Are you a man or a monkey ?
TZAV
Tradition to quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism he says is the dead faith of the living.
* Ten monkeys are in a room with a staircase in the corner. When one of the monkey’s wander over to the staircase and takes one step up a hose in the ceiling sprays all the monkeys. Soon the monkeys realize the feedback loop and do not allow any monkeys to go near the stairs. One monkey is removed and a new one is added. As soon as he ventures near the stairs all the monkeys prevent him. The monkeys are replaced one by one until all ten monkeys are new and have not witnessed the hose. They will not allow any monkey near the stairs but they don’t know why.
1. In this week’s parshah we are instructed to keep a fire burning on the alter continuously. One explanation is that this represents continuing the Jewish tradition, the Torah way of life.
2. What makes our behavior, our Judaism, tradition as opposed to traditionalism? How are we any different than the monkeys?
3. Our Judaism must be like fire. It must be alive and burning within us. When we perform our seder out of rote, we are dead we are like monkeys. In order to keep a fire continuously burning you must constantly feed it. Spiritual growth is like running up a down escalator, if you are standing still you are moving backwards. Questions and an inquisitive nature are what keep’s Judaism alive and growing; it is how we feed the fire.
3. The fire and intensity of Judaism is transferred from generation to generation by example. This is at the soul of the Pesach seder. We do not want our children to follow us blindly we encourage them to ask questions. We tell them to question everything, everything is on the table -- literally -- we ask questions about everything on the table. G-D wants us to seek an understanding of the meaning of everything we do. G-D wants us to be men not monkeys.
Tradition to quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism he says is the dead faith of the living.
* Ten monkeys are in a room with a staircase in the corner. When one of the monkey’s wander over to the staircase and takes one step up a hose in the ceiling sprays all the monkeys. Soon the monkeys realize the feedback loop and do not allow any monkeys to go near the stairs. One monkey is removed and a new one is added. As soon as he ventures near the stairs all the monkeys prevent him. The monkeys are replaced one by one until all ten monkeys are new and have not witnessed the hose. They will not allow any monkey near the stairs but they don’t know why.
1. In this week’s parshah we are instructed to keep a fire burning on the alter continuously. One explanation is that this represents continuing the Jewish tradition, the Torah way of life.
2. What makes our behavior, our Judaism, tradition as opposed to traditionalism? How are we any different than the monkeys?
3. Our Judaism must be like fire. It must be alive and burning within us. When we perform our seder out of rote, we are dead we are like monkeys. In order to keep a fire continuously burning you must constantly feed it. Spiritual growth is like running up a down escalator, if you are standing still you are moving backwards. Questions and an inquisitive nature are what keep’s Judaism alive and growing; it is how we feed the fire.
3. The fire and intensity of Judaism is transferred from generation to generation by example. This is at the soul of the Pesach seder. We do not want our children to follow us blindly we encourage them to ask questions. We tell them to question everything, everything is on the table -- literally -- we ask questions about everything on the table. G-D wants us to seek an understanding of the meaning of everything we do. G-D wants us to be men not monkeys.
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