The two Torah verses: (a) Deuteronomy 27:9 has Moses instructing his people “Keep quiet and hear, Israel, for on this day you are becoming a unified people . . . “ ; and (b) Deuteronomy 28:29, as part of the “curses” for neglecting the Torah’s lessons, includes the dire warning, “May you grope around at noon, as the blind person gropes in darkness.”
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| Nalagaat Theater Company (comprised of deaf and blind performers) NY Times Review of Nalagaat |
As to blindness, I recall a few summers ago I was asked as part of a group of volunteers to take a girl, Dana, who was blind, through the Tel Aviv zoo. I was taught how to walk with her -- with her hand on my elbow so as to offer support without pushing or pulling her. I concentrated on trying to describe the different colors and shapes I saw to give shape to those images for her.
When we sat down for lunch Dana took out her mp3 player. She explained she was listening to an audio book. I asked some questions about the book. Dana answered, “Quiet. Listen for yourself.” She put the headphones over me and pressed the screen.
I heard only gibberish. It was complete nonsense to me. I thought, “My Hebrew must be really rusty, I don’t understand a word of this book.” I protested to Dana, “I can’t understand a word of the Hebrew!”
Dana laughed. She replied: “That’s not Hebrew; it’s English!”
Dana explained that she, like a lot of blind people who lose their sight when very young, developed a more finely attuned sense of hearing than those of us who have sight our entire lives.
Some blind people subtly and unconsciously recondition that part of their brain reserved for processing vision to processing sounds. As a result of that extra brain power devoted to hearing they can understand more than four times the number of syllables per minute than typical sighted people can understand.
To prove it to me, Dana slowed down the playback speed (a lot) on her mp3 player. Now I could hear with perfect clarity each syllable of Harry Potter’s visit to the Reptile House in “Philosopher’s Stone.”
That day at the zoo Dana and I made a good team; she could hear and I could see. We each had something more strongly developed than the other.
This is similar to the brothers Moses and Aaron in the Torah. Susan Cain’s recent book “Quiet” explores the power of being an introvert; comparing how society treats extroverts and introvert differently. Cain examines the Torah character of Moses, a stuttering introvert and compares him to Aaron, a conversation loving tent-hopping extrovert. Moses was a reluctant leader; Aaron a well-spoken one. Moses lacked ambition and grit. Aaron lacked quiet reflection and ideas.
Separately each was weak; together they were strong. It was only when paired together that their true strength was realized. As a result of Moses and Aaron’s ability to listen to each other and empower the unique strengths of the other they helped forge the ancient Israelites into a community.
Which brings us to the curse mentioned above: May you grope around at noon, as the blind person gropes around in darkness.
Rabbi Yossi in the Talmud (Megilla 24b) puzzles over this curse. He wonders what difference it would make to a blind person whether it is dark or light outside. After all, the blind person cannot see anything either way. Still he suggests there is a big difference. Although the blind person herself cannot see at either time, others with sight around the blind person can see during the day but not at night.
In other words, during the day the blind person can receive meaningful support from others. At night, however, when it is dark for everyone so even sighted people cannot see well enough to support the blind person.
Recalling my zoo experience with Dana brings to mind that blindness and deafness are not only challenging physical conditions but also reflect a counterproductive mindset: A mindset that is set and fixed without being open to the possibility of growth and change.
Each of us is blinded by something at school. For example some of us are blinded by fear to try new things. Others are blinded by fear we will have to sit alone at lunch. On the other hand, there are others who are excited by the possibility to trying new things. And others are excited by the prospect of sitting alone (having solitude).
The success of our JCHS school community depends on our not judging the differences we have with others, but rather like Moses and Aaron finding ways to learn from and strengthen each other by combining our differences. Our true fulfillment may come not from our ultimate independence, but from our inter-dependence on others who are different from us.
Everything you need to know about JCHS is reflected in these two verses – listening to the unique voice we carry inside; building one community; drawing strength from our diversity.
After sharing this with our students, I called up Evan (Class of 2014) to sound the Shofar (rams horn sounded on Rosh Hashanah and each morning in the month just before Rosh Hashanah). I invited students to let the sounds of the Shofar resonate with the voice inside each of us and imagine how it might be resonating with the unique and certainly different voice inside someone else.
With the Shofar sounds lingering in the air, I offered a blessing for the school year that begins today:
- May we be blessed with the grit and self-control to be quiet enough to listen to the still, small voice inside each of us -- empowering the unique individual in us.
- May we be blessed with the zest and optimism to work toward binding up our school community with joy -- enriching community; and
- May we be blessed with the gratitude and curiosity to be mindful that someone in the community has exactly what we are lacking, someone else has precisely what we need -- embracing pluralism and the perspectives and support of others.
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