The Torah’s Triggers or Ah, the human condition!

I love that the Torah really gets the human condition.  All of our insecurities, how we show up pretty and how we show up sometimes quite-not-so-pretty.

“You must not see your brother’s donkey or ox falling on the road and ignore them; you must pick them up together with him”. This week’s Torah portion – Deut. 22:4

In an earlier portion the Torah says; “when you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him.”

In Torah talk, the question that we ask is why both verses? Why wouldn’t one be enough?  If we look deeply we learn the practical application as well as the deeper lessons in the inner struggles that all of us navigate.

What motivates us? A warning of “you must not”, is not very heartwarming.  While the wagging finger sometimes gets us to fall in line, it is not inspiring and doesn’t make us feel good.  The first commandment is a Lo Taseh – thou shalt not! The second turns it into a positive commandment, “you must pick them up”. This is inspiring. I’m doing something positive, not just not doing something negative.  I’m not just not ignoring, I’m actually raising it up, I’m helping. Yay!

Some of us respond well to crises.  If I’m needed, I’ll show up, but if not, then I prefer to mind my own business.  In the first verse the Torah is talking about a burdened animal “lying under its burden”.  I see an animal in pain, I’m a sensitive soul, I’m willing to show up and do my part.  But if the bundle has fallen off already, then this is not a crisis, this is not my problem – not my monkey, not my circus.  Therefore the Torah tells us, you are valuable and your help is needed even if it is not a crisis – I am valuable – boom!

Sometimes, we are willing to help when the circumstances are predictable.  A donkey who is accustomed to carrying packages/load can sometimes have the load become misaligned. But an ox plows fields, they’re not designed to carry our loads.  I see someone who is doing something that is not the usual way of doing things, and my personal perspective and upbringing about what is the correct way of doing things triggers my judgement. Therefore the Torah tells us that even if the person is doing things in an unusual or unfamiliar way, we are here to help them, on their terms, not ours – we’re ready to rise up above our hang ups.

And my favorite! In the second verse the Torah mentions brother, in the first verse the Torah calls the person our enemy.  Essentially we are talking about the same person.  The Torah is teaching us something powerful; how do we navigate away from seeing someone as enemy?  We do this by recognizing our brotherhood and our deeper connection.  When we can reconnect with our essential bond as brothers, we can slowly navigate away from hate.  We begin with the recognition of the brotherhood and then we move to action.  The action actualizes the belief and turns into a feeling – healing has begun!

Have an amazing Shabbos!

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