Here’s a video of this week’s Torah Thoughts read by the Rabbi if you’d prefer not to read it.
The first time I traveled to Israel was in 1989. It was a difficult year there, with the first Intifada in full swing. The stores in the Arab market place were boarded up and the pictures on the news were filled with Arab children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers. Around that same period, an American woman by the name of Catherine Hettinger also made her way to Israel to visit her sister. An inventor by nature, Hettinger saw the strife between Israelis and Palestinians and wanted to find some way to make things better. Perhaps she could create a toy that would help take the violent energy of the Arab youth and turn in a different direction. She experimented with something that resembled the rocks that children would throw, and eventually refined the device to something that would simply spin in a person’s hand. For over ten years, she attempted to market it, seeing it rejected by all the major companies, only to see it transformed well over two decades later to the most popular toy on the market. What Hettinger invented was the Fidget Spinner. And, while it never created peace in the Middle East, it has helped countless individuals deal with anxiety.
I tell this story in the week we begin the book of Numbers in the Jewish community. Numbers which begins with the mobilization of the Israelite army in preparation for war is filled with strife throughout, both from external and internal forces. Stuck in the wilderness for a prolonged period of time, the 40-year journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land begins to stagnate and seems, at times, to fall apart. Perhaps this is the type of restless energy Hettinger had in mind in creating the Fidget Spinner, energy that could easily literally “spin” out of control. But, there is a bright side to the Book of Numbers and perhaps it is the secret purpose of the book itself – conflict is part of life, and if you survive it, hopefully you will be stronger because of it.
In the Book of Numbers, Moses will have his leadership tested, Aaron and Miriam will die and leave leadership vacuums in their place, and the Israelites will actively resist the plan that is in place for them, all this while they are both attacked and being attacked by surrounding nations. Since my first trip to Israel in 1989, I have made seven subsequent trips, many have been during difficult periods, and I have even lost friends and family to violence over there, making me appreciate times of relative calm like I enjoyed on our communal trip this past January, times when I can bask in the sun of the Holy Land, relaxing, perhaps with Fidget Spinner in hand and no other worries in the world. How rare these moments are and how very beautiful.
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
p.s. – Mazel Tov to Cantor Frank on being accepted in to the American Conference of Cantors. I am incredibly proud of her efforts to achieve this new certification and excited to serve side by side with her at CSS.
Last Updated on 05/26/2017 by wpadm