{"id":32545,"date":"2013-06-11T16:42:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T16:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=32545"},"modified":"2013-10-21T16:20:21","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T16:20:21","slug":"do-as-i-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/do-as-i-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Do As I Say…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rabbi-Eliyahu-Safran_avatar\"<\/a>Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, the revered mashgiach and Ba\u2019al Mussar was once riding in a cab and the Israeli driver related the following story:<\/p>\n

\u201cRebbi, when my friends and I completed our army service, we decided to go on a world tour. We found ourselves in the jungles of Africa one night when all of a sudden one of my friends woke up screaming. a boa constrictor wrapped around his neck. \u00a0We tried as much as we could to pull the snake off, but with no success. He was turning blue; close to death. \u00a0We didn\u2019t know what to do. \u00a0At that point, one of us shouted to him, \u2018Yigal, you\u2019re going to die, at least say <\/i>Shema.\u2019 \u00a0Yigal started saying <\/i>Shema. \u00a0As soon as he finished the first <\/i>passuk, the snake released himself and slithered away.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

The cab driver continued, \u201cRebbi, do you know that as a result of that incident my friend Yigal became a <\/i>baal teshuva! Today, he is <\/i>frum with a beautiful religious family. They keep kosher, his wife covers her hair and his kid<\/i>s all go to cheder.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Rav Levenstein responded, \u201cThat\u2019s amazing.\u201d He paused for a minute and then suddenly asked, \u201cand what about you?\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cMe?\u00a0 Oh no,\u201d said the cab driver, glancing away from the road. \u201cIt didn\u2019t happen to me.\u00a0 It happened to him.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

A man has a life-threatening experience.\u00a0 He prays, and the situation resolves.\u00a0 He is safe.\u00a0 To his credit, his life and behavior is changed dramatically going forward.\u00a0 But those who witnessed the event?\u00a0 Those who saw the miracle?\u00a0 They acknowledge the wisdom of their friend becoming baal teshuva <\/i>but what lesson do they take from the incident?\u00a0 What do they incorporate into their own lives?<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

A life-altering event is reduced to little more than a story a taxi driver tells to pass the time when he has an observant passenger.<\/p>\n

Must we always be deaf to the truths that we speak?\u00a0 Must we always be blocked in our ability to translate earned wisdom into appropriate behavior?<\/p>\n

How many times have I heard someone say, \u201cDo as I say, not as I do\u201d? as though the insights and intelligence of our words can truly teach someone else if they have not taught us!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

It has always been thus.\u00a0 It is telling that even after witnessing the miracles that freed them from Egypt, B\u2019nai Yisrael <\/i>quickly began to complain in the desert.\u00a0 It was not long after the Children of Israel had complained yet again <\/i>about their desert \u201cmenu\u201d that God sent snakes and serpents that bit and killed \u201cmultitudes from among them.<\/p>\n

What was this horror!<\/p>\n

The Israelites hurried to Moshe to mercifully plead for their lives.\u00a0 Despite no doubt knowing their nature only too well, Moshe once again prayed on their behalf.\u00a0 In response to his prayer, God gave him the following instruction, \u201cMake yourself a fiery serpent and place it on a pole and it will be that anyone who is bitten will look at it and live.\u201d (21:8)<\/p>\n

This was indeed a curious response.\u00a0 What is one to make of God\u2019s instruction?<\/p>\n

The Mishna in Rosh Hashana asks, \u201cBut does a serpent kill or restore life? What is the meaning of looking at the serpent?\u201d<\/p>\n

A simple reading of God\u2019s command could almost be misinterpreted as a suggestion of idolatry. \u00a0\u201cRather,\u201d the Mishna responds, \u201cwhen Israel gazed upward and subjugated their heart \u00a0to their Father in Heaven, they were healed, but if not they perished.\u201d<\/p>\n

This explanation makes clear that it was not gazing upon the copper snake itself that provided some kind of medical antidote for anyone who had been bitten by the snake or serpent.\u00a0 Rather, it effectuated a spiritual repentance, reflection and introspection, \u201ca subjugation of the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maharal teaches that looking at the copper snake high upon the pole accomplished two goals.\u00a0 One, it caused the person to look heavenward, ensuring his realization that he was totally dependent only on God. Two, by viewing a representation of that which caused him harm and pain, his prayers would be more intense and focused.<\/p>\n

In his teaching, Maharal is conveying an important lesson in prayer. \u00a0When engaged in tefila<\/i>, one must feel and clearly visualize that for which he is seeking God\u2019s intervention. \u00a0\u00a0It is not enough to say the words.\u00a0 He must feel <\/i>the experience.<\/p>\n

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch goes further than the Maharal. \u00a0In referring to God\u2019s command, he argues that the point was not <\/i>to look beyond the snake and into the heavens but rather, to look directly at the snake and by doing so, fully understand the wildness of the snake and the environment he found himself in.\u00a0 By looking directly at the snake, he would understand exactly the dangers of the Midbar years and, \u201cWho leads you through the great and awesome wilderness \u2013 of snake, fiery serpent and scorpion.\u201d\u00a0 (Devarim 8:15)<\/p>\n

In other words, Don\u2019t you get it?!\u00a0 You are in the midst of constant danger and challenge.\u00a0 If not for God\u2019s benevolence and protection, the scorpion and snake would have the upper hand.<\/p>\n

The generation of yotzei mitzrayim<\/i>, whose voices were raised in a constant refrain litany of complaints, needed to look at the high Nes \u2013 <\/i>not \u201cpole or banner\u201d, but Nes <\/i>meaning miracle.\u00a0 God is saying to the Children of Israel, \u201cLook at the miracle that surrounds you every minute of your long sojourn in the dessert!\u201d<\/p>\n

The serpent cannot kill or restore life. \u00a0That is for God.\u00a0 Do not be distracted by the telling of the story.\u00a0 See what is essential in the experience.\u00a0 The cure and protection from the snake is a nes, <\/i>miracle.\u00a0 It is God.<\/p>\n

Our cabdriver would do well to see beyond the boa constrictor around his friend\u2019s neck to realize we are all in the midbar <\/i>unless we look beyond the danger to see God\u2019s protection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran serves as OU Kosher\u2019s vice president of communications and marketing<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, the revered mashgiach and Ba\u2019al Mussar was once riding in a cab and the Israeli driver related the following story: \u201cRebbi, when my friends and I completed our army service, we decided to go on a world tour. 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