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August 27, 2022
Author(s): Rav Hazzan Aliza Berger,
Parshat Re’eh
August 27, 2022 — 30 Av 5782
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA
In 1961, Sandy Greenberg was wallowing in despair. Up until that moment, his life had been full of promise. He was brilliant, musical, and athletic. In high school, he was elected president of the student council and of his senior class, upon graduation, he won a full scholarship to Columbia University in New York and was pursuing his dreams of becoming a lawyer. He had close friends and was dating the love of his life, whom he had met in the 6th grade.
But in 1961, Sandy felt like all the promise of his life had abandoned him. For years, ophthalmologists had failed to diagnose his vision challenges correctly, resulting in a botched treatment that hastened the deterioration of his remaining vision and forced doctors to perform a surgery which ironically saved his eyeballs while destroying what remained of his sight. Sandy was deeply depressed. He left college, moved back home to Buffalo, gave up on his dreams of becoming a lawyer, and had resigned himself to being a burden on his family for the rest of his life.
But suddenly, out of the blue, his best friend and college roommate, Art, showed up at his door. Art begged him to come back, to not give up on his dreams. But Sandy told Art there was no way. How could he do the class readings without being able to see? How could he take tests? Forget studying, how could he find his way to class? Art immediately offered to help. He said he would be Sandy’s eyes. He would walk him to class and read him his books and quiz him in preparation for his exams.
When Sandy came back to school, he was blown away by Art’s kindness. Literally every day, Art escorted him to class and helped him to study and walked him home and helped him with every single task so that he could continue his education and pursue his dreams. In fact, because of Art’s kindness, Sandy was able to take more classes, and received higher grades, than he had ever earned before losing his vision.
But Art didn’t just help Sandy with his schoolwork. One day, Art and Sandy were about to hop back on the train to campus when Art suddenly apologized to Sandy, telling him that he had to stay in town to complete an assignment. Sandy was upset. He had to get back to campus for a meeting. He started back on his own.
It was difficult. Without a seeing eye dog or a cane, he kept walking into walls and people. He gashed his shin and kept stumbling upon the wrong trains. But after a couple of hours, he managed to get himself onto the right train, and off on the correct stop too. As he exited the train, he smelled his friend Art and heard his familiar voice say, “welcome home.”
Up until that point, Art had been helping Sandy by staying by his side, by being his eyes, by doing everything he could to support him. But on that day, Art helped by stepping aside. He gave Sandy the gift of independence, and because of Art’s support, because Art showed him that he could do everything he dreamed of, Sandy not only graduated, but went on to have a brilliant career as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Our parsha this week begins ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה behold, God says, I am placing before you a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you follow in my ways and a curse if you do not. This concept is theologically challenging. Though this idea is lovely in theory, in practice we all know that the world is not so simple. Doing the right things does not guarantee blessings. That is the basis of Rabbi Harold Kushner’s famous book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Sandy did everything right and he still lost his vision. So many of us feel the bitterness of the universe when right action is not rewarded accordingly.
But the Slonimer Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky, brings a gorgeous teaching that is not only plausible but also extremely helpful. He says, in the history of the universe, no two humans have been exactly alike. Each one of us is deployed to this planet on a unique mission that only we can complete. That’s where blessings come in. According to the Slonimer, God places before us a blessing and a curse. The blessing comes when we sense our mission and are empowered to fulfill it. The curse comes when we while away our lives without completing our mission, without finding the reason for which we have been deployed to this planet.
I’ve always loved this teaching, but it wasn’t until I read the story of Sandy and Art that I began to see something deeper. Each of us is here on a mission; but that mission is not a solo mission. We each have the capacity to empower others, to make it possible for others to fulfill their dreams and to complete their work on this earth. If we work simply to achieve our own dreams, we miss out on the blessings that the universe has in store for us. But if we can use our time and our energy to participate in the global mission, to empower our friends and loved ones, to work for justice and goodness and to make things right, then we truly will live in blessing.
Which brings me back to Sandy and Art. When Sandy lost his vision, he used to complain that everything was darkness. So, Art playfully began calling himself darkness. He would say, “Darkness will read to you from the Iliad” and “Darkness will now walk with you to class.” In response, Sandy would always say back, “hello darkness, my old friend.”
Years after they graduated from Columbia, Sandy got a call from Art. He was pursuing his dreams of becoming a musician and wanted to record a record with his high school friend, Paul Simon. The only problem was that they were short $400. He asked Sandy if he could borrow the money. Sandy and his wife, Sue, only had $404 dollars in the bank, but that didn’t stop him from giving his friend what he needed. That first album included “The Sounds of Silence” which went on to become a #1 hit, as did the folk-rock duo, Simon and Garfunkel.
Art Garfunkel says that when he befriended Sandy, “my real life emerged. I became a better guy in my own eyes and began to see who I was—somebody who gives to a friend.” Art didn’t just give to a friend, he made it possible for Sandy to complete his mission on this earth. Because of Art’s kindness and presence, Sandy graduated with honors and went on to have an illustrious career building companies that worked to eradicate blindness in the world and to support those with vision loss. Because of Art’s kindness, Sandy has fulfilled his mission on this earth—to ease the suffering of those who have lost what he has lost. And, because of Art’s kindness, Sandy also had the opportunity to help him fulfill his musical mission. Without their friendship, it’s entirely possible that neither one would have achieved his mission. Together, they have realized blessings no one could every imagine.
What is true for Art and Sandy is true for us. We are all here on a mission, but it’s not a solo mission. Each of us holds the keys to someone else’s dreams. Each of us has the capacity to make someone else’s dreams come true.
Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.