by LEIBY BURNHAM | April 24, 2026 4:41 pm
Natural resources are a hot topic right now, as the earth continues to fill with more people but not more resources. In the era of technological leaps and blindingly fast innovation, humans also seek more resources than ever before.
In the past, cobalt was used for nothing other than a deep rich blue dye. Now it’s used in every lithium ion battery, and they provide the power to an endless array of gadgets that were not available in anyone’s home in the 1500s, including laptops, EVs, cell phones, tablets, cameras, digital watches, and pacemakers! So, while two hundred years ago, there were less than a billion people on earth and very little need for cobalt, today there are over eight billion people and all of them want lots of cobalt.
But let’s move to the scarcest of mineral, are class known as rare earth minerals. They include dysprosium, neodymium, lanthanum, scandium, erbium, gadolinium and about fifteen other similarly named minerals. While you’ve possibly never heard of any of them, they are each needed in the technologies that make modern life so comfortable.
Erbium is needed for laser surgery, dysprosium for nuclear reactors, neodymium for powerful industrial magnets, scandium in lightweight but powerful materials found in fishing rods, race cars, golf clubs, and tennis rackets. Even more importantly, the advanced weapons of war being produced today, from ballistic missiles to missile interceptors, from F-35’s to satellites to the GPS on an Abrams tank, all require a significant amount of rare earth materials.
Ironically, the world’s reserves of rare earth minerals are highly concentrated in China, both because the earth in China is blessed with an abundance of rare earth minerals, but even more importantly, they control over 90% of the refining of all rare earth materials. Building refining plants is very expensive, and once it’s running, it is usually dirty, pollutive, energy intensive and leaves behind a lot of industrial waste. Most countries don’t want to deal with that, so they were only too happy to let China do the heavy lifting, and China was only too happy to slowly take control of the raw ingredients to the worlds most advanced technology and weaponry.
China of course is a country that doesn’t always play well with others, and they claim that there is less than 20 years’ worth of reserves left. To give you an idea of how important these minerals are, look at what happened in last year. President Trump got into a tariff war with China, at one point claiming he would tariff their products up to 135%. China responded by announcing “export controls” of rare earth minerals. Not taxing them or making them more expensive, the US doesn’t care about that, they would just print more money and buy them at the more expensive rate. China said we are going to shut down our exports of rare earth minerals. A week later Trump changed his mind and lowered the tariffs in a temporary deal that included unimpeded flow of rare earths.
I don’t mean to set you in a panic, I know too many people who already suffer sleepless nights, tossing and turning worried about earth’s rapidly diminishing erbium supplies, but I’d be lying to you if I didn’t lay the facts out.
The good news is that we find new deposits of minerals all the time. While the US Geological Survey estimated global reserves of Zinc at 77 million tons, by 2000 (after 50 years of additional mining) they announced that the reserves were closer to 209 Million tons. We’ve seen oil fields that were projected to run dry within 20 years still producing, and even increasing output, 50 years later. On top of that, Elon Musk has entered the fray, with claims that he will be building his own rare earth refineries here in the US, and they will be much cleaner, cheaper, and almost human free. He hasn’t fulfilled every promise he’s made, but you never want to be on the other side of a bet about Elon’s abilities to revolutionize any industry he touches.
So while there is concern to be had about natural resources, I’d recommend not losing too much sleep over it for right now, file it away as an amber alert. But please do check back with me in a few years in case we’ve gone to alarm level orange or red. Then I can recommend that you go back to losing sleep over it.
There is a resource that is rarer than cobalt, rarer than rare earth minerals, rarer than platinum and diamonds, indeed the rarest of all resources. Additionally, it is impossible to discover more reserves of this resource, it is absolutely capped and when we run out of it, well, life won’t go on. The resource I’m referring to is time. We all have a certain amount of time, we can’t find any extra time, and when we’ve depleted that resource, we hang up our earthly body for the final time and take leave of this life.
If you’re above average, blessed and fortunate, you may get to live 700,000 hours (80 years), a much smaller percentage of people will live 788,000 hours (90 years), and if you last longer than 99.98% of people, you’ll make it to 876,000 hours (100 years). So we don’t have that many hours to start off. And those minutes slip by way faster than you’d think; you use up 8760 of them each year. About 2482 of them are lost to sleep. Another 2080 are lost to work (if you’re lucky!), 500 to eating, 54 to traffic. We’re not left with much for ourselves of this most precious resource.
Yet, we are so good at wasting time! Humans spend about 1.5 trillion dollars each year producing and consuming content designed solely to keep our time filled, and that is just in four categories: sports, movies, tv, and gaming. It doesn’t include social media which probably sucks up an equal or greater amount of human time. You’re probably thinking that I’m going to be that rabbi telling you that you need to fill your time more productively, that you’re wasting your most precious resource, giving it away and getting nothing in return, but I’m not.
I’m here to recommend that you leave a bit more of your time empty, that you don’t fill all your time with actions and words. Don’t feel the need to use all of that precious resource talking or doing things, make sure you have some nice sized gaps there. But in a very specific way.
There is a concept called the Awkward Silence. It refers to the time someone takes to think before responding. We live in the world where everything is instant, we open our phone and despite it being a more powerful computer than the one that put man on the moon, it boots up instantaneously. We would have it no other way. If we have to wait for four minutes in line at the grocery store, we are deeply annoyed. We can order items on Amazon and if we spend more than $35 it will be delivered within four hours. We expect super-fast service from our restaurants, appliance repair guys, Ubers and the pizza shop. We want it all, and we want it NOW.
This spills into our interpersonal relationships as well. When we ask someone a question, we expect them to answer immediately, and people tend to acquiesce to that expectation. The result of this is that people often start answering questions before they’ve truly formulated a proper response, just to meet the expectation of immediate reply delivery. This of course leads to a lot being left on the table, or in this case in people’s mind. There is likely to be a more fulfilling and robust answer somewhere in a person’s head, it just takes some time to fish out the components and construct them into a response. When not taking that time, we just rush out with what’s available and that often is a steep discount to what we really can offer.
It is surprising that many of the people who have built the largest financial empires in the world have used the Awkward Silence to their advantage. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Elon Musk, richest man in the world, founder of Tesla, Space X, the Boring Company, and owner of X, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and Tim Cook, current CEO of Apple, the world’s largest company, all use the awkward silence extensively. It is almost jarring to watch them being interviewed because they will often just stop after being asked a question, and think for anywhere from 10-20 seconds. Of course, for anyone who learned in Yeshiva this is no surprise, people employ this tactic all the time when learning. One person asks a question, the other pauses in concentrated thought for 30 seconds or more before responding. The goal is not to answer, it is to answer correctly and to the best of our ability.
Even though time is so precious, waiting before responding is not time wasted. When people’s life comes to a close, most people regret the vast amounts of time they wasted, but no one says “I wish I would have answered questions faster, I wish I didn’t pause so long to think about what I was going to say.”
We are now in the period between Pesach and Shavuos, when our ancestors were going through the process of leaving Egypt. It took them one day to get out of Egypt, but many weeks, to get Egypt out of them. This was their job as they worked their way to receiving the Torah at Sinai. There are 49 days from the day after we got out of Egypt to the day before we got the Torah, days known as the Sefira. It was a time that our ancestors utilized to work on themselves, perfecting themselves so that they would be worthy of receiving G-ds wisdom and way of life that is the Torah. We follow this exact pattern every year, taking this time of year to intently focus on making ourselves worthy recipients of the Torah.
Fascinatingly, there are 48 tools used for acquiring the Torah, as laid out for us in Ethics of Our Fathers (6:6), so that we can work on one trait each day, and then spend the last day synthesizing it all into one coherent outlook of life, the outlook of a person ready to incorporate and inculcate the Torah into his entire life. One of them is called “Biyishuv” which can be translated as “with sitting.” What that means is that we need to sit on a thought or an idea before blurting it out, we need to sit on a decision for a day or two before making that decision.
While time is the greatest and rarest of resources, if we want to achieve greatness, we have to use some of that resource to mull over ideas, to actively think, to fully understand what someone is asking us, to consider the questioners background, knowledge, and life experience in how we formulate our answers, and to craft an answer that not only responds to the question, but best responds to the question, the questioner, and the context of the question. This can be very awkward at first, people don’t expect you to pause for 10-20 seconds before responding, but it not only helps you, it helps them. When they see that you take time before responding, they see that you value them, you value their question and they appreciate that you’re taking the time to respond appropriately!
Time may be the most limited resource in the world, but giving away a little bit of that time, can get you something far greater; lucid thoughts, clear responses, developed positions, the respect of others, and one more tool in the toolbox needed to properly unlock the greatest gift given to mankind, G-dly wisdom.
Parsha Dvar Torah
According to American law, if you were to stand at the edge of a pool doing nothing while watching someone drown, you would have committed no crime. Even if you stand impassive while he’s screaming for help and there is a life preserver lying by your feet, you could not be prosecuted. The Torah however specifically prohibits this, “You shall not stand idly by the blood (life) of your fellow (Lev. 19:16)” The Torah sees humans as having responsibility for one another, and mandates it as law.
Interestingly, in the next verse, the Torah tells us that we also have a responsibility to help someone who is struggling spiritually. “You shall surely reprove your fellow,” (Lev. 19:17). Not only does the Torah require us to help people who are making moral missteps, but the Torah also gives us clue on how to successfully do so.
“Reprove not a scorner lest he hate you; reprove a wise man and he will love you. (Proverbs 9:8)” Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz, otherwise known as The Shelah (1564-1630 Prague/ Safed), tells us that this verse does not necessarily refer to two different people, but rather to two ways of correcting someone. “Reprove the scorner” means that if you call him a “scorner,” i.e. if you point out his negative habits, he will hate you. “Reprove a wise man” means that you call him “wise” or point out his otherwise good qualities that make his behavior unbecoming, and he will love you!
Some even read this into the continuation of the verse in the Torah that tells us to reprove others: “You shall surely reprove your fellow; [but] you shall not bear a sin on his account.” Reprove someone, but not by bearing down on him with the weight of everything wrong he ever did. One of the people who had the greatest effect on my life was a Rabbi who, regardless of what I was going through, would always point out my best qualities and encourage me to live up to the potential he saw in me.
The Chofetz Chaim (1838-1933) was once traveling throughout Europe to sell his books, when he stopped at a Jewish inn for the night. As he sat in the corner of the dining room waiting for dinner, he saw a sorry sight. A big burly fellow barged in, sat himself down at a table and demanded a huge meal. He was gruff with the waitress, made rude jokes at the people at neighboring tables, and cursed loudly when anyone said something that was not to his liking. When his meal came, he noisily wolfed it down without reciting any blessings, washed it down with a big mug of ale, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
The Chofetz Chaim began approaching him, when the innkeeper intercepted him. “Don’t even attempt to talk to him. That guy was a cantonist, conscripted into the czar’s army at age seven, and he was not let out until twentyfive years later. People have tried to change his ways, but he’s stubborn. It seems he missed the stage of developing his manners or his Judaism.”
Unperturbed, the Chofetz Chaim pulled up a chair and said to him: “Is it true that you were a cantonist, drafted into the czar’s army for 25 years?” The cantonist grunted in affirmation. “You must be such a holy individual! I can’t imagine what it took for you to retain your Jewish identity. Countless times they must have beaten you for not converting to Christianity! You never even had a chance to study Torah and yet you held on! You’ve been through the worst of conditions and yet you stayed strong! I wish I would have the merits you must have! I wish I could have your portion in the World to Come!”
By this time the hardened veteran was crying like a baby, and kissing the hand of the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim continued, “There are just a few things you probably need to work on, but if you could improve in those areas, there would be no one like you!” After this, the man who was previously never affected by the years of people rebuking him became a changed man. For years he remained a close student of the Chofetz Chaim, and truly lived up to his true potential. We may not let people drown, but we don’t help them when we knock them down. The only way to truly help someone is to lift them up and out of their difficult situation!
Parsha Summary
The first of the two Parshiot that we read this week, Achrei Mos starts of with Ha-shem telling Moses the proper way for the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) to enter the Holy of Holies which is only done on Yom Kippur. This commandment was given after Aaron’s two eldest sons died after entering the Holy at an improper time. The lesson is that Holiness requires preparation and cannot be jumped into off the cuff, and the Holier the place, the more groundwork required. Everyone understands that it would be foolish to buy a house without checking it out properly first, or sign a contract without going over the details, all the more so in the spiritual world whose effects are more far-reaching do we have to prepare properly before rushing in.
The Torah describes the Yom Kippur service in detail but one interesting item to note is that the Kohen Gadol first brings a sacrifice to atone for his personal and his families sins, then a sacrifice to atone for all the Kohanim (his tribe), and only after that does he bring an offering to a atone for the entire Jewish community. This is very much in synch with the concept of preparation mentioned above, in that one before trying to change the world must first change himself and then work outward in concentric circles personal-family-tribe-community at large.
The Torah then discusses the prohibition against bringing sacrifices outside of the Temple or eating their parts out of their boundaries. (Yep, in case you didn’t pick up on it, this is also about showing respect for the act of sacrifice and understanding that you can’t just sacrifice it anywhere or anytime that you feel like it, there is a system that you must follow. So if you have that Tyco altar in your backyard, its time to fold it up, and wait for the Messiah when we will have a real Temple again!)
Then the Torah mentions the prohibition of eating blood. The blood is considered to be the seat of the soul of the animal hence we offer it on the altar, as a sign that we want one soul to be offered to atone for another, and therefore it would be profane to eat it in any other medium. (I know this week is a tough one, you have to fold up the Tyco altar, and stop your membership with the Vampires R Us club.) In fact the Talmud learns a great lesson from this. If we get reward for not eating blood or other forbidden insects that one naturally loathes, how much greater is our reward for holding ourselves back from doing things that we are attracted to! This is why the forbidden relationships juxtaposed to this topic in this same Parsha to help us realize this lesson.
Here the Torah also commands us to cover the blood of non-domesticated animals or birds that we slaughter. The reason for this is that if the blood contains the soul of the animal it would be improper to eat the animal while its lifeblood and soul are lying exposed on the ground. This shows two things. One, that even animals have some sort of soul, as do even plants and rocks each to a lesser extent, as everything is an emanation from G-d and to exist must have some sort of soul or life to it. This is evidenced by Psalms talking about how different inanimate objects sing the praises of G-d, which is not just a metaphor. (Now we begin to understand the crazy Pet Rock fad of the 70’s!) Another lesson is the incredible sensitivity the Torah displays even toward animals, how much more so must we be sensitive to people’s feelings.
After this the torah enumerates many of the forbidden sexual relationships including adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. Right after this the Torah write a warning not to commit certain forms of idol worship. The juxtaposition is explained as follows; both the idol worshipper and the person committing adultery are being treacherous to one who deserves their loyalty, whether it be G-d or one’s spouse.
At the end of the parsha the Torah enjoins us not to commit these immoral acts, as they were the cause that the dwellers of Canaan (Israel) to be expelled from it. If we contaminate ourselves with them, we will also be banished from our land as the Holy Land itself has holiness and it can’t contain impurity. This concludes the Parsha, and now we have come full circle because the same concept of preparation and respect we see applying to the Holy Land as it does to the Holy of Holies that the Kohen Gadol enters on Yom Kippur.
The second parsha we read is Kedoshim, which starts off with G-d telling Moshe to tell the Jews “You shall be holy, for holy am I, Ha-shem your G-d.” I could write volumes on this statement alone but then you would all put me on the “Block- Spam” list so I’ll keep it simple. This is G-d’s way of telling us to stay away from excess even in things that are allowed. Even though there is plenty of kosher wine, and good USDA Grade A Angus steaks, that doesn’t mean that we should sit all day drinking wine and eating steaks. Even within that which is permitted to us, we must learn not to overindulge, not to constantly focus on fulfilling our physical desires as that takes us away from pursuing spiritual growth.
The Torah then enumerates so many fundamental laws that Rashi says that “most of the essentials of the Torah depend on it (this Parsha).” Included in them are keeping Shabbos, honoring your parents, not serving idols, being honest in your dealings with others, paying your workers on time, not giving bad advice, leaving certain parts of your harvest in the field for the poor, not perverting justice in favor of the rich or poor. (O.K. lets take a deep breath and we’ll dive right back in!) The commandment to love your fellow like yourself, the requirement to save your friend from physical harm, and to give him reproach in a way that will save him from spiritual calamity. The prohibition against gossiping, taking revenge, bearing a grudge, and hating your brother in your heart. This portion concludes with the words “I am Ha-shem!” because many of these things cannot be discerned from the outside, such as hating someone in your heart, or giving someone bad advice, so Ha-shem says I am G-d and I know what you’re thinking!
Immediately after the above laws, many of which seem to be moral laws that we as a thinking society would probably institute anyway for the preservation, the Torah brings the laws of Kelaim. Basically, you can’t wear clothes made of wool and linen, you can’t mate two different animal species together, nor plant mixed seeds in your field. These mitzvos seem to have no apparent rationale.
The reason the Torah juxtaposes these two types of commandments is to show us that just like we keep the laws of Kelaim solely because G-d commanded it, so to we should keep the laws that we think are moral solely because G-d commanded it. Human morality is flippant. The “great” Greeks and Romans on whose civilizations our Western world is modeled, killed children on childbirth for the crime of being female and justified it. Some cultures sent elders out into the wilderness to die when they became too old, and justified it.
In order for us to be able to really say something is right or wrong, in order to have an absolute morality, it has to come from G-d, who would be the only One who could classify things as right or wrong and everyone would be bound by it. By definition, some parts of it we will understand and some parts we won’t as He is divine and we are human. This is the message of the unfathomable laws of Kelaim coming right after such simple laws as don’t cheat, steal, and take revenge.
The torah continues with more mitzvos including not eating from the fruit of a tree for the first three years, then consecrating its fruit on year four, and only on year five is it yours to enjoy as you please. The prohibition against indulging in sorcery, believing in lucky times, getting tattooed, cutting yourself to show sadness over someone’s death, or totally shaving your head (hence the mitzvah for men to have peyot, or side locks), or of shaving your beard with a razor are also found here.
There are some more laws still in this incredible Parsha, but alas, the candle is beginning to dim, and the hour is late, so I’m going to have to sign off here. Let’s try to take one or two of the many lessons in our two Parshiot and integrate it into our lives, and we will surely find our lives enriched, enlivened, enthused, enervated and energized!
Quote of the Week: Enthusiasm is common, endurance is rare. – My mother
Random Fact of the Week: 1995 was the first year Americans used credit cards more than cash.
Funny Line of the Week: Psychic Wanted! Paying Top Dollar! – You know where to apply.
Have an Enduring Shabbos,
R’ Leiby Burnham
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