Parshat Eikev

Be Like Mike - By Dan Cohen

Written in conversation with Rav Mikey Sunshine

What if Gd gave us a formula of how to emulate him?  And what if we ignored it?  If there’s one thing I’d like to make sure you understand this week is how simple being a Jew can be. I’m as guilty as anyone of overcomplicating it. 

Michael Jordan was the ultimate professional basketball player. His talents were transcendent. He was awesome. I, along with many other basketball fans and his competitors, was in awe of him.

He was so worthy of awe that Gatorade even made a commercial stating the obvious. The chorus repeats, “Like Mike, If I could Be Like Mike.” You can see the commercial here, initially released in August of 1991.  https://youtu.be/b0AGiq9j_Ak?si=6vQO5MZHOo_mPXKC

We all wanted to be like Mike. We all wanted to fly like Mike, dunk like Mike, and win like Mike. Being like Mike meant practicing like crazy, pushing yourself to become great, inspiring your teammates, climbing past adversity, and leaving the game of basketball fundamentally different from how you found it.

R. Mikey and I talk about Michael Jordan a lot. We talk about his competitive fire, how he worked harder than his competitors, and how he was a role model for the players who came into the league after him.

This time, however, we were focused on Michael Jordan and the Parsha. Thinking about what it takes to be great on the court helped us understand a keyword featured in this week’s edition of Moses’ extended speech: Yira. 

Per Moses, Chapter 10, Verse 12 lays out precisely what Gd wants from us. It says, “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your Gd, ask of you? Only to fear (Yira) the Lord, your Gd, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship the Lord, your Gd, with all your heart and with all your soul.”

The word “fear” above in Hebrew is Yira. Sometimes, it’s translated as fear and sometimes as awe. In Judaism, this 'fear' is not about being scared of punishment but about having a deep reverence and respect for Gd. Gd tells us we are to fear and/or be in awe of him. To emulate the things he likes, he gave us the manual, our 613 mitzvot, and our oral law on how to be like him.

Our awe of Hashem is one of the most human actions we can take. So much so that the Gemara, in Berachot 33b, teaches that the whole world and everything in it are in Gd's hands except our Yira of Hashem. The awe is in our hands.

In an unattributed piece at Chabad dot org, they wrote. “The Torah liberates us by declaring there is only one thing to fear—not failure, not others, not even death itself. The only thing to fear is the One who stands beyond and yet within all things, the one we call Gd.”

With this newfound “freedom” from fear, we can focus on a reality beyond our own that defines and directs all we do.

I struggle with the idea of a Gd that I am supposed to fear and prefer a quote from the 14th-century Rabbi Nisim of Gerona. He said, “The best attitude is not fear of punishment, but ‘fear of the exalted’: trembling awe at the vast majesty of Gd.”

Rabbi David Kasher at Parshanut added to Rabbi Nisim’s idea, saying, “So we stand in awe of the majesty and grandeur of Gd, and we are overcome with a trembling. It is actually pleasant feeling - even an ecstatic one - although it is surely a little scary. We marvel at the vastness of the universe and are immediately struck by a sense of our own smallness. There is a fear there, one born of vulnerability. But there is also a sense of gratitude that comes in recognition of our ability - despite our insignificance - to exist and to partake in the wonder of it all.”

It's powerful to focus on Hashem's vast majesty and how everything around us, past, present, and future, is in his hands. Gd is infinite. He is everything. He cannot only administer justice but also offer abundant mercy and kindness. In 1980s parlance, Gd is “totally awesome.”

Rav Hirsch offers insight to help us practice our awe (Yira). He says our requirements to love Gd and to walk in his ways are the consequences of our awe/fear of him. Our fear and awe are supposed to lead us to walk in his ways, leading us to love him. 

Yira keeps Gd at the forefront of our minds, conscious of his greatness and majesty at all times. From that attention will come a desire to act according to his will. Walking in His ways could mean being kind, just, and merciful, as Gd is. It should also, he adds, induce us to strive for the goals Gd has set for us. 

Hirsh adds, Gd has set this formula for us. He set the goals, he taught us his ways, and in doing so, we will be happy. After all, these ways suit our nature, as Gd designed us this way. When we accomplish our life’s purpose—to fear him, to perform mitzvot, and to walk in his ways—the natural outcome leads to a love of Gd.

According to Rav Soloveitchik, following Gd’s mitzvot and walking in his ways provides a central link between love and awe. He added that we imitate the deeds of the creator and adopt his attributes to show our love and awe. 

One of the things that made Michael Jordan awe-worthy was how he guided and inspired his teammates to work harder than they ever imagined possible. Awe of Gd is a recipe and a driving force that encourages us to be our best selves. Gd asks us to hold him in awe and offers us a clear pathway to emulate his greatness.