Life in the Eyes of the World Cup

BH

World Cup fever. Have you got it? Well, in any event, whether you do or don't, fact is most of the world does. The FIFA World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world. We have dozens of nations with hundreds of millions of people crowding around TV sets to see professional athletes compete on the largest stage.

What it is specifically about this mega-event that draws so many can be a whole array of different things. It could be national pride, the world’s best soccer soccer (or “football”) players in one event, or the thrill of seeing a third world country at the center of the universe. Whatever it is, there is definitely a worldwide craze.

What is soccer? Simply put, it’s a game where a large, round object – the ball, moves rapidly toward the goal. Sure, that’s the simple explanation; however, the game is far from that simple. There are “roadblocks” in the formation of a defense. You must outplay the defense to get the ball to the goal.

How to outplay? Speed, knowledge of the game and complete awareness of your surroundings. Speed in the form of moving faster than your opponent, knowledge of where to put the ball and awareness of where your teammates and opponents find themselves at any given time.

Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shemtov, or more popularly known as the Baal ShemTov, taught his followers the importance of learning a lesson in the service of the G-d from everything we see and experience. What better time than to learn something from a phenomenon that has the entire world’s attention.

That in mind, let’s analyze what the game of soccer can teach. We must get the ball to the goal, that is the main point. Ball in goal equals point on board. It would be simple as pie to score these goals and tally the points if it weren’t for the opponent. The opponent has a mission as well: stop the ball from entering the gate, protected by its gatekeeper, and in turn, march downfield and deposit the ball in your goal. Hence, they keep you from hanging one on the board and in turn, tack one up for themselves.

Sure, the opponent gets in the way of your mission, but if there was no opponent, aside from the game becoming utterly pointless, the opportunity to display full potential would be gone.

So, what does this teach us regarding our own lives?

In life there are two teams, as stated in the Chassidic compilation, the Tanya and many other Chassidic texts published over the last several hundred years. Pardon the cliché, but those teams are the “good guys” and the “bad guys”. Our mission is to take our life – the metaphoric ball – and maneuver it toward the goal of the “good guys” while constantly sidestepping the “bad guys”.

The A team is that of Torah, Mitzvot and bettering the world. The B team is that of the enemy. The enemy in this case would be all that is unholy according to Torah and Hashem – G-d. Within each of us there reside both the positive and negative forces on the field. We have the Yetzer Tov, the good influence – that encourages us to study Torah, pray and do mitzvot. On the flip side, we have the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination that will argue as strongly as it can against the good.

The Yetzer Hara is a talented goalkeeper, but the Yetzer Tov can always outsmart him!

The Day the Sun Did Not Set

BH

In a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Shabbat Parshat Korach of 1991, the Rebbe spoke about the story of Aaron's blossoming staff as told in the Parshah. Korach and his rebellious faction had contested Aaron's right to be the Kohen Gadol ("high priest"). In order to reiterate His choice of Aaron to serve Him in the Sanctuary as the representative of the Jewish nation, G-d instructed Moses:

"Take... a staff from each of [the tribes'] leaders... each should write his name on his staff.... Write the name of Aaron on the staff of Levi... and the man whom I shall choose, his staff will blossom....Moses placed each staff before G-d in the Sanctuary.... On the next day... behold, the staff of Aaron was blossoming: It brought forth blossom, produced fruit and bore ripe almonds." (Numbers 17:16-24)

The Rebbe referred to this as a "natural miracle." G-d did not simply make almonds appear on Aaron's staff. Rather, He provided the entire process of budding, blossoming, and then emergence and the ripening of the fruit. Aaron's staff defied nature's laws but the almond appeared seemingly naturally (albeit in an unnatural place). It transcended nature, but did so on nature's own terms.

The Shabbat on which the Rebbe spoke about the miracle of Aaron's staff was the 3rd of Tammuz, and the Rebbe found two more historical examples of "natural miracles", both occurring on that date. One example the Rebbe cited was on the third of Tammuz of the year 2488 from creation (1273). Yehoshua - Joshua - was leading the Jewish people in one of the battles to conquer the Land of Israel. Victory was imminent, but darkness was about to fall. Yehoshua proclaimed "Sun, be still at Giv'on; moon, at the Ayalon valley" (Joshua 10:12). G-d responded and halted their progress until the Jewish people brought the battle to an end.

We are taught throughout history that G-d does not perform a miracle in vain. Why then was such an incredible miracle as stopping the sun and moon needed here? Wouldn’t a simpler miracle, such as illuminating the battle site at Giv'on itself make more sense?

But a miraculous engineering of "artificial" light would have meant that the laws of nature were merely superseded, not transformed. To inspire the people of Israel to not only transcend their natural self but also to transform and sublimate it, G-d insisted that the miraculous light provided them should be natural sunlight -- even if this meant creating a new natural order in the heavens.

The third of Tammuz, 2488 as the Rebbe spoke about in 1991, was “the day the sun did not set”.

On the third of Tammuz of this year, (Tuesday, June 15th) Jewish people around the world will be marking the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 16 Yahrtzeit –anniversary of his passing. The Rebbe’s influence on world Jewry is denied by no one. The Rebbe, simply put, changed the face of Judaism around the globe, post holocaust. The revival of Jewish customs, holidays and more was in large part due to the Rebbe. Due to the Rebbe’s vision and commitment to every single Jewish person, vibrant Jewish communities have sprouted across the globe.

Today, with more than 3,000 Chabad centers worldwide, the Rebbe’s mission is being seen through. The influence and guidance of the Rebbe still lives, 16 years later. The numbers of Chabad’s success throughout the years is are staggering and the influence his emissaries have had - not only on Jewish people – but on the world is amazing!

On Tuesday, we will celebrate the Rebbe’s life and influence. We will make commitments to better our lives to live the way the Rebbe asked of us. We will re-commit ourselves to the learning of Torah and Rebbe’s teachings. We miss our Rebbe and strive to continue his work, learn his teachings and emulate his ways.

On the third of Tammuz, 5754 (June 12, 1994) the Rebbe physically left this world. The Rebbe continues however to inspire, uplift, guide and teach!

Gimmel Tammuz – the third of Tammuz, indeed “the day the sun did not set”

I conclude with heartfelt prayers for the coming of Moshiach now, when we will be able to physically see the Rebbe again.

Together as One

Sitting down to write something this week, two things that recently occurred come to mind. One of course is the now world famous (or dare I say infamous) Israeli raid on the Turkish “aid” convoy to Gaza. The other was the great showing of “coming together” from across the world to assist my sister in winning an online voting battle.

While the second seems almost meaningless in comparison to the first, it did start me thinking in an interesting direction. Let me explain.

The online contest my sister entered asked for people to submit their vote. While she was in the lead much of the contest, a sleeper rose from the cellar to quickly tie her as the final hours approached. With determination and conviction, she gathered a small team of family to spend the final hour soliciting votes. After several minutes, friends were helping, and friends of friends were helping.

All said and done, my sister came in a very close second, only four votes behind. Tallying up the final numbers, we realized that half the votes were from people that didn’t even know my sister. People from far and wide. This was a demonstration of “Achdus” – unity. People were coming together for a seemingly unimportant cause, but because it felt good to a part of the excitement. In fact, this was unity that most people couldn’t even claim a personal reward from. It was purely to help another and be a part of it.

Back to the Flotilla: While it seems much of the world is gathering together to bombard Israel with condemnation and criticism, what happens in the Jewish nation must be focused on, and we must be determined to stand strong – together.

Our sages have explained that unity amongst the Jewish people is one of our greatest tools. In reference to the greatest moment of Jewish history, the receiving of the Torah at Sinai, it is written; “Like one man with one heart”. This is the essence of our people. We were all there. And we were all just as important as the next.

To truly understand what it means to stand together, we need to understand where we come from. As it is taught, every soul has a spark of G-dliness. In fact, we can look at it as G-d being the original flame, and each of us are a direct offspring of that flame. That being stated, its not possible for one to be more important than the other. We are all in reality one.

If we can come together for a pointless photo contest, we must certainly come together to support the Jewish State, and stand strong together. Our people live under the threat of attack every day, and Israel has done what needed to be done to protect her citizens. We as the Jewish people must stand behind Israel in solidarity.

This weeks Parsha, Shelach speaks of Moshe sending the 12 spies to scout out Israel. 10 return saying the land would be impossible to conquer, while two insisted the possibility remained. While they disagreed on this point, they in fact returned from the land agreeing with each other. Both groups agreed that the land was magnificent and “flowed with milk and honey”.

It’s time to focus on what we agree on and what we have in common and begin to build stronger. As it is asked in Pirkei Avot – Ethics of Our Fathers, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”.

Good question indeed.