A BISSEL TORAH: VAYELECH: IT’S ALL GOOD: POWER AND SERENA WILLIAMS
By: Suri Davis
How would you feel giving the keys of a brand new Bentley to your 16 year old son, knowing that the very next day he would trash it, and be hurt?
When my two year old gashed his chin and he needed stitches, he looked at me and said, Eema, make it feel better. I told him that the doctor could make it feel better. “No, you,” he said, but I couldn’t of course. The same when my young daughter had a cavity. Make it feel better Eema, “I can’t,” I replied, the dentist has to do that. I don’t have the power or skill to do all, but to our young children, parents appear to be omnipotent.
When I learn torah, there are parts of the torah that have talked to me more than others, and so when I learn something new about the subject, I piece it together with what I already know about the subject, to give myself a broader perspective and understanding. It took me years to piece together the beautiful story of Rachel who cries for her children, as outlined by Jeremiah in the Rosh Hashanah haftorah, the millenia over which the story unfolded.
So too, the Asarah Harugei Malchut, which we recite in the Musaf service of Yom Kippur. The ten righteous rabbis who were tortured by the Romans fascinate me. Especially when the angels cry out to G-d, “zeh torah, v’zeh scharah/this is Torah, and this is the reward for dedicating your life to torah.” Just this year, in my daf, I was lucky enough to receive the answer to the question I had with regard to the answer that G-d gave the angels: If you do not stop your inquiry, I will turn the world back to “tohu vavohu/back to the pre-evolutionary days before creation.” Why didn’t G-d just tell the angels to stop their inquiry, why did he move on to threaten to return the world to the days before creation. The answer several months ago was revealed that G-d whose presence was always in existence and will be forever knows why it was important to the world that these ten rabbis be tortured by the Romans. He told the angels that for them to understand why this is necessary, they, too, would have had to have been around since before creation to understand the context of this suffering.
This week in Menachos 29, we touch upon this scene again. This time it is the context of how the letters in the torah are written, with crowns. Moshe goes up to heaven and he sees G-d tying crowns upon the letters of the torah. He asks G-d why He is doing so, and G-d replies that there will be a man named Akiva, who will delve into the crowns and expound on the significance of the crowns on these letters. Moshe who was humble asked why G-d wasn’t letting Akiva give the Torah, and G-d replied. Then Moshe asked to see akiva, and G-d told Moshe to look behind Him, and he saw Akiva being flayed by the Romans and his skin sold in the marketplace. And to this, Moshe asked also “zeh torah, v’zeh scharah/this is Torah, and this is the reward for dedicating your life to Torah,” and even to Moshe, who was so close to G-d that they spoke face to face, G-d would not give the answer as to why the righteous suffer.
IT’S ALL GOOD. It’s a new “comeback response” when you ask someone who is going through a tough time how they are. It is a mantra to one’s self, note to self I am going through hell, but let me convince others that I believe my hell is for the good. We know that our faith leads us to believe that all is for the good, even when events feel bad. If the one who states this is trying to convince himself that he has the faith to see things through and it is his way of doing so, that’s a way to cope. But in this week’s torah portion, G-d tells Moshe, I am about to give the Jews the keys to my home land, and I know for a fact they will sin and trash that homeland, and I will have to punish them and take away the keys.
But we learned early on from the days of Adam and Eve, when G-d created the world with the attribute of judgment, that the rules had to be properly applied, not blind justice, but just justice based on facts and circumstances, understanding and capabilities. G-d realized that the attribute of mercy was necessary for there is no one in the world who is free from sin, and G-d introduced Teshuva/repentance, and G-d taught us to forgive others.
So when Serena Williams received some on court support from her coach, banged her racket, and shouted at the umpire, the umpire used his discretion to penalize her over and over. Some say that the discretionary function of laws is unevenly distributed because Serena is black and a woman, and that others players have done the same and worse, without the same dire game consequences. We, as Jews, have experienced the heavy hand of anti-semitic justice in ancient and modern history.
The Jewish king is to have his own Torah. Every seven years, the Jews are to gather on Sukkoth to hear the king read the Torah. There is no scene as clearly demarcating and elucidating as having the king read the Torah, the public acknowledgement that he who is so rich and powerful, is fully devoted to the King of Kings in heaven. We as servants of the physical king might have in our minds, that he is all powerful and can heal and bestow at will. But the king and his torah reveal to all the true Greatness behind his royalty, G-d in heaven.
So, the last two commandments Moshe gives before he dies, the two commandments in this torah portion are the commandments that the Jews gather every seven years to hear the king recite the torah, and the commandment that each one of us write a torah. The torah is our manual and life guide.
We see the righteous suffer. We attribute omniscience and omnipotence to those in government and who are wealthy. We learn that laws are not absolute without a wise person administering said laws. We understand the balance as we say during these ten days of awe the prayer of Our Father, Our King, please remember that as you administer your laws, and punish our sins, You are our Father first. You have Your laws, and we have broken them, but administer Your laws, with love, kindness, patience and understanding. Dear G-d, You have put us in a “time-out” for milenia now, it is time for You to bring the ultimate redemption and bring us to our rebuilt Jerusalem speedily in our days, and make it all truly “ALL GOOD.”
Dear Friend, if I have hurt you in any way, please let me know, so I can ask forgiveness. May you be inscribed in the book of life.
Yours,
Suri