I'm sure you noticed that today is Friday the 13th. The triscadecaphobics who have a particular fear of the number thirteen are shaking today.
I hope you have no fear of the number 13 and, as I will explain later, you have no reason to be afraid but do you have any superstitions at all? Would you walk under an open ladder? I wouldn't. Why tempt fate? I figure why not go a few steps out of my way to avoid asking for trouble.
One superstition I find particularly confounding and a touch amusing is people knocking on wood. People will sit in my Study or even in the Sanctuary and knock on wood. Sometimes if they can't find any wood, they knock on their heads. What is that all about? Almost simultaneously, they will say "I know this is not a Jewish thing to do but they nevertheless continue their attempt to knock. They will sometimes even say they know it has something to do with knocking on the cross but knock still. A fear of Friday the 13th comes out of the same milieu as knocking on wood.
Related to superstition is the issue of fate. Do we Jews believe in fate? Do we feel that anything is written in the stars? The answer is Yes and No! On the one hand, The Bible commands us specifically not to consult a sorcerer or an astrologer. We find this injunction in Deuteronomy 18:14. You shall not listen to sorcerers and diviners. This, however, has not always been easy to enforce.
When we want to wish someone all the best, what do we say? We joyfully proclaim "Mazal Tov!" Mazal means a star. May the stars be good to you. Siman Tov U'Mazal Tov! May you have a good sign and a good star. Even though the Talmud instructs us that Israel is immune from planetary influence (Shabbat 156a), the zodiac has become part of Jewish lore. The remains of the 6th century synagogue in Beit Alpha located in the Galilee region of Israel reveals a beautiful zodiac on the mosaic floor of the synagogue. The Byolyshtoker synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan has a beautifully painted ceiling displaying the signs of the Zodiac.
Joshua Trachtenberg writes in his book Jewish Magic and Superstition regarding the Jewish debate on astrology "But the tenets of Judaism obliged them to subjoin an important qualification: the stars determine human actions, but they too are creatures of G-d, established by Him to perform this special function and therefore the influence they exert is subject to His Will. Repentance, prayer, piety charity, good deeds, the religious virtues, are the instruments by means of which man can induce G-d to alter His decrees and consequently to modify the fate that is written in the stars for him." The bottom line is that nothing is so determined that our behavior can't have an affect and impact. Our repentance, our prayer, our behavior can change even the stars in the heavens.
A basic tenet of Judaism is that we all have second chances in this adventure called life. I heard someone say this past week that the greatness of America is that we each have the ability to invent ourselves. That is not true in many class determined societies. In America, we especially like political candidates who are born in their own version of Abe Lincoln's log cabin and become self made men and women. In Judaism, we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. Our Parsha describes the institution known as Pesach Sheyni - the second Pesach. For the individual who, for whatever reasons could not observe Passover and especially because he was in a state of ritual impurity on the fourteenth of Nisan, he has the opportunity to do Pesach a month later in what is called a second Pesach. We have do-overs in Judaism. We call this repentance. Where we have failed the first or the tenth time, we can try again until we no longer miss the mark but hit the bull's eye of life. All of this is to say that while the stars may play a role, we are invested with an even greater power if we choose to exercise it. We can exert our free will to return to the scene of the misdeed, try again and get it right.
Is there really anything to worry about today? Is there anything to fear this Friday the 13th? Is there anything Jewish about the fear of the number 13? The answer here is unequivocally Absolutely Not! The psychoanalyst Charles Brenner explains that the fear of the number 13 is Christian in origin. It comes from the last supper when Jesus and his twelve disciples sat together after which he was crucified on a Friday. If thirteen people get together, something ominous will befall one of them.
And the Jewish take on 13? We love it. When Maimonides wrote his articles of faith known to us through the Yigdal prayer, he gave us a list of thirteen principals. Rabbi Ishmael taught us the 13 methods of interpreting the Torah. On holidays, we chant the thirteen attributes of G-d. A young person reaches the age of responsibility at the age of 13 and the Hebrew letters which add up to thirteen spell the word Ahavah, love.
We don't need to be afraid of this day but I'm not sure every one is convinced. Many people have all kinds of fears of today and fears for tomorrow. Some people are afraid of heights. Others could climb a mountain but would panic in a closed space. Some feel panicked on a plane, some in a room of strangers. Some are fine with strangers as long as they remain strangers but they have a fear of intimacy. Some people have a fear of failure and some have a fear of success and some fear both and are almost paralyzed.
Perhaps this Friday the 13th could inspire us to work to shed or overcome some fear that still inhibits us. We have our own power. With the best that is American, we have the ability to invent ourselves and with the best that is Jewish, we have the ability to reinvent ourselves. Our Parsha opens with the idea of lighting a light that will shine in the Temple. We each have the ability to make the world a brighter place for ourselves and for others.
Shabbat
Shalom
