This evening is the kickoff of the winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Olympics is an international sporting event where a large portion of the world comes to together for “friendly” competition. The two week long event generates millions of dollars, creates intriguing story lines, and turns athletes into heroes. As much fun as the Olympics may be, I must admit that I struggle with what the purpose of the Olympics are.
One may suggest the objective of the Olympics is world unity. However, when your goal is to unify a group of people; competition is not the ideal path to take. The opening ceremony of the Olympics proves this point. The Olympians parade into the stadium waving the flag of the country they represent. The athletes are not thinking one world one people. They are thinking our country is the best and we are going to win more gold than any other country. Throughout the world as people watch the event on television they are rooting for their country. They are taking pride when they hear their national anthem being played as their fellow countrymen receive a gold medal. They are not thinking “wow, we have so much in common with everyone else in the world, it is about time we put our differences to rest.”
In this weeks Torah portion (Mishpatim) the Torah commands the Jewish people to travel to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the Festivals together. People from every tribe, from every region throughout the land of Israel must come and celebrate the holidays together as unified people. The pilgrimages teach us an invaluable lesson: regardless of where we live, what we look like, and the language we speak, all Jews are on the same team with the same goal. Our goal is to live by the word of the Torah and strengthen our relationship (as one people) with our Creator.
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