Page 11 - HaShofar 5709 1948
P. 11
TOW/ARDS · A.BETTER YEAR
By RABBI OSCAR Z. FASMAN, President, Hebrew Theological College
Every new year should be welcomed with some are considered a sour lot as well as a sorry. The
measure ·of increased wisdom, and should be agents of duty, we have taken on her features, and
marked by the enrichment ·of one's ·personal philos- we need not be surprised if people breathe more ·
ophy. May I share .with the reader an additional easily after we have walk~ out of the door. It.
insight, humble though it be, I hope to profit by is almost as uncomfortable to ·ride beside duty's
in 5709? servant as it is to be duty-ridden, .so that the most
flattering remark to a parson or priest or rabbi
AU of us who enter the ministry speak constantly is to call him one of the boys. (It is like saying .
in, terms of duty, and it is generally portrayed in that the arthritis in . the shoulder suddenly dis-
stern· colors, a sort of strict mistress with a look appeared.)
that ·strikes ·fear into many hearts. Obedience to
How can we expect to attract people to the nobil,
willher constitutes righteousness, all the more so ity of religion, when its preoccupation with duty
leaves them nervous, fretfuland fearful? By what
because the assumption is that it is · not pleasant illusion .·do we think we can spread sweetness and
to heai- her voice. Hers is the annoying habit of light through channels that invariably seem heavy,
curbing our joys by a forbidding command, of menacing, unyielding, even harsh? Before .we
blocking our desires by an unsympathetic ·nega- utter the first word, the audience is conditioned
tive. .She has no patience with our yearning for against us, and we eannot travel very far with,
out reference to duty, whereupon the suspicion is
a carefree existence, and she multiplies· her orders confirmed. The situation is all the. more unsatis-
factory where · young people are . concerned, for
at the very moment when we prefer complete the reins· of control bite into their soft muscles
liberty: She robes herself eternally in the.raiment with merciless insistence, and they fight away from
· of the courtroom, and is never seen in beach attire. anything that puts a check upon the exuberance
She buys tickets, as it were, for King Lear, but of their impulses.
avoids As You Like It. She reminds us · of castor
oil rather · than chocolate soda;· for she may pe A solution to the . problem .lies in two possible
chosen for health but not for delight. The things directions, but one of these is treason. Either the
we may do ·and those we may not hav-e pages in ·preacher must forsake the subject of duty entirely,
her code that do not coincide with the ledger in which case he is faithless to his calling, or he
sheets' of our own making. She is stubborn,, im- must interpret duty in more palatable syllables,
perious, . relentless, hard ·and coldly ju~t. present it in the NewLook and grace it with appeal.
No wond.er, therefore, that w.e who uphold her The rabbis of old had a word for it. They spoke
ca1,1se and praise her. vh:tue have difficulty in win- not only of the Mitzvah but also of the Simchah
ning a following, As a general rule, we preachers · shel Mitzvah, the joy of performing a good deed.
It was their conviction that no man has grasped
. OCTOBER, · 1948 the message of Judaism who fails to experience a
sense of happiness at .the time he fulfills his sense
of duty. . Service in the world mlist wear a !Smile.
To be1effective as a spokesman for Torah one must
develop an attitude of exultation. He must make
a case not merely for obedience but for the bliss
of walking in the pathways of divine glory. Of
course people must be told what they are expected
to do, but no less m.ust they be taught the emotiqns
that .are expected to accompany their actions. The
grace .that is recited before breaking .bread is not
a mechanical formula: drilled info a child, but a
fervent and joyous affirmation of gratitude for the
goodness of Him Who gave it. The Sabbath must
not fall upon a household like a heavy fog, but
must dance in from the windows and doors to brush
away thedrea;iness of the :week's.toil. The Dietary
Laws are not to be viewed .as a headache for the
traveler and a heartache for•the young bride, but
