ON GROWING BETTER

July 19, 2002
Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn
Temple Sinai
New Orleans, Louisiana



Certainly my good friend Emil could not have selected a richer Torah portion for his "second Bar Mitzvah" than the one we read this Sabbath from Deuteronomy-the Torah's final book. It's called "V'etchanan-and I besought the Lord"--and it continues Moses' retelling to his people of their experiences with God.

Moses reminds them that he will not be going with them across the Jordan to the Promised Land, and recaps for them their long and eventful history since the Exodus from slavery. In this portion is not only the second articulation of the Ten Commandments but also the Shema, the central prayer and creed of Judaism.

And there's that wonderful moment where Moses pointedly reminds the people how at Mount Sinai they were frightened of hearing more of God's voice so they told Moses-

You go up and hear all that God wants us to do and come back down, tell us all of the details, v'shamanu v'aseenu-and we will hear it, and do it.

In short, they assured both God and Moses-"we will listen and learn and grow and become better."

It is this capacity of ours to grow-in our perceptions, our understanding, our very depth of character and loving spirit--which imparts to our lives the heroic quality of a sacred and wondrous journey.

Some weeks ago I came into our Temple office, only to be informed that because every filing cabinet was filled to overflowing, the time was long overdue to sort through and dispose of at least two drawers worth of new breathing room.

So I immediately went about my assigned task and, in the process, uncovered a treasure trove of long-lost and forgotten clippings, poems, quotations, partial outlines for sermons, and even prospective titles for sermons!

I am a self-confessed compulsive clipper of magazine and journal quotes. In this ceaseless searching for "homiletical gold," I admit to having no conscience. And if you ever open a magazine in a physician's waiting room, or even a barbershop, and find its pages torn or missing, well, then, you can be assured-Cohn was there!

So from those old files, bursting with reclaimed insight, this sermon has come to be. And its theme is in the spirit of our text from Deuteronomy

V'shamanu v'aseenu-We will hear it, and do it.

I want us to remember this summer shabbos that we can all grow better and wiser.

I. Open Up to Reality

The first point to realize is that no one knows everything, and what we think we know can be wrong. So we ought to adopt a certain amount of humility as we go through life. Believe it or not, the other person might be right.

The epigraph to poet Czelaw Milosz's book, The Captive Mind, claims to be this saying "Of an old Jew in Galicia":

When someone is 55 percent right, that's very good and there's no use wrangling. And if someone in 60 percent right, it's wonderful, it's great luck, and let him thank God. But what's to be said about 75 percent right? Wise people say this is suspicious. Well, and what about 100 percent right? Whoever says he's 100 percent right is a fanatic, a thug, and the worst kind of rascal.

Well, fellow rascals, as we learn and grow, we discover that we've had our share of foolish certainty in our own wisdom.

II. Don't Be Afraid to Grow

Once we admit that we don't know it all, we must dare to allow ourselves to grow. Says Norman Mailer,

Every moment of one's existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.

What do you think we mean by "growth" and "growing better," anyway? Well, it's that process by which we take blocks of time and, with the mortar of our moral and religious ideals, labor to build before the end of our days, a structure (a life) in which there is dignity and purpose.

We're talking dreams here, and hope and perseverance and sacrifice and courage and the ability to befriend and to love.

Lord Chesterton once observed that "Some live and die with all their greatness within them." That's the tragic waste we want to prevent. Don't be afraid to grow.

III. Don't Forget to Take Along Your Child Within

And here's another clue to growing better as we meet the years: Don't forget to take along your child within! You remember that child-I hope you do. Max Ehrmann wrote a meditation poem about growing up but keeping those promises made in our youth to what he called "the God of our early years" when we were full of optimism and free of cynicism and sarcasm which can so readily choke any dream of worth. So never, ever lose the child within. He or she will be an indispensable companion in the years ahead.

Here's an AP story from June 9, 1989 titled, "At 84, Life Must Be Relished." It centers on a fellow named Elmer Elliott who lived then in the magnificent state of Maine. Elmer was told by his doctor that things looked pretty grim even after he survived a life-threatening cancer surgery. So Elmer determined to have some fun. After recuperating from his operation, he borrowed some money from his stepson, packed two suitcases, locked up his apartment, and had an ambulance driver chauffeur him down to Boston for a week on the town.

He wasn't at all sure how long he had to live, but Elmer Elliot figured it was long enough to savor the scallops at Anthony's Pier Four, buy a new vest at Brooks Brothers, and tip a daiquiri in the direction of the Boston Common.

"I'm curious," Elmer Elliot said, "and that's taken me a long way. Some people are content to sit with worry beads. . . but people, places, and things are my hobby. . . . Make the best of it while you can."

So let's review a minute. In our efforts to grow better, we've said:


Now there' s one more point. Imagine four points in a summer sermon! I could be thrown out of the Rabbi's Union!
But here it is:   Grow in Faith!

Says the poet:

Oh, for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe.
That will not tremble at the brink
of any earthly woe.
A faith that shines more bright and clear
When troubles rage about.
A faith that in the time of pain
Keeps heart and knows no doubt.

Emil Koretzky didn't have to learn this Torah portion, polish up his prayers and write an unforgettable and brilliant speech! This is a man with a waiting room full of people. Some have been known to visibly age just waiting to see this man and extraordinary physician. But I suspect that deep inside, he wanted to go on record, to make a statement not only to himself but to his children as well. Judaism matters! The spirit must be fed! Hope needs to be nurtured! Our Jewish people must continue "to hear and to do." Either we grow or we die!

A friend from our Georgia days-a preacher-was sitting in the departure lounge waiting for his plane. A young man sat next to him, looking at the minister as if he desired to talk. My friend had a lecture that he had to prepare and so he kept his head down, nose in a book. He wanted to do anything but talk.

However, this young fellow wouldn't take a hint. "So what do you do?" the stranger asked. Not exactly sure how to answer, the reverend thought for a second, but the young man persisted: "What are you?"

Then it was that the preacher surprised even himself when he quickly replied: "I'm a pilgrim."

"What the heck is that?"

"Surely you know what a pilgrim is!"

"Yeah, but I thought they were all dead."

"Im another kind of pilgrim," the minister admitted. "I'm trying to find the way from birth to life" --- from what he was to what he was called to become!

"Don't you mean from birth to death?"

"No," my friend said. He assured the young man that he meant just what he had said.

And so this summer Shabbos Eve, dear friends, we are all of us pilgrims, just trying to find our way from birth to life, from what is to what may yet be! May God be with you in your searching and in your every finding!

Amen.