Elul!!!!!

Dear friends,

It’s been a very very long time since we were in touch. My website gave me some grief (to tell you the truth, my relationship to anything technical isn’t an easy one) but two good friends who are a half a century younger than I am, put it together.

This happened just in time to think about the New Year. Rosh Hashanah is the day that Hashem created Adam, not the day He began the process of creating a world. We humans are so much more alive than anything else in creation is if you measure life in terms of change and ability. The body He gave you   gives you access to other people and to the world. At the same time, the body the self that individuates you and separates you from everyone else. It feels like the real you. It isn’t. It was created to listen to your soul. Without a soul, your body is like a plane without a pilot.

Your body is the temporary, every changing part of you that gives the eternal unchanging soul a means of connecting to Hashem through interacting with other people and with the world. Your body as a great deal in common with everyone else’s body but at the same time is unique. The soul arguably has far more in common with everyone else’s soul, but is nonetheless yours. You have things to do that no one else can do. The way your body and soul interact determines who you really become and who you are today. You give birth to yourself every day when you make subtle changes in the way your body and soul interact. You stem from the first Adam. Rosh Hashanah is the day of your original becoming, your birth in the ultimate sense.

NOW THE STORY - THE GOOD PART

Quite a number of years ago I was standing in the Neve lobby looking at the bulletin board. Rabbi Chalkowski asked me, “What building do you live in, Mrs. Heller?” I told him, “29”. “Turn around” he told me. At that time, Har Nof was not quite finished. The odd number buildings on HaKablan were for the most part already occupied. The even side was partially built. I could see my house through the glass doors that lead to the Neve gardens. I also saw what appeared to be the leaning tower of Pisa relocated to Har Nof.

 The building next to mine was almost completed. The seventh floor roof was under construction, and the wall on its western side was taking the full force of a heavy gale of wind. It slowly moved. The police came, the contractor came, and authorities from the city administration came. The engineering department determined that it was safest to clear the area and to bring down the entire building. It took the entire afternoon. You can imagine what the people who had invested everything they have in buying an apartment must have been feeling. So could Yudka Paley.

He was the contractor.

He spoke on the radio. I will never forget his words. He addressed the tenants. “You may think that I will be sitting at home in comfort while you are left homeless. I will not rest until each of you is settled. The building will be rebuilt according to the highest standards, and I will pay your rent until it is ready to be occupied”.

Rent in Yerushalaim for tens of families. Every month.

It was like hearing someone read his own death sentence.

He kept his word. I recently heard another chapter of this remarkable story.
 The reason that the building collapsed was that there wasn’t sufficient steel in the foundation. The engineer/architect who designed the building had made a grievous mistake (which, had the building been occupied could have killed people). The amount of steel that would have worked in his native Russia, where the soil is denser didn’t hold in Israel. He lost his license immediately but (as far as I know) did not have to face criminal procedures.
Yudka Paley came to see him.

 If you were he, what would you expect to hear from a man whose reputation and financial future were ruined? Because of you. And no one else.

Paley turned to him and said, “You are a new immigrant. I know you lost your license. Here are a few thousand to tide you over until you find a job”

GIVING BIRTH TO YOURSELF

Yudka Paley didn’t know that this was what he would face when he stood in the synagogue on previous year’s Rosh Hashanah. The challenges to his integrity and compassion were unimaginable in those moments.

 From where he is today, no longer among us here in this world, these were no doubt some of the most dazzling moments of his entire life. He could have made other choices. Declaring bankruptcy. Leaving the country. Seining that the engineer/architect would never have a good day the rest of his life. The menu had endless selections. So does yours.

So does your friend’s.

The Parshah tells you that if you see your enemy’s donkey trembling under its burden, help him unload it. Everyone has burdens. The Hebrew word for donkey is chamor, which has the same root as the word chomer, meaning material. When you see that your friend’s challenges overwhelm him, it’s the chomer that is overwhelmed. The soul can see beyond the moment. Help him find himself.

Be your own friend.
 
SHADES OF GREY

When the choices are black and white, it is easier to decide if you are on the bus or off the bus. When the choices are subtle, it is harder. There is more room for justification, for fear of failure, of rationalizing and for seeing yourself more clearly than you see anyone else.

I am not sure that Yudka Paley had to pay everyone’s rent- I know with absolute certainty that he did not have to give money to the man who could have destroyed him through ignorance at best and negligence at worst. There is something else I also know.

I wish that I was like him. I am still in process and so are you.

There is a custom to hear the shofar in Elul. It’s meant to wake you up. The Sephardi communities have already began reciting selichot, the prayers for Tshuvah. You might think that the melodies would be grim. They aren’t. They range from mellow to joyous. The reason is that they are working on the premise that they are not alone. The One who gives you the challenges is there to help you overcome them. You are not worse than “the enemy’s donkey”.

​Have a great rest of Elul.

Love,
Tziporah