FOR KI SISA
AVERTING A WHOLE DISASTER
Each place of residence has its benefits and quirks. Some locations come with unique benefits. Our recent move to Peachtree City provides our family with quite an inimitable benefit: a number of pilots for Delta airlines live in the vicinity.
Pilots are leaders. They assume daily responsibility for hundreds of passengers, as they fly planes from one end of the world to the next. They are trained for emergencies, and many have performed heroic acts. They normally exude an image of authority and intelligence, and have fascinating tales of flights and of faraway places in which they had landed.
Having met several of them over the past few months, I can also add that they are usually friendly and “good guys.”
It takes more than pilots to fly passenger planes. The rest of the crew is, obviously, an integral part of the experience. Airlines also maintain a squad of engineers, mechanics, and maintenance workers who operate seven days a week. People with these specialty skills ensure that everything is up to par. We have also made connections with several of these types of professionals as well.
Recently, one of these workers shared an amazing story with me. It was once, during an overnight routine maintenance, after which they were required to complete the difficult task of closing the engine. These workers were searching for a specific tool which seemed to have disappeared. They combed up and down, but to no avail. The worker I know turned to the assistant and said, “Listen, it appears this tool was left inside the cover housing the engine. We must reopen the whole thing.”
Opening this cover, on a cold, dark night, was the last thing on this assistant’s mind, who bitterly complained about this additional task. As difficult as it would be, the acquaintance of mine recalled an ancient Jewish axiom: “All delays are for good.” While the origin of this adage and its precise meaning is unknown, it implies that even when a delay is particularly annoying or damaging, it is designed to lead to the good. Besides, the worker had a strange feeling somewhere deep inside that something was amiss. With all this in mind, they went back to work.
The tool was not found inside the engine. They, instead, discovered an unscrewed cover for the oil tank. Had the plane taken off the next morning for its intended destinations, typically spending fourteen or so hours flying from here to there, the result could have been unimaginable.
The tool was later found inside this person’s pocket…
One can certainly regard this episode as “luck,” or being in the right place at the right time. There is, though, much more to all this, as understood from a peculiar instruction at the onset of this week’s Torah portion, “Ki Sisa.”
The Jewish people were instructed to donate a sum, once a year, to Divine causes. This donation is as “an atonement for the soul.” The atonement was for the making and worshiping the Golden Calf, detailed in the continuation of this week’s portion. The instruction continues, “This is what they should give… a half shekel… Twenty ‘gerah’ equals one shekel; the contribution to G-d should be a half-shekel. The rich should give no more, and the poor should give no less than a half-shekel when giving the offering to G-d to atone for your souls.” (Sh’mos 30:12-14.)
There is definitely insistence on the “half.” While providing the “Gerah” denomination, the Torah could have easily asked for ten Gerah, equal to the half-shekel. Yet, it is specifically the “half-shekel” which is desired.
The idea of donating half of a currency provides two perspectives. On the one hand, each person needs to know that he or she is but a “half.” No matter how far a human being may climb, one is never complete. It is only when connected with the Almighty, the Other “Half,” that completion may be achieved. This is especially pertinent when following the construction of an idol. The obvious atonement would certainly include an acknowledgement of only one G-d, without Whom, one is incomplete.
On the other hand, one should always remember the other side of the “half.” When a human being does sincerely recognize that he or she is merely a “half,” one also realizes that no matter how lofty a goal is set, each person is met “halfway” by the Divine counterpart.
Disasters do, unfortunately, happen. Yet, how many times does one realize how close a disaster came to pass, or that it was diverted at the last minute? It is at times like these when one needs to take to heart the Divine role played by the “Other Half”.
The Almighty works in mysterious ways. A misstep here or there can doom a person, or it can be the misstep which unexpectedly saves a person. Just as in the story of Purim, when a series of seemingly unconnected events came together to provide the miracle, similarly, the events over the span of a life can be recognized as a series of amazing occurrences, in which one can clearly see the Other Half’s presence, to create a perfect picture.
SUMMARY: A whole entity is not always demanded. Sometimes, recognizing the Other Half is most important.