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16      CHILDART      THE MORAL OF YOUR STORY                                                                                                                                                                           APR-JUN 2021      17
                                                                                                                                      RABBI MICHAEL SHEVACK


                                                                                                                                      FOUNDER
                                                                                                                                      THE ALLIANCE FOR ENLIGHTENED JUDAISM
                                                                                                                                      ICAF ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

                                                                                                                                      PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA


                                                                                                                                      I remember being about eight years old, spending my   sensibilities back then, not attractive. So, I refused to dance
                                                                                                                                      summers in New Jersey, generally bored out of my    with her. I was embarrassed to be seen with her.
                                                                                                                                      mind. Then one day, I discovered this amazing invention:   The next day, my father called me in to talk to me. It seemed
                                                                                                                                      a magnifying glass. I could look at a leaf and see its   that Angela’s father had spoken to him about the fact that I
                                                                                                                                      intricacies. I could look at my skin and see all the little   would not dance with her. My father asked me why, with a
                                                                                                                                      lines and canals that I had never noticed.
                                                                                                                                                                                          twinkle in his eye and a chuckle, knowing, of course, why. I
                                                                                                                                      I also discovered that one could use the magnifying glass   felt bad, ashamed, but in a strange way, I felt empowered,
                                                                                                                                      to focus the light of the sun, and actually burn holes in   masculine, respected, and admired by my father, who felt
                                                                                                                                      paper. This led to a sudden inspiration. I lay on the ground,   I was simply a “normal boy.”
                                                                                                                                      focused the rays of the sun, and created a space-age   Thirty-five years later, the news hit my family. Angela had
                                                                                                                                      “death ray” which I could use to incinerate little ants walking   become addicted to drugs and had struggled for many,
                                                                                                                                      on the ground. I spent endless hours incinerating the ants,   many years before deciding to take her own life. She had
                                                                                                                                      considering these tiny creatures worthless. I felt so powerful.  been a very unhappy person. Right then and there I realized
                                                                                                                                      Many years later, as a rabbi, I was invited to take a tour of   that, in my own way, I had contributed to the criticism,
                                                                                                                                      Dachau and other concentration camps. It was there that   rejection, hatred, and cruelty she must have experienced.
                                                                                                                                      I saw the crematoria, the incinerators, which they fired up   Another painful lesson in morality.
                                                                                                                                      to burn Jews and other creatures considered worthless.   My morality teachers have, generally speaking, not been
                                                                                                                                      “How could they do it?” people on the trip asked. But I knew   adults. I have found (and still do find) the adult world rather
                                                                                                                                      how. I remembered the sheer delight, the glee, the feeling   morally confusing. Adults teach rules: do this; don’t do that.
                                                                                                                                      of power. I understood, all too well, how the Nazi’s did it.   As you may have discovered, adults can sometimes be
                                                                                                                                                                                          very annoying, even though, at the age of sixty-seven, it
                                                                                                                                                                                          seems I have become one.
                                                                                                                                        Morality is not a strict                          Thou shalt not murder. That’s a perfectly good, time-


                                                                                                                                       science of yes or no. It is                        honored, moral rule, especially for a rabbi, who is considered
                                                                                                                                                                                          a moral teacher. But when that rule is implemented in
                                                                                                                                      an art of the heart, which                          courts, the debate becomes very nuanced and speculative.
                                                                                                                                                                                          Is it manslaughter I, or manslaughter II? Self-defense?
                                                                                                                                                                                          Insanity? Is it really murder? Morality is not a strict science
                                                                                                                                         requires discernment                             of yes or no. It is not a rule. It is an art of the heart, which
                                                                                                                                                                                          requires discernment and wisdom. Morality requires you
                                                                                                                                                 and wisdom.                              to be open to Life’s lessons. Morality is Life teaching you
                                                                                                                                                                                          about yourself, and your own conscience.
                                                                                                                                                                                          Whether it comes from wantonly destroying beautiful
                                                                                                                                      When I was twelve years old, I had another moral lesson,   creatures, without whom our soil would not be aerated
                                                                                                                                      and like the previous one, I did not fully understand its
                                                                                                                                                                                          and our planet could not produce vegetation, or from caring
                                                 LIFE IS                                                                              meaning until decades later. In the summertime, the kids   too much about the superficial looks of a person and failing
                                                                                                                                      in the neighborhood used to get together at a local social
                                                                                                                                                                                          to see the luminous soul they are, Life gives us lessons
                                                                                                                                      hall for a dance every Saturday night. I was a very good   in morality beginning in childhood, profound lessons, that
                                           MY RABBI                                                                                   dancer. I had a neat little pair of black Converse sneakers,   often unveil themselves much later in life.
                                                                                                                                      which had the right amount of dirt and wear on them, so
                                                                                                                                                                                          Life is the best teacher of morality. Life has been my
                                                                                                                                      I looked cool and not geeky. I was quite the ladies’ man
                                                                                                                                      because, unlike other guys, I could really dance. The Twist   classroom. And I have received many an “F,” a failing
                                                                                                                                      was all the rage.                                   grade. But when it comes to learning the most critical
                                                                                                                                                                                          moral lessons in life, sometimes the poorest grade can
                                                                                                                                      One Saturday night, I was approached by a girl I will   teach the biggest lesson. In this light, that’s the best grade
                                                                                                                                      call Angela. She asked me to dance. Angela was, to my   there is! You never forget the lesson.




         ARTWORK ASHLEY LUBOLD AGE 11 USA                                                                                                                                                                                            https://icaf.org
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