Dear Friends,
A thought to carry into Shabbat… and beyond…
I recently came upon the following story on social media.
Charley, a new retiree-greeter at WalMart, just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean-shaven, sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their “Older Person Friendly” policies.
One day the boss called him into the office for a talk. “Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job when you finally get here; but your being late so often is quite bothersome.”
“Yes, I know, and I am working on it.”
“Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear.”
“Yes sir, I understand your concern and I will try harder.”
Seeming puzzled, the manager went on to comment, “I know you’re retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say to you there if you showed up in the morning late so often?”
The old man looked down at the floor, then smiled. He chuckled quietly, then said with a grin, “They usually saluted and said, ‘Good morning, Admiral, can I get your coffee, sir?’”
I read this, chuckled to myself and then thought of an experience I had years ago.
I was traveling in upstate New York when I stopped at an antiques shop. It was a huge barn, and upon entering it, one couldn’t help but be wowed not only by the voluminous space, but also by the fact that it was packed from floor to ceiling with old furniture and household items.
I was wandering through the shop when a large, bronze bowl caught my eye. I stopped to take a closer look and was surprised to find Hebrew letters embossed around the entirety of the bowl, just below the rim.
“What an odd item to find in a place like this,” I thought to myself.
At that point, the proprietor of the shop walked over. His hair was disheveled, his mustache and beard were in desperate need of attention and he was was wearing dirty overalls and worn boots. He noticed me trying to read and translate the Hebrew letters on the bowl and said, “Don’t bother trying to read that. It doesn’t actually say anything.”
I felt my stomach tighten and my blood pressure rise. “How dare he!” I thought, “What a hateful, small-minded, likely Jew-hating person. I need to get out of here.”
But before I could get moving the man continued, “The letters are an ancient Kabbalistic incantation. The letters themselves mean nothing but, through Gematria, assigning a numerical value to each letter, they have a sacred mystical meaning that was part of the Kabbalistic practices of the community that initially created the item.”
Then, noticing that my jaw had dropped and my eyes were about to pop out of my head he continued, “It’s not uncommon. You can learn a lot more about mystical amulets and incantations like this in the book Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg.”
I stood in stunned silence for what seemed like an hour and finally said, “Uhm… who exactly are you?”
I learned that the man in the dirty overalls and worn boots had an advanced degree in Jewish studies and was an expert in Jewish mysticism. This was his weekend home and he ran the antique shop for fun.
After a lengthy discussion, I thanked him for his time and for sharing his expertise with me, silently adding thanks for the lesson he didn’t even realize he had just taught me. It is a lesson as old as the Talmud where we read,
Rabbi Meir used to say: Do not look at the flask but at what is in it; there may be a new flask that is full of old wine and an old flask that has new wine in it.
It is an insight that is as important today as it was two thousand years ago.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Daniel Cohen