Carried on Eagles’ Wings
A Question About a Saying Sometimes we hear the saying: “Eagles don’t fly with pigeons.” It sounds nice. It sounds proud, and a little sharp. But stop and check it. The eagle does not choose not to fly with the pigeon. It was born an eagle. It earned no credit for how wide its wings spread, because that is instinct, not choice. So when you say it this way, what exactly are you praising? Nature? DNA? What is greatness worth if it was forced on you? From here the real question is born. In serving Hashem, are there two fixed “kinds” of people: the eagles, who were born great, and everyone else, who were born pigeons? The foundation of free choice rules this out completely, and the whole teaching of Maimonides, the great medieval sage, stands on that foundation. People Are Born Able to Change Maimonides writes: “A person whose traits are balanced, in the middle… The early sages taught that a person should set his traits… and keep far from either extreme.” In his laws of returning to Hashem he goes further: “Every person is able to become as righteous as Moses our teacher… A person should never say that he cannot leave his bad ways behind… because every person is able to become either wicked or righteous.” In other words, no one is born an eagle and no one is born a pigeon. A person is born able to change. That ability is exactly what makes a human being greater than every other creature. A real eagle is locked inside its nature. A person is open in every direction. And because he is open in every direction, Maimonides writes that a person “is drawn in his traits and his actions after his friends and companions,” and therefore “a person must stay close to the wise.” So it follows: if a person is not fixed, he must be shaped by something. The only question is: by what? The Pigeon That Forgot It Has Wings Here Hasidic teaching steps in and says something sharp. In the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains the “in-between” person. This is someone who is not perfectly righteous and not wicked, and that describes most of us. He is not missing a good inner core. But in ordinary, everyday moments, the animal soul fills up the space of his mind and heart. He forgets. He focuses on crumbs: worries about making a living, daily pressure, small things. He loses his sense of how high his soul really is. This is what is meant by “smallness of mind.” It is not that he has no wings. He has simply forgotten that he has them. The pigeon in our parable was not born a pigeon. It is a soul that got so used to living among pigeons that it began to think crumbs are a feast, and that the comfort of the ground is all there is. Turning the Saying Upside Down And here is the new idea. If eagles don’t fly with pigeons because they were born that way, there is nothing to praise in that. But a pigeon that chose to fly with eagles? That is true greatness. Greatness is not in what you were given. It is in what you choose. A person, the “pigeon,” can place himself among greatness: friends who learn Torah, books that lift him up, a real bond with a great Hasidic master. When he does, he changes at his very root, not only in a few passing thoughts on the surface. Rabbi Schneur Zalman writes in the Tanya that a person’s learning, and the very state of his soul, truly change when he is closely bound to a soul higher than his own. A person’s spiritual “address” changes his soul itself. A person’s spiritual destiny is not in his DNA. It is in his address. It is in where he places himself.
Putting It into Practice
Tonight, ask yourself one question: Who are the “eagles” in your spiritual life? Where do you spend your hours of learning? Who do you walk home with from the synagogue? Who do you turn to when you feel lost? If the answers bother you, that is good news. That feeling of being hemmed in is the soul itself, reminding you that it has wings. Change one address, a small one. One friend who lifts you up. One fixed time for studying Hasidic teaching. One hour of connection. The rest of your soul will follow. Carried Before We Had Wings The Torah says: “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me.” Hashem does not say, “I saw that you were eagles, so I carried you.” He says, “I carried you.” The carrying came before the wings. When you put yourself in the right place, among holiness, bound to a great Hasidic master, close to Hashem, Hashem lifts you yourself on eagles’ wings and brings you “to Me,” to Himself. And then even a pigeon soars.
Questions and answers
Q: What is wrong with the saying "Eagles don't fly with pigeons"?
Rabbi Landau answers: Sometimes we hear the saying: “Eagles don’t fly with pigeons.” It sounds nice. It sounds proud, and a little sharp. But stop and check it. The eagle does not choose not to fly with the pigeon. It was born an eagle. It earned no credit for how wide its wings spread, because that is instinct, not choice. So when you say it this way, what exactly are you praising? Nature? DNA? What is greatness worth if it was forced on you? From here the real question is born. In serving Hashem, are there two fixed “kinds” of people: the eagles, who were born great, and everyone else, who were born pigeons?
Q: What does Maimonides teach about a person's ability to change his traits and become righteous?
Rabbi Landau answers: Maimonides writes: “A person whose traits are balanced, in the middle… The early sages taught that a person should set his traits… and keep far from either extreme.” In his laws of returning to Hashem he goes further: “Every person is able to become as righteous as Moses our teacher… A person should never say that he cannot leave his bad ways behind… because every person is able to become either wicked or righteous.” In other words, no one is born an eagle and no one is born a pigeon. A person is born able to change. That ability is exactly what makes a human being greater than every other creature. A real eagle is locked inside its nature.
Q: How does the Tanya describe the in-between person as a pigeon that forgot it has wings?
Rabbi Landau answers: Here Hasidic teaching steps in and says something sharp. In the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains the “in-between” person. This is someone who is not perfectly righteous and not wicked, and that describes most of us. He is not missing a good inner core. But in ordinary, everyday moments, the animal soul fills up the space of his mind and heart. He forgets. He focuses on crumbs: worries about making a living, daily pressure, small things. He loses his sense of how high his soul really is. This is what is meant by “smallness of mind.” It is not that he has no wings. He has simply forgotten that he has them.
Q: Why is a pigeon that chooses to fly with eagles greater than an eagle?
Rabbi Landau answers: And here is the new idea. If eagles don’t fly with pigeons because they were born that way, there is nothing to praise in that. But a pigeon that chose to fly with eagles? That is true greatness. Greatness is not in what you were given. It is in what you choose. A person, the “pigeon,” can place himself among greatness: friends who learn Torah, books that lift him up, a real bond with a great Hasidic master. When he does, he changes at his very root, not only in a few passing thoughts on the surface. Rabbi Schneur Zalman writes in the Tanya that a person’s learning, and the very state of his soul, truly change when he is closely bound to a soul higher than his own.
Q: What questions should you ask yourself about the "eagles" in your spiritual life?
Rabbi Landau answers: Tonight, ask yourself one question: Who are the “eagles” in your spiritual life? Where do you spend your hours of learning? Who do you walk home with from the synagogue? Who do you turn to when you feel lost? If the answers bother you, that is good news. That feeling of being hemmed in is the soul itself, reminding you that it has wings. Change one address, a small one. One friend who lifts you up. One fixed time for studying Hasidic teaching. One hour of connection. The rest of your soul will follow.