By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — One of my favorite “bits” from the Pixar movie Up is that no matter how serious the situation, the dogs were distracted by the appearance of a squirrel. (If you don’t understand what I am talking about, you need to see the film!)
I think I like this “bit” so much because I identify with the dogs. Although it takes more than a squirrel to distract me, it doesn’t take a whole lot more. The more I don’t want to do something, the less it takes to distract me.
I don’t think I am unique in my inability to concentrate. More than one person I know has worn out their television remote by incessantly cycling through the channels.
Concentration is becoming a lost art, even though the ability to focus single-mindedly is critical to accomplishing most tasks. Preparing for the task often requires equal focus.
One Shabbat Shuva (the Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur), Rabbi David Moshe of Tsarkov (1827-1903) failed to attend the customary Shabbat meals with his chassidim and guests. When he also failed to appear at the final meal of the day, some of his followers went to him. They found him alone in his room. They told him that his chassidim were upset that he failed to join them. Additionally, there were several guests who had spent a lot of time and money to meet the Rabbi who were sorely disappointed.
Rabbi David Moshe replied, “I had planned to join you at the meals and dine with you, as is my custom, but before I left my house I looked out the window and saw dark clouds. I thought that the rain would prevent me from attending and I became distracted. Therefore, even though the clouds blew away and it did not rain, because I had interrupted my spiritual preparation for joining you at our Shabbat meals, I did not attend. I was no longer focused on the beauty of the Sabbath day.
“What all of you need to understand is that if you are going to immerse yourself in holy work, you need to prepare appropriately. You need to concentrate on the sacred task ahead so that you will engage with it in complete concentration and devotion. Once the weather distracted me, I was no longer in the proper spiritual state to join you at the meals.”
“You learn this lesson about proper preparation from God Himself. In parashat Yitro, right before the Ten Commandments are given, it is written: ‘God spoke all these words, saying….’ (Ex. 20:1) The word
leimor, saying, is at first glance extraneous. The Torah could have left it out. It is included to teach us a lesson.
“‘God spoke all of these words’ refers to everything found in the Torah up to now, from Creation though the Exodus. All of this was preparation and a foreword to what was going to happen now: God’s revealing the Torah to Israel at Mt. Sinai. It took God eons of preparation before the world was ready to receive the Torah. If God had been distracted, the Torah never would have been given.
“So, too,” Rabbi David Moshe concluded, “We need to concentrate and prepare for any holy act in which we will engage. Once we get off track, we may never recover.”
So too for us, a generation which lacks the ability to concentrate and is easily distracted, we need to learn how to focus our time and energy on the sacred work in our own lives.
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. Your comment may be posted in the space below or sent to leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com