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My kids are young and I do everything in my power to avoid toy stores but a while back, I had to buy something at a toy store and if I tell you I was amazed – it would be a huge understatement. Now, if you haven’t been in a mega toy store in a while then I will describe what I saw: aisles and aisle and aisles and aisles and more aisles of toys. An entire aisle alone dedicated to different types of legos, digital toys, toys that buzzed and beeped and made tons of noise, toys that the marketing industry would have us believe our children couldn’t live or grow adequately without. But at the end of the day, I’m convinced (and repeatedly tell our children)…that the games that were around when I was a kid – chutes and ladders, candy land, uno, monopoly, boggle, scrabble, checkers, Chinese checkers, jacks…they’re still the best ones out there. But there’s one childhood object – that similar to Mr. Potato head which I’m still trying to understand the purpose of – that is almost a rite of passage. But there’s one object – a toy – with an admittedly limited purpose yet one that illicit a sense of nostalgia among many of us – (can you guess which one?) the magic eight ball!
So how did the magic eight ball work? It was a round black ball that looked like an oversized eight ball from the pool table and in the middle was a purple-ish looking fluid filled part. You would ask your magic eight ball a question, shake up your ball and then your magic eight ball would give you an answer to your question. So you could ask anything…. and then, shake and you knew the “right” thing to do.
Could you imagine if life were so straightforward. If YOU had a magic eight ball – and you had faith that it worked. You could inquire about big and small choices, how to spend your evening, how to respond to your child’s report card, which countertops to buy for your kitchen, if you should stay in a relationship, if you should switch jobs, at what point is the right time to retire, if you should put more into your savings, how you should be spending your time, and the list goes on and on… if you had a magical ball that gave you the “right” answers right now in your hands…. what would you ask? What questions do you yearn to have answered? And can you even begin to imagine such faith that God was doing the answering?
In the Torah portion that we read this morning, believe it or not….there was a magic eight ball or perhaps more accurately there were magical stones – an oracle -- that told the High Priest (the Kohen Gadol) God’s will. They were the called the Urim and Tummim ("Light and Perfection" or "Perfect Lights") but instead of being held in any persons hands, the Kohen Gadol or the High Priest would wear them inside his breastplate in order to “carry the instrument of decision for the Jewish People over his heart before God at all times.” So how were these oracles used? Some say that they were only used for questions of grave importance, usually connected to the function of the state, such as whether and when to go to war, but our Torah itself hints at the possibility that it was used for more mundane questions. According to midrash ((Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 38) the way that it worked was that behind the gemstone mounts (something that is rarely mentioned) there was a plate inscribed with God’s name (the tetragrammaton) and supernal light would radiate from the divine name that would illuminate different stones. Since each stone was inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes, messages were oftentimes spelled on the Urim and Tummim for the High Priest. Some say (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer) that the stone representing a tribe would glow if the tribe was involved in a transgression, and then the diviner would have to discern the specifics himself but other accounts record that the answers given by the devices were given in full sentences that were spelled out from the letters on the breastplate. For all intents and purposes, the urim and tummim guaranteed that the High Priest and the entire community through the High Priest – could be privy to God’s will. That they were crystal clear (no pun intended J) on what God wanted from them and regarding what they were supposed to do in any situation.
Imagine the security of knowing that you and your community were doing exactly what God wanted! No uncertainty, no prolonged angst in trying to make decisions….life would be so simple! But sadly, the use of the urim and tummim passed at the time that our Prophets died and our generations no longer have the explicit divine words or the devices to tell us which path to follow. That doesn’t mean that we’re left without any guidance…but our guidance requires effort…We have our inherited traditions which are ours to learn, we have our sacred writings which are recorded for us to study and know, we have the world around us which is there for us to learn from, and we have the small still voice that speaks within each one of us which is there for us to listen to. According to R. Brad Artson, “these four legs are the base on which we stand, the compass by which a Jew can chart a proper course in life, the path for us to walk.” It’s not as easy as wearing the magical stones and reading God’s answer – but figuring out the answers to the important questions is still possible, not certain -- but possible.
Rabbi Harold Kushner in his recent book; Overcoming Life's Disappointments told a story about a rabbi (but change the details to fit your own life and I think it offers insight for all of us)…"The story is told about a rabbi…who had such a busy week that he never got around to visiting sick members of his congregation in the hospital. As a result, he needed to cancel a planned Sunday afternoon family outing in order to make the visits. After a few hours, the rabbi left the hospital feeling disheartened and wondering if he had made the right decision: Two of the people he had gone to visit had been discharged earlier that morning and the other person he was visiting had a room full of visitors and his presence felt more like an intrusion. So the rabbi walked to the parking garage wondering about his choice…. when he happened to pass by an office building with a security guard in front. The guard wished him a good afternoon, which prompted the rabbi to stop and say to him, 'It's Sunday. The building is closed and empty. Why are you standing here?' The guard answered, 'I'm hired to make sure nobody breaks in to steal or vandalize anything. But what are you doing here in a suit and tie on a Sunday afternoon? Who do you work for?' "The rabbi was about to tell the guard the name of his congregation when he paused, reached into his pocket for a business card, and said, 'Here's my name and phone number. I'll pay you five dollars a week to call me every Monday morning and ask me that question: Remind me to ask myself, Who do I work for?' "
The truth is that…we all have one boss…we all work for God. But it’s easy among the hustle and bustle of life to forget that. Perhaps explaining why even the Kohen Gadol had to wear the tzitz on his forehead – the gold on which was inscribed the words, “Holy To God”. For all of us, whether we’re in health care related fields, or in the world of finance, whether we’re teachers or lawyers or raising children….there’s one simple question to ask when we’re facing big or small decisions and we feel “stuck” …what would God want me to do? And sometimes… most of the time….if we’re honest with ourselves and truly listen – we can all find OUR answers.
Shabbat shalom! |
