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Yom Kippur 5768, September 22, 2007 Ego
Pulls the Plug Rabbi
Baruch J. Cohon, Temple Emanu-El Tucson, AZ This morning I have a story to tell you, one I experienced
myself. I
stood at a faucet, holding a large bowl – a portable tub, in fact -- and
filling it with water. At the
bottom of the tub on one side was a drain, but it was plugged.
I poked my finger in from the bottom, and after a couple of tries I
was able to push the plug loose – and the water began running out.
Then I realized I didn’t want the water to run out.
I needed to push the plug back into that drain.
It was too deep to reach it from the top, and I had no tools.
How could I save the water? I
was getting desperate.
Then
I woke up.
A
strange little dream, but it happened. You
never heard me talk about dreams before, and I usually don’t.
In fact I rarely give my dreams a second thought.
But this one was different, mystifying.
It happened on a Friday night, and the next morning I attended a shiur
– a Torah lesson before Shabos services at a Chabad shul in Los Angeles.
During the shiur we learned a teaching of the Alter Rebbe (the
founder of the Lubavitch movement) about bringing the Divine presence into
our lives. It built on some
concepts of Kabbalah, and of course the very word Kabbalah means Receiving.
We must be ready to receive God’s presence and blessing.
To be ready for that involves an attitude called bittul—literally
Cancellation, subordinating ourselves to the Divine will as well as we can
understand it.
One
story the Chabad rabbi told that morning illustrates the principle of bittul.
A young man once wrote a letter to the Rebbe expressing his spiritual
needs. It was a long letter in
Yiddish. Each paragraph began
with the word Ikh – meaning “I.” “I
would like to experience this… I would hope to acquire the merit for
this… I ask your advice and
your blessing… etc. etc.” And
of course “I await the Rebbe’s answer.”
The Rebbe answered very simply. He
drew a circle around the first word of each paragraph – “ikh,
ikh, ikh..”
And at the bottom he wrote “Me darf hobn bittul.” – You
need to cancel out the “I”.
(That
story also reminded me of a well-known radio talk show host that I used to
listen to because I know him and I think he has some good insights, but I
finally stopped listening to him. He
sounds like the last line of “South of the Border” – I, I, I, I…)
Back
to the rebbe.
Preparing
to receive the life-giving water of Torah, of Divine blessing, of the
presence of God in our lives – means making ourselves into a keyli –
a vessel. Like the tub I was
holding in my dream.
When
Kohanim bless the people in the traditional manner, they take off their
shoes, pull their talleisim over their heads, make a special Brocha giving
thanks for being sanctified with the sanctity of Aaron the High Priest –
and yet they are not personally blessing anyone.
They receive one word at a time and chant it together.
The Cantor sings Y’vorekh’kho, and the Kohanim echo Y’vorekh’kho.
The Kohanim act as vessels, in the words of the Torah, “placing
God’s name on the people of Israel and then He will bless them.”
A
vessel, therefore, can have a spout as well as a drain, in order to pour
forth the blessing we receive. But
if the drain is open we have nothing to give.
This
is the concept of the keyli. And
I believe this is what Yom Kippur comes to tell us.
Not only the kohen but each one of us needs to be open to
accept the blessing – the life-giving water—of Torah.
Each one of us needs to be ready to share that blessing – to pour
out that blessing – to our children, to our friends, to those around us.
But we can do that only on one condition: that we keep the water in
the keyli and don’t let it drain out.
The
more we at the Shiur discussed the concept of the vessel, the
requirement of bittul, the more my dream made sense to me.
We
are that bowl of water.
Bittul – subordinating ourselves to the Divine will – is
the plug that keeps the water in. And
the finger that pulls the plug? That’s
ego. That’s I, I, I, I…
So
what does this Yom Kippur come to tell us?
Don’t let Ego pull the plug.
You
have a life lesson to pass on to your children?
Make that lesson count in your own life first.
Then you have a supply of pure water to pour out for them.
Then it can really be “do as I do” not “do as I say.”
The deed commands more respect than the doer, because the doers –
you and I – represent a keyli.
We are a vessel, containing life-giving water.
Don’t let ego pull the plug.
You
had a good year and you find an opportunity to sponsor a worthwhile program
in your congregation? Mazel Tov!
Do it in honor of your people, do it in memory of your loved ones, do
it just because it should be done. And
you don’t need a plaque. You
don’t need a testimonial. You
are the sacred vessel that pours out the noble water.
Don’t let ego pull the plug.
What
happens when ego pulls the plug?
We
lose our motivation. Maybe we do
the same things and maybe we don’t, but we lose the reasons for what we
do.
Doctor
Laura – speaking of talk show hosts -- punctuates her radio show with the
words “Now go do the right thing.” Why?
What’s the right thing? Is
it right because we do it, or do we do it because it’s right?
The
pure water of Torah gives us a standard we can use to measure our daily
decisions. That standard
doesn’t say “is it good for ME?” It
simply says “is it good?”
Once
we compromise our standards, once we base our decisions on what is “good
for me,” we have pulled the plug. The
simple bowl holds the water of blessing.
Let’s think about that blessing.
Last
night – Erev Yom Kippur – there was a traditional custom that perhaps
some of us didn’t know about. It
was Birkas haBonnim – the Blessing of the Children.
Before coming to services for Kol Nidrey, the custom called for us to
bless our children in words like these: “Let it be the will of our Father
in Heaven to plant in your heart love and reverence for Him.
Let that reverence be on your face all your life, so that you will
not sin, and you will desire Torah and Mitzvos.
Let your eyes look forward, let your mouth speak wisely, and let your
heart beat with Divine love. Let
your hands be busy with good deeds. Let
your feet run to do the will of your Father in Heaven.
May He give you sons and daughters, upright men and women who will
also engage in Torah and Mitzvos, and let your Source be blessed.
May He appoint sustenance for you in a legitimate way, with pleasure
and profit from His open hand, and never from the gifts of other human
beings – sustenance enough to leave you free time for sacred prayer and
study. And be written and sealed
for a good and long life among all the righteous of Israel.”
A
beautiful blessing. Water from
the vessel. You or I might
phrase it differently, but it summarizes what we seek for ourselves and our
children for the time to come: We
want to feel God’s presence in our lives.
We want to avoid mistakes. We
want to see clearly, talk sensibly, and accomplish good things.
We certainly want for ourselves and our children to make a decent
living, and to have enough leisure to devote some time to making a valuable
life. And today of all days, we
want them all to be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Yom
Kippur comes to tell us that we can do a lot to make those blessings happen.
Fill the vessel. Spend a
few minutes every day checking the water level.
Do you need to add a little more Torah – a little more knowledge
– some input of Judaism to flavor your day?
Get it, and then pour it into your interaction with your family and
friends. Let it guide your
dealings. And never
pull the plug.
Choices
face us every day. We can
compromise our principles and maximize our profits – the oil companies do
it, why shouldn’t we? Or we
can act on our principles and do the best we can within their limits.
A famous Talmudic allegory – an agada -- tells us that on
the inevitable day when we face our Maker, we will have to answer certain
questions. And what will they
be? Hope gives us purpose.
Torah gives us guidance. Honesty
give us value. Yom Kippur comes
to bring us these hours to think about those elements in our lives.
Put them all together and they blend into that fountain of blessing
that we can pour from the vessel that is ourselves.
So
don’t pull the plug. You
know what pulls the plug. Ego.
It can be individual or collective.
Every human group has it. For
some groups that ego can be manipulated to produce empires and world wars
and suicide bombers – Pax Romana, or Deutchland uber alles
or Allahu akbar. In our
case we have inherited the controversial title of God’s Chosen People.
Chosen for what? Not to
be superior, not to be more numerous, not to be triumphant.
Sometimes, as Tevye famously prayed, we ask our Creator “I know
we’re the chosen People, but once in a while couldn’t You choose someone
else?” Yet we still feel
chosen – chosen to receive the Torah, chosen to accept the challenge.
And by this time in history, in spite of all the attempts to destroy
us, we remain the Eternal People. In
the words of a song from the Soviet Jewish underground: Af
tzu l’okhes alle son-im, am yisroel khy!
“In
spite of all our enemies, the Jewish people lives!”
Yes, we do have a special place in history.
And along with that place goes responsibility.
That’s
the other hand on the plug. Ego
pulls it out. Responsibility
pushes it back in.
Bittul?
Yes, of course. We must
subordinate our desires to a Divine standard.
Yom Kippur comes to reinforce that standard.
Today
let’s look forward to a year of sacred standards in our lives.
In our work, in our families, in our community and in our country, we
have a standard to guide us – and a reservoir of pure Torah to bless our
lives. With God’s help we will
guard that reservoir and share it – and never let our egos pull the plug.
Keyn
y’hi rotzon.
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