Surfing Malibu with . . . the Rambam?!
Rabbi Nachum Shifren
We are the luckiest of all the earth's inhabitants. The fact that we can
partake in the mightiest power of all creation is as uplifting as it is
awesome."
There it is! You've managed to weasel your way out of the San Diego
Freeway madness and by divine intervention, are now out of the Sears Tunnel
at the Santa Monica Pier where you can see the white-water bouncing like
carroms on the harbor rocks - true to form, the biggest swell of the summer
- and you're on it! You're careening up the Coast Highway, pulling off
maneuvers that would pale Evel Kenievel, with only one goal in mind: to get
to the 'Bu (Malibu!) before the after-work crowd launches their
long-boarder juggernaut. You round the corner at Topanga and . . . NO! It
can't be!! A rock slide narrows traffic to only one lane! Anger,
frustration, and wild rage build up as the day you've been waiting for
slips through the endless back-up of motor homes and gawking tourists.
By the time you pull into the parking lot, it looks like the annual
"White Sale" at Bullocks, and the crowds threaten to drown out your stoke.
Funny thing, you're not alone! First Point looks like the Eureka
County annual loggers convention and 2nd Point has about 20 caneras
covering every radical maneuver of the 150 surfers out. Insane wipeouts,
drop-ins, collisions, all turn the crowd into a circus act. Fights are the
rule and exchanges are generally brief, if not fiery.
You sit in the line-up, with a deep, low-level anger keeping your
intent stare away from every other human being in your radius. Likewise,
everyone else out is a cauldron . . . unto himself.
Several hundred years ago, there was a Rabbi named the Baal Shem
Tov, ("Master of the Good Name") who remonstrated his followers to learn
from every thing they saw. The wind, the rustling of the leaves, each daily
encounter was a lesson in a spiritual life.
Everywhere we are told, "Follow the middle path - don't be too
extreme! "Moderation is the rule!" The Torah tells us that these utterances
apply in most cases - one exception is arrogance and anger. The language of
the Rambam here is interesting: "If a man is humble, he is not following a
good path. Rather, he must hold himself lowly and his spirit very
unassuming". That is why the Torah describes our teacher, Moses, as very
humble and not simply "humble" (Numbers 12:3). The sages further declared,
"whoever is arrogant is as if he denied (G-d's presence), as implied in:
"And your heart will be haughty and you will forget G-d." (Deuteronomy
8:14)
"Regarding anger, the sages said the following: 'If one is a wise
man, his wisdom leaves him; if he is prophet, his prophesy leaves him. The
life of the irate is not true life . . . one should distance himself from
anger and accustom himself not to feel any reaction, even to things which
provoke anger. This is the good path." (Hilchos Daos, chapter 2)
Meanwhile, our young surf-star, totally blown away and demoralized,
can take solace from the famous remark of the grandfather of surfing, Duke
Kahanamoku: "There's always another wave." Phil Edwards, perhaps the
greatest surfer of all time - (yeah, dude, go ahead and laugh! You try
stuffing yourself in at the pipe on a 10', 40 lb. log that more resembled a
guillotine than a surfboard!) never won a contest and his ability and
humbleness were even admired by his colleagues.
Dare we mention the "Oxbow Incident", where a "surfer" mercilessly
pummeled a fellow surfer because he "was in the way"! Let me tell you, I
was there that day and it was south winds - junk! That's what people kill
each other for?!
We are the luckiest of all the earth's inhabitant's. The fact that
we can partake in the mightiest power of all creation is as uplifting as it
is awesome. And what better thing to share with another human being? How
much there is to learn from that 6' swell at the "Bu! Amazing: We actually
have to share something! Incredible: The discovery that the world really
doesn't revolve around us!
Next time you paddle out. look toward the West at the setting sun
and the perfect peeling waves that were certainly created for Man to ride,
and think to yourself: "How lucky I am to be alive!"
