Category — Mishpatim

The judge walked out of the elevator into the parking lot and quickly walked over to his car. Suddenly he stopped, for right near the car lay an attaché case. Greedily, he picked it up.

He looked to all sides: the coast was clear. He opened the car, shoved in the case and was on his way.

At the first light, he opened the case. To his pleasant surprise, in it were beautiful diamonds. Wow! I’m not returning this!

Every few days, he sold another diamond, and his bank account slowly began growing. All was well, until that Sunday three weeks later…

The phone rang. “Hello? Is this Judge Davidson? Umm… a few weeks ago I left my attaché case in the parking lot of the court house. Do you by any chance have an idea what might have occurred?”

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“Thanks.”

An hour later the same caller called back. “Are you sure you don’t recall anything? Your car was right near where I left the bag?”

The judge was irritated; “I told you I don’t know anything; nothing changed over the last hour!”

A few hours later there was a knock on the door. Three journalists presented the judge with video footage of the parking lot three weeks prior, and of him opening the case at the red light. His shocked expression was hard to hide…

WHAT?????

It soon transpired that these journalists had taken on a project to put those morality enforcers to the test. Do they just talk the talk or they also walk the walk…? This judge failed. Miserably.

It’s like this. If you keep laws because they make sense, then you adhere to them in the court room where everything is run according to the books. But when the money is laying before you begging you the take it, all may be lost. However, if you keep them because G-d says so, then they apply equally in the basement as they do on live broadcast.

And think about it: imagine if the judge knew he was being filmed. What are the odds that he would have walked off with the booty?

Duh! None!

This is the certainty that comes with fear of G-d, knowing that He is always watching our every move.

Let us not only preach about a better world; more importantly, let’s begin to live better lives.

A special thank you to my dear friend Rabbi L. Feldman for his assistance with this thought.

As a result of an earthquake, an elderly Jewish couple were buried in a cellar.
A rescue command of the Red Cross raked out the ruins to release them. Only a wall separated them.

The rescuer knocked with the hammer against the wall to give a signal to the buried. “Who is there?” He heard a voice rise from beneath the rubble.
“The Red Cross.”
“For the Red Cross we have already donated.”

*

Did you know that you have an animal inside of you? Let me tell you about it. Inside each and every one of us lie two souls, inclinations, consciousnesses, who are constantly fighting, each trying to pull us in their direction. One is called the G-dly soul, the other is the animal soul.

The G-dly soul rests in the brain, in logic, in sense; therefore it could be called the human soul. Totally objective, the brain let’s us make honest and true choices.

The animal soul rests in the heart, in desires in impulse in gratification, hence the name animal, empty of common sense and human superiority. Totally subjective the heart forces us make wrong, egoistic choices.

An animal runs for food, and man runs to the movies or drives fancy cars, yet the difference is but in stage not in plane. If it’s all about impulse, then we loose our humanity.

To say no to drugs is not slavery it’s freedom, to say no to sin is not oppression of humanity, it’s humanity at its best. For freedom doesn’t mean to be free of convictions and slave to immorality, the opposite is true.

You might say that it’s a tough freedom full of “do this, don’t do that’s”, that’s true.

But its like a prince, heir to the throne of a great land, who one day decides to leave his home of comfort and to become a baker in a small town. If in one word I could describe this move it would be “Disgrace”. He lives a life below his dignity, underestimating his true worth, truly a waste.

So is the case for the one who chooses the path of indulgence; the human inside of him suffers and cries: please return home, to the palace, to yourself. You were born a prince, don’t exchange it for anything. True you receive tougher discipline and harder studies – Torah and Mitzvahs, but that is because of who you are, son of the king, heir to the throne, to help you be the best you can.

A truly free man is someone who is a slave to his mind, who can live by the convictions he believes in, who masters mind over matter. Self discipline is of the greatest humanistic virtues, for that is what differentiates and puts us higher then all other creations.

So the next time your asked to practice who you are, be it Teffilin for men, or Shabbat candles for women, or a good deed for all of us, say yes to freedom and become just a small bit more human, more G-dly.

To live up to the title “Human” is a virtue privy only to a select few – the few who the rise of global freedom didn’t mean the fall of their inner freedom.

*

Now ask yourself a few questions: is religion oppressive? Are those who live a fully observant life slaves? Is somebody who does whatever the heart desires a free man? Are we more in touch to our humanity when we live a life of pleasure, or when we live a devout life full of commandment and stringencies?

Please don’t use the subjective heart to respond. Be objective, use your mind.