Habit
A Message for Parashat BeHukotai 2018
Click here to view as PDF
The human brain is hardwired to develop
habits. Our habits, formed by routine, play a crucial role in maintaining
mental efficiency. Unencumbered by thoughts about basic behaviors such as
walking and choosing what to eat, we can instead focus our mental energy on
more complex insights and tasks. Realizing that so much of our everyday thought
and activity is decided by habits, the famous psychologist William James once remarked,
“All of our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.”[1]
Understanding our habits and learning how to positively manipulate them is a
critical component of our success.
The Hakhamim portrayed the potential
dangers of habituation in a well-known midrash that related Esav’s angry
approach of Yaakov’s sons as they prepared his burial at Me’arat HaMakhpelah.
Esav argued that he – and not Yaakov – was the rightful heir to burial at the me’arah
and demanded that the brothers bring a bill of sale to prove their father’s
ownership. In the midst of this heated debate, Hushim the son of Dan – who was
hard of hearing – innocently asked why the burial had delayed. Ashamed that his
grandfather’s body lay in degradation, he drew a club and hit Esav on the head.[2]
Carefully analyzing the Hakhamim’s telling of this scene, the question
arises as to why nobody but Hushim could take a defiant stance at that time.
R. Hayim Shmuelevitz z”l, the famed mashgiah
of Yeshivat Mir, suggested that this story portrays the dangers of becoming
“stuck” in an unhealthy habit. Ensconced in a heated debate with their uncle,
the sons of Yaakov lost track of a rational understanding of the situation.
They had become habituated to the petty disagreement with Esav and were
overcome by the need to “prove their side.” This blocked them from then
realizing that their father’s corpse lay embarrassingly exposed. Only an
“outsider” to the situation – the hard of hearing Hushim who was removed from
the argument – could instinctively act upon hearing what was actually taking
place.[3]
Researchers have recently worked to better
understand the development of our habits. They found that habits work on a
“loop.” They begin with a cue – a trigger that tells your brain to go
into automatic mode, continue with the routine – which can be physical,
mental or emotional, and end with the reward – which helps your brain
decide that this loop is worth remembering in the future. Unless you
deliberately fight the habit, by finding a new routine, the pattern will
unfold automatically.[4]
The Hakhamim’s commentary at the
beginning of Parashat BeHukotai demonstrates their understanding of the
vital role of habit to our lives. The parashah begins:
If you shall walk by My statutes and
keep my commands and do them, I shall give you rains in their season, and the
land will give its yield and the tree of the field will give its fruit.
(VaYikra 26:3)
The Rabbis were sensitive to the awkward
pairing of the verb “walk” with “statutes.” The expected verb would be
“following” the statutes, or “obeying” them. What does it mean to “walk” by the
laws? They drew upon a legend regarding King David, who remarked that although
he planned to visit various places and homes on a daily basis, he consistently
realized that his “feet brought him” instead to the synagogues and batei
midrash.[5]
The Hakhamim thus interpreted the command to “walk by My statutes” as
God’s call for us to develop an appropriate “habit loop.”
Changing our current habits and replacing
them with new ones is difficult. It will take a considerable amount of time and
effort. The first words of Parashat BeHukotai remind us, however, of the
importance to do so. Merely “following the missvot” requires a
constant battle; “walking by them” will render them second-nature.
[1] William James, Talks
to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals (Mineola,
NY, 1962), pg. 33.
[2] Sotah 13a.
[3] R. Hayim Shmuelevitz, Sihot
Mussar (Jerusalem, IS, 2004), pg. 410-11.
[4] Charles Duhigg, The
Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (New York, NY,
2012), pg. 19-20.
[5] VaYikra Rabbah
35:1.