Page 17 - TheMoralOfYourStory

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.

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