How (and why) to Survive a Polar Vortex

It's even too cold for Chicago's resident polar bear.

“The city's Lincoln Park Zoo says its polar bear, Anana, was kept inside Monday because of the record-low temperatures.”

Yes, it was a frigid week in the Midwest. I remember one or two such freezes from my childhood, stretches when it was so cold that the state closed schools and we “frozen chosen” were the only ones venturing out to Cheder.

But a polar bear? Why shouldn’t a polar bear enjoy a polar vortex?

“Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar says that while the below-zero weather might be comparable to what polar bears experience in the wild, Anana doesn't have a thick layer of fat that bears typically get from eating things such as seals and whale carcasses.”

Aha, so that’s the problem. The polar bear isn’t acting like a polar bear. And suddenly she’s shivering. Well, without seals and whales to keep her cozy, what did she expect?

Folks, the polar vortex may have left the building, but it’s still pretty cold out there, and even out here.

Sub-zero temperatures are painful. The wind-chill makes it unbearable! But nothing is colder than the secular, materialistic society our children are trying to grow up in. The insensitivity to things that are deep, Divine, mysterious and meaningful is more biting than the cold. And the outright hostility to ancient traditions and values is more painful than the wind-chill. The values that are being offered as replacements – self-importance, getting ahead, financial success, fitness and good looks – aren’t values at all; they’re sensations, and immersion in the Sea of Selfishness breeds not contentment and inner joy but confusion and depression.

We gotta split the sea. This cold, G-dless society might present itself as a vast, frigid sea that spreads out in every direction and seems to be the only option going forward. But long ago we were given exclusive access to the Only Option. “When you leave Egypt, you will serve G-d.” That has been and will always be our guiding light: get out of Egypt and into the service (of G-d).

We were enthralled when G-d reached down and lifted us out of our dirty, miserable slavery and we sped out of Egypt, eager to arrive at Sinai and find out what we could do for Him. But we were stopped in our tracks by a big, hulking and frigid sea and suddenly we were trapped between slavery and frigidity.

G-d was urging us to move on and the sea was urging us to move backwards into slavery. It appeared an impossible mess.

But when you’re connected to G-d, "impossible" is a joke. The sea parted for us and on we marched, dry and warm, to Mount Sinai.   

*****

Society values two things: self-preservation and self-advancement. The addiction to the self is a cold, frigid slavery. The ego replaces Pharaoh and shackles us to its Me Universe. It doesn’t care about anything or anyone except itself and its agenda and it wants use of our every faculty in that blind pursuit.

But we are stronger, older, mightier, wiser, deeper, warmer and better than that. As we plowed through the sea then and left our masters to drown in their own coldness, we’ll do it again. Society may be marketing and promoting relentlessly for indifference and callousness, but so what? Cold can only hurt you if you’re not dressed for it. We are equipped. Our holy souls, burning with love for G-d and each other, can melt away any ice-sea of frigid materialism. The Mitzvahs – Shabbat, Kosher, Mikvah, Tzedakah – carry more force than the Polar Star icebreaker ship. And a steady diet of (not seals and whales but) Torah study provides all the spiritual blubber we need to stay warm even as the country freezes over.

And so my dear fellow polar bears, stay polar bears. Don’t try to be what you’re not; be proud of what you are! Stay strong, stay warm and let’s stick together as we make our way through the sea and on to the promised land of happy lives, happy children and warm, loving, laughter-filled homes. 

Shabbat Shalom and good Shabbos.