Mishpatim - Don't Be a Slave to Nonsense

 

Parashat Mishpatim begins with the subject of עבד עברי – the Jewish servant.  In ancient times, there were certain situations in which a person who fell into financial straits would sell himself as a servant.  The Torah commands that the master must release the servant after six years.  However, if the servant says that he likes the arrangement, and he is happy with his master, then he may remain.  In such a case, the Torah says, the master must drill a hole through the servant's ear.

 

Rashi (21:6), based on the Gemara, explains that this act is intended as a punishment for the servant.  His ear heard Hashem proclaim at Har Sinai, כי לי בני ישראל עבדים – that Beneh Yisrael are servants only of Hashem, and not of other human beings.  And yet, despite hearing this pronouncement, the servant decided he wanted to remain in servitude when he was allowed to go free – and so the ear that heard this proclamation is pierced.

 

Rashi here is teaching us something exceptionally profound, and exceedingly relevant to each and every one of us.  He is telling us that we are not allowed to become "slaves" to anyone or anything else but Hashem.  Nobody and nothing is ever allowed to take control of us.

 

To develop this point further, let us examine a fascinating comment by the Midrash regarding the creation of Adam.  The Midrash states that when Adam was first created, he had the ability to see מסוף העולם ועד סופו – from one end of the world to the other.  This means that the human is created with vast capabilities.  Our potential is far greater than we can ever imagine.  When we look at the remarkable creations and inventions that human beings have come up with, we need to realize that people are actually capable of far more than that.  We are many times more powerful and capable than we think.

 

The thing that limits us, that holds us back from maximizing this vast potential, is our "slavery" to nonsense.  We become subservient to things which are worthless, which have zero value, but which somehow hold us in their grip and prevent us from achieving all that we're capable of achieving.

 

And never has this been truer than today.

 

In order for the entertainment industry to sustain itself, it needs to bring in trillions of dollars.  And the only way it can bring in trillions of dollars is by "enslaving" us.  The industry invests enormous amounts of time, money, personnel and ingenuity to make nonsense seem important.  We need only to look at the estimates of how many millions of Americans watch the Superbowl, and how many millions bet significant sums of money on this game.  Whether it's sports, movies, television series, or celebrity culture – there is a concentrated effort to draw us in, to grab our attention, to get interested in utter nonsense.  A person picks up his phone to send an important message – and then ends up spending an hour – or more – looking at all kinds of video clips, memes, and other media that do absolutely nothing for him.  He has become a slave to the industries that need his attention in order to make money.

 

We need to remind ourselves that we are so much greater than this.  We are human beings, endowed with the divine image, and we are Jews, members of Hashem's special nation, whom He charged with a special mission.  Can we imagine any distinguished Rabbi or leading communal figure spending hours watching funny videos on his phone?  Well, we, too, are distinguished and important.  We are capable of greatness, we can achieve extraordinary things – but we don't because we are pulled away from what matters by things that do not matter at all.

 

Of course, we all need a little entertainment in our lives.  There's nothing wrong with some amusement, some laughs, and some distractions.  But, as our parashah teaches us, the problem is when we become slaves to the entertainment, when it takes over our lives, and pulls us away from the greatness that we are capable of achieving, and which we are meant to achieve.

 

The Gemara in Masechet Sukkah teaches that in the next world, the sinners will see the yetzer ha'ra – the evil inclination that led them to sin – and it will appear to them as a tiny thread of hair.  They will then be overcome by shame and regret, wondering how they were defeated by something so tiny and so minuscule.  This is precisely the yetzer ha'ra's strategy – making a "thread of hair" seem big, important, formidable, worthy of our time and our attention.  In the next world, we will see how so many things that we were subservient to, that we allowed to consume our time and our minds, were really just a "thread," so meaningless, so unimportant, so bereft of value.

 

Let's not wait till the next world.  Let's already now have the clarity to identify meaninglessness, to recognize the nonsense around us, and not let it take us away from our pursuit of greatness. - Joey Haber​

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https://itorah.com/weekly-inspire/don-t-be-a-slave-to-nonsense/15/29448