Uh-oh, is it possible that a writer at this Jewish website would actually agree with the theory of evolution?

Let’s see.

Darwin states in his “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” which, interestingly enough never addresses the crucial question of the origin of life itself, that life began on Earth as single celled organisms that eventually evolved into the higher forms of life that we see today.

According to Darwin, there is an evolutionary chain from algae to fish to birds to reptiles to cold and warm blooded animals and finally to mankind. He describes the progression in much the same sequence that the Author of Genesis wrote thousands of years earlier.

But Darwin left out ONE, VERY important consideration.

The probability that any of this could have happened by accident is against astronomically calculated odds. Scientists, biologists, geneticists, agnostics and atheists all admit that even the simplest of human cells is far more complex than any invention that mankind could ever conceive of, let alone duplicate. There had to be another factor leading up to the arrival of man.

So here, I can’t say that Darwin and I agree.

But consider the second part of his title, dubbed “The Survival of the Fittest”.

Along the chain leading to the eventual development of all of the “beings” we see in existence today, there were predecessors that were less than complete. Skunks without smell, birds without feathers, cats without claws and rabbits without reproductive systems.

Only those that were fit survived. The rest fell by the wayside.

Here’s where I think Darwin makes a little sense. Heaven forbid, not from the evolutionary standpoint, but from a view of human history.

When we look back on the last six thousand years of recorded history, we see many societies that appeared to be “fit” but were actually less than that. The Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Mongols, Huns, Ottomans, Nazis, Communists and Socialists all rose to power expecting to be around forever.  But look around, they have also fallen by the wayside.

There is only one nation that has seen them all, lived amongst them all, survived them all and continues to this day.

That is - the Jewish people.

Perhaps that’s because what we stand for, what we believe in and what we actively practice is the fittest of all ideals.

Yup, in this regard, I’m beginning to agree with Darwin. Only the fittest survive.

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day.
- D.J. Pollay

We let insults bother us because we feel upset someone failed to show us the honor and approval we demand. But look objectively at our planet in relationship to the entire universe, and you will realize how ludicrous it is to be upset over such matters. Seen from outer space our planet is merely a speck of dust, and individual inhabitants are microscopic. Now picture how every person inflates himself. Contemplate how they become angry when someone has belittled their “great honor.” With this perspective you can laugh at the presumptuousness of any person overly concerned about someone’s insulting him.
- Gesher Hachayim, vol. 3, p. 39

By now, we all know how the ear works. Sound waves are funneled into the middle ear where they vibrate the eardrum which activates the hammer, anvil and stirrup which activate the fluid in the cochlea which then sends nerve impulses to the eighth cranial nerve of the brain which interprets them into sound.

You knew that, right?

And you also knew that our ability to balance ourselves in whatever position we’re in is due to the delicate flow of the fluids within the organs of the inner ear. (Funny that the ancient Hebrew word for ear is “oznaim” and the word for balance in Hebrew is “moznaim”. I guess they knew that back then, too).

And isn’t it “fortunate” that the outer ear is made of soft cartilage instead of bone, like all of our other appendages (except for the nose but for the same reason)? Perhaps that’s so we don’t crack them off when we sleep on a too hard pillow (or worse, a rock).

All makes perfect sense.

What I don’t understand is – earlobes. Why do we need them?

The most obvious answer used to be – that’s where you put your earrings! But with the advent of nose rings, belly rings, lip rings and tongue rings, we’re back to the same question – why do we need earlobes? Put your rings anywhere!

Were you ever sitting in your car at a red light and all of a sudden your car starts vibrating – boom da da boom da da boom! And you look out your window and there’s some wild looking guy driving a ten year old jalopy bopping along with his radio blasting what sounds like primeval jungle music? And every time his radio goes boom, your hands feel the steering wheel shake?

If sound waves can do that to your car, imagine what they can do to your ear. So some Intelligent Designer decided to add a counterweight to the ear so that when loud sounds enter the funnel, the earlobe weighs down the flexible cartilage so it doesn’t vibrate and distort the sound.

Flexible. Un"shake"able. Incredible.

Moving to the “country” for the summer has always been an experience. Leaving the hussle and bussle of the big city to the quiet retreat of a small rural town is a pleasant way to mark the end of ten months of homework and car pools with the kids.
New York has been called the city that never sleeps. The lights are always on. Not so in the “country”. When it gets dark there, it gets DARK. There are a scant few street lamps to light the way at night.

It used to be that way in every city of America. Until 1796, there was no such thing as street lights. And then along came gas lights and the town lamplighter. This new innovation was brought over from England in 1806 when Baltimore became the first U.S. city to have a gas company and street lights.

Now as I walk home from synagogue on Friday nights with my children and grandchildren, we play a game we could never have played at home. As soon as we see a distant street light, each one tries to be the first to find our shadows. There are usually giant reflections of ourselves trailing faithfully behind us. As we continue to walk, we see our shadows getting smaller and smaller. As soon as we approach the light, our shadows have virtually disappeared and then just as suddenly, they jump in front of us as we run after them trying to catch them.

The Jewish Bible is called, among other names, Torat Or - the teachings of light. Judaism explains that Gd, the Creator, is the Source of all energy and He has transmitted that energy to us in His Bible.

Interestingly, the further we are from that source of light, the greater WE think we are. We have cast giant images of ourselves on the world. The closer we get to that light, the more we appreciate the greatness of the One Who created it, the more humble we become. As we stand directly beneath His shining gaze, we have completely sublimated ourselves into His holy Being and bask in the joy of His light. Only then can we move forward down the lighted path with the only thing blocking our way, the shadow we cast of our own self-image.

Blessed art Thou oh mighty Lamplighter Who fills our lives with light.

We humans chase over the world to find things.

We climb high mountains,

we descend to the nethermost depths of the sea,

we trek to the wilderness

and to the desert.

There is one place where we neglect to search - our heart.

But it is there we will find God.

- Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin

Presidents write their memoirs. Celebrities do documentaries. Senior citizens sit around and reminisce. There’s another way to look back on your life.

Hands.

When we are infants, we can’t appreciate the infinite complexity of hands. There are others who look at our hands for us. They appreciate their perfection, their softness, their fragrance, those beautiful dimples. When they are your child’s hands, you want to kiss them, smell them, press them to your cheek. They are as innocent as the child himself.

Before you know it, those hands are seeking your hands; your fingers to hold on to. The child wants to walk and knows that the support will come to them through your hands.

Soon after, those little hands will be holding a pencil and shaping out an “A” or a “B” or a “C” and writing 2 + 2 = 4. Their fingers are smudged with ink and markers.

It doesn’t take too long for those hands to grow. And then those hands will be reaching out to catch a football or hold a tennis racket and hit the ball where the opponent cannot reach it. Fingernails are chipped and scruffy.

Or they will be carefully applying lipstick and blush and combing their hair the way they’re sure to attract that special other person. The fingernails are carefully groomed.

There are famous song lyrics that say “Hands across the table while the lights are low”. A young man takes the hands of a young lady and the cycle begins again.

Now picture the hands of that beautiful, young lady grown old. Her hands have become misshapen by arthritis and life’s toils. The fingers are crooked and gnarled. The former white surface is covered with brown spots, red spots and blue veins.

They must be frightening for a youngster to look at. Imagine what a child must be thinking as he walks down the street holding on to “grandma’s” hands. He looks up to make sure he’s walking with grandma and not some unknown monster whose hands surely don’t look like his.

Hands change with us as we go from one stage of our lives to another. They bear the scars of our experiences. From a bricklayer’s hands to a pianist, from a farmer to an artist, they are God’s little signposts that tell others – I have lived a full life – just look at my hands.

Did you ever lose a contact lens?

First thing that happens is – you panic.

Oh no! How am I going to drive home? How will I finish my work? How can I talk to people with one eye closed? So you start searching for it.

Naturally, when people see you crawling on the floor, fingers spread out, patting around everywhere, their second reaction is that they have to help you find your contact lens. (Their first reaction usually borders on – uh-oh, I think s/he’s gone crazy).

And how do you feel when someone finally finds it for you? Your gratitude is boundless. It’s almost as if they saved your life. You’re ready to do anything for them just because they found your contact lens.

But imagine that you didn’t actually lose your contact lens. You intentionally hid it somewhere on the floor so that you would have the opportunity to show your appreciation to someone. Of course, THEY don’t know that you hid it, they just gratefully accept your gratitude when they find it.

God has 613 treasures, also known as mitzvah’s (positive and negative commandments of the Bible). And He’s hidden them in various places to be found at different times.

Every time we grab hold of one of them, it’s as if we are returning it to its Owner.

He’s told us what they are, but sometimes their purpose is not so easy to “find”. Don’t kill, don’t steal – make sense to us. Honor your parents – that one’s obvious but not so easy. Others like lighting Friday night candles or not mixing meat with milk might be difficult to “find”, but that just makes the reward for them even greater. And when you realize who the Owner is, that’s enough of a purpose to look for them.

God doesn’t wear contacts and He can’t lose anything. So everything, including mitzvah’s, must have been put here for our benefit. The more we search for and find, the greater the reward.

See?