The Eternity Mindset (Nov 2023)

Insight of the Week

What is the defining difference between us Jews and the surrounding society? There are several, but if I had to choose one, I would say: the tattoo. The most significant and fundamental difference between us and them is the tattoo. Why do I say that? True, tattoos are forbidden by the Torah, but so are cheese burgers. So why do I see tattoos as reflecting the defining difference between us and our society, rather than cheese burgers – or the many other things which they do which we don't?? The answer is that the tattoo is permanent, and the young person who gets a tattoo does so without thinking beyond the immediate here-and-now. People get tattoos of the logos of their favorite sports team – but how do they know that they will still be rooting for that team in thirty years? How do they know that they will even be interested in sports in thirty years? People get tattoos of dragons and the like on visible parts of their body, like the neck. How do they know that they won't one day seek a high position in a major corporation, where such images are wholly inappropriate? Of course, the young people who get these tattoos aren't thinking long-term. They like the idea of the tattoo now, so they get it, without taking the future into account. And this might be the most important distinction between us and them. We are the eternal nation. This means not only that the Jewish People are guaranteed to exist forever, but that we live each day with an awareness of our future, both individual and collective. We live with an understanding that we are part of a story that began millennia ago with Avraham Avinu, and will continue forever. We cannot focus only the here-and-now. We are always thinking of our future, our legacy, the everlasting impact that we have, and our children and our grandchildren. This "eternity mindset" is one of the defining characteristics of the Jewish experience. We read in Parashat Toldot the story of Esav selling the birthright to Yaakov. Esav came in from the fields weary and famished, and found Yaakov making a lentil stew. Rashi explains that on this day, their grandfather, Avraham Avinu, passed away, and Yaakov was cooking lentils because it is traditionally a food fed to mourners. The round shape of the lentil symbolizes our belief in eternity; just as a circle has no end, we believe that life does not end after death, as the soul lives forever. Esav, however, saw this food and asked Yaakov to feed him מן האדום האדום הזה – "from this red, red stuff" (25:30). Esav didn't see the symbolism of the lentils; he saw only their color. He saw everything superficially. He didn't look beyond the immediate present. Yaakov knew at that point that Esav could not be a part of the process of building Am Yisrael . He could not be a patriarch of the eternal nation. And so Yaakov demanded that Esav give him the birthright. Part of what makes us unique is this long-term mentality, the understanding that there is so much more to life than the fleeting moment, that so many things that seem important right now are, from the perspective of the eternal nation, so trivial and insignificant. When we live with the "eternity mindset," we see beyond the "red" of the "lentils," we see everything on a deeper level. We are then able to keep our priorities straight, to know what's important, what has value, what deserves our time and our attention, and what doesn't. And when we live like this, we make the most of every day we are given, and use our time in this world to have the greatest long-term impact that we can make.