Before we Jews assemble around the Sabbath table,
we welcome angels, but before we say kiddush
we send them all away, because we are not able,
till they have \been removed just like the Nike swoosh
has been removed from Nike’s logo, to
to feel vicariously virtuous and victorious
when in the presence of great angels, who
than us—-but not the Sabbath queen!—- are far more glorious.
Yet on the Sabbath, which is like the World to Come,
we like to have the feeling that we’re worthy winners,
while in the six days of the workday week we felt ho-hum
at best, and when compared with angels, like losing sinners.
My referenced to the Nike swoosh reminds me that “Just do it”
applies just as to positive commandments to all the shoes
that Nike makes, while “Just don’t do it” is a perfect fit
to ones that, being negative, are “don’ts” not “dos.”
Inspired by Rabbi David Wolpe’s Off the Pulpit, “No More Angels,” on 7/9/15 for Shabbbat Pinchas 5775:
We gather around the Shabbat table, put our arms around one other and sing “Shalom Aleichem” — the song that greets the Shabbat angels. By the time we have finished the shabbat song, three minutes later, we are concluding with “Tzaitchem L’shalom” — go in peace, already asking them to leave. The poor angels must wonder why we do not wish them to stick around!
For a clue we can look at the Kotzker Rebbe’s comment on the verse in Exodus 22:31: “You shall be holy human beings to me.” The Kotzker said that God has enough angels, what God needs is holy human beings. Human beings are effortful and striving; we fail and overcome. We are human.
So Rabbi Soloveitchik made the comment that we usher the angels out so quickly because human beings cannot live with angels. Our mission is to understand that no one is perfect, that we are cracked and fissured and flawed, and need forgiveness. Together around the Shabbat table, we are delighted to welcome and entertain the angels — but not for too long. We need to eat and argue and forgive — and love. Shabbat Shalom.
On 10/16/22, Hoshanah Rabbah 5783, I recalled the first part of this poem after reading an obituary by Alex Williams of Dan Wieden (“Dan Wieden, Adman of Nike ‘Just Do It’ Fame, Is Dead at 77,” NYT, 10/14/22). Dan Wieden’s chief claim to advertising fame was the slogan that he coined to promote Nike, “Just do it.” It occurred to me that this slogan applies to the 248 positive commandments of the total of 613 commandments that Jews are commanded to observe, and coined “Just don’t do it” as a new slogan to discourage performance of the 365 negative commandments,
It occurred to me that this slogan applies to the 248 positive commandments of the total of 613 commandments that we are commanded to perform, and coined, “Just don’t do it” as a new slogan to discourage performance of the 3265 negative commandments.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
