ON THE WORLD CUP

Rabbi Gary Bazak is one of Seed’s senior educators. Over the past 10 years he has spearheaded the educational creativity in some of our flagship projects such as the famous residential seminars, the family education programme in Jewish primary schools and most recently the establishing of the Borehamwood Kollel. He is well known for his rare ability to communicate the deepest ideas to both the expert and the novice with dynamism and his trademark humour.

Life tools for Jewish Families

By Rabbi Gary Bazak

II’m going to be honest… I don’t enjoy the World Cup. Not because I don’t like a little bit of football, but simply because if we’re candid, it’s pretty much always a painful experience. It’s the same every time. England have what’s on paper a great team, and yet never seem to do anything other than destroy the dreams of its young supporters. I want to tell the youngsters cheering them on that it’s all in vain - I’ve been through it all before. I’ve experienced the pain of Pierce and Waddle in 1990, Beckham kicking the Argentinian and then Batty in 1998 with perhaps the worst penalty ever. 2002 looked hopeful, 3-0 against Denmark in the quarters! Maybe this time? But alas no, an epic goalkeeping mistake from Seaman ends it for England again. Once more, dreams created only to be shattered. Losses to Portugal and Germany knocked England out of 2006 and 2010 and then there was the shambles of 2014. By this point I had basically given up. It seems the pressure just causes the English side to buckle time after time. It does feel a little different with this new team though. Almost like a new generation, a new start. What is it that’s different? I’m sure many have speculated but I think there’s one critical factor which makes the difference. I actually think this is the factor that is the key to any truly successful growth: they actually believe they’re going to win! They have self-belief. Now, as much as we’re all emotionally involved in the England World Cup campaign, I must admit that I don’t really agree with the sentiments of Bill Shankly when he said: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” Football is fun and perhaps an important unifying influence in modern life. But it’s not more important than some of the most fundamental aspects of life. Deep down, (perhaps very deep down for some!) we all know that health, both physical and mental, our relationships with both friends and family, our spirituality and our morals are more important than football. I don’t think most people would really sacrifice these vitally important things in life for the sake of the game. However, I do believe though that the emotional challenges and character development that exist in the world of football have their parallel in our ‘real life’. The England team have their battles, their emotional challenges and inner demons to fight, just like I have mine. These challenges and battles are the essence of life. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (1707-1746) explains that every situation we are put into throughout our lives is a challenge. If we are blessed with financial wealth and enjoy this world’s luxuries, are we going to be able to give charity as we should? On the other hand, if we are stricken with poverty, will we be able to see Hashem’s Hand supporting us? Every situation presents its challenge and therefore its opportunity. Will we overcome the challenge to grow into who we need to become? Will we actualise our potential and become the ‘ideal me’? When we approach the Yomim Noraim - Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur - a Jew is supposed to view himself as if he is entering the knock-out stages of the World Cup. It’s all up for grabs, winner takes all. In these important days, everything is being decided for the year! The pressure is on. In previous years we may have buckled under the pressure and may not have succeeded in achieving our goals in self-development. We may have missed our goals to be a better spouse, parent or dare I say a better Jew. But the key to all growth is self-belief. We have to believe we are going to win! We need to remember that Hashem has given us all of the potential we need to achieve our unique spiritual task in this world. Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (1873-1936) was a master of Jewish self-development. He was once quoted as saying: “It’s an awful situation for someone to not know his deficiencies as he doesn’t know what he needs to fix! However, it’s much worse if a person doesn’t know his positive qualities, because then he doesn’t even know his own toolkit to fix things.” The first stage of our growth is for us to believe that we have all of the necessary skills, tools, character traits and relationships to achieve our mission in this world.

Once we believe that, we can set our mind to the hard work of actualising that potential and achieving our spiritual mission. In the merit of us actualising our individual missions, may we see the actualisation of Hashem’s broader mission of a perfected world (perhaps with an England win thrown in…!)