Get out of your head
In a recent interview with Rabbi David Eliezrie, author of “The Secret of Chabad, Inside the world’s most successful Jewish movement”, talk-show host Dennis Prager offered the following; “I believe that one of your secrets to success is that all of your rabbi’s around the world radiate a joy. and I believe that happy religious people are the greatest argument for religion.”
I have a cousin who’s grandfather was a Rabbi, a respected deep thinker and white bearded Chasid living in Israel in Kfar Chabad. A family member invited a secular Israeli professor to Rabbi’s house in the hope of the Rabbi having a positive influence on him towards greater observance.
They sat down to Shabbat dinner and the professor itching to discuss theological and philosophical questions began the conversation with a question. The Rabbi told him that he wanted to share a joke with him. He proceeded to tell him one joke after another, whittling away the night on jokes instead of philosophy or theology to the obvious chagrin of the professor.
When the professor left the family member expressed his upset with the Rabbi for not having used out the time to engage philosophically. The Rabbi encouraged him to bring the professor again the next week, which he did.
The story repeated itself with the Rabbi spending the dinner engaged in joke after joke. When the professor left the family member again expressed his upset with the Rabbi.
The Rabbi answered as follows; “a person who can’t laugh at a joke, a person who can’t laugh at himself, I can’t discuss philosophy with”.
We’ve prayed, we’ve fasted, we’ve even celebrated, but we haven’t danced yet!
It’s time to dance. It’s time to dance with our feet, let’s get out of our head. If we can’t dance with our feet, we can’t really begin to have a relationship with G-d this year.
I hope to dance with you on Sunday night (Solidarity Hakafot at 6:30 PM) and Monday night (Simchat Torah Hakafot 7:30 PM).
