Ask the Clergy
Is it ever too late to change your
approach to Jewish life?

by Chazzan Aníbal Mass (02-Present)
Published in the J ewish P ost on Wednesday, December 3, 2008

 

According to Jewish tradition, there was a simple Jew who worked for one of the richest men in all of Jerusalem. Once, while shepherding his flocks, he gazed into a pool, and noticed a hollowed-out rock resting under a waterfall. He silently contemplated how a rock, one of Nature's most dense substances, had been hollowed out. His curiosity got the best of him, as he decided to analyze this peculiar find. After some time, he noticed that the water had, over a long period, drop after drop, caused a drastic change in the appearance of the rock. This event allowed him to reach the following conclusion:

"If a rock, though extremely hard, can be hollowed out by water, how much more so should it be possible for Torah [which is compared to water (in that is vital to the nourishment of the soul)] to change my heart, which is certainly softer. I will begin to study it, and try to become a Jewish Sage!"

Despite being 40 years old, the shepherd began by learning how to read the Hebrew Alphabet. Ultimately, he became known to all as the famous Rabbi Akiva, and developed a following of 24,000 students…

I was always curious how we seem to be happy with the level we have achieved in our Jewish life and most of the time we don't reach for more. For example, we feel it is enough observing the fast of Yom Kippur, attending a Seder and light the Chanukah candles, etc. Why not go for more or why are these the only Jewish experiences that usually enter in the CV of the great majority of Jews?  Perhaps, to find an answer we should reflect on the difference between a CV and a biography. 

Have you noticed how a CV is usually perfect? We only include those aspects of our lives that -we believe- should be highlighted because they make us look better. Nobody will ever write their failures or frustrations in a CV. But a biography, on the contrary, includes everything. What we try to highlight and what we would like to hide.

A CV is brief. But a biography, on the other hand, is abundant in details. Having a nicely presented Jewish CV could be enough to feel we are living as good Jews, but at the end of the day it is not our CV that counts. God doesn't read the farce of a CV, but the honesty of our biography.

Your biography won't just tell if you fasted on Yom Kippur, but how the fast has transformed your life.  Not just how many candles we lit on Chanukah, but how those lights have illuminated our Jewish experience. Not simply how many times you came to Shul, but how many times the Shul touched your soul.

It's never too late to change the way we approach our Jewish life. Not just focusing on preparing a "nice and short" Jewish CV, but a beautiful and richly written biography.

Do you have a question you would like answered in this column? Email information@shaareyzedek.mb.ca.