“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Matos-Masei
29 Tamuz 5785/July 25, 2025
Avos perek 2 – Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av
NO DISTRACTIONS
One morning a few weeks ago, I was davening shachris in a local shul. I was in the middle of pesukei d’zimrah when a fellow approached me and said that my davening was disturbing him. I don’t daven particularly loudly, but I do try to say the words out loud. He asked me if I could daven quieter.
I must admit that I was somewhat stunned. It’s the first time someone shhhhhed me during davening for…. davening.
Rather than daven quietly so as not to disturb his peace and quiet, I picked up my tallis and tefillin bag and walked to the other side of the shul.
After I settled in at my new seat, I noticed a closed Siddur on the shtender next to me. I nonchalantly opened it and saw that it belonged to an insightful friend. Under his name was a large yellow sticky note with many names written for people he would daven for. On top of the sticky note was the following handwritten quote:
“You’ve come to this world for just a few years, literally to visit. Don’t get distracted by everything going on around you.”
I stopped davening for a minute to contemplate the message. I wasn’t expecting such a poignant life hack to be scribbled on top of a note inside a siddur.
When I asked the owner of the Siddur about the note, he shared that he often records his personal inspirational reflections on sticky notes.
“Don’t get distracted!” What an invaluable message!
Scottie Scheffler is arguably the best golfer in the world today. If he wins his next tournament, Scottie will have four major wins and three of the four legs of the career Grand Slam at age 29.
In a recent interview he candidly noted that he doesn’t find fulfillment from golf:
“There’s a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and you get there, you get to No. 1 in the
world, and they’re like, ‘What’s the point?’… That’s something that I wrestle with on a daily basis…
“Why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? … If I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes…
“It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that
kind of euphoric feeling. This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, okay, what are we going to eat for dinner?
“I love being a father, I love be able to take care of my son… I’m blessed to be come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or with my son, that’s gonna be the last day that I play out here for a living.”
In Parshas Matos, when the tribes of Gad and Reuven requested a portion of land on the other side of the Jordan River, they stated that they needed grazing for their livestock and homes for their children. Moshe Rabbeinu censured them for prioritizing their money over their children by mentioning their livestock first.
It’s safe to say that if the members of Gad and Reuven were asked, they would unequivocally say that their children are their foremost priority. But Moshe detected in their statement a subconscious distortion of priorities.
Despite what we know to be valuable and worthy of prioritization, the world is full of distractions that can easily derail us from our values and from what we know in our hearts to be true.
This week Camp Dora Golding went on a trip to an amusement park. At the end of the day, campers returned to the buses wielding massive stuffed animals, basketballs with the park logo on it, and all sorts of souvenir trinkets. When they returned with their spoils of spending, other campers looked at them with envy. “Whoa! Where did you get that/win that?” The bearer of the spoils proudly replied that he won a game or spent a small fortune to attain the bargain item.
It’s likely – and I speak from experience – that the bearers of those spoils will never again look at the items they brought back. It was fun to win them and carry them through the amusement park. But beyond that they have little need for those items.
A person can do worse than spend a few dollars to win some games or to purchase souvenirs at an amusement park, overpriced as they may be. But in a sense that experience is analogous to our lives. This world is an amusement park with many attractions and a lot of things one can ‘win’. It feels good to show off one’s spoils and amassments. But those spoils are short-lived. In the world of truth and eternity they are less than worthless. The wise words written in that Siddur say it all: “Don’t get distracted by everything going on around you.”
To maintain one’s priorities requires constant effort and focus. Generally, we know what’s important in life but have to make sure we don’t lose sight of it.
Sometimes the greatest reminders are where we would least expect them to be.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
Chodesh Tov & Gut Chodesh,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum