Developing the ability to view the world through a Heavenly lens

I often marvel at the way people take sides in politics, allying themselves both pragmatically and emotionally with one or another mere mortal, powerless human being. And I wonder: Why take the side of either Tweedledee or Tweedledum when you can opt to look at the world from Hashem’s perspective?

It’s not just that viewing human affairs from G-d’s vantage point comports with reality — it’s also a great deal more fun. After all, as Dovid Hamelech says (Tehillim 2:4), “Yosheiv baShamayim yischak, Hashem yil’ag lamo — He Who sits in Heaven laughs, He mocks them.” The Almighty peers down on His little world to behold all the Important People strutting about as if they actually own the place, plotting and grasping and jockeying pathetically for scraps of power and prestige and possessions.

The last couple weeks gave us an inkling of the Divine comedic sense of humor of which we speak. Two political figures were on a glide path toward the November election: One, a socialist, was seemingly rolling inexorably toward the Democratic presidential nomination. The other, the country’s president, was relishing the opportunity to face off against and likely demolish that socialist in the fall.

For all we know, the two of them may yet meet in November, since we never know what further laughs G-d has in store. But the snapshot at this writing is of a political moment in which both of these figures suddenly had the wind taken out of their sails in ways that leave one agape at Hashem’s mastery of the world.

In the space of 72 hours, the haranguing Vermont socialist was blindsided by a political comeback for the ages. His ascendant campaign, brimming with passion and die-hard supporters, found itself eclipsed by a rival who suddenly had a broad-based electoral coalition, plentiful funding, and momentum.

His Republican opponent, meanwhile, suffered a blindsiding of his own, as nefarious little microbes came out of nowhere to spread around the globe and sow unprecedented panic. An invisible, seemingly unstoppable disease began threatening to seriously wound economies worldwide, casting a shadow over his hopes to run for reelection on a “best ever” economy.

But it’s what just befell yet a third political figure that best exemplifies what happens when the Ribbon HaOlamim decides to take one of His creations down a few notches as the whole world watches. One of the world’s wealthiest men, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, jumped into the Democratic race and spent a cool $500 million on wall-to-wall advertising across the country. And for a time, it seemed to be working, as he rose from out of nowhere to third place in national polls.

Then came his electoral debut in the 15 primaries of Super Tuesday. To be fair, it wasn’t a total blowout for Mayor Mike: He won five of the six delegates up for grabs in American Samoa. For those unfamiliar, that’s an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, which consists of five main islands and two coral atolls and is slightly larger than Washington DC (and likely far less corrupt).

Now, I can’t know how Bloomberg felt as the Super Tuesday results rolled in before the entire world. But if I were in his position, I’d have much preferred to have won zero delegates and then quietly slink off and fold my campaign, than to have spent half a billion dollars to win a landslide in… American Samoa (Population: 56,000).

Before bringing the plague of Arbeh upon Egypt, Hashem told Moshe that the purpose of the Ten Plagues was so that, for posterity, fathers would relate to their sons, “eis asher hisalalti b’Mitzrayim… yidatem ki Ani Hashem — that which I toyed with Egypt… and you will know that I am Hashem.” The Ramban there connects the phrase “eis asher hisalalti” to the aforementioned verse in Tehillim of “Yosheiv baShamayim yischak.”

With these words, the Torah directs us to not only recount the facts of the punishing miracles of Yetzias Mitzrayim, but also the particular way in which G-d meted them out, toying with the wicked victims: He hardened the Egyptians’ hearts, only to then punish them mightily for refusing to yield to His Will. The moment they took possession of a Jew’s water, it turned to blood, unless, of course, they’d buy it from him. He brought upon them not only ferocious lions and tigers, but tiny lice and cute little grasshoppers too. In this way, we convey an additional, important lesson about the extent of Hashem’s Omnipotence, to which no creature is impervious.

Sanders, Trump, and Bloomberg are no Pharaohs in Egypt, but the point here isn’t about them per se. It is, instead, about developing the ability to view the world through a Heavenly lens. And about appreciating the way Hashem, using the entirety of Creation that’s at His disposal, effortlessly arranges and rearranges things down below, bringing sweet victory to one and humiliating defeat to another.

And all with a generous helping of His cosmic sense of humor.

IN THE ROOM WITH HIM As the Season of the Siyum winds down with the conclusion of Maseches Berachos, I want to share a story a friend of mine, Reb Menachem, told me about one particular participant among the 90,000-plus who were at the Siyum at MetLife stadium. My friend’s brother was afflicted for many years with a severely debilitating illness, yet his mind remained clear and active, enabling him to direct all his time and mental energy into what was the all-consuming passion of his life — limud haTorah.

Spending many hours each day learning nonstop, his hasmadah gained such renown that rebbeim in his Jerusalem neighborhood would bring their classes to be inspired by the sight of this Jew, incapacitated yet undeterred in his pursuit of ever-more Torah learning. All of this had been made possible by his devoted wife, who for many years tended to his every need, seeing to it that he could utilize all his time for the learning that infused his life with such powerful meaning.

It has been several years since Reb Menachem’s brother was niftar, and when his widow heard that a Siyum HaShas marking the end of the daf yomi cycle was to take place this year, she knew she needed to be there to celebrate the limud haTorah that had been such a central part of her life for so long. When she inquired about several of the siyumim taking place in Jerusalem, however, and was told the ladies would be in a separate area, viewing the Siyum on screen, she shared her disappointment with friends, saying, “When I enabled my husband’s learning all those years, I was right there in the room with him — and that’s how I want to celebrate now.”

Unbeknownst to her, a group of those friends got together and surprised her with the gift of a plane ticket to New York, and on January 1, she was in the MetLife stands — in the room, as it were — joining the multitudes in joyous celebration of the completion of Shas, and paying homage, too, to her own husband’s surpassing love for and dedication to Torah despite the most trying circumstances.

There’s a truth we all grasp regarding other areas of life, but that some people forget or deny when it comes to the most important area of all, which is avodas Hashem: That there is strength and fulfillment and real greatness in being an enabler of someone else’s success, especially when that’s the role the Master of the Universe assigned to you.

She’s no pushover, this lady, and she insisted on what was coming to her, to share in the celebration as she shared in the effort. But her sense of self doesn’t stand or fall on being in the spotlight, or being the enabled rather than the enabler.

Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 802. Eytan Kobre may be contacted directly at kobre@mishpacha.com