A Small Boat In An Endless Sea

Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.



On the desk in the Oval Office of the White House, during the presidency of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was a bronze plaque that read: “O’ GOD thy sea is so great and my boat so small.” Perhaps it reminded him of the awesome responsibility that was his as president of the United States. Possibly it even had a humbling effect.

To me, it signifies the importance we should place on accomplishing impossible tasks such as repairing the tear in the human experience. It also helps me understand how we sometimes have an inflated sense of worth and ego.

I think of this (inflated sense of worth) when I read the Book of Job. It is a compelling story because it helps us understand that we do not know the ways of God, although there are some who will tell you that they have the answers. There are times when we are at a loss to understand the journey of life. We should remember that a master plan exists which includes all that you see and all that you cannot see. It contains the goodness to be found in each of us as well as the dark side that has a tendency to overcome us.

Each of us is part of an experiment that began when life was breathed into our nostrils and a soul was placed in our keeping. Each of us is responsible, in part, for the whole universe: responsible for hunger and disease and desolation; responsible for hatred and wars and destruction. And we are especially responsible for our conduct with each other because it ultimately leads to all these sufferings.

We look around and think how great the sea and how small our boat. Can we ever row to happiness? Will we ever realize the dreams of the generations: to love one another, which is the same as loving God; to ensure justice for all; to be merciful in our dealings with one another; to understand that caring for each other is true benevolence.
Sometimes we look at this endless sea and feel as though we may sink into the abyss, the emptiness and the vastness of it all. And like Job we wonder about all the misery and why we are singled out, so it seems, to witness first hand the pain and the hurt. We should learn from the lesson of Job that there is evil as well as good. One thrives on the other – one cannot exist without the other. We see that good people ache while bad people prosper. The ultimate test is whether we can accept that there is a plan and there is the planner.

We think that we can do nothing about our destiny – it is written somewhere and therefore an accepted fact. But then we realize that we are given the greatest gift of all – the gift of choice. We have within our grasp the ability to choose right from wrong as society envisions it, and it is apparent that some if not most of the turmoil in our lives comes from our actions or inactions-not because there is some devil playing havoc with our lives or that God intends to test us to determine our allegiance or fealty.

Many of us have lived several lives. We have witnessed death and rebirth. Our faith has been challenged with great disappointments. We have laughed too few times and cried too many. We try to make sense of family. We try to understand our place in the scheme of things. The boat may be small in an endless sea, but it should encourage us to keep rowing until we can all see land.

We should take every opportunity to enter into a new chapter in whatever time is left for us. Now is the time to continue our learning circle because like the circle, learning is an endless process. Now is the time to live life as we would have wanted to if we had the opportunity to do it over again. Now is the time to love more intensely those we hold dear.

If we have touched someone we should feel richer for it. If we have helped someone we should feel an approving nod from those who preceded us. If, when the time arrives, we will be missed then we surely have made an impact and have learned well from our teachers and family and friends.

Our boat may seem small and the sea endless, not because we are rudderless but because there is so much more to see, people yet to meet, events to experience, and choices to make. We can sit and expect our lives to be fulfilled because of some wish for a God that directs our every move or we can stand and take control and choose to live life as it was intended.

Job accepts this choice because he realizes that he is mortal and does not understand the ways of the Divine – that is the failing of Job – that is the lesson we receive. We can’t fathom the concept of God except in human terms because we are human – but we search. We cannot expect God to live our lives for us.

At this time in our lives we need to contemplate the eternal question: Why there is so much suffering in the world? Why is there war and destruction? Why is there starvation and homelessness? Why is there religious hatred? Why doesn’t God send someone to make sense of it all? And the answer is quite simple – God did send someone – God sent us!