Experience
A Message for Parashat VaEthanan 2018
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Parashat VaEthanan
continues Moshe’s final address to Am Yisrael. It opens with him
recounting his recent plea to God to cross over into the Land of Israel.
Without any explanation, however, Moshe then segued into his recollection of Ma’amad
Har Sinai, which took place during their first year in the wilderness. What
was the connection between these two disparate events, separated by nearly
forty years of travel in the midbar?
Consider, for a moment, the various
activities that you are involved with over the course of your life. They can be
separated into two categories. Finding a job, making money and getting married
are examples of activities with a clear “finish line.” Linguists refer to these
sorts of ambitions as “telic,” derived from the Greek word telos, which
means “end.” We engage in these activities with the stated goal of arriving at
a terminal state when they are completed. “Atelic” activities, however, do not
aim at any point of achievement. Listening to music, spending time with friends
or family and taking a walk with no particular destination are all atelic. You
can stop doing these things whenever you wish, but they will never be “done.”
Baring no “finish line,” atelic activities enjoy an endless lifespan.
Kieran Setiya, a professor of philosophy at
MIT, suggested that our general displeasure with life and feelings of emptiness
arise from our singular focus on telic ambitions. The goals that we set ensnare
us in these unpleasant states of being. The unattainable goals cause
frustration and the attainable ones engender boredom. He wrote:
The
way out is to find sufficient value in atelic activities, activities that have
no point of conclusion or limit, ones whose fulfillment lies in the moment of
action itself. To draw meaning from such activities is to live in the present…[1]
Setiya explained that while we tend to see
most of our lifelong activities as telic, a shifted mindset can be the easy
solution for appreciating their atelic dimension. Consider, for example, when
parents cook dinner for their children, help them finish their homework and put
them to bed. They understandably see these activities through the single lens
of “getting it done.” In reality, however, mothers and fathers are constantly
involved in the atelic development of “parenting.” Setiya explained: “Unlike
dinner and homework, parenting is complete at every instant; it is a process,
not a project.”[2]
He argued that we will discover an emotional stability and meaning to life when
we couple our focus on necessary goals with an interest in “limitless”
activities.
In a letter sent to a
student at summer camp, R. Yisshak Hutner z”l defined the telic and
atelic dimensions of studying Torah. He referred to the biblical references of
Torah as a “sha’ashu’a” – a “plaything,”[3]
explaining that whereas most activities in life are driven by a specific goal,
playing has no goal beyond itself. The purpose of playing is the playing
itself. R. Hutner explained that although our talmud Torah must set
goals of knowledge and practice, its study must nonetheless entail the joy of
playing, as well, by appreciating its learning experience for the experience
itself. Studying Torah, then, is both “work” – with regards to its practical
implications, and “play” – with regards to its experience.[4]
Prof. Yaakov Elman summarized R. Hutner’s insight: “The joy of intellectual
discovery is the very essence of talmud Torah; without it, one has not
fulfilled the mitzvah of talmud Torah.”[5]
As Moshe began recalling the event of Ma’amad
Har Sinai, he warned:
Only be you on the watch and watch yourself closely, lest you
forget the things that your own eyes have seen and lest they swerve from your
heart – all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your sons
and to your son’s sons: the day that you stood before Hashem your God at Horev… (Devarim
4:9-10)
Moshe did not simply caution them from
forgetting the words and messages of the Torah. Instead, he conspicuously
demanded that they eternalize the experience of its reception. Standing
before the nation several days before his death, Moshe first voiced his
frustration at failing at his goal of entering into Israel. He
then taught them the lesson of his disappointment from that failure – a proper
perspective on life. Never denying the necessity of setting goals and
accomplishing them – as he repeated the missvot received at Sinai, Moshe
cautioned the people to appreciate the atelic dimensions of life, as well. By demanding that Am Yisrael eternally
remember the experience of matan Torah, Moshe was guiding them – and us
– to appreciate the “limitless” dimensions of life.
[1] Kieran Setiya, Midlife:
A Philosophical Guide (Princeton, NJ, 2017), pg. 144
[2] Ibid., pg. 141.
[3] See, Tehillim
119:92 and Mishlei 8:30-1.
[4] R. Yisshak Hutner, Pahad
Yisshak: Igerot UKetavim (Brooklyn, NY, 1991), no. 2.
[5] Yaakov Elman, “Pahad
Yitzak: A Joyful Song of Affirmation,” Hakirah 20 (Winter 2015), Pg.
49.