Dear Friends,
It just so happened that my love of sports and my love of Judaism collided to inspire this week's thought for Shabbat.
Earlier this week, Theo Epstein, the current General Manager of the 2016 World Series champions Chicago Cubs and the former General Manger of the 2004 World Series champions Boston Red Sox delivered the commencement speech at Yale University. Keep in mind that this same GM built two different teams that ended the two longest championship droughts in the history of professional sports.
Epstein's thoughtful and uplifting speech draws on a common aphorism, which happens to be from this week's Torah portion, but also speaks loudly to our mission today. He told them, through a long story, that they should always keep their heads up, to be involved, to be part of a team, a community, a larger purpose.
Let's face it; his advice isn't revelatory. However, it connects nicely to chapter 1 verse 2 of the Book of Numbers when God commands Moses to "take a census of the whole Israelite community." Counting the people is the intent of the commandment; however, the Hebrew meaning is a bit different. "Se'u et rosh..." Literally, "lift the head." Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl suggests that "lifting the head" encouraged the Israelites to be proud of who they are and who their ancestors are so that they could complete the mission that lay ahead, of entering the land that God promised them. And Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev connects the same number of individual letters in a Torah scroll to the number of individuals counted in this census. "Just as the absence of one letter renders a Torah scroll unfit for use, the loss of even one Jew prevents Israel from fulfilling its divine mission" (Etz Hayim p. 770)
Everyone on the Cubs was essential on that cool November night in Cleveland. The Cubs had blown a lead in game 7 of the World Series; they had to endure a rain delay in the 10th inning. They didn't put their heads down in despair or defeat. Instead, they came together, lifted their heads, and played as a team where everyone's contribution was vital. The rest, we know, is history.
Here's an excerpt from Epstein's address:
I thought immediately of the players' meeting during the rain delay, and how connected they were with each other, how invested they were in each other's fates, how they turned each other's tears into determination. During rain delays players typically come in off the field and head to their own lockers, sit there by themselves, change their wet jerseys, check their phones, think about what has gone right and wrong during the game, and become engrossed in their own worlds. That would have been disastrous for our team during Game Seven - 25 players sitting alone at their lockers, lamenting the bad breaks, assigning blame, wallowing, wondering. Instead, they had the instinct to come together.
Actually, it was not an instinct; it was a choice.
One day I will tell Jack and Drew that some players - and some of us - go through our careers with our heads down, focused on our craft and our tasks, keeping to ourselves, worrying about our numbers or our grades, pursuing the next objective goal, building our resumes, protecting our individual interests. Other players - and others amongst us - go through our careers with our heads up, as real parts of a team, alert and aware of others, embracing difference, employing empathy, genuinely connecting, putting collective interests ahead of our own. It is a choice.
The former approach, keeping our heads down, seems safer and more efficient, and I guess sometimes it may be. The latter, connecting, keeping our heads up, allows us to lead, and, every now and then, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and, therefore, to truly triumph. I know, I will tell them, because I have tried it both ways.
Our tradition expects us to "se'u et rosh" to lift our heads and be counted. Lifting our heads enables us to look forward, or into the eyes of our neighbor. It enables us to see the world around us and see the task ahead. We shouldn't avert our eyes to the challenges ahead, but instead look to the future with courage and determination, just as those Chicago Cubs did when faced with adversity.
May we always lift our heads high, be proud, and work together to fulfill our mission as a people for all of humankind.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Charles Briskin
