14 Feb MISHPATIM: CHERISHING YOUR FAILURES

WHEN YOUR
INNER THIEF
STEALS YOUR
LIFE, YOU CAN
RECLAIM A
DOUBLE
PORTION OF IT

The Jewish Parrot
After his wife died, an old Jew received a
parrot from his sons to keep him company.
After a time, he discovered that the parrot
had heard him pray so often that it learned to
say the prayers. The old man was so thrilled
he decided to take his parrot to the synagogue
on the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah.
The rabbi protested when he entered with
the bird, but when told the parrot could
“daven” (pray), the rabbi, though still
skeptical, showed interest. People started
betting on whether the parrot would pray,
and the old man happily took bets that
eventually totaled $50,000.
The prayers began but the bird was silent.
As the prayers continued there was still not
a word from the bird. When the prayers
ended, the old man was not only crestfallen
but also $50,000 in debt.
On the way home he thundered at his
parrot: “Why did you do this to me? I know

you can pray, you know you can pray. Why
did you keep your mouth shut? Do you
know how much money I owe people now?”
To which the parrot replied: “A little
business imagination would help you, dear
friend. You must look ahead: Can you
imagine what the stakes will be like on Yom
Kippur?”
Double Compensation
This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim,
which deals primarily with civil and tort law,
presents the following law:
“If a man shall give money or vessels to his
fellow to safeguard, and it is stolen from the
house of the man, if the thief is found, he
shall pay double.”
Simply put, the Torah is stating here the
law that a thief need not only compensate
the victim for the loss; he is also given a
penalty, and is obligated needs to pay double
the sum which he took.
Yet, a well known axiom in Jewish thought
is that every single passage in the Torah
contains, in addition to its literal meaning, a
psychological and spiritual interpretation.
The physical and concrete dimension of a
mitzvah may not always be practically

relevant, yet its metaphysical
message remains timelessly
relevant in our inner hearts and
psyches.
What is the psychological
interpretation of the above law?
The Human Custodian
“If a man shall give money or
vessels to his fellow to safeguard,”
can be understood as a metaphor for
the Creator of life entrusting man
with “money and vessels to safeguard.” G-d
grants each of us a body, a mind, a soul, a
family and a little fraction of His world’s
resources. He asks us to nurture them and
protect them from a myriad of inner and
outer forces that threaten to undermine
them.
Yet, each of us also possesses an inner thief
who schemes to steal these gifts and use
them according to his own will. This “thief”
represents the “destructive inclination”—
yatzer hara, in Talmudic jargon—that exists
within the human psyche and constantly
seeks to control his or her body, soul, and
life by abusing their identity, violating their
integrity and derailing them from their
appropriate course of action.
For example, when a powerful
instinctive craving compels me to
surrender to despair, to lose my temper,
to binge, to gamble, to drink, to consume
something destructive for my body or
spirit, my inner “thief”—or destructive
craving—has just “kidnapped” part of
my soul
Similarly, when I lie for short-term
convenience, my inner “thief,” once
again, has entered and robbed my “lips”
and “words,” employing them for an
immoral function, thereby degrading my
conscience and soul. When I cheat in a
business deal, my inner “thief” managed
to get his hands on my business, and so
forth.
Apathy and Guilt
There may be those few individual
saints who never fail to safeguard their
sacred space.
Yet most of us are subjected to frequent
visitations by this little thief who
conquers chunks or seasons of our lives.
How do we deal with it?
Some people ultimately feel that their
battles against their inner thief are, in the
end, destined for failure. They give up
the fight, allowing the thief take whatever
he wants, whenever he wants. They
develop a certain lightheadedness and
cynicism toward living a life of dignity
and depth.
Others, at the other extreme, become
deeply dejected and melancholy. Their

failures instill within them feelings of self-
loathing as they wallow in guilt and despair.

Judaism has rejected both of these notions,
since both lead the human being into the
abyss, one through carelessness and the
other through depression.
The Majesty of Returning
The Torah, in the above law, offers instead
this piece of advice: “If a man shall give
money or vessels to his fellow to safeguard,
and it is stolen from the house of the man, if
the thief is found, he shall pay double.” Go
out, suggests the Torah, and find the thief.
Then you will actually receive double of
what you possessed originally!
Here we are introduced to, in subtle
fashion, the exquisite dynamic known in
Judaism as teshuvah, or psychological and
moral recovery.
Instead of wallowing in your guilt and
despair, and instead of surrendering to
apathy and cynicism, you ought to identify
and confront your “thief,” those forces
within your life that keep derailing you.
Confront the pain and loneliness leading you
to these thoughts and behaviors.
Then you will receive from the thief double
the amount he took in the first place. What
this means psychologically is that the
experience of falling and rebounding will
allow you to deepen your spirituality and
dignity in a fashion double of what it might
have been without the thievery.
The Talmud puts it thus: “Great is
repentance, for as a result of it, willful sins
are transformed into virtues.” When you,
sadly, fail, and allow your life to go to
shambles, but then confront the thief and
reclaim your authentic life as your own,
those previous failures bestow upon you a
perspective, an appreciation, a depth and a
determination that otherwise would not have
been possible.
By engaging in the remarkable endeavor of
teshuvah, the sin itself is redefined as a
mitzvah. Why? Because the very failure and
its resulted frustration generate a profound
and authentic passion and appreciation for
the good and the holy.
The next time your inner thief hijacks your
moral life, see it as a reclamation opportunity:
Reclaim your life with a double dose of light
and purity.