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Jewish World Review Jan. 12, 1998 / 23 Teves, 5759
WHEN I SAY ONE, people usually laugh.
When I say the other, people usually get mad.
To me, both are the same, come from the same place, have the
same meaning, are intended to convey the same sense of faith.
But people hear them differently than I say them. And very few
take them as I mean them.
The first is the phrase, "thank G-d." When someone asks me how I
am, I say, "thank G-d." To which most people laugh, think I’m
joking.
It doesn’t, after all, seem to make sense, doesn’t seem to be an
answer to their question.
"Thank G-d," I answer.
Come again, they wonder. And then figure I must be pulling their
leg or trying to be humorous.
I could not, in fact, be more serious. For "thank G-d" is as
serious, and yet accurate an answer as there could be to the
question of how are you.
It is, indeed, an affirmation of life and of belief in G-d. For
what it is saying is that, however I am at the moment, however I
am feeling, whether I am happy or sad or scared or mad or glad or
hurting or whatever, I thank G-d for it, don’t get too low into
it if it’s bad or too high as a result of it if it’s good because
ultimately I know that it comes from G-d and that ultimately it
is for my best, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.
Don’t get me wrong. I am no holy roller, no holier than thou
type of guy. As many, I am sure, will attest.
I’m just someone who tries to be a good Jew.
One of the ways in which I define that is to trust in G-d and so
be grateful for whatever He gives me for I know He won’t give me
more than I can handle, that He wishes to build me, not break me,
that He knows me better than anyone including myself and that He
wants me to be His partner in creation – in creating the best Joe
possible.
He wants, in short, what’s best for me and guides me to find
that and to be that. And while there are times I get mad for what
I get or don’t get, am frustrated by what I have to deal with, am
sick and tired of worrying about this or that, don’t like the
cards I am holding, I have to struggle most of all to remember
that I must be thankful for it all, for it all comes from Him and
all is designed to strengthen me, improve me, lead to my growth.
And so how am I? Yes, "Thank G-d," I thank G-d for however I am,
that I am and thank G-d for whatever I am feeling or dealing with
at any given moment for that is what I most need to be looking at
and learning from at that moment.
Have that attitude and it gives you both a sense of humility and
robs you of any arrogance or pretense that you are determining
things or running the show.
What will be is what G-d wishes to be. No, that doesn’t mean we
are to be passive or are acted upon or have no say in things. On
the contrary, within the context of understanding G-d’s role, we
must understand the importance of our own role, the value each
person has, the power each person has to change the world, both
his individual world as well as the world at large.
Jewish tradition teaches, indeed, that each of us is to believe
the world was created for us and that each life is like a whole
world.
That doesn’t sound like we are mere puppets, following G-d’s
orders with no input from us.
No, we are, as I said, to strive to be his partners. Partners.
Meaning He has created this world and He has created each of us.
And each of us has a definite, unique place and a specific,
unique role to play. Each of us is vital and irreplaceable.
That’s why He created each of us, all of us.
It is then up to each of us, all of us, to work to be the best
we can be, recognizing that G-d has a mission for each of us that
only He knows. It is our job first to struggle to try and
understand what that mission is, which we do by following the
path we feel in our bones that he sets out for us. And then it is
our life’s work to accomplish that mission, to do and be what He
put us on this earth to do and be.
But we can only most fully achieve our goal by recognizing that
it is the goal that G-d has set out for us and so only He knows
the best way to get there.
And it is inevitable that the way He knows is best is going to
run counter to the way we think is best. That’s the difference
between human thinking and Divine thinking. The two could not be
more different and the only way we can hope to understand His is
by not trying to understand but being willing to accept and trust
it.
A rabbi once asked a class I was in what would be if we were
G-d. How would the world be if each of us in the class would be
G-d. Would the world look the same, operate the same if say
Joseph Aaron were G-d.
The answer we all gave is the one you would also give. Namely,
no the world would not be the way it is if we were running it. We
would, for example, not have people suffering from illness, not
have innocent babies die from AIDS, not have poor, not have so
many evil people prosper, not have had a Holocaust.
And yet, that is the way G-d runs His world. Which leads you to
one of two conclusions: G-d is either a really mean guy or He
sees things, understands things we cannot begin to fathom.
If you believe that G-d is all good, as I do, then for Him to
bring so much suffering and injustice to the world tells me that
there is ultimately a good purpose for it all and tells me that
there is no way I or any human can begin to understand the Divine
will. That we would run the world so differently tells us we have
no idea what the world is all about.
Indeed, the best explanation I have ever heard for the Holocaust
is the following. Let us assume an artist was painting a portrait
of a brilliant, beautiful blue sky. Only a true artist would
understand that to bring out the beauty of the blue, you first
have to lay down on the canvas a foundation of black, which
ultimately will result in the brilliant blue.
Yet if you walked into the room just as the artist was applying
the black, you’d assume the picture was one of gloom, not
ultimately one of brightness. So the Holocaust. To look at it now
is to see despair and death. But in the hands of G-d as the
artist of the world, we must wait and see what foundation it laid
for the beauty and wonder He is sure to ultimately bring to the
Jewish people.
We must understand that, trust that, be patient about that. And
know that He is the artist that sees where things must end up and
so understands best what it takes to get there.
Which is why I give the second answer I do. Whenever someone
asks me if I can do something, if I’m going to be somewhere, if
I’m going to have something, I always answer, "G-d willing."
Usually, they get mad at that, think it’s a cop out, a
convenient escape, an abdication of responsibility.
That is not at all how I mean it. What I mean is that yes, I can
do that and sure I’ll be there then and I do think I’ll have it,
but my will only goes so far, my control only goes so far, my
vision only goes so far.
"G-d willing," I add. If G-d helps me to do it, be there, have
it, so I will. And if not, I have to accept that, too. This isn’t
about what I want but recognizing there is what I want and what
G-d wants and that I must always see my life as one of
partnership in which the senior partner lovingly guides me to
what is best, what is right for me.
So many of us are so frustrated when things don’t go our way.
Well, when you recognize that your way is to be the way G-d
wants, for He knows best what’s best, then there is no room for,
no need for frustration. You are where G-d wants you to be, doing
what G-d wants you to do. And so no matter where you are or what
you are doing, even if it’s not what you would have chosen, you
can feel a sense of comfort and serenity that it is just right,
is indeed just perfect.
And so, yes, when you ask how I am, I say "thank G-d" for I do
just that for Him giving me what I need. And when you ask what
will be, I say "G-d willing" for I know that He will do that in
the future, too.
Which is why, to me, there are no more accurate, no more
beautiful answers than
12/31/98: Judaism, Inc.
Thank G-d!
By Joseph Aaron
"How are you, Joe?" they ask.
I thank G-d for however I am feeling, I thank Him for just being
alive, I thank Him for all the little and big things He does for
me, gives to me, means to me, every day of every hour of my life.
JWR contributor Joseph Aaron is Editor of
The Chicago Jewish News.
11/19/98: My kind of folks
