Don’t Speed Up—Choose

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Yesterday was opening day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at Universal Studios in Orlando. It sounded like a lot of fun.

They’ve created Hogwarts Castle and the village of Hogsmeade in great detail. You can drink butter beer, see a cello play itself, and participate in a dragon challenge. I understand that you can even hear Moaning Myrtle in the restrooms. For those in Harry Potter withdrawal since the publication of the 7th and final volume in the series, this should be a prime destination.

I”m sure Universal Studios has tried to bring to life much of the series, but there is one item of magic that they may not be able to replicate. One of my favorite of all of J.K. Rawling’s devices was the Time Turner, the hourglass on a necklace, that Professor McGonagall gave Hermione in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. With each turn you could go back in time one hour, and as long as you didn’t run into yourself, all was well. This device allowed Hermione to take three classes in the 9 am class hour confusing Ron and Harry about her schedule. I found some Time Turner’s for sale on line, but unfortunately they preserve only the external design and none of the magic.

There is one story in the Bible of time extension, the story of Joshua in his battle with the 5 kings. The battle is going his way, but the sun is setting, and he is concerned that the coming of night will give his enemies an opportunity to flee, wiping out all of his daytime gains. He prays to God in the presence of all the Israelites:

“Stand still O Sun at Gibeon, O moon in the Valley of Ajalon.”

To everyone’s amazement, the sun stood still and the moon halted, the Book of Joshua commenting: “ neither before nor since has there ever been such a day.” According to tradition the day on which this occurred was the 3rd of Tammuz, which fell on this past Tuesday, June 15th.

I have often wished for more hours in the day. Imagine if I could sit down at 9am and write my sermon, then turn the Time clock back a few hours and visit in the hospital, then turn it back again, and attend one of my various interfaith meetings—all in one morning. But since I lack Hermione Granger’s Time Turner, or Joshua’s effective prayer, I am forced into other strategies. Many of them seem helpful in the short run, but aren’t sustainable in the long run. There are still only 24 hours in a day, and all the efficiency tricks in the book still leave you with a finite amount of time to get everything done.

Recently I was at a rabbi’s meeting in Chicago and one of the presenters, Rabbi Jonah Pessner, recounted a story from this rabbinical school days. He was giving a presentation in Theology class, something he had worked very hard on preparing. The professor was known to be very demanding.

It turned out to be the day that the Board of Governors was visiting, so the daily prayer service was extended and class time shortened. When he found out he was going to have less time than he had thought, he said: “I guess I will just have to go faster”. To which Professor Eugene Borowitz responded: “Don’t speed up, choose.”

How difficult that is for us. Whether we are middle school students who want to be on the softball team and in the spring musical, along with club soccer, homework, and of course Hebrew school and Bar Mitzvah lessons, or adults who find equally that there are many worthwhile things that we would like to do. Somehow though, adding good and good and good together doesn’t equal great, but instead creates a very stressful lifestyle.

I thought the problem was new, but someone shared a Yiddish proverb with me: ” If time is money, then everyone lives beyond his means.” Actually there is evidence that this was an issue even in more ancient times. In the Babylonian Talmud, the famous teacher Shmuel expounds:

“Who forces time, is pushed back by time

Who yields to time, finds time on his side.”

Even in the magical world of Harry Potter, no one has enough time. Hermione learns that her Time Turner will not really solve her problems and she needs to decide what is important to do in the time she does have.

We too will have to accept the finite nature of our lives and chose carefully among the many competing invitations that we receive. Our Jewish tradition teaches us to “number our days”, that is to value the time we do have and use it carefully, “so that we may attain a heart of wisdom.”