Remember 'eenie, meenie, miney, moe'?
As a kid, you wanted to choose a path, a candidate etc, and the reasonable choice or preference wasn’t clear. So you played kid’s roulette; you threw your decision to fate.
What were you doing? You were reaching beyond your normal choosing mechanism (your taste or logic), and surrendering to something beyond your control.
That’s kid stuff, even when it’s played by adults. But let’s take a more serious look at the ‘ennie meenie’ model.
Take Yom Kippur, a day when our fundamental bond with G-d is laid bare. The power of our relationship’s essence is so profound that it can actually heal breaches to the relationship’s rules (Torah). That’s what brings atonement on this Holiest of days.
In the Torah’s description of the Yom Kippur service (Leviticus 16), a lottery takes a critical role, in that it was used to determine the makeup of the Yom Kippur offering. Where does [an adult] ‘eeinie meenie’ fit into the relationship-baring Yom Kippur theme?
How about Purim? On this most festive Holiday, we celebrate G-d’s rescue (through Queen Esther and Mordechai) of the Persian Empire’s Jews. It was a gripping and triumphant saga, and led to the creation of a Holiday named ‘Purim’.
Did you know that ‘Purim’ means ‘lottery’ [in that it refers to how the wicked Haman used lots to choose a date for perpetrating his plan of Jewish annihilation]? Why would we choose THAT seemingly minor detail as the Holiday’s name?
It seems like there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to ‘eenie, meenie’ and Judaism.
Games of chance are irrational. But sometimes they’re super-rational, in which case they’re not games.
At any given juncture, when my desire – even my logic - leads me in a certain direction, and the Torah points me elsewhere, I’m faced with a very difficult choice. Do I follow my normal decision-making process? Or do I abdicate that process, surrendering to something higher, and go with G-d?
Playing ‘eenie meenie’ can be scary; it’s leaving your decision making to something beyond you. But that’s what we sometimes need to do.
It’s what the Jews did in Persia. And it showed deep faith in – and love for – G-d.
It triggered a reciprocal depth of love for us within the Divine.
Whether it’s the seriousness of Yom Kippur or the joy of Purim, it’s about super-rational connection. Sometimes kids have an easier time with that.