{"id":39414,"date":"2016-05-31T15:22:41","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T15:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=39414"},"modified":"2016-09-26T15:03:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T15:03:38","slug":"not-negative-not-positive-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/not-negative-not-positive-make\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a Negative Does Not a Positive Make"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a recurring trope in comedy movies in which a leader addresses a group, asking for volunteers to \u201cstep forward.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, no one steps forward.\u00a0 However, everyone <\/em>but an unwitting innocent steps backward. The poor sap becomes the \u201cvolunteer\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"iStock_000083294025_Small\"Not stepping backward is the same as stepping forward.<\/p>\n

Applying that same \u201cprincipal\u201d to our times is a disheartening exercise in relativity.\u00a0 Common discourse has often grown so crass and demeaning that someone who simply makes a bland observation but does not actively tear someone or something down with ugly criticism is lauded as singing praises.<\/p>\n

Certainly criticism is something we Jews are familiar with.\u00a0 Conflict and argumentation is woven into the fabric of our social lives.\u00a0 Ask three Jews a question and you\u2019ll get four different answers.<\/p>\n

Except\u2026 except that is not the Jewish way.\u00a0 One should never confuse intellectual and religious argumentation with criticism.\u00a0 Far from it.\u00a0 That we dissect every issue with an eye to uncovering every possible facet to the argument is quite different than the common practice of tearing others down.\u00a0 For Jews, we try not to make it \u201cpersonal\u201d.\u00a0 And yet, do we still fall short?\u00a0 Is it an unavoidable human quality to fall victim to the curse of \u201crelativity\u201d; is our behavior toward our fellow like the character in the movie, when not stepping back is tantamount to stepping forward?<\/p>\n

Ironically, and powerfully, this period of the year, the sefira<\/em> between Pesach and Shavuot, provides a lesson in Judaism\u2019s lesson that not <\/em>doing something negative is somehow the same as doing something positive.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

We associate the sefira <\/em>with the passing of Rabbi Akiva\u2019s disciples.\u00a0 This is the rationale for instituting various aspects of mourning during this period. \u00a0The sages were clear about why <\/em>Rabbi Akiva\u2019s disciples died. \u00a0The Talmud states emphatically, \u201cThey did not conduct themselves with respect towards one another.\u201d (Yevamos 62b). What they are less clear about is what exactly that meant, to not conduct themselves with respect towards one another.<\/p>\n

Of R\u2019 Akiva\u2019s biography, we know that he came from a very modest background and that his nature and experience combined to make him as kind and considerate to others as he was wise and knowledgeable.\u00a0 A story tells that once, when they had only a bundle of straw for a bed, a poor man came to beg some straw for a bed for his sick wife. R\u2019 Akiva at once divided with him his scanty possession, remarking to his wife, \u201cThou seest, my child, there are those poorer than we!\u201d<\/p>\n

His respect for his fellow man was deep and pure.\u00a0 So how could it be that his devoted disciples did not \u201cconduct themselves with respect\u201d toward one another?\u00a0 Imagine!\u00a0 These were R\u2019 Akiva\u2019s students.\u00a0 Exceptional in every measure.\u00a0 They knew not only Akiva\u2019s teaching but had been beneficiaries of the respect he showered on his talmidim<\/em>, as he did upon all others.<\/p>\n

How, and why, would his disciples behave any differently?\u00a0 Particularly to one another? \u00a0The thought of it is really inconceivable, that disrespect might emanate from Rabbi Akiva\u2019s study hall.<\/p>\n

So what might it mean that these students of our great sage did not conduct themselves with respect toward one another?\u00a0 Moreinu v\u2019Rabeinu Rav Chaim Yisroel Belsky ZT”L, whose recent passing remains so hard to accept; that this source of all Torah knowledge is no longer with us, no longer here to satisfy our thirst for all he had to teach, who was the embodiment of our sages and teachers, offered some insight into this profound question.<\/p>\n

It is unquestioned that, studying for so many years alongside Rabbi Akiva, his students grew in knowledge and stature, rising to the level of tannaim<\/em>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, their relations with one another <\/em>did not keep pace with their spiritual growth.\u00a0 They continued to interact with one another as they had as novice students, not as they would in the presence of such great and noble scholars.<\/p>\n

Their respect for one another did not grow proportionately <\/em>with their learning.<\/p>\n

One of the great lessons we are to learn from the\u00a0Sefirat\u00a0HaOmer <\/em>is that we must recognize and honor the growth and attainment of our fellow.\u00a0 As he grows in stature, so too must our recognition and honor.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/p>\n

R\u2019 Akiva\u2019s students showed one another only the level of respect they had at the beginning <\/em>of their spiritual journey together.\u00a0 Their level of respect stood still even as the \u201cbar was raised.\u201d\u00a0 What had been sufficiently respectful once was no longer respectful enough.<\/p>\n

Respect must be aligned to one\u2019s level of worthiness.\u00a0 Rabbi Akiva\u2019s students fell short, Rav Belsky explains, because their relationship with each other did not keep pace with their growing stature.\u00a0 We see it in our own time, when students are so attached to their learning and their Rebbe that they fall short in the honor they should show their chaverim <\/em>as well!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

To honor and truly respect a peer, a chaver.\u00a0 <\/em>That is the lesson of the sefira<\/em>.\u00a0 To respect the growth <\/em>of our fellow, recognizing not just what he was but what he has become!\u00a0 To truly step forward<\/em> and not just appear to step forward.<\/p>\n

For those of us blessed to have lived and learned in Rabbi Belsky\u2019s presence, the lesson could never be more clear.\u00a0 He taught, he explained, he communicated with utmost care and respect, knowing how much each would be able to achieve and attain.\u00a0 He treated everyone with the respect of the person he could be<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That is the standard that R\u2019 Akiva\u2019s students ultimately failed, to respect one another with the respect deserving of who they had become and who they would yet become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a recurring trope in comedy movies in which a leader addresses a group, asking for volunteers to \u201cstep forward.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, no one steps forward.\u00a0 However, everyone but an unwitting innocent steps backward. The poor sap becomes the \u201cvolunteer\u201d. Not stepping backward is the same as stepping forward. Applying that same \u201cprincipal\u201d to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":39415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[352],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sefirat-haomer"],"yoast_head":"\nNot a Negative Does Not a Positive Make - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rabbi Akiva's respect for others was deep & pure. 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