Mishnah Yoma Chapter 2 Mishnah 5 Pt. 2

I’m just loving the word פָחוֹת/fachot today, in no small part because 1) it was already in my vocabulary and 2) it is in my vocabulary because it was in the first mishnah I ever memorized (Bava Metzia Mishnah 1, for the record). It’s not the most semiotic word in the lexicon, but I have a fondness for it’s utilitarian side. It means less, less than, diminish, inferior, devalue, a small quantity, etc. It is often found, as we have it here, with its counterpart, יוֹתֵר/yoteir meaning more, more than, greater, superior, extra, remainder, etc. In this form, “not less than and not more than” they often define a legal quantity or boundary. Very useful!! But that’s not why I love it. I love it because I own it, and I own it because I can still, 30 years on, recite the aforementioned mishnah. To be honest, my least favorite part of the SVARA method is memorization. I hate doing it. It makes me tired. I feel shaky and frustrated while trying to tie all those words and ideas together without the handhold of the written text in front of me. Buuuut (spoken in the Yeshivish sing-song way) once I get it, it feels sooooooo good. I LOVE having those words locked into my brain and muscle memory. So, it’s kind of a metaphor, nu? Plow through the stuff that is hard and wearying, in order to gain strength and confidence. It’s life itself in not less than a nutshell!!

Speaking of ploughing—for me, texts that dial into the picayune details of rituals long vanished are second only to surgical anesthesia in their ability to bring me to a catatonic state. Now, I know (and am related to) some folks who light right on up when they encounter these deets—and I’m grateful and happy for them—but for me it is an invitation to conk out. Which is why I love love love learning these bits in community. I get to see how other folks’ minds work, learn things I couldn’t possible dig up myself, and see a text be animated before my very eyes by those whose intellectual and psychospiritual wiring is different than my own. It is a balm to remember that those differences do not always have to be divisive, but can, where there is curiosity, humility, and genuine interest, be uplifting and illuminating. Vive la différence (MC style)!!!

Accessing my deepest Maggidic instincts* what pops for me is the fact that the Mishnah has shifted its focus from the High Priest to the community of priests, from the most elite actor to the ash sweepers, from the rarefied starring role to the stage hands, prop masters, lighting techs, and scenery makers. I can’t help but notice, with my vantage point of being 2000 years into this drama, that the story arc which will even the playing field is being set right here in the minutiae of an imagined system of service. We know now that the trajectory the rabbis are establishing is one that invites all who are called to embrace the rigor, responsibility, and rewards of developing, honing, and offering our gifts to the Jewish project. As R. Mònica teaches (and I paraphrase), “While they couldn’t imagine that WE would be picking up the torch, they made it irresistible and inevitable that we would.” Keep showing up friends, no less and no more.

*OK, elephant in the zoom room: Yes, I can finally call myself a Rabbi because like the Scarecrow I now have a diploma—THANK YOU all for being part of my coursework!! That said a Maggid I was born and a Maggid I will always be.