West Coast NCSY – The Blog

In this week’s episode of The Office there are some very important concepts we should all be aware of. Here in San Diego, NCSY is focusing this year on Lashon Hara, or Improper Speech and of course, this week’s Office episode, entitled “Gossip” was a really good lesson for us all…Just watch this clip:

There is a old story told, a man once spoke badly about his friend, and he felt bad about it afterwards. He went to his mentor to ask him how he could repent for his actions, his mentor told him that he must first take a bag full of feathers and throw them to the wind, once he did this he could begin to repent. So the man waited for a windy day and when a windy day arrived, he grabbed his bag of feathers and unloaded the bag into the wind, the feathers obviously went everywhere, blowing this way and that, without rhyme or reason, they were scattered with the wind. He then ran to his mentor to ask what to do next, his mentor told him that he must now go and gather all the feathers in order to to repent for his actions. The man responded, “This is impossible, there are thousands of feathers and they have spread in every direction, I will never be able to gather them all up!” His mentor responded, “So too, your words are many and they have been scattered in every direction, they too cannot be gathered up…”

Before we speak we must realize that “We cannot put words back in our mouths”

But I think there are some deeper lessons to be drawn from this Office episode. Some deeper understanding about people and their motivations can be gathered by watching carefully. Watch this clip about Michael Scott and his insecurities, I think that we can understand a little bit about why people speak badly about others…

Clearly Michael’s insecurities and lack of self-esteem are driving him to try and spread gossip about others, even though those around him encourage him not to. When a person has strong self-confidence and feels comfortable with who they are, not only do they not try and put others down by spreading gossip, but our Ancient Mentors teach us that such a person is even willing to put themselves down to save another person from embarrassment, watch this clip…

This clip brings to mind a story from the Talmud:

“It happened once that Rabban Gamliel said: “Awaken seven judges for me and have them come to the attic.” The next morning, Rabbna Gamliel awoke and found eight judges in the attic. He declared, “Whoever ascended without permission should descend.” Shmuel HaKattan arose and said, “I am the one who ascended without permission.” …I was not really Shmuel Hakattan who ascended without permission, but someone else. It was only because of the embarrassment that person would have suffered that Shmuel HaKattan made his admission (Sanhedrin 11a)

This story and this clip from the office, teach us a very important lesson: The root of Lashon Hara is weak self-esteem, and a person with strong character and strong self-esteem will even go so far as to embarrass themselves to avoid embarrassing another person…

The timing of the month of Elul, with all of the consequences and underlying meanings encompasses within it, has always been quite interesting to me.  As soon as students return from their relaxing vacations, their three months of fun without books, grades, or much stress of any kind, Elul arrives and the preparing for the days of repentance begin.  Elul offers us a challenge and a means to test ourselves before we stand before Hashem for yet another Judgment.  But rather than follow the school year, a year filled with holidays and opportunities to strengthen our spiritual connection, this vital month falls on the heels of our summer vacation…what a way to prepare!

Human nature dictates that our motivation, perseverance, and moments of inspiration are fleeting.  We are not meant to be in constant motion.  True, we must always strive to be better, but we cannot so without recharging our batteries.  The timing of Elul is not a trap.  It is not here to point out the mistakes and pitfalls that may have occurred on your time off.  Elul arrives at a time when we must start fresh, when we may have forgotten our goals, how we want to act, who we want to be.  We may have become detached from our relationship to G-d, a bond we worked so hard to build less than a year ago.  We are without the aid of our teachers, Rabbis, schedules, homework, and alarm clocks to keep us on track.  The timing of Elul forces us to rediscover the self that your summer may have neglected and compels us to reach down and find the strength necessary for the New Year.