11. Fifth Graders with Eagle Eyes, Whale Heads, and Drumming Hands
Understanding the mitzvah of L'ovdah U'l'shomrah
This vision is an inspiring one, but also a difficult one. It demands each person get to know themselves in a deep way — at what do they excel, at what do they struggle, in what topics are they interested? Many people nowadays struggle to plumb the depths of their own personas, sufficing with the “standard track” that everyone else takes through life. High school, a couple of years of Yeshiva, college, and job; doctor, lawyer, accountant or businessman. If we’re serious about becoming those whose “hearts lifted them up” to contribute to the klal, we need to allow our hearts to tap into the unique strengths with which we were endowed. Some people are meant to work with their minds; others, with their hands. Some are meant to work with people; others, with ideas. Some people are built to thrive in high-pressure contexts, while others need calm and quiet to do their best work. These are all examples of qualities that we are meant to use in determining what role, what mission Hashem had in mind for us when He sent us down into this world. In fact, if we really take these ideas seriously, then to ignore those qualities would be a form of bal tashchis, wasting the potential that we were granted to use for the betterment of those around us.
Welcome to 5th Grade
While more challenging to implement than a more black-and-white, single-value system, this perspective has a definite ring of truth to it. A quick peek into any fifth-grade classroom during recess quickly reveals these differences. The few kids reading quietly are blessed with the ability to sit, listen, and learn. The kids drawing and doodling are more creative and artistic — they need more stimulation and active involvement to be drawn into frontal learning. Behind them, you have a few kids tapping out a song on their desks — they’re the musical ones, who’d often rather be learning a new song than a new sugyah or science unit (this got me permanently removed from 7th and 8th grade American History, although I’m not particularly musical). Finally, there are the physically blessed, the strong and dexterous, roughhousing in the back; they are more gifted with their bodies than their minds, sometimes making school especially difficult for them.
Is it possible that each kid in that classroom is meant to fit into the same mold, learning the same topics and spending the same amount of time in the educational system? Can it be that any realistic system has the same hopes for every one of these children, if their aptitudes and abilities are already so clearly differentiated? One should not need the Piaseczner Rebbe’s extensive exploration1 of “Chanoch l’naar al pi darko”2 to recognize that of course not — each person is meant to use what they were blessed with to contribute to the world around them.
Chovos Halevavos: Parnassah as Contributing to the World
The Chovos Halevavos develops a similar idea, applied more directly to a person’s day-to-day life. Toward the end of the third chapter of his Shaar Habitachon, the Chovos Halevavos addresses one of the more famous questions relating to this topic: What is the Torah’s perspective on making a living? He postulates that the “standard operating system” of this world is that everything happens due to Hashem deciding that they should happen, and those decisions are fulfilled through natural channels. Thus, a person’s perspective when working should be not that I work to make money, but rather that I work to fulfill Hashem’s decree, in return for which I can access the money that He decided I should get. This perspective is potentially a freeing one: rather than chasing the next money-maker or get-rich-quick tip, a person is able to focus on doing that which he needs to do to fulfill Hashem’s command to work for a living. What, then, is a person meant to pursue? The Chovos Halevavos writes:
Every person has a desire and proclivity towards a specific field or area of business, more than to others, for Hashem has implanted within him a love and desire for that field or area of business. The same is true regarding other living beings: each one has the nature implanted within it by Hashem. For example, to the cat Hashem gave the natural inclination to trap mice…and there are birds which catch only fish. Similarly, Hashem gave to each species of animal the proclivity and desire to eat certain species of plants or animals, through which they are meant to receive their sustenance. And Hashem aligned the makeup of the body and limbs of each species to their proclivities. For example, for the bird which catches fish, Hashem gave a long beak and long legs, and to the lion which survives on killing other animals, Hashem created him with teeth and strong claws. Whereas for animals which are nourished by plants, Hashem did not give instruments of trapping and tearing.
There are so many fascinating examples of this observation, beyond the ones that the Chovos Halevavos gives us himself. Nearly any foray into the natural world can provide endless levels of inspiration from the unique abilities with which different animals were gifted to enable them to support themselves. Many of the qualities of the sloth, mentioned earlier, illustrate this.
Similarly, whales are able to dive deeper than any machines due to pressure manipulation in their massive heads. Cuvier beaked whales have been recorded diving to depths of 9800 feet (the record for humans is four hundred); until recently, scientists did not understand how that was possible, as the pressure at that depth should crush their lungs like a used brown paper bag! Eventually they discovered that Cuvier beaked whales have the ability to fold their lungs down and expel 90 percent of their lung capacity before diving, solving the pressure problem.3
Birds that snatch fish from streams or oceans, such as eagles or falcons, face a unique challenge: if you’ve ever stuck a straw into a clear glass of water, you know that water refracts light, making it look like an object below the surface is just a couple of inches away from where it actually is. This makes spear fishing for humans very difficult, as you have to know exactly where the fish is in order to score it with a jab from the spear. For the same reason, a bird that gets a split second to snatch at a fish needs to know exactly where it is in order to fly away with some dinner! Amazingly, bird eyes, such as those of an eagle, are adapted to be able to correct for refraction, giving them the exact location of the fish they’re coming in to grab (and that’s without even mentioning the eyesight which allows them to spot fish from hundreds of feet up in the air).4
The Chovos Halevavos continues by applying this fundamental idea to humans:
Similarly, you will find that each person is adapted for a specific field or area of business, according to his traits and physical abilities. One who finds within himself a desire for a specific field, and his body is fitting for it, and he is able to bear the effort that it entails, should chase after that field, and do it as a means of making a living, and he should engage with it willingly, whether he is successful at it or not, and he should not reject it even if at times it doesn’t fully provide for his livelihood. Rather, he should rely on Hashem to take care of his parnassah for his entire life.
And when a person’s mind and body is engaged in a certain area of making a livelihood, or putting in the work necessary in order to reach it, his intention should be to fulfill the command of the Creator, who commanded Adam to engage in physical labor to cultivate the land, plowing and planting it, as it says: “And Hashem Elokim took Man and placed him in Gan Eden l’ovdah u’l’shomrah — to work and preserve it…
The Chovos Halevavos presents a person’s unique skills, abilities, and interests as the compass that enables him to find the area in which he is meant to make a difference to the world. In a certain sense, everyone has their own way of accomplishing the mitzvah of l’ovdah u’l’shomrah. According to this approach, what a person chooses to do to earn a livelihood is not just a means to the end of putting food on the table and clothes in the closet, but the fulfillment of a personal Divine mandate: I gave you these skills; go out and use them to contribute to and preserve the world!
E Pluribus, Unum — Out of Many, One
The Chovos Halevavos above discusses individuals recognizing and acting on their unique, God-given qualities to impact the world. What happens when an entire community is formed of such people?
The Torah records that Yaakov summoned all of his children to his deathbed toward the end of his life.5 He turned to each one and remarked on a unique quality or trait: Reuven was identified as passionate but impetuous, Shimon and Levi as hotheaded and prone to violence. Yehudah was described as a young lion, Yissachar as a hardworking donkey. After finishing with the last son, the Torah comments, “Va’yevarech osam ish asher k’birchaso beirach osam — He blessed them, each according to what was in character with his particular blessing.”
Rav Hirsch notes an inconsistency in the verse: it starts with the singular (k’birchaso) but proceeds to the plural (osam). Wouldn’t it have been more correct to say, ish asher k’birchaso beirach oso?6 Rav Hirsch explains that this nuance indicates a profound idea: “Each one benefitted from the general blessing of the community, while the special blessing of each one enhanced the community.” Yaakov’s blessings to each child were not meant to benefit the lives of each individual tribe; rather, each tribe was called to use its unique nature to enhance and contribute to the rest of the tribes.
This is particularly powerful when we remember that the ultimate goal was for the tribes to create a fully functioning society in Eretz Yisrael. In order to do that, all types were necessary: doctors, lawyers, rabbis, musicians, businessmen, plumbers, teachers, dayanim, poskim, social workers, artists, physical therapists, and everything else. By acknowledging and validating each tribe’s unique gift, Yaakov was ensuring that the society they would eventually create would have everything and everyone it needed to thrive.
The same is meant to be for our classroom of fifth-graders: We are meant to help each one identify his abilities, and direct them in ways which will allow them to develop those kochos for the good of the klal.
See the introduction to his sefer Chovas Hatalmidim.
Mishlei 22:6.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuvier%27s_beaked_whale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_eye
Bereishis 49:1.
49:28.