Changing the course of history

There is an amazing story told about Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was on a speaking tour across India as part of his non-violent struggle for independence from the British.

At that time, the only affordable mode of travel across the country was by rail. When there were no whites waiting for a train, the British rail company, in an effort to save the expense and time of actually stopping at the station, would have the trains slow down long enough for passengers to run along-side and hop on. (This racist policy was part of what Gandhi was struggling against….)

One day, Gandhi was running to get on a train, and as he jumped up, his shoe slipped off his foot. Though he tried to grab it, he ended up watching helplessly as it fell to the tracks. Quickly, he grabbed the other one off his foot and threw it back down the tracks towards the first rapidly disappearing shoe.

People who saw this thought perhaps Gandhi had taken leave of his senses. His response to their mystified expressions was: “At least now if a poor person finds his way across my shoe he will soon come across its mate and end up with a good pair of shoes. (For most Indians back then a pair of good shoes was equivalent to a month’s salary…)

What does it take for a person to develop his ethical instincts to such an extent? If Gandhi had waited another moment he would have lost the opportunity; what poor person would continue for miles along the tracks in search of another shoe? To have such an immediate reaction, a person has to reach such a level of ethical behavior that ethics are no longer a thought out process; they become almost instinctive. Such a person is truly living life as it was meant to be.

Moshe is in the midst of receiving the Torah at Sinai. Forty days after hearing the Ten Commandments, with one day left before his triumphant return to share the oral tradition he has received directly from G-d, Moshe receives stunning news:

“Lech Rayd, Ki Shichet Amchah…”

“Get thee down, for your people have become destructive…” (Exodus 32:7)