Here is a brief departure from the omer counting. . .
In case you're interested, I figured I would post the article I wrote for this week's Torah Blast from Temple Beth Or. Enjoy!
The Biblical Wit and Wisdom of Bill and Ted
V’ahavta l’reiechah kamochah – “And you shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself.” - Leviticus 19:18
I should be embarrassed to say this, but I have entered into deep, philosophical discussions about the movie, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure more times than I can count. I assure you that if you have seen this film or were to go out and rent or Netflix this movie, it is not of the genre one might expect to be steeped in insight. One of Keanu Reeve’s early films, Bill and Ted’s tells the story of a couple of underachieving, unfocused high-school students who travel through time via a phone booth, gathering historical figures, such as Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Kahn, and Napoleon, in order to present a final project for their history class. Yet, Bill and Ted are revealed to be messianic figures – those who heal the world of all its ills through their music. They usher in a utopian society with their catch phrase, “Be excellent to each another,” becoming the mantra for future peace and coexistence.
When I read this week’s Torah portion, Kedoshim, my thoughts turned to Bill and Ted, once again. Kedoshim, “holiness,” represents the centerpiece of the book of Leviticus, revealing why God helped the Israelites leave Egypt. All the Israelites’ journeying has happened in order so that we could build a holy society. We often think of holiness in terms of that which comes from God and is God-ly. However, what we see in the laws of Kedoshim teaches that we are the keepers of holiness. Our Torah portion provides a list of the core methods we use to do so, and most of these laws have to do with how we treat one another. And one commandment that stands out is verse 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself.”
When we treat one another according to our biblical quote, we create holiness. But when we fail to love one another, holiness escapes us. That is when we stop partnering with God and start destroying peace and society and, ultimately, ourselves. If we stop to think about it, we all depend on the generosity of others who love us as they love themselves – whether we experience the support of a family member or a friend or receive random acts of senseless kindness from a stranger in the street or the supermarket or even from the person who lets us into their lane in heavy traffic. When we fail to receive such kindnesses, we can become less inclined towards kindness. How often do we let someone into our lane after another person refuses to let us into theirs?
As it turns out, Bill and Ted were spouting ancient wisdom and repackaging it as their central message: “Be excellent to each another.” These words may be small, but we all too often find ourselves too self-absorbed to put them into action. When we truly take these words to heart, we have the potential to change another person’s day, to make them more inclined towards kindness, and to improve the experience of living in our society. In this time of tornado recovery, of economic recovery, where so many of us deal with issues of health and the stresses of too much to do with too little time, let us take these new words of ancient wisdom to heart and treat one another with excellence. It is core to building towards our ideas of a utopian society and in doing so we can help one another to find holiness.
- Rabbi Ari N. Margolis
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