Our focus in Confirmation Class this
week was dealing with ethics. If I had to write a lesson plan I would
have written Purpose: for the students to be exposed to Judaism's
concern for us to live ethically and to look at various life
situations with an eye to evaluating whether or not our actions are
ethical. Method: Reading a brief case study and then class discussion
based on a brief list of questions.
I will tell you what the case study
is.
Each week, I read the Ethicist
column in the New York Times Sunday magazine section. More than a year
ago, someone posed the following quandary to the Ethicist, Randy
Cohen. It is entitled Yarmulke Ruse: "I stopped patronizing a
mail-order company when it began including editorial content about
Jesus in its catalog, finding that inappropriate. I now plan to visit
a camera store owned and staffed by Orthodox Jews. Although I am an
observant Jew, I do not regularly wear a yarmulke, but I'm considering
doing so in the hope of preferential treatment, maybe even a discount.
Hypocritical? Ethical?
I first asked for a general response
to the questioner and then we dealt with the individual questions I
prepared. There were at least two gems in the class that evening. One
student tried so hard to say that what this not quite Kippah wearing
Jew did was wrong but was also really O.K. Another member of the
class quickly said that his classmate was saying two opposite things
at once. This gave me the opportunity to explain how we often work
hard to rationalize behavior that we know is wrong, but we want to
find some way to justify it. But, we can't! If we know it's wrong,
better to not try to justify it so that we don't tie ourselves up in a
knot and we just don't do it.
The second gem was even bigger and
brighter. In response to one of my questions one young man who is
usually parsimonious with his participation said, "Well, it depends if
you want to see yourself as clever or good." I was struck by how wise
this statement was and amazing that it was coming from a high school
sophomore. It sounds like it would come from someone who had much more
life experience and years to grow wise. I couldn't help but repeat his
words to the class like a mantra. "It depends if you want to see
yourself as clever or good." He was clearly using the word clever
pejoratively. At the end of the day, do you want to look in the mirror
and see cleverness staring back at you or a portrait of goodness?
As I was driving home later that
evening, I wondered what is valued more in society today and what
message youth and adults get. I think clever wins out. What is
valued more in Judaism and what message does Judaism give us? There is
no question it is to be good. The Talmud teaches that one can achieve
the crown of riches or royalty but the crown of a good name exceeds
them both. Good trumps clever.
A few weeks ago, an upcoming Bar
Mitzvah told me that he was hoping for a new guitar for his Bar
Mitzvah. He also told me that another present he really wanted and had
received was a bow and arrow. I kidded him that a Jewish archer is not
something we see every day. On second thought, however, I told him
that Judaism and archery are a perfect match. The very word Torah is
an archery term. It comes from a verb based on the letters Yud, Resh,
Hey, which is an archery term and means to shoot something in a
straight line. That is the purpose of Torah in our lives. Torah is to
help us proceed in the right direction. The questioner in the column
describes himself as an observant Jew. Is he really? He seems more
clever than good.
When we are misdirected, we commit a
Het. We normally translate Het as a sin like on Yom Kippur we recite
the Al Het - for the sin of. Het, however, really means missing the
bull's eye. It is also an archery term. Torah is to help us reach the
bull's eye of life. When we miss, we commit a Het and we need Torah
again to help redirect us to the bull's eye. Torah helps us reach the
good.
This week, we complete the first
book of the Torah. The stories of B'reysheet - Genesis are filled with
persons who miss the mark. Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden.
Cain kills Abel. Sodom is a city of sinners. Jacob deceives his father
Isaac and his sons plot to kill their brother, Joseph. They miss the
mark. Can we do better? Often we don't. This week, we complete the
first book of the Torah, and as we do, we rise and say the words Hazak
Hazak V'Nithazek. May we be strengthened as we move forward. We can do
better.
We end this first book of the
Torah way off the mark. We find ourselves in Egypt far way from the
home, the spiritual bull's eye, the land of Israel. The rest of the
Torah is like E.T., our people's attempt to go home. As we begin the
journey, we receive the gift of Torah in the Sinai desert. Torah is
our compass which shows us the way.
Behind Torah and
journeys and bull's eyes is our personal desire and decision. Do we
want to see ourselves as clever or good. This statement may seem so
simple, but it is really so sublime. Living ethically is a choice we
make. Our choice is somewhat based on the influences we encounter. I
hope the students in my Confirmation Class will access this session on
ethics as one influence for good. I hope they will remember it almost
as much as I will remember that great statement "It depends if we want
to see ourselves as clever or good
