Wasn't it that great thinker and philosopher Woody Allen who said that
showing up is nine-tenths of it? He may have been right. How many
times have you been frustrated by a technician or landscaper just not
showing up. There is Jewish time, but that's not nearly as bad as
technician time. Between 8:00 and 10:00 AM can mean 12:00 PM if you're
lucky. Of course the other one-tenth may be the most important,
getting the job done right but first you have to show up and be
present.
There is a somewhat obscure note in our Etz Hayim Humash commentary on
our Parsha this week that especially struck me. It's about showing up
and about being present, truly present. Near the conclusion of chapter
29 of Exodus which deals with the installation ceremony of the
priests, we have the short and beautiful verse 45. It echoes the verse
I wrote about last week. Verse 45 reads "I will abide among the
Israelites and I will be their G-d." G-d is saying "I will show up. I
will be present. That is my gift."
Our Etz Hayim Humash offers in the commentary the following rather
obscure Talmudic reference taken from the tractate Zevachim. "The
Talmud asks a strange question: If a priest's body is inside the Tent
but his head remains outside, is he considered having entered the Tent
and may he perform the sacred service? The answer is that he may not;
he must be totally within." Our commentary goes on, "One is tempted to
understand the question in a spiritual rather than purely physical
terms. A person can be physically present at a service, but
emotionally and spiritually absent. One's head may be elsewhere. Such
a person is not considered a true participant." This brings the issue
of presence to the next level. Your body can be in one place, but your
head, somewhere else. When that happens, you're there, but not really
there. You're not present. A teacher recently told me with a sense of
exasperation that a parent came to visit the class and spent the
entire time on the cell phone. We can ask was he really present. The
only words of comfort I could offer the teacher was relating the time
I was delivering a eulogy and someone in the chapel spent almost the
entire time on the phone. Not only that. After he finished one call,
the phone rang again and he took the second call. I know he wasn't
present. My hope in offering some comfort to this teacher was based on
the premise that exasperation likes company.
What does it mean to be truly present? Presence is more than a
physical statement. "I am here for you" means so much more than
"I am physically in the same space as you." People can be in the
Sanctuary but not truly at the service. To be truly present, your body
and head must be in the tabernacle so to speak. You can be in the same
room and have a conversation with your spouse, child, friend and not
truly hear them. You may even take in the words but not the feeling
behind the words. You may not let the words resonate emotionally with
you. All of that points to your absence.
I just came back to my study from my
yearly visit to Bucks County Roses in Holland. Many presents were
given this week as well as on birthdays, anniversaries, Hanukkah,
Simchas and more. But that is not the best gift we can give on the
every days of the year. It is the present of our presence. It is the
present that our head and body are in the tabernacle; we are there
physically and with our heart and soul as well.
I also visited someone in the hospital yesterday. In my early years in
the rabbinate, I would, at times, doubt the value of my presence in a
hospital room. I went anyway, but I thought it was the doctors who
were doing the real work and they do their real work. There is more
than the medical real work. The person I visited reminded me of
another hospital visit I made during a previous hospitalization
nineteen years ago and what I said at that time. My presence in that
room almost twenty years ago must have meant something. I would say
to a young rabbi today, "if you ever doubt the value of your presence,
don't." I would say that to all of us. Your presence truly is
appreciated.
So I return to that sage advice that
showing up is nine-tenths of it. To reach the nine-tenths you have to
really show up. Really showing up means being really present. Being
really present means your body and head are in the tabernacle. With
that, your true presence is one of the best presents you can possibly
give.
Shabbat
Shalom
