I heard something nice about these weekly Torah Portions we read now from the book of Exodus. I heard it several times from several different sources. Pharaoh refuses all the requests by Moshe and Aharon to let their people go. But this refusal is gradual. At first, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. After a few times, it is G-d who hardens Pharaoh's heart. The moral lesson: when you do something for the first time, at first your freedom to choose is great. You can choose either way. But once you made a decision, the next time you have to make a decision you will have less degrees of freedom in your choice. Think of a person who starts drinking alcohol or coffee for the first time. They can easily resist the drink. But once they chose to drink, it would be easier for them to choose to drink again next time, and harder to choose to abstain. On the third time, it is going to be even harder, etc. It's the same with people who tend to lie. After they lied a few times, it becomes almost automatic for them to lie in the future as well. It is harder for them to stop for a moment and monitor themselves and correct their moral choices. There's a lot of depth in this idea. I think we can all find areas in life in which the more we choose to do something, the less degrees of freedom we have to choose differently the next time. The good news is that it works the other way as well: if you choose to do good, the next time it will be easier for you to choose to do good, and the third time it's going to be even easier, etc. So in a way, your choices shape who you are. You are constantly changing and being shaped, and your choices are your scalpel. At the end of your life, the soul that you will return to the Creator will be shaped by the choices that you made in your life. It will be clean or dirty according to the small and big choices that you made in your life. Choose well.
Something else:
Last week I had a nice little adventure. I was invited to be the translator of a real NASA astronaut who came to Israel and gave two lectures to Israeli youth in Tel Aviv. It wasn't a paid job. The organization that invited him to speak asked me if I could translate him, and I agreed.
The translation was done live, in the form of subtitles (this was not the big professional thing that I was talking about last time, of course).
I've translated films and TV series in the past, but never LIVE, never in real time. I always did it offline, and it took a long time. A 90-minute movie can take 8 hours to translate properly, including re-watching and proof-reading, etc. Here, they asked me to translate him live, in front of the whole audience, and he comes from the field of space engineering, what do I know about this, with all the different technical terms, etc. I was afraid, but since it was on a day that I was free, I decided to respond to the challenge and enjoy the experience.
Before the event began, I met the astronaut and his wife, and asked him to speak s-l-o-w-l-y. Of course, when he began speaking on the stage, he spoke faster than any normal person I know, and threw in the air dozens of professional, technical terms from space-engineering. I was sitting in a little console above the audience, so no body saw me, not even him, so I couldn't even signal to him to slow down.
I stayed calm, and told myself that I can only do what I can do, nothing more than this, and what I can do is enough. I think I managed to translate the gist of the things that he said to the children, and especially the moral lessons: he told them to never give up, that everyone has bad days, that he had bad days with lots of failures, but the important thing is to stand back up again and move forward. He encouraged them to follow their dreams and work hard for them. He talked about the importance of space research, etc.
Then there was a break, and after the break there was his second lecture. I was prepared for another crazy race. But - I was surprised. He spoke really s-l-o-w-l-y. He looked at the subtitles panel above the powerpoint screen, and it seemed like he was waiting for me to finish typing before he said anything new. That was so much better and easier. Wow. I managed to translate almost everything he said in that second lecture.
At the end, when everything was over, I saw him outside the hall. He saw me, and told me right away, "The second time was better, right? I tried to slow down a bit". Yes, it was much better. I guess someone from the staff told him he must slow down.
Looking at him, I thought to myself that here is a cultural hero, perhaps even a national hero in America, but how do I evaluate him? The first question I ask myself about people, and also about him is - is he an "Ish Ruach", a person of the spiritual realm? Does he think about G-d and the meaning of life, or does he only try to get everything possible from this world, materially? I have no idea. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, a part of the "Bible Belt", so perhaps he got some religious education, but he didn't impress me as an especially spiritual person. And so, he lost some points in my evaluation. He is a person of this world, busy with technology and science. Perhaps he lives in the upper realms of the universe - in the international space station, but he does not live in the upper realms of reality, of the soul. My true appreciation and admiration is reserved for people who are people of spirit, of G-d.
I appreciate every person, because everyone was created in the image of G-d, but I mostly appreciate good people, angel-like people, those who live their lives for G-d. And they are rare, they are very and few. I can't admire people only because they've been up in space. To me they are like technicians, like engineers. I admire people who have had tremendous spiritual and moral achievements, like gentiles who saved Jews in WWII, or people who live their lives in faith, for G-d, contemplating the meaning of life and trying to do the right thing in the eyes of G-d. Scientists are impressive in their knowledge and intellect, but not necessarily with their wisdom and heart. They are people of this world. It is rare to find among them people of spirit, of wisdom, of deep thought. One person I can think of who is both a scientist and a person of faith and deep thought is Nobel Prize winner, Prof. Israel (Robert) Aumann, a mathematician, and a national religious Jew. This is such a noble combination: faith and science in the same person.
People admire so many "stars" and celebrities, and I can't understand it. Those stars are just human beings, and most often they are just simple people. I do not have TV, and once in a while there is a storm in the media about a certain celebrity that I've never heard of. I look at that celebrity and I see a simple person, with a normal personality, nothing too deep or wise. And I feel sorry for our secular culture, that it can sometimes be superficial and make stars of people who have nothing special to say to the world, to change people's lives or bring them close to the One who created them.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts.
Meaning is a huge word in my lexicon, and it's strange for me when people don't think about it much, that for them this is "heavy". Their lives seem so empty in my mind. They waste their lives having fun, not thinking what they can do here in this world, not thinking what they can give others, what they can give the world. They live for their own 'fun', and that's it, and I feel like they waste their lives.
We all came here to the world with a mission, and it is our job to try to find what our mission is and to work at it, to do everything we can to fulfill the mission. For some it can be to become an astronaut and inspire kids to follow their wishes, and for others it may be to perform acts of kindness to the best of their abilities, and for others it can be something else. But each of us came here with a mission, perhaps more than just one mission, and we must try our best to fulfill it.
Ok, enough for today.
Thank you for reading!
R.
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