In February, 2016, as it starting looking inevitable that the unthinkable would happen – that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for President – a writer named Peggy Noonan wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Trump and the Rise of the Unprotected,” attempting to explain the peculiar, and wholly unexpected, phenomenon of Trump’s political success.
Here is her explanation, which I believe has a lot of truth to it:
There are many answers and reasons, but my thoughts keep revolving around the idea of protection... There are the protected and the unprotected. The protected make public policy. The unprotected live in it. The unprotected are starting to push back, powerfully.
The protected are the accomplished, the secure, the successful—those who have power or access to it. They are protected from much of the roughness of the world. More to the point, they are protected from the world they have created. Again, they make public policy and have for some time.
…They are figures in government, politics and media. They live in nice neighborhoods, safe ones. Their families function, their kids go to good schools, they’ve got some money.
…Because they are protected they feel they can do pretty much anything, impose any reality. They’re insulated from many of the effects of their own decisions.
Mrs. Noonan here observes that the “unprotected” – the ordinary people – feel helplessly dependent on the “protected,” on those who seem to control things, but don’t have to suffer the consequences of their control. The common person is frustrated by a system that they find themselves forced to live in, and about which they have very little, or absolutely no, say.
This is something that people in our community often complain about, as well.
Many community members feel “unprotected.” They feel they are “stuck” in a system that has failed them in some way, and there is nothing they can do about it.
Here are some examples:
· Some people are very frustrated about how difficult it is for young men and women to meet, date and marry. Something which 30 or 40 years ago for the most part happened very easily, is now a very difficult challenge for many people. They feel the system forces a young man or young woman to look a certain way, to act a certain way, to live a certain way, and if not, then they can’t get married. This is the system they’re stuck in.
· Some people are very frustrated by the community’s educational system. They feel they have no address, and no solutions, if their child struggles and is not cut out for the standard curriculum, or has trouble making friends in school.
· Some people are very frustrated by the community’s religious leadership. They see Rabbis disagreeing with each other, and they feel lost. They’ve been taught to respect Torah scholars and follow their teachings, but when the Rabbis argue, they don’t know what to believe, who to follow or what to do. And they don’t know where to turn for guidance.
· Some people are very frustrated by the rising cost of living in the community, particularly the rising cost of tuition. Tuition used to be $10,000, which seemed like too much, and then each year it kept getting higher. It reached $20,000, then $26,000 – how much more will it go up? How are families supposed to educate their children? The system isn’t working for these people, and they feel stuck and powerless.
How do people react to these serious “glitches” in the system?
Usually, they just get upset. Very upset.
They complain about it at the Shabbat table and at social functions. They are embittered. They are resentful.
But there is another way to handle this feeling, a much better way, which allows us to avoid anger and bitterness without ignoring the real problems and challenges that we face.
Manmade is Also G-dmade!!
Parashat Pekudeh begins with the pasuk, אלה פקודי המשכן, משכן העדות – “These are the accountings of the Sanctuary, the Sanctuary of Testimony…”
This pasuk introduces the detailed accounting of the precious materials that were donated for the Mishkan. The accounting was made after the Mishkan was built, at a very special and joyous time for the Jewish People, when they completed their atonement for the sin of the golden calf by constructing a Mishkan where Hashem would come to reside among them.
Rashi takes note of the repetitious phrase אלה פקודי המשכן משכן – in which the word משכן appears twice. Startlingly, Rashi writes that the words המשכן משכן hint to the two Bateh Mikdash that would much later be built and then destroyed.
WHAT?!
As mentioned, this was an exceptionally joyous and festive event – maybe one of the most joyous and festive events in all of Jewish history!! After the nation was condemned to be destroyed for the sin of the golden calf, they had now built a Mishkan where the Shechina (Divine Presence) would reside. This was such an exciting moment!
Is this an appropriate time to mention the destruction of the two Bateh Mikdash in the future? Wasn’t this ruining the celebration??
The answer is that the Torah is teaching us that this, too, is part of the plan, that Hashem does that, too. He has a Mishkan built, and He has Bateh Mikdash destroyed. He brings us great blessings, and He gives us difficult challenges. It’s all from Him – both the construction and the destruction.
True, the Bateh Mikdash were destroyed because of our nation’s sins, and they were destroyed by evil empires who hated the Jewish Nation. But manmade is also G-dmade. Hashem would not let anything happen if He did not want it to happen. He created the Babylonians who destroyed the first Bet Ha’mikdash, and He created the Romans who destroyed the second Bet Ha’mikdash. He created all those nations who were kind and welcoming to the Jewish People, and He created all the cruel enemies of the Jewish People. Even if we see manmade problems, these, too, are challenges brought to us by Hashem!
“A Well-Organized World”
When we look around and see difficult problems, and we see a system that is failing us or failing people we know, we need to trust that this is part of Hashem’s plan. He builds and He destroys. He makes systems that work well and systems that don’t work well, and He makes systems that do both.
I was once at a wedding where I met Rabbi Brog, a grandson of Rav Avigdor Miller. I mentioned that his brother was my son’s teacher in high school, and he mentioned that he once heard me speak at a dinner.
“Wow, it’s a small world,” I said.
“No,” Rabbi Brog replied. “My grandfather used to say: It’s a very large world, but it’s just very well organized.”
We sometimes feel “unprotected” in our world, or in our community, but we really shouldn’t. Hashem has everything perfectly organized. If we are struggling with issues such as shidduchim or tuition payments, we need to remember that Hashem created this problem, and He wants us to struggle – for our benefit.
There is great value to struggle. Struggling helps us grow. Challenges make us stronger, better and more accomplished. And this is why Hashem, the Master Planner, created the world in such a way that we will always have challenges.
Think about it. Over the last two centuries, mankind has come up with thousands of remarkable inventions to make life easier. And yet, as wonderful as these inventions are, life is still difficult! We still struggle. We still have to work very hard. We still have problems that get us down.
Hashem made the world this way, because we need challenges in order to grow.
An 11th-grade boy in the community was expelled from the community school he attended because of serious misconduct. He was a weak student, and it was certain that no other community school would accept him. His only option was public school. The boy and his parents pleaded with the school to allow him to stay, but the school refused. He attended public school for the rest of high school.
I reached out to this boy after his expulsion, and I invited him to one of my classes. We eventually became quite close. After he graduated high school, he went to study in Israel.
His level of learning was so low that he called another Rabbi during his year of study to proudly inform him that he was making a siyum celebration – celebrating the completion of Living Emunah – an English book published by Artscroll about Jewish faith.
But a year later, he called me to tell me he was making another siyum – celebrating the completion of an entire masechet of Gemara!
Had this boy stayed in his yeshiva high school, it is unlikely he would have grown so much. The great challenge he faced, being forced to attend high school, made him stronger. It made him work harder. It led him to find strengths and faith deep inside his soul that he would otherwise likely never have discovered.
When a person has financial problems, he is forced to work harder, to be more creative and industrious. He might have to cut down on luxuries, which will help him reset his priorities.
If a young woman is still not married after several years of dating, she has a chance to work more on her character, to learn more, to accomplish more.
Challenges are good for us! They help us grow and be better. Hashem organized the world in such a way that our “systems” will not always work perfectly for us. We are always going to have to struggle – and that’s a good thing.
The Crack in the Wall
Imagine two prisoners in a cell, and they suddenly notice a crack in the wall about ten feet up. They realize that if they could somehow reach that crack, they could dig a hole through which to escape.
One prisoner looks at the crack and says, “Forget it. We’re not ten feet tall, and we’re never going to be ten feet tall. We’re just stuck here.”
But the other looks at the crack and sees an opportunity. He says, “Maybe I can get my hands on some pieces of wood, or some stones, and use them as stairs. I just have to get a few feet higher, and then I can slowly start chipping away at the crack. Eventually, I can get out of here!”
Most boys in that young man’s situation – expelled and forced to go to public school – would have just sat there and complained about being stuck. But this boy saw the “crack in the wall.” He knew it would take a great deal of work and effort to get to that crack and turn it into a large hole, but he did it.
Instead of just sitting there and being angry at the system, he found a way out. He understood that the system doesn’t always work the way we ideally want, and when it doesn’t, we just have to work harder. And this is exactly what he did.
The pasuk in Tehillim says, ישמח לב מבקשי ה' – “Those who seek G-d, their hearts will rejoice.” The “seeking,” the quest, the work and effort, bring joy. Struggle helps us, because it propels us to greater heights.
There is a famous passage which did not originate from Jewish tradition, but is very powerful. It’s a prayer, asking G-d, “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
If all we see is a “wall,” with no way out, then we just have to accept the situation. And if there’s a “crack,” we need to have the courage and self-confidence to reach it and make an opening.
The opening pasuk to our parasha says that the accounting was done ביד איתמר – “through the hands of Itamar,” who was one of the kohanim. This phrase, ביד איתמר, alludes to the two options we have when we face a challenge – to either try to change the situation, or to accept it. ביד – some things are in our hands, we have opportunities to effect change. But other times איתמר – we just need to speak (אמר) to Hashem and ask Him to help us out.
Some things are just not in our power, and we need to have the serenity to accept them, to look for any “cracks in the wall” that we can use to help ourselves, and to ask Hashem to do the rest.
Getting angry and bitter, and complaining around the Shabbat table, does not help anything. The best thing to do when we feel the system has failed us is to try to change what we can, to accept what we can’t change, and turn to Hashem for help.
The Hero Mother
When Thomas Edison was a young schoolboy, his teacher one day gave him a note to bring home, strictly warning that nobody was allowed to read the note except his mother.
Thomas came home and gave the note to his mother. She read it, and tears started flowing from her eyes.
“Let me tell you what it says,” she told her son. She then looked at the note again and read: “Your son, Thomas, is a genius, and there are no teachers in this school capable of teaching such a gifted boy.”
Many years later, after he became a world-famous inventor, his mother died, and Edison was going through her home and came across a piece of paper. He opened it and read: “Your son, Thomas, is mentally ill, and there are no teachers in this school capable of teaching such a troubled child. Please keep him home.”
Edison would later say of himself, “By a hero mother, I became the genius of the century.”
The system failed Thomas Edison. Most mothers in that situation would have just been angry and frustrated. But Mrs. Edison accepted the situation and found the “crack in the wall,” the one thing she could do – boost her son’s confidence and self-esteem.
If we are in a position to help change the system, then by all means, let’s do so. But if we’re not, then let’s accept what we cannot change, and try to change what we can.
The Midrash teaches that after the Mishkan was completed, Moshe Rabbenu said a special prayer – a pasuk from Tehillim:
ויהי נועם ה' אלוקינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו.
May the pleasantness of Hashem our G-d be upon us, and may our handiwork be established for us; and may our handiwork be established.
We recite this pasuk every Saturday night, when we are about to begin a new workweek. We plead to Hashem to make our efforts successful, to make our work actually work. We have to do ביד – everything we can, recognizing our limitations, and then איתמר – beg Hashem to make our efforts successful. We have to do what we can, accept what we can’t, and place our trust in Hashem.
When the System WORKS
There is one final, crucial point that needs to be made about this very important subject.
I once joined a group of 12th graders in Magen David on a trip to Sephardic Bikur Holim (SBH), where they learned about the amazing work done by this organization. The staff at SBH sat with the students and described some of the situations that they handle – families struggling with serious illness, financial troubles, marital strife, and so on. They asked the students how they thought each situation should be handled. It was an incredible experience, and the students were truly inspired.
Afterward, when I went with the boys to lunch, one student came over to me and said, “Rabbi, they could have just as well told us about my family.”
He explained that when the economy crashed, his father lost his job. He was unemployed for two years. The family’s situation was dire.
Sephardic Bikur Holim got involved, and helped in various ways. Finally, they were able to find the father a job. That job led to a second job, and the father excelled in the second job to the point where he was made partner. Now the family is, baruch Hashem, quite comfortable. The father donates one-tenth of his income to SBH to show his appreciation.
Sometimes – and very often, in fact – the system WORKS. And it works fabulously.
Yes, we all feel failed by the system in one way or another. But aren’t we all also helped by the system? Our community’s system does some amazing things. Of course, it’s not going to work all the time for everyone. It’s never going to be perfect. But our system is incredible, in so many ways.
I have friends outside the community, and they complain about their “systems,” too. Nothing is perfect. Every system has its glitches. We need to change what we can and accept what we can’t.
Hashem created a well-organized world. There are so many wonderful things, and there are many challenges. Rather than sit and complain, we should embrace the challenges we face, and accept them for what they are – precious opportunities for us to grow, to become better, stronger, and more accomplished people.