spirituality » to rah por tion

FALL
TRUNK
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2016

In The Eye Of The Beholder

Parshat Bamidbar: Numbers 1:1-4:20;
Hosea 2:1-2:22.

MONDAY, JUNE 13TH, 2016
THRU
TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016

I

magine visiting a friend’s home for performed some of the most beautiful
the first time. Your friend shows
music the world has ever known — on
you around the house, inviting you
his 300-year-old Stradivarius, purchased
see her fine art collection.
for $3.5 million. Had people known the
The first painting you see
extraordinary caliber of the vio-
doesn’t impress you much and
linist producing the sounds they
you are about to move along.
were hearing in a subway station,
“Wait!” exclaims your friend.
many more would have gathered
“This is a Rembrandt! It is
close by to hang on to every note.
worth millions of dollars!”
The Torah instructs us: “Love
Would you take a second
your fellow as yourself.” The sages
look? I bet you would.
explain that the way to practice
Chances are, once you
this is by seeing the good in
Rabbi Tzvi
know it’s a Rembrandt, you
others. Often, when we come
Muller
will also begin to see beauty
to know a person’s qualities, we
in the painting that you did
naturally become more positively
not notice before. It’s amaz-
disposed toward him. However,
ing what a difference it makes knowing
do we usually notice the good within all
that a great artist produced the art before the people around us? It doesn’t always
us. We begin to see it in a new light; the
come naturally as we hurry through the
beauty becomes more perceptible.
pressing routines of day-to-day life. It
On the morning of Jan. 12, 2007, a
might be helpful to remind ourselves
street musician played his violin at a sub- of the artist, the creator, who fashioned
way station in Washington, D.C. An open every human being. If at first glance we
violin case was set on the ground before
don’t find anything beautiful about a per-
him into which passersby could drop
son, maybe, considering the designer, we
some money.
should take a second look.
Of the 1,077 people who passed by
As we approach Shavuot, it is impor-
him during the 43 minutes that he
tant to be mindful that a prerequisite to
played in the subway that morning, only receiving the Torah is that we practice
seven people stopped, at least for a min-
“love your fellow as yourself.” Indeed, the
ute, to listen. Twenty-seven gave money,
Midrash tells us that before giving the
most of them dropping it in as they
Torah, God said, “Because you love each
rushed along, amounting to a total of $32 other, I will give the Torah.”
and change. Not shocking. After all, how
Let us prepare for Shavuot by see-
many people would we expect to find a
ing more of the good in each other. A
street musician’s music so beautiful that
painting by Rembrandt van Rijn merits
it’s worth stopping just to listen?
a second look if you missed the beauty
However, there was a catch. This was
in it the first time. A street musician in
a social experiment organized by the
a subway station warrants a closer listen
Washington Post and the “street musi-
when the player is Joshua Bell. It is worth
cian” was such only for that morning.
getting to know the goodness within
Otherwise, Joshua Bell, Avery Fisher
each person when you remember the
Prize awardee and world-class violinist,
master designer of all humanity.
performs at the most prestigious concert
Rabbi Tzvi Muller is the rabbi of the Birmingham
halls to sold-out, mesmerized audiences
Bloomfield Chai Center and directs the Jewish
the world over.
Values Institute.
That January morning, Joshua Bell

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June 9 • 2016

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