About KBY

The practice of spying or of using spies, is typically conducted by government agencies employed to gather intelligence on domestic/foreign activities, as well on friendly and unfriendly governments. People should keep in mind that the spy business is usually a two-way street, meaning just as one individual is attempting to gather information on someone, that individual may be also gathering information on the first individual simultaneously. If you are old enough to remember the original television show (or the reruns) called “Get Smart,” you may recall the names of the two spy organizations: ‘Control’ and ‘Chaos’. The show comically depicted the political climate of its time during the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union. These two ‘spy’ organizations were constantly spying on each other. This holds true in the real world as well.

Whenever I go out into the world, whether it is to go shopping, a sporting event, or some type of recreational activity, I always bring my “spy glasses” with me. Call me neurotic or paranoid, but whenever I enter a restaurant or any unfamiliar room, I always sit facing the entrance because I hate having my back to the door. In a sense, I spy out those who enter, simultaneously surveying my surroundings, helping me to feel safe in the new, unknown environment. Whether this is truly effective or not, I hope never to find out. Realistically, I am not only looking at everyone else, but I’m aware that everyone else is also looking at me - most probably all for the same reasons. Putting aside a strange room and seating scenario, I face a constant eyeing from people who question whether I am Hebrew and whether I am also a Rabbi.

Most times when I am out, I try avoiding the questioning eye about religion because I dislike it. Typically, most often I’m asked the obvious questions about my Yarmulk and Tzitzis. These questioners even openly wonder if I always wear them! The range of questions knows no bounds, covering topics dealing with Israel, Zionism, the Talmud, Hebrew law and even the location of the synagogue. The worst is when a questioner innocently begins speaking of Judaism and then turns the question into a nasty diatribe ridiculing my faith, finally espousing his religion upon me.

Recently, I was asked an usual question, “Are you a Rabbi?” I quickly ran through a mental analysis of my time, patience and desire regarding whether to answer in the affirmative or not. The quick, instant evaluation led me to say, “Yes, I am a Rabbi.” I then took a deep breath waiting for the next question or statement to roll out about me and my faith. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a confrontation that I never had before. Now knowing that I was a Rabbi, this person calmly asked me, “Rabbi, please teach me something.” I was completely caught off guard but regained my composure and calmly quoted the famous verse from Vayikra: regarding loving your neighbor as yourself. When a spy is caught by another spy, he must always be prepared in advance with answers that he intends to divulge to the other side.

It was such a refreshing encounter, let alone from a non-Jew. For the record, most of, actually many of the interactions I encounter regarding the topic of learning with my fellow Israelite is typically, ‘Why do we need to do this or that and why can’t we do this or that.’ Rare is the time when someone approaches me with a request of “Rabbi, please teach me something.” This was a refreshing look at how other people take things. I felt this person’s sincerity and desire to learn. This, Heaven Forbid, does not discount most Israel for asking me questions of why and what because most often they are coming from a good place. When the gentleman asked the question, I started to think of another angle of why his question was different. The answer falls in with the names of the spy agencies of ‘Get Smart’. The good spies were called ‘Control’; the bad spies were called ‘Chaos’. These names represent the core principle in Judaism: the Torah was given to us to control our lives for the better while Yetzer Hora was created to challenge the Torah and create chaos.

It is interesting to note that both types are referred to as spies; though there is certainly a much harder-word for the latter in the official papers. Surely enough, we tend to sympathize with the first conventionally noble group and may even want to join their lines.

In fact, in this week’s Torah portion Shlach, we find Moshe sending out twelve “equal spies” yet most commentaries see them after the fact as ten bad spies and two good spies on their return. Most Meforshim give a bad rap to the ten spies. But there are some who find merit in their words and actions. One such person is the Tzvi Yisrael commenting on the opening verse in the parsha. In Bamidbar 13:2 Moshe sends out one spy per tribe, describing the worthiness of each man. The purpose and benefit of sending spies was to create the impression that it was a challenge to conquer the land, but it was solely due to God that we could capture the land. If spies were NOT sent, the concern would be that future generations might say that “the inhabitants of Canaan were weak and the Israel - our ancestors - conquered the land through natural means”. Therefore, perhaps even Hashem would acquiesce to the request of B’Nei Yisrael in sending spies, thereby justifying this concern. The spies would come back and be on record that the inhabitants were giants, they were strong, etc. and despite all that they were able to conquer the land because of Hashem. The hint to this lies in the words in the passuk “Asher Ani Nosein L’Bnei Yisrael”: “That which I (Hashem) gave to the Children of Israel.”

The good spies look out for ways to protect the Torah and its ability to control our Yetzer Hora and push our Yetzer Tov - to encourage a life of happiness and joy. The evil spies, who create chaos, look for ways to disrupt the design of the Torah, its mitzvot, and the ways to adhere to it. We are all spies and messengers for the Holy One (Blessed is He). For the most part, we the students of the Torah of Moshe works for the spy agency known as ‘Control’, although sometimes we forget and become spies for ‘Chaos’ in our Hashkafa, our worldly philosophical outlook in life. It’s so easy to create chaos and is always difficult to control, but that is our challenge in life, Hatzlacha (Relief/Rescue) to everyone seeking out questions to learn.

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!

No two eyes are alike and no two people literally see eye to eye. There is a general understanding of concepts, philosophies, understanding of laws that by and large people agree upon, but not necessarily exactly the same way. I think we can all agree that the way an adult view a situation will be very different than that of a child. This differentiation usually comes with greater clarity of focus as the child ages in years and matures in his thinking. But until that time comes, there will be many frustrating, exhausting and upsetting battles between parent and child, teacher and student, and for that matter, between the growing adolescent and anyone in an authoritative position. Looking at the presence time, I feel that teenagers now were by far the worst as their brains developed critical thinking skills, learning on-the-job skills of how to argue and rationalize through every minute detail of life.

Without going into all the details, I remember one such incident when one of my children was clearly in the puzzled wrong but saw emphatically differently. It was an issue of substance contrary to the many trivial things we had ‘lively discussions’ about. Due to the importance of the subject, I sought out guidance from my Rabbi. I carefully laid out the two sides of the argument or dispute that I had with my teenage child. I was sure that my Rebbi, knowing I was in the right, would give me some advice and clever strategy for dealing with the circumstances at hand.

To my great surprise and initial disappointment, not only did he not give me any strategy or even basic advice, in a unique way he sided with my child! My Rabbi’s words were clear: “We need to look at the situation through the child’s eyes,” using phrases such as “in her mind”; “from her perspective” and “where the child is coming from”. This was truly an eye-opener for me. Why do we, as parents, need to look at the story or situation from the child’s perspective? At first, I looked and bewildered. You know, like… aren’t the parents always, right? And what about the notion that children should listen to what the parents say, regardless of where the child is coming from? My puzzled look then gave way to a look of ‘uhuh’ maybe my Rabbi is right and look at things from a different perspective, using a more objective manner, bringing our child’s input of the situation into the discussion.

We are all influenced by our peers, by our surroundings, and by the information we read and hear about. One of the most convincing of ideas and beliefs is seeing something, as the old saying goes: “seeing is believing”. The Hebrew people historically have made decisions - both good and bad - based upon circumstances that we thought were very clear. One instance which caused catastrophic damage was the image that the Evil one drew for the people showing that Moshe Rabbeinu was dead after the Israelites miscalculated the timing of his return down from Har Sinai. Yet, there is another ‘vision’ that appears in the Torah that helped Israel in their traversing the dangers of the desert.

In this week’s Parashat Behalotecha in Bamidbar 9:15 the Torah states: “U’V’Yom Hakim Es HaMishkan Kisa He’Anan Es HaMishkan L’Ohel HaEidus, UBa’Erev Yihiyeh Al HaMishkan K’Marei Aish Ad HaBoker”: “On the day that the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, the Tent of Testimony. Then, in the evening, there was something that appeared to be like fire on the Tabernacle, remaining there until morning”. The narration continues in 9:16 “From then on it remained that way. There was a cloud covering it [by day], and a fire-like partition by night”. The Targum Yehonasan Ben Uziel remarks that it is possible that the cloud remained and was also there at night. The Midrash Rabbah asks rhetorically,” What does ‘looks like fire’ mean?” The wording teaches us that if the cloud was whitish, then the people knew that the sun was rising. When the cloud was reddish, they knew the sun was setting.

Here in the desert, there was only one cloud that served both during the day and through the night, similar to what the Midrash said. This cloud in the Midbar was there leading the Israel at night, but it appeared as fire. There was a perception among the people that this night-time pillar was a fire, but in reality, it was just the same cloud. The appearance of the cloud at night was a fire, as viewed at the end of Sefer Shemot: “The cloud of Hashem was over the Mishkan during the day, and fire in it at night, referring to the cloud itself. The cloud is the true essence of where God was found.

Be that as it may, what was the benefit for Israel to perceive the cloud as a fire instead of the same cloud from the daytime? The Shach (Sifsei Kohein) - the appearance of the cloud as fire - remained even when the Israelites camped and were stationary. Initially, we thought the fire was necessary at night to light up the road when they travelled. That is not the case, as the fire (the cloud that looked like a fire) was seen even at night because nighttime is filled with fear and worry. At night, a person thinks of his sins and is nervous. The vision of seeing a fire was a protection for the Israel at night to do Teshuva as the fire would remind them of the fires of Gehinom. A preventive measure from sinning is when one thinks of the fires of Gehinom. The fire will ward off evil spirits and any bad thoughts of sin that might come to mind during the night.

The mind is a powerful tool that perceives things that are there or may not be there. When it comes to business and secular things in life, a person will be open to hearing and listening to another’s perspective and see that person’s perception of the situation. In spiritual matters when a person is already in a position of seeing himself in a certain way, he should not leave things to his or her own perception but rather get guidance from an objective viewpoint. Let’s grow up and not act like the child who can only see it his way. Let’s rather be open to ask what the proper way of seeing and doing something is. When it comes to children, take into account their perception and empower them, but ultimately use that perception and empowerment to lead them to the correct and true conclusions.

Remember Torah is all about relationship NOT religion!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!!