Thankfully accepting the offer, the wanderer climbs the stairs to the upper floor, but not before asking the innkeeper to wake him well before dawn. “Got a train to catch,” he says importantly.
Before he knows it, there’s a hand shaking him awake. “It’s well before dawn,” says a voice; “your train.”
He dresses hurriedly in the dark and rushes to the train station. On the way he passes a large mirror in an ornate frame. A Cossack in uniform looks back at him. “That idiot innkeeper!” he exclaims in dismay. “He woke up the Cossack instead of Chatzkel the tailor. I’ll never make it back in time to wake myself up and catch my train!”
The Weekly Sedra – Tetzaveh – Inside Out or Outside In?
Chatzkel the tailor wanders into a small flophouse late one cold and stormy night. “Quite full,” says the innkeeper. “Let’s see . . . we’ve got a Cossack in one of the rooms up on the top floor. You can climb into the bed beside him.”
Thankfully accepting the offer, the wanderer climbs the stairs to the upper floor, but not before asking the innkeeper to wake him well before dawn. “Got a train to catch,” he says importantly.
Before he knows it, there’s a hand shaking him awake. “It’s well before dawn,” says a voice; “your train.”
He dresses hurriedly in the dark and rushes to the train station. On the way he passes a large mirror in an ornate frame. A Cossack in uniform looks back at him. “That idiot innkeeper!” he exclaims in dismay. “He woke up the Cossack instead of Chatzkel the tailor. I’ll never make it back in time to wake myself up and catch my train!”
Bernie Markowitz hadn’t missed a Minyan in twenty five years. He consistently followed the code of Jewish law and attended every class and lecture offered at his Shul. In short, you just couldn’t find a more devout individual than Bernie.
But as Bernie advanced in years he found himself feeling somewhat deprived. “Come on Bernie, you’re getting older . . . you won’t be around forever. You’ve been good for so long, it’s time to have some fun in life.” So, Bernie broke down and planned a ten day junket to Las Vegas with some of his friends.
The morning of the trip Bernie appeared all dressed down for the occasion – Bermuda shorts, flowered shirt, dark sun glasses and a rakish hat perched on his head.
Upon arrival, he retrieved his luggage and quickly headed for the door. As he was about to get into the taxi he trips on the curb and falls heavily to the ground. By the time it was over Bernie was left with a broken arm and leg as well as a few fractured ribs.
Flat on his back, in his hospital bed, he looks heavenward and, with tears in his eyes, calls out to the Almighty: “Dear G-d, twenty five years! Never missed a Minyan; did everything exactly by the book and this is what I get. . . I didn’t even make it out of the airport . . . never even got started. You call this fair?!”
A heavenly voice suddenly rang out: “Bernie, is that you? Oh, I’m so sorry, I could hardly recognize you!!!”
Self-identity is a vital component of our complex human entity and personality, yet its pursuit is anything but simple or ordinary. In fact, people spend a good part of their lives on this planet in search of their true identity and selfhood. Unfortunately, as the following old parody suggests, too many never actually locate their genuine self. No wonder that modern psychology has so much to say about this elusive endeavor:
A hapless individual, lamenting over his sorrowful state of failure and worthlessness, once remarked: “As a child, I had always prayed that I would grow-up to be ‘somebody.’ If only,” he sighed, “I would have been a little more specific.”
The void and sense of emptiness that results from failure to identify and connect with our essential-self, drives the tendency to grasp for some type – any type – of label, be it a professional title or distinction by wealth and property. In the absence of our true identities, we frantically try to be somebody we think we must be to please others.
Our frustration at playing what we know to be a false role is matched only by our persistent anxiety that our lives will ultimately bring disillusionment and emptiness.
The most frequent response is to increase the pace – make more money, pursue more adventure, earn more degrees, climb higher on the corporate ladder, take more vacations to exotic locations…
In our frenzied pursuit for meaning and fulfillment, we frequently focus our attention further outward rather than inward. We turn to technology, politics/government, even Hollywood. We search for answers in all the wrong places. The result is more confusion and crisis of identity. Life’s inner-purpose and meaning seems all but enigmatic.
The irony of such miss-identity is reflected in the tale of a lawyer who requested that the words “Attorney at Law” be engraved on his tombstone following his name. This poor fellow evidently had no identity in life other than the fact that he was an attorney. He lived vicariously through his occupation. More ironically, he hoped to carry this identity with him to his new destination.
Enduring contentment, as stated by the Rebbe of Kotzk – known for his wit and psychological insight – is simply unattainable to people who remain lost from their true identities: “If I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you. However,” asserts the Kotzker, “if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you.”
Indeed, the fact that so many people determine their self-identity and worth by what they do for a living, the type of car they drive, the clothes they wear, the house in which they live or the size of their bank account, helps explain our society’s exacerbated state of confusion and distress.
This week’s Torah portion – Tetzaveh, discusses in great detail the priestly vestments worn by both the common Kohen (Priest) and the Kohen Gadol (High Priest).
These ornate and complex garments needed highly skilled artisans to be embroidered and fashioned. They included, among others, a jewel-studded breastplate, a honeycomb-woven tunic, an apron-like garment and a specially designed garment that was adorned with gold bells and woven pomegranates.
But why does G-d place such importance on the clothing of the Kohanim, after all isn’t a garment just a garment? These garments obviously contain an important message regarding the function, personality and worldview of those who wear them. What lessons can we learn from them?
Much as with our identity, clothes represent the outermost dimension of existence. They are the means by which we present ourselves to the world and how we are perceived. By virtue of the importance of the garments worn by priests during the Temple service, the Torah conveys significant insight into the nature and importance of human identity as well.
Garments are meant to reveal as much as they are meant to conceal. How we package ourselves to the outside world is inextricably linked to who we are and how we understand ourselves. Painstaking effort and discernment must hence be invested in how we choose to identify and portray ourselves.
We cannot, says the Torah, live one life on the inside and another on the outside. Our outer garments and identity must be consistent and in tune with our inner-self and being. Hence, note the Rabbis, nothing was permitted to rest between the actual body of the Kohen and the clothing that he wore. The garments of “honor and glory” were to become the very skin, if you will, of the Kohen.
The latter is obviously the case with regards to the original and ideal garment of the soul – the human body. Much as it was necessary for the garments worn by priests to be the product of deliberate and methodical effort, so too must our garments, on every level and sphere, be carefully designed and crafted to express and reflect the true inner essence.
In following the Torah’s guidance regarding this crucial matter of life and existence, we will certainly merit true inner and outer wellbeing on all levels – the spiritual, emotional and physical with the coming of the righteous Moshiach.
The author welcomes your comments and input rabbi@chabadjacksonville.org
Binyomin Ferris
Wow! That is all I can say . . .
the stories are as powerful as the message.
Torah iz di beste schoira
Very nice, thank you for sharing