A rabbi has all sorts of interests
that shape his regular reading regimen.
In particular, my role of darshan, or ‘preacher’ leads me to read
weekly offerings of those whom I consider to be great preachers. As you’ve surely noticed, from time to time
in my weekly drash on the Torah portion I will mention what one of my
colleagues has said about the same words.
In particular, I frequently refer to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the
former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His weekly blog, Covenant and
Conversation, focuses on leadership in the Jewish tradition and community,
and is most helpful.
My regular reading also includes those
who are not rabbis. You have heard me
refer to Dennis Prager, a Jewish thinker who is a Jewish layman. He has a talk radio show, from which he
offers commentary on religion, society, politics and ethics. He has also written several books which I
recommend. In particular his book, Happiness
is a Serious Problem, is a watershed book and I think everybody in this
room, or reading this drash online, should get a copy and read it. There are far too many patently
unhappy people in this world.
But I also refer regularly to ‘preachers’ who are not Jewish. In particular, I find that Jason F. Wright
has great insights into life. Wright has
a column that appears weekly on Foxnews.com and elsewhere. His own tradition is the LDS church, the
Mormons. But whilst he is a religious
guy and makes no secret of his own context, his column is general enough to be
edifying to a member of any religious tradition. I certainly find it so.
This week, Jason Wright wrote under the heading: Face It:
You’re One Odd Duck. (http://jasonfwright.com/column/face-it-youre-one-odd-duck.html) His
premise was that each one of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, does not always
‘fit in’ neatly with everyone else.
This, even though we generally derive great comfort from seeing ourselves
as fitting in, as being like everyone else.
He was writing this week specifically for teens and the angst they often
feel about being ‘invisible’ and lonely because they don’t ‘fit in.’ But the
phrase Odd Duck hit me in the face, because it’s a phrase I often use to
describe people. It’s a phrase I often
use to describe…myself.
I was reading Wright’s column shortly after thinking about this week’s
Torah reading, Lech Lecha, and as I was wondering exactly what to say to
you tonight about the character of Abraham and what it has to teach us. And it hit me: Abraham was an Odd Duck! And he embraced it!
Abraham had many enduring qualities. There is no shortage of reasons why he stands
out as the archetype of the righteous man, worthy of emulation. Reasons why we like to refer to him as ‘the
First Jew,’ even though to apply that title is anachronistic in the extreme. But one reason that never really struck me
before is that he was unapologetically an individualist. He went against the crowd, against the
tide. Remember the Midrash about him
smashing the idols, then coyly suggesting to his father that, in the latter’s
absence, they must have fought a war and destroyed one another? The truth is that, if we look at the totality
of Abraham’s life, we find a man who stood out from the crowd by simply being
true to himself. Instead of going along
to get along, he followed his own heart.
In doing so, he answered G-d’s call unhesitatingly. And of course, that’s why we revere
him so much. But he answered G-d’s call
specifically because he wasn’t worried about what the neighbours, or even his
own father, might think. In answering G-d’s
call, he was simply being himself. He
was being the best Abraham that he could be.
There’s no doubt in my mind that he embraced his own inner Odd Duck.
And that’s an important lesson for all of us to learn. We should celebrate Abraham and others who
outwardly embrace their own inner Odd Duck.
But we should also take it as a licence and inspiration to embrace our
own inner Odd Duck. It’s very
easy to be critical of someone who is outwardly an Odd Duck. In effect, someone who has embraced his Odd
Duck to the point of expressing it outwardly, has set himself up for public
scrutiny. But instead of giving him scrutiny,
may I suggest that we celebrate him!
When someone whom you know is unabashedly an Odd Duck, celebrate
that he has the self-confidence to embrace and be his inner Odd
Duck. Chances are, his having done
so comes along with a raft of positive qualities. Chances are, his having those positive
qualities is a result of his embracing his inner Odd Duck.
I often say, when asked about the
‘difficult’ personality of someone in particular, that we all have our
quirks. And it’s true! I look out at you this evening, and see each
one of you as quirky. And believe me, I’m
not excluding myself! Each one of us is,
in some way, an Odd Duck. Each
one of us, if we’re honest about it, expresses himself in some way that is
unique and distinctive. And yet, we don’t
often see ourselves that way. We do see
it easily in others.
When we embrace our own inner Odd Duck, it enables us to be more
accepting of someone else’s Odd Duck. When we acknowledge our own quirkiness, it
opens our hearts to accept our neighbour’s quirkiness. And that, my friends, is the secret to being
a loving and supporting community. We don’t allow others’ quirks to detract from their outstanding qualities. Because we all do have quirks. And we all do have outstanding
qualities.
We are all Odd Ducks. And
that’s simply nothing to be self-conscious about. Rather, it is something to celebrate. And the sooner that we learn to celebrate our
own Odd Duck-iness, the sooner we will be able to tolerate, and even
celebrate, someone else’s. And when we
do, we will see what we’ll be able to achieve as a community. Shabbat shalom.
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