Meaningful Mondays meets each week (11:30-1) when classes are in session at the Clover in the Harvard Science Center. Our goal is to be a stumbling block of meaning in the heart of the Harvard community's frenetic bustle. Organized by Rabbi Getzel Davis and Amitai Abouzaglo, we are trying to cultivate a conversation among Harvard affiliates on some of life's most important questions. Please grab some food and open your heart! All are welcome! Really! Even you!
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe
What is patience? The patient person is exactly like someone who is carrying a heavy package. Even though it weighs upon him, he continues to go upon his way and doesn't take a break from carrying it. The same is true in all the relationships that are between people: we see and hear many things that are not according to our will and still we continue to be friends.
R’ Wolbe’s imagery of patience is explicitly individualistic, yet the lesson he teaches is an interpersonal one. How does the bearing of our own “heavy package” convert into patience with others? What does it mean to “practice” patience in light of this text?
R. Alan Morinis
The Hebrew term for patience is 'savlanut.' It shares its linguistic root with 'sevel' which means suffering and 'sabal' which means a porter. What could these three words possibly share in common? The answer is that being patience means bearing the burden of your suffering. You tell yourself that I can bear these feelings on my inner-shoulders. holding them aloft and not crumbling under their weight.
How is patience involved in recognizing our personal suffering?
ומה היה תחלתו של רבי עקיבא. אמרו בן ארבעים שנה היה ולא שנה כלום. פעם אחת היה עומד על פי הבאר. אמר מי חקק אבן זו? אמרו לא המים שתדיר [נופלים] עליה בכל יום. אמרו [לו] עקיבא אי אתה קורא אבנים שחקו מים. מיד היה רבי עקיבא דן קל וחומר בעצמו מה רך פסל את הקשה דברי תורה שקשה כברזל על אחת כמה וכמה שיחקקו את לבי שהוא בשר ודם. מיד חזר ללמוד תורה. הלך הוא ובנו וישבו אצל מלמדי תינוקות א״ל רבי למדני תורה אחז רבי עקיבא בראש הלוח ובנו בראש הלוח כתב לו אלף בית ולמדה . (אלף תיו ולמדה תורת כהנים ולמדה). היה לומד והולך עד שלמד כל התורה כולה הלך וישב לפני רבי אליעזר ולפני ר׳ יהושע אמר להם רבותי פתחו לי טעם משנה כיון שאמר לו הלכה אחת הלך וישב לו בינו לבין עצמו אמר (אלף זו למה נכתבה בית זו למה נכתבה) דבר זה למה נאמר חזר ושאלן והעמידן בדברים.
What were Akiva's beginnings? It is said: Up to the age of forty, he had not yet studied a thing. One time, while standing by the mouth of a well in Lydda, he inquired, "Who hollowed out this stone?" and was told, "Akiva, haven't you read that 'water wears away stone' (Job 14:19)? - it was water falling upon it constantly, day after day." At that, Rabbi Akiva asked himself: Is my mind harder than this stone? I will go and study at least one section of Torah. He went directly to a schoolhouse, and he and his son began reading from a child's tablet. Rabbi Akiva took hold of one end of the tablet, and his son of the other end. The teacher wrote down alef and bet for him, and he learned them; alef to tav, and he learned them; the book of Leviticus, and he learned it. He went on studying until he learned the whole Torah. Then he went and sat before Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua. "My masters," he said, "reveal the sense of Mishnah to me." When they told him one halakhah, he went off to reason with himself. This alef, he wondered, what was it written for? That bet - what was it written for? This teaching - what was it uttered for? He kept coming back, kept inquiring of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua, until he reduced his teachers to silence.
- What traits other than patience and persistence does R’ Akiva display in the story? What does this suggest about what factors of personality (or personal ethics) enabled R’ Akiva to persist?
(כט) וַיָּ֥זֶד יַעֲקֹ֖ב נָזִ֑יד וַיָּבֹ֥א עֵשָׂ֛ו מִן־הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה וְה֥וּא עָיֵֽף׃ (ל) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר עֵשָׂ֜ו אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֗ב הַלְעִיטֵ֤נִי נָא֙ מִן־הָאָדֹ֤ם הָאָדֹם֙ הַזֶּ֔ה כִּ֥י עָיֵ֖ף אָנֹ֑כִי עַל־כֵּ֥ן קָרָֽא־שְׁמ֖וֹ אֱדֽוֹם׃
(29) Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished. (30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom.
- Esau’s hunger seems to have engulfed his decision-making. What are the vulnerabilities of patience? In which circumstances does patience seem to hold little to no sway? Have you been in Esau’s position, ready to grab that bowl of red stuff?
R. Moshe Cordovero
A person should be patience with one who has wronged him until his friend has mended his ways or until the wrongdoing has disappeared on its own accord.
- Patience intersects here not with penitence (feeling sorrow for wronging someone) but with repentance. How would mending one’s ways interact with the wronged person’s patience, in contrast to a sincere apology?
רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק:
The day is short: How does finiteness factor into your day? Do you focus your time with a recognition of how limited time is?
The work is great: How long is your To Do list? Is it growing or shrinking? Are you clear what your priorities are? Are you working toward them? Did you today?
The workers are lazy: Did laziness show up in your day? Where? How lazy were you? What did it feel like—at the time, and then again afterward? Did you have a choice?
The reward is great: As a leader, what motivates you? Why do you do what you do? What is the reward that is most important to you that you are volunteering for?
The Master of the house impatient: How does God figure into your motivation? Do you feel like you are a servant of an impatient master? What would happen to your day and activities if you felt that way, or felt it more?
Lethargy ------------ Patience ------------- Enthusiasm/Alacrity ------------- Rashness
Practice
Choose 10 minutes of your day, a time in which you’re engaged with others, and specifically engaged with others who you tend to become impatient. “Bear the burden” of everything you hear and experience that you don’t like or even find offensive.
You are invited to review this practice on Shabbat. Please share what you have learned with us next week on Monday - back in the Science Center at 11:30! Next week's topic will be Chesed/Generosity