up on time, found the perfect tie to wear, made every green light on his commute to work, broke for lunch fifteen minutes early, and ate a delicious tuna fish sandwich, we'd probably stop reading that book.

As unlikely a figure as author Hunter Thompson agrees, entreating us not only to confront our challenges, but to see beyond what is to what can be.

"Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?"

As we approach the High Holiday season, I know that many of you are suffering. There are problems we face each day, and worries for family and loved ones.

And yet, while there are many things we cannot change, we can control our reactions to reality.

There is a story told of a young man in the eighteenth century who wondered why human beings suffer so much.

He was directed by the area's chief rabbi to one of our wisest Sages, Rabbi Zusha of Hanipol (1718-1800) who lived in a rundown shack in the middle of the woods, crippled by old age, with barely enough to eat.

The young man, observing Rabbi Zusha's deplorable conditions, asked: "Why do we suffer?"

Rabbi Zusha paused before replying. "This is a very interesting question," he said. "But why did our holy Rebbe send you to me? How would I know? He should have sent you to someone who has experienced suffering."

In 2008, while visiting Israel, I ventured into an Orthodox area in Jerusalem. Along a side-street in the Me'ah She'arimneighborhood I observed a store called The Olive Wood Factory, and went in.

There, in a dimly lit room, a number of artisans were crafting various objects from olive wood. Among them was a series of small book stands, known as shtenders, which help scholars to read their holy books at a comfortable angle.

I decided to buy one. Before the artisan packed my bookstand in a bag, she told me, "We would be happy to put your name on your shtender, and your favorite passage from the Torah, if you'd like."

"My name is Yisrael," I said, "and my favorite two words from the Torah are U'becharta B'Chayim -- choose life."

It is that bookstand which you will see to my right this Rosh Hashanah and throughout the High Holidays, radiating what I consider to be the punch line of the Torah.

Indeed, we may not achieve everything we wish during our lifetime. But by choosing life, and sharing that attitude with our children and grandchildren, we help ensure that, as the Torah teaches this week, "we and our descendants may truly live."

So, next week at Rosh Hashanah services, while we willread about Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac, it is the Torah reading from this Shabbat which will inspire me more.

As the Torah teaches this week, the answers to life are "not that baffling at all."

The answer, which extends into Rosh Hashanah, is -- that in spite of the curses and challenges life hands us -- we must "choose life."

U'becharta B'Chayim.

In the end, it's the only choice we have.

....................

On behalf of Patte and me, and our family, best wishes for aShannah Tovah --- a happy, sweet and fulfilling new year.

May we choose to write ourselves into the Book of Life.

Shabbat shalom, v'kol tuv (With all goodness).

Rabbi Irwin Huberman