Jewish Simplicity
A lion can actually capture, kill, and eat a field mouse. However, it turns out that the energy to do that is greater than the caloric content of the mouse. So, if a lion spent the whole day hunting and eating field mice… it would slowly starve itself to death!
Thus, a lion cannot live on mice. Lions need antelopes. Antelopes are BIG. They do take more speed and strength for the lion to capture and kill. However, once killed, they provide a huge feast for a lion and its pride. Therefore, a lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope, but it will die chasing mice.
If you’re spending all of your time and energy going after “field mice,” your short-term reward is a feeling of activity and maybe even accomplishment. But, in the long run, for all the appearance of strength, you have weakened yourself.
This teaches us that we should stop chasing mice and start giving strong focus to antelopes. Of course, for us I am not speaking of literal mice and literal antelopes. I speak metaphorically: we spend too much time on things that do not provide enough nourishment, and not enough time on things that do.
The U.S. Navy officially adopted KISS as a principle in 1960 to remind service members to keep the systems simple instead of over-complicating them. The acronym eventually caught on among civilians a decade later and has since remained in the public lexicon to remind people not to overthink things.
I like to think of KISS as standing for “Keep It Simple, Sweetheart!”
The beauty of Jewish tradition is that it helps see the value of histapkut, simplicity.
Take the 10 Commandments, for example. A mere 72 words in the Hebrew, we find no complicated theological propositions here. It is all quite simple: “You shall” or “You shall not.”
Simplicity is the hallmark as well of Jewish ethics: Whatever ultimately hurts someone is wrong; whatever finally helps a person is right. In Jewish theological terms, we might insist: Whatever removes us from G!d and thereby makes us more hostile and irresponsible is wrong; whatever brings us closer to G!d and makes us more loving and compassionate is right. Morally, too, Jewish simplicity is sensibly stark: Whatever dehumanizes us or others is wrong; whatever reconnects us to humanity is right.
A student was once asked by a career counselor, “What do you want to make of yourself?” The counselor expected a reply like “An engineer” or “An entrepreneur.” Instead, the student answered, “A human being.” The simplicity of this answer demonstrates the depth of the response. The simple acceptance of our own humanity is a significant achievement.
Ben Zoma taught, “Who is rich? The one who takes joy in their share.” Learning to not worry about what we don’t have and take pleasure in what we do have is simplistic, rich living as Ben Zoma teaches. Filling up our calendars with dates is not simplicity; filling our days with human connection, love, and compassion is. Relieving ourselves of guilt, stress, and worry over the minutiae of field mice and focusing much more on the antelopes in our lives–or that should be in our lives–is simplicity.
Some things we might do in this regard include:
- Engage in a contemplative practice, such as mindfulness or meditation.
- Assess the things and activities that keep life convoluted, complicated, and confusing. Work to simplify these things
- Find sources of inspiration and optimism.
- Analyze and address the source of toxic emotions, such as negativity.
- Study Torah: Fran’s Character Strengths class is a great way to begin.
- Remove preoccupations and distractions that keep you from being your best.
- Set and maintain priorities that flow from your relationship with G!d and connection to our emotionally uplifting Jewish heritage.
This approach, we can be sure, has G!d’s favor, for the Psalmist tells us: שֹׁמֵ֣ר פְּתָאיִ֣ם יְהֹוָ֑ה, that G!d watches over those engaged in simplicity, those of simplistic faith, those who have a simplified approach to life.
As we begin the summer and have time in advance of the High Holy Days, let us try to promote simplicity in our own lives–emotional, spiritual, and everyday. And may we find clarity, grounding, hope, joy and love as the resulting gifts.
Kein y’hei ratzon. So may it be.
Rabbi J.B. Sacks