בס''ד
Parshat Balak
12 Tammuz, 5773
June 20, 2013
I once swore to
myself that I would never be the kind of rabbi who gave sermons about movies
and pop culture.
This column will
be yet more evidence of just how little integrity I actually possess. But if I’m
going to break this particular oath, I’m glad that, at the very least, I’ll
spend my self-respect on something as ridiculous as “This Is the End.”
“This Is the
End,” is an extended schlong joke about the apocalypse. It is ridiculous; it is
insane; it is crude beyond description; to call it irreverent demeans
irreverence. I loved every second of it.
This movie
reminds me why I believe in heaven.
Just to be
clear, I am fairly confident* that there are no bikinis in heaven. I’m also
pretty sure that smoking blunts and the Backstreet Boys might be out.
But I am
possessed of another conviction. As we were dying in the theater, I remembered
that humor belongs to the category of things that are eternal. Humor, and
compassion, and justice, and faithfulness, and pure sentiment, and moments of
brilliance, and true art, and real holiness – all of these exist timelessly, in
a world just beyond our own. When our bodies are gone, these lived moments
remain, and they ascend.
The Talmud tells
that Elijah the prophet once identified the only people in a market who were
worthy of the World to Come**. Rabbi Brokah (who, you know, hung out with
Elijah) approached the three and asked what they did for a living. “We are
comedians,” they said, “we make sad people laugh. Also, when we see two people
who have quarrel between them, we work to make peace for them.” (Ta’anit 22a)
Life is a damn
hard fight. It is uphill, both ways, in the snow – and that’s if you live in
the First World. There is abuse and addiction, hunger and oppression, not to
mention the pettier sins and yetzer horas*** of daily life. Too many
people spend most of their time in the muck. To lift one’s head into the light
is precious.
Again, to be
clear: it isn’t the joke, it’s the way you felt when you heard it; it isn’t the
painting, it’s the feeling that possessed you when you saw it; it isn’t the
circumstance, it is the kindness that worked through you. These experiences
last but a moment, yet we know that they are the most important in our lives.
And though these things are ephemeral in this world, I believe that they are
eternal in the next. They are the part of us that lives on.
I am an
observant Jew, which means that I believe in heaven, and then don’t think about
it very much.**** But it is nice to be reminded, with a belly laugh, that
indeed, I do believe.
*As much as
people can be confident about these things, which isn’t much.
** That’s what
Jews call heaven
*** Evil
inclinations
****As compared
to other religions, Jews are relatively “this world” centered, though we
explicitly believe that the rewards of a good life we do not receive here are
waiting for us in the next world. And, just to correct a misconception, Jews
believe in hell. We call it Gehennom. It lasts about a year, and is apparently
a painful process of separating the pure parts of the soul from its impurities.
