With Simchat Torah just behind us, Jews around the world are ecstatic since we get to restart the reading of the Torah from the beginning. One of the Torah's early stories is about Adam and Eve. Very prominent in their story is the story of the serpent that convinces Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, of good and evil. The snake tells Eve that God told her she cannot eat from all of the trees in the garden. Eve explained that God told her not to eat, or even touch, certain trees in the midst of the garden.
Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald, Director of NJOP, explains that according to the Midrash, the legend, the snake pushed Eve against the tree. Once she already touched the tree, the serpent eggs her on, pointing out that since nothing happened when she touched the tree, Eve might as well eat the fruit, explaining that no punishment will come from that either. He essentially bullies Eve into eating the fruit. There are two ways of showing how great you are. One is by standing up tall. The other is to push the other person down, like the serpent did to Eve. This person, the bully, makes you fail. He makes you sometimes do things you do not want to do. He hurts you.
October has been deemed National Bullying Awareness Month. We should work to stop bullying completely. Not only one month a year. We should have no tolerance for bullying the same way we should have no tolerance for the serpent or for the person who wants to hurt another. We have to stand up strong. We have to stand up proud. Stand by our values. Stand up to those bullies and say that they cannot do this to us. If we do that, we will soon be back in the Garden of Eden. May God Bless You.
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