Just before Passover, I approached the doorman of my building.
“Peter, I need to rent this entire building from you for the year.”
“Sure, how much are you going to pay?” he asked.
I pulled out four quarters from my pocket and handed them to him. Without blinking an eye, Peter told me, “From now on, Rabbi, anyone who wants to rent an apartment here has to go through you. You are the boss!”
I shook his hand, satisfied that I had landed my best ever real estate deal.
What was this really all about? Jewish law mandates that in order to be able to carry anything from inside my apartment (private domain) out to the hallway (public domain), I need to perform an “eruv chatserot” which involves making sure one person owns the rights to all the hallways. The rules date back to the time of King Solomon, and are quite complex, so it’s important to consult with a rabbinic authority first.
I was unsure how I could convey this to the doorman. How could I explain to him that I need to buy the rights to the building for one dollar? It’s certainly not a normal thing to do.
So I was pleasantly surprised when he asked no questions, expressed no concerns, and easily agreed to my bizarre request.
And then it struck me. This is hardly the first odd thing Peter has seen me do! In fact, he sees more of my life and habits than most people.
Normal people get up early to exercise or walk the dog and then go to work; I get up and head out to pray. Normal people keep the hallways relatively quiet; I blow shofar in the hallways for people throughout Elul and Rosh Hashanah. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Peter sees all this and more. He sees me don my white coat and crocs on Yom Kippur, and he sees me traipsing out to the Sukkah anytime I need a drink of water, day or night. He sees me handing out thousands of doughnuts and menorahs on Chanukah, and delivering boxes of matzah before Pesach. On Purim he seems me dressed up and walking around with a bottle of whisky, and on the night of Selichot he sees me leave fully dressed at 1am and return home at 5am.
After all this, does it really seem out of character for me to ask for the rights to the building’s hallways? Apparently Peter doesn’t think so! What’s normal after all?
As Jews, nothing about our lives is normal. We are surrounded by enemies who want to destroy us. Our survival through thousands of years of upheaval and persecution is nothing short of miraculous. Certainly, it is not “normal.”
In fact, every mitzvah we do is abnormal. It is normal to be selfish; it is not normal to be kind— it goes against our very nature. It is not normal to light Shabbat candles or put on tefillin or give charity. And in 2018 it is certainly not normal to turn our electronic devices off for Shabbat and holidays!
But that’s who we are and what we do.
So go ahead, do something abnormal today.