Are You a Thief? Rabbi Jon Hanish Kol Nidre 2014 During the first week of rabbinic school, some 11 years ago, two of my classmates had their apartment burglarized. We were shocked. This was Jerusalem. Jewish thieves stealing from rabbinic students? It sounded like the start of a bad joke... but it wasnt a joke. Money and cameras and and laptops had been taken. My classmates felt violated by this intrusion. They had traveled to Israel for a spiritual experience and, like their possessions, it had been stolen from them. Six weeks passed. A few days before Rosh Hashanah, after a full day of classes, they returned to their apartment and found a package outside their door. It had no mailing labels on it. It was just a plain, unsealed box. They looked at it skeptically and then opened it. What did they find? Their possessions.... and.... an apology note. The thief asked for forgiveness. He was trying to make amends prior to the High Holy Days. The energy he had put into burglarizing their apartment he was now redirecting into asking for forgiveness. His heart had changed direction. He was practicing teshuvah, repentance. *** Believe it or not, according to Jewish tradition, most of us are thieves. Maimonides, a famous Jewish teacher from the 10th Century, wrote: “Anyone who eats food or enjoys anything without saying a bracha, a blessing, is a thief. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Introduction to Book of Knowledge). A bracha, a blessing, is a moment where we stop to realize that everything we possess is a gift. These gifts have come to us because of our families, our communities, our government and our moment in history. When we begin to believe that all we have is because of our own efforts, we are thieves. It is our job to avoid thievery by blessing, praising and thanking. Rumi, the Sufi poet wrote, “Whoever ...refuses to praise – that man or woman steals from others every day!” Being a thief goes beyond forgetting to praise. A few hundred years after the Torah was codified, the rabbis (Tosefta Bava Kamma chapter 7) got together and came up with another category of theft – goanev da’at habriyot – stealing the mind of other people. While this might bright up images of the body snatchers or headhunters, it actually refers to empty offers and fulfilling commitments by NOT fulfilling them. How do you fulfill a commitment by NOT fulfilling it? An example of this would be inviting someone out to eat on a day when you know that they can’t make it or returning someone’s call when you know they can’t answer the phone or offering to pick up the tab when you know they paid the bill in advance. How many of us have made an empty offer knowing that we would never have to actually fulfill it? *** Recently, a friend of mine told me about an experience she had with a rental car company, an experience to which many of us can relate. A rental car company employee walked her to her car and said to her, Would you like the supreme coverage on the rental or just the basic? Reflexively, she said the basic. After a moment of reflection, she realized that the salesman had left out an option. She said to him, Actually I dont want any insurance coverage. The salesman had only presented her with two options though a third was available. If she hadnt thought of the third herself, she would have paid an additional fee. I smiled as she told me this story because Ive found myself in a similar position at too many car rental counters. How we hate the scoundrels who attempt to sell us insurance we dont need... or warranties that are unneeded... or items we are told that we MUST have. But, how many of us have found ourselves on the other side of this equation? How many of us have been the salesman offering choices that benefit us but not necessarily the client? How many of us have left out information when speaking to family, friends, strangers, and business associates, information that aids us in our goals but unfairly limits their knowledge of the situation? *** Im sure many of you are realizing that while you havent broken into homes you might be a thief. So, I have a secret -- I actually have a favorite thief and its not Robin Hood. His name was Resh Lakish and he lived in the third century. As a child, he was very poor. He studied Torah until, one day, he didnt have the resources to support himself. He left the study halls to search for a way to make money. He was big and strong, so he sold himself to a circus where he could use his strength to entertain. After too many circus performances, he became a gladiator risking his life on a daily basis. That wasnt his final career. He left behind his work as a gladiator, and became a thief. But, he was more than a thief; he was in charge of a band of thieves. His ability to control them, to lead them and to teach them, was extraordinary. One day, Rav Yochanan, the greatest scholar of his generation, was bathing in a stream. Resh Lakish and his men surrounded him. Yochanan recognized Resh Lakish from his youth and said to him, Your strength would be more appropriate for studying the Law. He invited him to join his yeshiva and Resh Lakish accepted his offer. • He paid his teacher back for his offense by practicing Teshuvah, repentance. • He paid his teacher back by studying with full heart. • He paid his teacher back by becoming one of the greatest teachers of the next generation. At the end of his life, he told those by his bedside, When I was a bandit they called me master, and now [my students] they call me master. It seems that he viewed his life through the lens of leadership regardless if he was leading men of ill repute or Torah scholars. You, see, Resh Lakish took his leadership skills and refocused them from doing evil to doing good. *** Rabbi Moshe Leib ... heard that a Jew who had stolen an article of clothing had been soundly beaten and put in jail. Rabbi Moshe Leib interceded with the judge and gained the thief’s release. When the zaddik went to fetch the thief from jail, he warned him: “Remember the beating they gave you and don’t ever do anything like that again!” “Why not?” said the thief. “If you don’t succeed the first time, you may succeed the next.” “If that’s the case,” said the rabbi to himself, “then I must keep trying at my job, too.” (How a Thief Instructed the Rabbi of Sasov) The rabbi saw that the thief was not vastly different than himself. The thief had done his job poorly and so had failed in his goal. But the failure had not diminished his faith in his ability to succeed. He believed that if he tried again and again that someday he would succeed and avoid a beating and jail. He was fully dedicated to his work. The rabbi saw a lesson in the thiefs response. He knew that if a thiefs dedication wouldnt falter, then neither should his. The Hasidic masters of the 18th Century believed that we needed to completely dedicate ourselves to God. But, first, we needed to learn about dedication. We could learn about dedication through song, through dance, through meditation, through the actions of our daily lives and, even through thievery. Dedication, once learned, could be redirected to doing acts of holiness and godliness. *** One night, Moshe was walking home from shul, all of a sudden, a thief jumped on him. Moshe and the thief began to wrestle. They rolled about on the ground and Moshe put up a tremendous fight. However, the thief managed to get the better of him and pinned him to the ground. The thief then went through Moshe’s pockets and searched him. All the thief could find on Moshe was 25 cents. The thief was so surprised at this that he asked Moshe why he had bothered to fight so hard for 25 cents. “Was that all you wanted?” Moshe replied, “I thought you were after the five hundred dollars I’ve got in me shoe!” *** There are moments that occur, words spoken, visions seen, that we never forget. They become part of who we are and we remember them always. I had one of those moments over twenty years ago while producing a documentary on East Los gang members. While my camerawoman was reloading one of the film magazines, I sat on the back steps of a dilapidated apartment building talking to one of the kids who was being highlighted in the film. His name was Jose and he was as intelligent as any 16 year old I had ever met. And was he funny. His gang name was Payaso, clown. He loved his mother. He loved his friends. He was dedicated to his gang. Off camera, I asked him what he thought about the West Side of Los Angeles. I was referring to the area where the upper-middle class and the rich live. He responded, “Them bloods and crips -- I don’t get anywhere near them. They’re mean mothers.” I was taken aback by his response. His world was the East Los Angeles gangs and he couldnt see past it. He had no ability to see the neighborhoods that were gang free. It would have taken a god-like action to make him understand that there was a world beyond gangs and that he could join it if he was willing to redirect his efforts. A few years later he was shot... but he survived. A few years after that, he was shot again... this time he was not so lucky. On occasion, I wonder if I could have dragged him out of his gang kicking and screaming, knowing that if his eyes were opened to all the opportunities available to him he’d see the world in a totally different light. In those days, in my mind, doing the documentary was help enough. It is only with time, distance and personal growth that I see that I could have done more and probably should have. If Jose had been born in a different part of the world or in a different community, under a different set of circumstances, his life would have been so very different. He was an intelligent, funny boy who was given no opportunities to use his talents in order to move forward. So, he took the only opportunity that he believed was open to him. You’re not a gang member and neither am I. But, so often we are locked into our world just like Jose. We do many things by rote never questioning whether there is a better way, whether there is an easier way, or even whether the way should be discarded completely. Why can’t we see beyond our world? Do we need a holy presence to push us out of daily patterns and into a better place? What mistakes do we make without even realizing that we are making them? *** The Maggid taught: “I cannot teach you principles of service. But ... a thief can show you what they are. The thief can instruct you in seven things: • He does his service by night; • If he does not finish what he has set out to do, in one night, he devotes the next night to it; • He and those who work with him, love one another; • He risks his life for slight gains; • What he takes has so little value for him, that he gives it up for a very small coin; • He endures blows and hardship, and it matters nothing to him; • He likes his trade and would not exchange it for any other. (The Ten Principles) One of the most famous teachers of the last three hundred years finds a reason to celebrate a thief. He admires his dedication to his goal, his lack of interest in the value of worldly possessions, his love of his trade, his value of camaraderie, and his willingness to do what is necessary to achieve his goals no matter the suffering he must overcome. The Maggid is sensationalizing the work of a thief. Or is he? The maggid is taking the most despicable of careers and pointing out that if a thief can have such high principles, so should all of us. He is speaking about loyalty, hard work and ethics. *** A man complained to Rabbi Wolf that certain persons were turning night into day, playing cards. “That is good,” said the rabbi. “Like all people, they want to serve God and don’t know how. But now they are learning to stay awake and persist in doing something. When they have become perfect in this, all they need do is turn to God—and what excellent servants they will make ...!” (The Gamblers) They mystics believed that the holiest time of the day was after midnight. They would go to bed early and then rise at this holy hour to study and to pray. Rabbi Wolf saw that these card players were only a step away from God. All they needed to do was redirect their focus since they had already mastered the staying up all night aspects of holiness. Card playing might not have been the right focus but transferring ones energies from one thing to another is as simple as turning around. *** The maggid of Mezritch said: “Every lock has a key which is fitted to it and opens it. But there are strong thieves who know how to open locks without keys. They break the lock. So every mystery in the world can be revealed .... and God loves the thief who breaks the lock open: I mean the man who breaks his heart for God.” (The Strong Thief) The lock that needs to be broken is that which stops us from taking holy actions in this world. Im not making excuses for thieves -- house thieves, corporate thieves, or spiritual thieves. Thieves, on all levels, leave us frustrated and angry because they steal not just possessions but also bits and pieces of our souls. They break locks that should remain untouched. When we are robbed -- • We become less trusting when meeting strangers. • We become less trusting when dealing with corporations. • We become less trusting in our every day interactions with our community. But lets admit, while we might not be breaking into peoples homes, we are thieves. We have robbed others through dishonest acts, deception, half-truths and lies. When we finally admit this truth to ourselves, we take the first steps towards teshuvah, repentance. You see, the thief is a metaphor for our spiritual journey. We put so much energy into things that are ultimately meaningless. Yet, along the way we do pick up valuable skills. We just misuse them. How do we redirect? How do we take our strengths and make sure that they are being used properly? Its not easy. It takes self-reflection. It takes breaking open the lock on your own heart. But, if you truly want to start anew, then you need to transfer the strengths you use for the negative and channel them into the positive. You need to be like the thief in Jerusalem who broke into my classmates apartment eleven years ago. You need to turn yourself around. My blessing for each and every one of you -- May you be like the thief unlocking your heart so that can fully dedicate yourself to taking godly actions that will improve your relationships with your family, your community and your world. AMEN.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 23:36:14 +0000
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