LETTER FROM AMERICA

By ZALMAN MYERSMITH

It's a mitzvah (positive commandment) to be b'simcha...to be happy. Kids can make you happy until they start causing headaches, shopping makes you happy until the credit card bills come through in the mailbox and spouses make you happy until they say that one word or sentence that hits the bullseye of your ego and pride and then.... well you know. Kabbalah teaches us that depression is not a real emotion. It's a culmination of thoughts realised through a negative mental paralysis and it can only result in thought, speech and action relating to negativity, which breeds further depression and deeper negativity. It's not even a vicious cycle, it's a downward spiral, that's quite depressing in itself.

America, my home since 1997, is in a state of emotional, spiritual and physical depression. Life has gone on since the horrific events on September 11th, but since that day, reality and mortality have become two distinct partners. America (which in Hebrew means empty people or Am Rica) is quite a religious country. Billboards on highways and in cities proclaim G-d bless America. Flags are flying on car aerials, outside of stores and businesses, homes and schools. This, I strongly doubt, we would ever see in Britain.

Pesach (which has one translation of "jumping over" as the Angel of Death jumped over the Jewish houses to spread death amongst the Egyptian taskmasters and their families) is here. Pesach represents something the world needs so badly - hope and reality. The hope of all Jews, as we supplicate thirteen times in the eighteen blessings of the Amidah, is for redemption. We ask to be redeemed from our present bondage and to live in a world of hope and unity and recognition of our Creator. The very essence of Judaism is to perfect the world - Tikkun Olam.

So, some may say that's all very nice and utopian, but it isn't reality. It's just not going to happen. If the redemption, just as our ancestors experienced, happened because of our being in spiritual exile and suffering spiritually and physically, G-d has had ample opportunity to put a stop to all the nonsense in the world and send His ultimate emissary, the Messiah. And who needs to perfect an imperfect world? By nature humans aren't perfect, so how can they create perfection?

Tikkun Olam, which is literally fixing or perfecting the world, is not a simple process. In order to be a partner with G-d, there has to be a connection. Just as one prepares for the day ahead, and just as you must spend "quality" time with your spouse in order to keep the vitality in your marriage, one also needs to look at one's relationship with G-d. Geulah or redemption cannot occur without the participation of every Jew. Wherever he or she may be. The service of a Jew is to create a dwelling place for G-d in this world. Just as we go about our daily business, we mustn't get so wrapped up in ourselves to forget our purpose here.

I was delighted to have a breakfast meeting with Col. Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, who is the head chaplain of the United States National Guard and is also the head chaplain at Ground Zero, the site in New York of the World Trade Center attacks.

Evidently moved by the scene he saw on September 11th, and the days following, he told me the story of how during a rescue search for bodies, one of the rescue workers called him over and handed him a kippah. The kippah had a name of a wedding inscribed in it, which had taken place a few days earlier. Col. Rabbi Goldstein, broke into tears and sobbed "like a little boy". He plans to return it to the family of the owner. Col. Rabbi Goldstein continued to tell me some of the countless stories of miracles of people who slept in that day and didn't go to work in their offices at the World Trade Center. I personally met a few people who survived the devastation and really feel as though G-d watched over them.

As Col. Rabbi Goldstein and I finished breakfast and were bidding each other a farewell, I turned to him and asked him not just as a Rabbi but as a soldier, what does all this craziness mean to him?........His response was " we are drowning! We are a people drowning in our own self-pity, our own egos and our own problems. Ground Zero has forced people to care, it's given a devastating wake up call to the mission of a Jew and those around him or her, and that mission," continued this tall vision in camouflage uniform with an immaculate snow white beard "is evident now more then ever."

That mission is Tikkun Olam. Every Living thing must grow. If not - you are dead. One must grow physically, emotionally and spiritually. Physical and emotional growth, doctors and psychiatrists can answer, but spiritual growth I will venture to suggest some methods to pursue;

Go to a Torah class, learn the Parshah with your spouse or child, learn some Jewish law, put on Tefillin, go to morning minyan for the weekday Torah reading (Monday and Thursday), light Shabbos candles, learn the laws of family purity. Even learn the laws of Pesach! All these efforts ultimately draw down G-dly light and prepare the world for a long awaited and oft prayed for era - the era of redemption.

My wife Sheina and daughter Yehudis join me in wishing you all a kosher, happy and uplifting Pesach experience.

Zalman Myersmith welcomes e-mails at rabbimyersmith@yeshivamn.org