TJS S4 Interlude Adar: doing more with joy

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If you carry joy in your heart, says guitar legend Carlos Santana, you can heal any moment. And I'm certainly looking to do a little bit of healing out there, and I'm hoping to feel that joy in my heart. Because I'm Rav Mike Foyer, and this is The Jewish Story. Interlude, Rosh Chodesh Adar, doing more with joy. Now I know that some of you are probably thinking that I promised some words on revenge. And don't worry, they're coming. God willing, I will have a great conversation for you next week with Professor Thayn Rosenbaum, all ready for Shabbat Zachor as it happens. But I'm sure you know that the rule of COVID has been to expect the unexpected. And the difference between a Thursday and a Sunday recording day gives me an unexpected opportunity to try and be marbeh b'simcha.

You may know that phrase, mishin nichnas adar, marbeh b'simcha. Well, how do we translate it? When Otter comes, we are making more joy is usually how we think of it. We're out there singing, being a little bit silly, and making it just a bit brighter for ourselves and those around us. But we could also read it as not just making more joy, but making more joyfully. And these are very different postures to take making more joy and making more joyfully. Each one actually has its own question that helps to elucidate it. If I'm looking to make more joy, then I have to ask, what makes me happy? Right? But if I'm looking to make more joyfully, then I have to ask why I'm not happy doing more. Now, it's true that in order to really have that discussion, we'd have to spend some proper time nailing down a definition of simcha, of that particular type of joy that's being referred to there.

But right now, truth is, I'm far more interested in exploring the other side of the equation, the more. And it so happens that this more that I've been gifted is Erev Rosh Chodesh. It's just before the beginning of the month of Adar, which starts Tanakh. So what you're hearing right now is me trying to rev up my more. So I'll actually say, what more do we have to be happy about is a good place to start. Now, there's definitely much more ahead on the Kibbutz calendar in Rosh Chodesh Adar, if you're familiar with it. Now, whether you're happy with what it holds, I'll leave to you and your particular definitions of joy. But let's just touch it for a second, because truth is, my sacred calendar is looking a little bit stacked between now and Pesach.

And we have the Arba Parashyot that lead up, Shkalim, Zachor, Parah, Chodesh. You may not be so familiar with these, but what they are is really the intersection between text and time. It's a reading, in a simple explanation level, that parallels the seven aliyot that we read on Shabbos morning, the parts of the Torah, with a selection from the prophet, what's known as the Haft Torah. And I love the role that this public reading of the Haft Torah, on a certain periodic rhythm, can play in the experience of the Jewish calendar. This four parshiot, paying the temple tax for the coming years of Vodah, this fact that the Jews have always paid in to a collective service of God, remembering to wipe out Amalek on Zahor, that's an important one that we'll explore at another time, seeking purity before sacrifice as part of the preparation for Pesach, and of course, the declaration of the first of months in Hodesh.

These, like I said, they're anchors in text, which serve to evoke the depths of sacred time. They let us go up to the Mikdash that we've been building through the year and through the centuries in our prayers. And we do there the service in time that our national covenant of Pesach demands. Remember, the Jews have been masters of crafting sacred time into ornate and powerful structures for almost 2,000 years. But our sacred time rhythm is built on something so organic that its origin is actually holiness of place. We're revolving around the temple there in the heart of Jerusalem. And that's why we're in this powerful cycle of the calendar right now with these four Parshiyot. We read these texts, basically, to remind us and to tap into the state of mind of how we build from our normal, I don't know about every day, since I don't know how normal you are, but from our normal rhythm, start working our way upwards to the point we could bring a symbol of what unites us as a people with God up to the temple.

Like I said, it's not just a reminder, it's a tapping in to the state of mind. And right now, during these four parshiot, the role that the redemptive reading of our story, the digging into the text of the Hebrew Bible, plays in tying together one calendar from two different types of time is worthy of attention. What do I mean? Well, there are two types of time that we've been carrying down with us, we being humanity, since the beginning of days. There's a sense that time is cyclical, right? The old sunrise, sunset part of time, that basically, year comes, year goes, and next year, this time, I'll be in the same place. But there's also a sense of the linear, right? Most discerally, we feel this in you're born, you live, you die.

But when we look at the parallel to the sunrise-sunset in the Jewish tradition, it's the moon. Because the moon, through its growing and fading, gives us a sense of a linear unit. It's true it returns, but it's just a little bit different of an experience without diving too deep into it. And when you put a circle and a line together, what you get is a spiral. That's a spiral of time. And when you can connect deeply in thought and in practice to the Hebrew calendar it can be experienced actually as an ever spiral in time an ever spiral of practice of a voda of spiritual dedication If you want to understand what I saying if you still with me that is picture an Archimedes screw You may have seen one of these fantastic inventions already likely from Egypt before Archimedes knew what a screw was, but it's basically a way in which you can use a screw to raise water.

You turn the crank, the screw rotates, and its very shape lifts the water from low to high. So too the Hebrew calendar. as long as you put in the work, the effort to keep moving through it, it can lift your spirits. And that most essential piece, like I said, what I'm interested in, not so much the lifting of the spirits that we call Simcha, but the more, that more, there's lots to come. Like I said, we got these four parshiot. There's a triple Purim this year, if you know what that means in living in Jerusalem. If not, just figure, Purim is a day on which you would double down. But the triple, and of course, Pesach on the horizon, I hope I'm not making anybody nervous, that's certainly a more out there that we better get ready to embrace with joy.

So like I said, we have a lot to look forward to, and I hope that makes you happy. So not to be a downer in a podcast that's supposed to be about Simcha, but this forum is going to mark the end of the corona year. At least for those of us here in Israel, I can remember that before Purim, I was actually on a birthday trip. Thank you much. I am an Adar baby. Can you hear it in my voice? My kids and I, and my wife, of course, all went up to play in the snow on the Hermon. It's true. We had a wacky experience where a group of Indonesian tourists saw Jews in their native environment and wanted to all take pictures hugging my kids. But when we got back, we heard that there was like this Asian flu thing going on.

Am I allowed to say that? This Asian flu thing going on. We were worried whether these people were on the watch list, but it didn't really make an impact. What I remember was rejoicing in the sunshine on my dear friend Zev's mere peset, looking at Jerusalem in the distance, table groaning with food and that froth of holy madness rising. Like I said, we'd heard of the virus, and there was even talk of banning large gatherings, but those were far-away voices, and to be honest, at the time, they sounded more than a little bit delusional. And now it's been a year. And no matter how much time lies ahead, we'll never be able to call the situation we face unprecedented again. At least so far as what I'm focused on, which is that lived experience of the Hebrew calendar, which goes by every year, but hopefully is lifting us with each bit more it gives.

Now, this may or may not hit you in the guts personally as far as the calendar goes. And that depends on the degree of your practice and your attachment to it. I myself am praying to have guests, good guests, holy guests for the Seder this year. But no matter what, a year has passed for all of us in the madness of this situation. And what lies ahead is more, more time and the question, of course, of what it's filled with. And that more is what we need to start embracing right now with joy. My experience, I mean, really in my experience, the best way to make time joyful is really to have a sense of purpose. when I try to think back over my life and ask, when was I happiest? Which is an important question to ask, by the way, if you want to get to know yourself.

It's a simple one, although you should sit with it. Don't necessarily accept what's given first. Write it down, talk it out, and when you're done answering what makes me happy looking back, give yourself more time and answer again. But in my experience, I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. And when I think of the most joyous times in my life, there is certainly an image that comes to mind. And it's when I was in college, an undergrad, taking the ecology of the front range at Colorado College. I mean, listen, this is a field-based ecology class with a special emphasis on raptors. Those are birds of prey for the layman amongst us. Taught by a man who reintroduced the peregrine falcon to the Colorado Rockies and was himself a falconer, meaning he hunted with birds.

And he could read the mountains like a map is just not enough, like his own heart. and taught me at least to see if not to do so. And I remember quite clearly, it was a challenging class. Lots to do. In fact, always more that I could be doing. And I remember leaping out of bed almost every morning saying, Yes, I have so much to do today. On some level, though I do say moda'ani faithfully every morning, thank you, Lord, for giving me back my soul. And sometimes I even mean it. Those days will always be my inner reference for simcha, for that sense of joy which comes really from purpose and from what it means to do more joyfully. Like I said, I'm resisting the desire to dive into what exactly that precious state of Simcha is.

I want to keep my eyes on the prize. We're interested in the Mishn Nechaz Adar Marbim B'Simcha, the Marbim part. I want to harness the more. And like I said, on some level, what more we have ahead of us is just simply another new year. Of course, in theory, we could say that every day, that there's another year of us. But I'm saying it right now. And it's not for naught, because Purim is the beginning of the buildup to Pesach, which is its own new year. And if we want to take this more, this another year, and do it joyfully, be more with a sense of simcha, then I think a sense of purpose is a keystone. Because if you're going to get up every day, joyfully or not, You need to know why. And the more clear that why is to you, the more you let it be what lifts you out of bed, the more likely it is that it will be a joyful moment.

But of course, if you're listening right now and perhaps rolling your eyes a bit, it's obvious on one hand, ever since Viktor Frankl walked out of Auschwitz and told us that meaning is actually what gives strength for survival it obvious that this is the key But just like Vicar Franklin would have told you the problem is never that there just more time which lies ahead of you in which to explore your purpose, right? And a time, of course, that I'm talking right now, we're meant to embrace with joy, is that that time holds an unknowable amount of the unknown. Can I give you a moment of insider baseball. If you don't get it, just let it go. But I don't know about you. I'm really looking forward to the fact that the Purim Suda this year is what's known as Porus Mapa Ume Kadesh.

We're going to smooth flow right out of Purim into Shabbat because I'm not so sure I'm ready for what lies ahead. I'm going to miss my friends, don't get me wrong, but I feel a deep need to ground myself in myself coming into the coming cycle. It's been a crazy trip around the wheel this year. This year has taught us, in many ways, the central truth of the Megillah. It was 2020, right? Which apparently never ended, and that's the year in which we came to know that we don't know. Because by the central message, I mean the truth which lies at the core of Mordechai HaYehudi, Mordechai, the Jews, only spoke in line in the whole Megillah. I won't go into it now. I've said it elsewhere. If you want, you can send me an email and I'll share the other podcasts I have on Purim with you.

But for now, if you don't know, Mordecai only has one line that we actually hear in his voice. And he says it's in the situation in which he's just informed Esther that a decree has been made to destroy all the Jews. And she writes back basically saying, I'd like to help you that everybody knows I'm in a delicate position. And he says, don't imagine that you of all Jews is going to escape just because you're there in the palace. On the contrary, right? If you keep silent right now, there's going to be a deliverance and relief for the Jews from somewhere else. Ah, but you and your father's house, you'll go down. And here it is. And who knows? Maybe you've attained a royal position for just such a crisis.

I mean, just try to appreciate for a minute. The future of the people is on the line. Mordecai writes to Esther and she says, I can't do it. We're all going to die anyway. And he says, no we're not. we'll be fine. I'm running you to help us because you're in danger. Who knows if you didn't get to this position for just such this reason. It's a pretty terrible pep talk if you ask me. Not only does he say she's unnecessary, he tells her she can't rely on the fact that she's there for some divine purpose. Now even if you aren't overly familiar with the story, I hope you can still here in that, who knows, a central existence, a central truth, existential truth of daily living. So long as we have more time, we have more uncertainty.

And that combination can be downright paralyzing. I mean, how do I know what to do when anything could happen? And how do I manage to engage that time when it has no boundaries? It could go on. forever. How can I plan, explore values, make goals grow when I can't know what tomorrow might bring? I mean, literally, I don't know about you guys, you ever spend any time cruising rumors on the media hoping to know whether your children are going to go back to school tomorrow? Now, this combination of time and uncertainty, like I said, can therefore be paralyzing the wide open more of time, together with the who knows of possibility, could just stick you where you are. And that's certainly not a joyful state.

But this combination of time and uncertainty can be liberating as well. I mean, if you don't know what could happen, well then, anything is possible. And when we look at that more of time ahead of us, we don't necessarily have to see it as the potential chaos, yawning void of what might be, it could be, a gear of adventure which lies in wait. Now, this is not to downplay the pain and difficulty which could be part of that adventure, God forbid. On the contrary, I mean, looking backwards, one thing which I might say is that the very more we're being called to embrace with joy in the coming year might be the pain and difficulty. I don't know. But I can say that it's not for sure. Nobody knows. I mean, it looks bad now, but redemption could be right around the corner.

And I'm not holding out a promise, nor am I trying to sow false hopes. I'm just trying to loosen the edges of what we think we know in order to transform the unknown into an adventure. I'm going to make a commitment to you right now, insofar as that might be helpful. Because there's definitely more coming down the pipeline for me this year, and I'm not really sure what it's going to be. I mean, more Jewish story, more Rav Mike. I've got thoughts bubbling inside me to the point in which I'm basically making beer in my head. Part of that is going to be a video project. Right now, I'm thinking of it as A Life Called Quest. By the way, if you like that title, I'm happy to hear it. If it strikes a wrong chord in you, let me know as well.

But basically, I want to explore the questions I see driving the quest of my own life. And those are the people with whom I give counsel, with whom I live. As far as I can tell, life is quest. That's how I reconcile between time, uncertainty, and purpose. Meaning, you've got something ahead of you. You're not really sure what will be. And there are drivers that push you forward. I know the destination is out there but I don know how far or even where And the task at hand is to use the time given to us that more to build the world in pursuit of the dream The tools which can help us, the challenges which we face, etc., that's going to be the stuff of those video conversations. Send me your thoughts, your comments, your questions.

I want to know if you're on a quest. If so, what are you seeking? What are the questions that drive you? And what are your dreams of a destination? For now, just know, all who pursue a quest, so long as time remains, know that hope is not lost. No matter how long the road, it's the way we embrace the journey, the more, which actually produces the destination, not just guaranteeing that we'll get there. And you know what? Who knows what may lie ahead on the road other than that there's more left to go. There is a definite link between joy and terror. And as far as I can tell, it has to do with more. I mean, just think about the sensation. When you're really overwhelmed with joy, there's that like trembling, edgy, don't know what to do, which is quite similar to fear.

If you want an image of what I'm talking about here in our Avoda, this spiritual practice of Marbim B'Simcha, is doing more joyfully, Just think of putting your pedal to the metal and doubling down when everyone's shouting, slow down, it's too much, no more. And you say, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, is that joy or madness? Or hitting the rocket boosters when you see that sign ahead, road out, launching to the next level instead of listening to all the voices inside and out shouting, stop. There's no more ahead. And as far as I can tell, looking in and talking to others, we throttle back when we're afraid we don't have more to give. It happens in relationships. It happens in pursuit of our vision. It happens in our physical health.

We're afraid to jump in general because somewhere within us, we don't believe that there's a safe place to land. And without that guarantee, we lack the courage sometimes to take the leap. That fear, on some level, is really just a lack of belief that there is more. It's the greatest expression I can find in my life of a sense of scarcity. This feeling of the boundedness of what I have inside me, and, frankly, what's out there in the world. And if you're familiar with what I'm speaking about, then you know that that sense of scarcity can grip me in an instant. It could cut off the moment of a lifetime like that. Now, sunk in a scarcity mentality, everything is a hasbon. It's in accounting, you're doing the math.

And you know that once you're doing the math, on some level, there will never be enough. When life is a calculus, fear is always a limiting factor to equation. Now, that's not to say I'm calling on you to get reckless as a life path. But it is to say that there's an essential place in life for taking risks. There's more to life than we can know. bigger possibilities which lie beyond the certain. Because unless you're willing to shrink the world to fit your measure, then you live in a world that's bigger than you know by definition. And therefore, if you're willing to leap, you might rise or you might fall. You don't know. But if you stick with what's safe, you're certainly going to stay right here on this level.

The sense that there is an abundance of unknown opportunities out there, if I'm only willing to let go of what I know and take a leap, is a source of great joy and freedom, and it's downright terrifying. One of my favorite teachings from Rav Kook is that God doesn't hold back. What we have, the world in which we live, is basically a reflection of what we're willing and able to receive, But as far as God's concerned, there is no limit to what might be. Now, beware, it's in the same piece that Rav Kook teaches that the brokenness of the world that we see around us is a product of fact that God doesn't hold back. When I say doesn't hold back, I mean it's to the point of the shattering of the vessels.

This idea that God never gives us more than we can handle is not one which has ever really rung true for me. leaving out the moralist stance of judgment, which sometimes creeps in. I just think it can't be so sure. So there is more out there. And we're called not just to embrace it, but to embrace it with joy. And if we want to do so, it's an avoda. It's going to take some work. And here I am with this unique opportunity, a little more time, trying to share with you what it might mean on Erev Rosh Chodesh, right before the month of Dar begins. how we might open ourselves to that more and that joy which just might possibly come with it. I want to thank a few folks before I jump off. I want to thank all the folks who give their hard-earned money to make this show happen.

Keep it free and widely available. I want to call on you to join them. Do a little bit more, people. If you want your more to be supporting me, you can go to my website at www.jewishtory.co. In the upper right-hand corner, you'll see a button that says via Patreon. You can click on it for a little bit of per-podcast support. You can also, by the way, be in touch if you want to dedicate a show in honor of someone you love who's with you today or someone who's passed on. I want to thank the Land of Israel Network. That's thelandofisrael.com for creating a platform that allows me to reach so many amazing people. I want to thank the Pardes Institute, pardes.org.il for building an educational institution which is chugging away in the COVID crisis and lets me teach so many fantastic Jews.

I want to thank you for listening. I'm Rav Mike Boyer. This is The Jewish Story.