Thursday, June 9, 2011

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: ECO-JUDAISM; DEREK ERETZ: DON'T COVET: MUSSAR:WHAT, ME WORRY

 
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: ECO-JUDAISM; DEREK ERETZ: DON'T COVET: MUSSAR: WHAT, ME WORRY?
 
 Jewish Spiritual Renewal: Derek Eretz Zuta + Rabbah :
 
Shabbat 06/18/11
 
(aka Derech Eretz )
 
The JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL class list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network a service of Hebrew College/Yeshiva
 
Shalom my dear Chaverim, Talmidim, v' Rabbanim, friends, students and fellow rabbis.
 
An oneg, joy-filled, Shabbat, Sabbath, this coming weekend... and Shavuah Tov to you for a good and peaceful week.  Hope you had  a Happy Shavuot !
 
We continue with our exploration into the Talmudic Tractates of Derek Eretz Zuta and Rabbah. (aka Derech Eretz Zuta, aka Derech Eretz Rabbah. As was mentioned, zuta is Aramaic for 'small', and rabbah is 'large').
 
Remember that Derek Eretz is not about Jewish ritual. It is about how we are to treat one another and what traits of character, middot, we are to try to develop. The lessons are universal and ecumenical.
 
For those new to the class, Baruch ha Ba! Welcome! You can access last week's class  at  
or
 
 
 
From here you will find links to preceding classes in this  series. So,  together we continue:
 
TALMUD BAVLI
 
TRACTATE DEREK
 
ERETZ ZUTA
 
(aka Derech Eretz)
 
Today we will continue with CHAPTER 2.
Talmud Bavli Tractate Derek Eretz Zuta Verse   2:6
 
 
'' Do not run after honor. Do not be proud when rendering a decision.  Consider that all you possess  today may not be yours tomorrow. Since  you cannot be 100% certain that what is in your possession today, will be yours tomorrow,   what is the use of striving to possess what belongs to others? "
 
There are some very interesting spiritual life-lessons in today's verse. "Do not run after honor." ''Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.'' {Prov. 18:12}. Learning humility, true humility, is difficult. Humility confuses many because some think one must be humiliated to be humble. This is far from the truth. In fact, when we are humble, no one can humiliate us. 
 
When we understand humility, we understand that we do not need honors. Honors if bestowed upon us by our fellows, are just icing on the cake of our lives. If we are living a life that is good, just and honest in God's eyes, what need of we of human honors? To lead a life of running after honor is ludicrous. Yet so many of us do it.
 
 When I was younger I pursued honor quite successfully. All I found out later when I became transformed via Jewish Spiritual Renewal is that I had low self esteem that needed to be covered over with plaques and framed certificates. If you truly seek to have honest honor, the Talmud tells us to honor others. { Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot  4:1 }. And when and if we are honored, give all credit to God, parents, teachers, friends who helped you achieve the honor.  
 
Further when we chase honor, we step on the toes of other's with low self esteem who are also chasing honor. We end up in peccadilloes. It is better that we spend the time running after our yetzer ha ra, our egos, our character defects, and work to rid ourselves of them. The biggest honor we can ever have is to transform. (Ibid 2:4).
 
Spiritually, when we chase honor and get the honor, when it is eventually taken away,[ because all glory is fleeting, "sic transit gloria mundi", ] we become angry and depressed. When we have low self esteem and need the constant kudos, we have to remember not to believe our own press.
 
Obadiah the Prophet taught us: '' The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?''' [Obad. 1:3].
 
'' Do not be proud when rendering a decision.'' For our sages one of the biggest achievements was rendering a halacha, Jewish legal, decision. It was  a serious, difficult task that had to withstand days of debate. One could not render a decision that disagreed with his teachers, while those teachers will still alive. While they didn't know it at the time, those that did successfully render, are forever immortalized in the pages of the Talmud.
 
For our lesson today, let us re-phrase the above as "Do not be proud when having a great accomplishment.''
 
In Judaism we are taught to work hard and well, to do our best, and not be attached to outcomes. Outcomes are beyond our control. If we try to manipulate outcomes, we only frustrate ourselves.
 
So when we achieve a worthy accomplishment, don't wear it as a crown. We have to truly know that we are to give ALL credit  to God, parents, teachers, friends who helped us achieve the goal.  We don't just say these words at some acceptance speech, we have to truly believe and live these words.
 
While the hard work is ours, every talent that we have, has been a gift to us. In reality, from a spiritual point of view, they are loans to us.
 
This leads to the final section of verse 2:6 and today's lesson: ''Consider that all you possess  today may not be yours tomorrow. Since  you cannot be 100% certain that what is in your possession today, will be yours tomorrow,   what is the use of striving to possess what belongs to others? "
 

Allow me to teach about being attached to ones' material possession and coveting others' worldly goods with a Midrash. One day KIng Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkoth which gives you six months to find it."

"If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?"

"It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility.

Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot , he decided to take a walk in one of he poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet. "Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah.

He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile.

That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.

To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: gimel, zayin, yud, which began the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" -- "This too shall pass."

At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

None of us know what tomorrow may bring. But history shows us that possessions can be gone with the wind at any moment. Look at our recent floods, tornados, fires, etc. I live on a barrier Island, where from June to November we live under continual hurricane threats.

 This is why the Talmud teaches us that while its nice to have possessions, a wealthy person is one who is happy with what he has. [Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot  4:1]. In fact the spiritual lesson of Sukkoth holiday is to teach us that we can live in a Sukkah , a flimsy booth,for a week, with a roof that we can peer through and see the sky, sun, moon and stars, and still be happy, dependent on God and not our 'stuff.'  

Since we cannot be 100% certain that what we have today, will be ours tomorrow, how silly it is to covet, or even worse, steal, someone else's possessions. The Talmud wisely teaches, the more possessions, the more worry. {Ibid. 2:8}.

Truly understanding Gam zeh ya'avor--This too shall pass," allows us to live a life of being happy, free, and joyous, and truly saying spiritually but not intellectually uncurious: "What? Me worry?"

Next week, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with chapter two of  Derek Eretz Zuta .

 
We discuss the aspects of this verse on  pride, not coveting, and being happy with what we have  throughout the majority of chapters in  The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew  as well as in most chapters of A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud  .
 
What are your ideas about being happy with what you have and not coveting?  How has learning to understand that its not what we have that defines us but rather our loving relationships with others, helped make you a better person.  How has understanding the spiritual and ethical teachings of Judaism helped you live a more joyous life?
 
Next class, Baruch ha Shem, we will continue with Derek Eretz Zuta ,  continuing  Chapter Two. Thank you for joining me.
 
or
 
 
Shalom:
 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
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Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 5:27 PM