Two From Sforno
Posted by Rabbi Avi Heller on November 12, 2010 | Tags: Vayetze
Rabbi Ovadia S'forno (1475-1550) was a great Italian Jew. His commentary on the Torah is printed in the classic "Mikraot Gedolot" anthology and is a favorite resource for Rabbis and scholars. S'forno was a true Renaissance man, a pious and learned Jew who was also well-versed in philosophy and science. He spent much of his career in Rome, where he not only studied and taught Torah, but advocated for and helped his people by his relations with kings and popes. His commentary displays a deep understanding of Biblical grammar and style and is infused with philosophy and worldliness as well. In this Dose, two brief comments of the S'forno are an example of how much wisdom can be found in a few well-chosen words. For more on S'forno see "Sforno" by Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, Mesorah Publications, 2004.
I: To Rome, From Rome
After I graduated college, I went backpacking in Europe for 6 weeks with my buddy and former roommate Jack. Shira still has most of the postcards I sent her from each stop along the way. Back in that prehistoric era, though, we had no phone, email or mail contact with the mainland from where we were. So, we were both very excited (after 3 weeks of travel) to pick up letters from our lady friends at the American Express office in Rome. We were heading to Rome straight from Florence by train and had been set up with a local family for shabbat. For one reason or another, we got to the train station fifteen minutes early (this had simply never happened to me before...or since) and the train we were on began to pull out of the station too soon. In our pidgin Italian, we figured out that the train we were on was actually going NORTH (the wrong way) and that the train going south was on the same track ten minutes later. Europe. Figures.
We were young and foolish, so we just got off the train at Avignon and figured we'd hitch a ride on the next southbound train. We sat there on the train platform sipping Rashi wine, writing in our journals and feeling quite satisfied and fancy-free. When the next train pulled in at 2 am, we asked the conductor if this train went to Rome. He said yes. But it was actually also going north. To Rome, from Rome, those pesky Italian prepositions; it all sounded the same.
Rather than getting off at Milan at 6 am, we figured we'd make a night of it and woke up in the morning in Zurich. Luckily, we have a family friend there who not only put us up for shabbat IN the shul (I still remember the sign as we went up the stairs to his apartments "This apartment under surveillance by a Higher Authority"), but also cooked for us, gave us aliyot AND taught us how to find kosher food in Europe. We had been wondering where all the kosher symbols were, spoiled Americans, losing weight by the day, eating peanut butter and tuna out of our backpacks. In fact, we had an amazing time in Zurich (which had not been on our itinerary at all) and had many other adventures along the way and we still made it to Rome (but never got those letters.)
This cute story (which brings a smile to my lips every time, almost fifteen years later) has never just been a fun story I tell to prove that I was once a college kid, but has always signified something more to me. Something about how we are all trying to get to where we think we are supposed to be going, but God has other plans for us. We often think we know what the next right thing for us to do is in dating, in our career, in our imagined future life. But - more often than not - we have not calculated the challenges we may face along the way and/or the enrichment we may find. Sure, it's quicker to go to Rome by going straight south, but if you go north first, you sometimes find that - when you arrive in Rome - you are richer for the experiences you have had. Embracing the unexpected twists and turns of life is part of how we fulfill our tafkid (mission) in this world.
At the beginning of our Torah portion, Ya'akobv is fleeing thr land of Israel to escape from Esav, his brother. The Torah says "And he encountered the place" (Gen 28:11) . On this verse, S'forno comments: "It happened to him that he arrived at a place to which he had not intended to go." In other words, S'forno sees Ya'akov's chancing upon this holy place (where he has an amazing dream and prophecy of angels ascending and descending a divine ladder ) as a complete accident. It was not in his travel plan and not his intention at all. Sometimes, that's the way it goes. When he wakes up, Ya'akov says: "Thus, God was in this place, though I did not know." Certainly, everywhere we happen to go - intentionally or not - we have the possibility of encountering God.
II: Crying Over What Might Have Been
When our forefather Ya'akov first encounters Rachel, he performs a superhuman feat of srtrength. He single-handedly rolls the wellstone off the shepherds' well and waters Rachel's sheep. After this, he does two other things; he kisses her and he cries.(Gen. 29:11) Certainly, one could understand why he kissed her; she was beautiful both externally and in her grace and modesty. This was a chaste kiss, a kiss of intimacy without sexuality. But why does he cry? It's possible that he is just overwhelmed by the emotion of having arrived at this special day, where he ecnounters his bashert, the woman he knows is his intended one. S'forno suggests otherwise, that Ya'akov is actually sad, and comments: "'and he cried', because he had not merited to marry her in his youth and by this time they would already have had children, in his younger years." In other words, Ya'akov is sad that he and his bashert were separated by geography and circumstance and could not have had a more typical, earlier meeting. They could have met when they were younger, without having to wait so long and go through so much alone.
But we don't always get to choose when and where we meet our bashert. We don't always get to choose how far we have to walk, how much we have to suffer and how many others we might have to meet and pass over before our bashert. Some may have the privilege and ease of meeting the woman or man who is The One on their first try, when they are in high school together, or love at first sight. Others, like Ya'akov, may need to doubt and worry for years before they reach the moment of inspiration and decision when they are ready to roll the rock off the well, to reveal the blessing that has been hidden and latent within them.
Ya'akov indeed cries with some regret that his path was not easier. But allow me to make two significant observations. 1) He cries only in retrospect. He does not cry or complain during all the times of waiting, trying and uncertainty. He does what he needs to do. Only when he has met his bashert does he allow himself some nostalgic sadness about how hard it was to get there. 2) He allows himself to cry for only a moment. Little does Ya'akov know, but the road ahead is still a long one. He will have to convince Rachel's father to allow him to marry her and work for many years to marry her, and to build his home and family. It is not given over to the righteous - or, for that matter, the Jews at all - to have lives that are too easy or restful, too peaceful or quiet. Ya'akov can allow himself a moment to cry with grateful melancholy over what has been and what might have been, but then it is time to get back to work.
May we succeed in overcoming the obstacles in our way and in rising to meet the next ones. If we have to stop to cry, let it be like Ya'akov: after we have succeeded (not before) and for ony a moment before plunging back into the business of living our lives.
Shabbat shalom!
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Rabbi Avi HellerJoined: July 27, 2007 Originally from Denver CO, Rav Avi received a BA from BU and Rabbinic ordination and an MA in Bible from YU. Before joining MJE, he was Director of Jewish Education at BU Hillel, co-directed the BU Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus and was an Associate University Chaplain. He has been the... Divrei Torah (67) |
