Mishnaic Lessons and the Land Masses:

Amos Oz, Rabbi Bechaya and a School Geography Bee

This week, here in school we held our annual KDS Geography Bee. Our students awed me as they displayed amazing GPS-like knowledge of the world in which we live.

Truth be told, I, as a student, would never succeed in a geography bee.    My sense of direction and maps is certainly not my strength to say the least.  But as I witnessed these amazing kids, it brought to mind some or the more spiritual lessons I have learned from geographical metaphors that can help to guide our spiritual lives. 

From the Islands- Both John Donne and Simon and Garfunkel shared the view that no one can live a fulfilled life fully alone.  From S and G’s angry, injured subject who strove to be an island who “never cries” to the famous “No man is an island” poem, islands have always symbolized a fierce, but unrealistic independence.  It is an independence that waits for or relies on no one.  And while it may be a vision that may be attractive at certain points in life, it is one that ultimately can never stand the test of time.  Going at it alone is not sustainable and cannot capture the best of the human condition--for an island never gives and never receives. 

From the Peninsulas -In Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divide, Amos Oz, the late Israeli master writer, novelist, and thinker comments on Donne’s poem to teach us about another land mass. He writes:   

“I dare to add: ‘No man is an island but each of us is a peninsula.’ We are all partially joined to the land that is our family, our language, our society, faiths and opinions, state and nationality…Every home, family and association, every society and state….is at its best when it exists as an encounter between peninsulas: close, sometimes extremely close, but without revoking one’s selfhood….influence without melding…..without kneading others into our own mold until they cease being others and become a satellite of ourselves.”

For Oz, peninsulas are the true models of who we are and who we should be.  We are at our best when we realize that we are, at once, deeply and inextricably bound to others but also free to think, speak and feel for our unique selves.  
This peninsula-like approach is similar to the lesson of the Mishnah in Sanhedrin (4:5) when we are told that 
הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא טָבַע כָּל אָדָם בְּחוֹתָמוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן וְאֵין אֶחָד מֵהֶן דּוֹמֶה לַחֲבֵרוֹ
 God struck every person from the die of the First Man [Adam], and yet no one is quite like the other.

From the Continents- But Rabbeinu Bachya would divert a bit from Oz and would support the claim of line 2 of Donne’s poem.  

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

In his famous Chovot HaLevavot, Duties of the Heart, Rabbeinu Bachya dedicates an entire section of his book to the idea of kniyah,  of submission.  He shares many foundations for this concept of realizing that we are always, in every way, beholden to something much bigger than we.  

Among the many lessons he shares is a clear reminder that we begin life fully dependent on the generation that came before us and end life dependent on the younger generation for our care.  We are forever, in every way, connected to the mainland that is our God, our community and our family..  

Rabbeinu Bachya reminds us of the famous Mishnah in Avot (3:1) which teaches that the way to avoid sin is to remember where we come from, where we are going and before whom we will give our reckoning -- before God
.קַבְיָא בֶן מַהֲלַלְאֵל אוֹמֵר, הִסְתַּכֵּל בִּשְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים וְאִי אַתָּה בָא לִידֵי עֲבֵרָה. דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, וְלִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עָתִיד לִתֵּן דִּין וְחֶשְׁבּוֹן.  

For Rabbeinu Bachya, we will be at our best when we remember that we are continents, fully connected on each end.  Keeping this full interconnectedness in mind will lead to a humility that allows us to understand our piece in the grander picture as givers, doers and receivers.  

So, thank you to our amazing 4-8th graders for a great competition.  Thank you for teaching me about the capital of Angola and about the Appalachians and reminding me that even at the KDS Geography Bee, I can be reminded of how each of these amazing geographical wonders can teach us more about lives we need to live and the ways we need to give.