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Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This Shabbat in continuing the laws
of Temple sacrifice we begin with the
commandment to have a fire burning continually on the altar.
(here 6:6)
This Shabbat is also called Shabbat
HaGadol, literally 'The Big Shabbat"
because of a big miracle that happened in it over 3,300 years
ago: All the
First-born males in Egypt made war against Pharaoh when he
refused to free
the Jews and save them from the tenth plague. [Hence the praise,
"G-d smote
Egypt THROUGH their first-born". (Psalms 136:10)]
At first glance this is not understood.
Revolutions happen all the time!
What was such a big miracle about this one?
Also what is the connection to the
weekly section?
And MOST important; what does this
mean to us today?
The scene is Baghdad some five hundred
years ago. The thriving Jewish
community there lived, as Jews always did, with a sword hanging
over their
head.
The evil Abdul Mustafa Deenu, chief
advisor to the Sultan was a rabid
Jew-hater and a wickedly clever man. For years he dreamed
of ridding the
community of the Jewish infidels and getting his hands on
their riches. And
often the only thing standing in his way was the Sultan's
admiration for his
number two advisor Rabbi Avraham.
Rav Avraham was always full of clever
answers and witty statements that
enchanted the Sultan and filled Abdul with jealous fury. Until
finally, one
year just before the Jewish holiday of Passover he and his
assistant Faruk
came up with a brainstorm plan.
Abdul in the course of the years as
chief advisor had forged keys to
virtually all the rooms in the Sultan's palace, including
Sultan's royal
bedroom. The plan was that Faruk would make an exact replica
of the
exquisite Sapphire which was the diadem of the Sultan's royal
turban and
switch it for the real one when the Sultan was sleeping. Afterwards
they
would implicate the Jews and be rid of them forever!
It took a week to complete all the
preparations and that night when the
Sultan was soundly asleep in his firmly locked and guarded
room Abdul snuck
Faruk into the Sultan's room by day, he skillfully made the
switch that
night and then hid there till the next day.
As they hoped, the Sultan did not notice
a thing and later that afternoon,
when he was sitting on his throne in the main royal hall Abdul
suddenly
stared at the royal turban, let out a feigned gasp, took the
Sultan by the
arm to another room and whispered his horrible discovery.
The Sultan removed his turban, took
a good look and realized that his
faithful advisor was right! His Sapphire had been stolen!!
"We must act quickly!" Abdul
said as he paced back and forth nervously,
"This is serious. I'm sure that it was done recently!
Yesterday the stone
was there, I'm sure of it! I would have noticed!"
Abdul saw that the Sultan was shaken.
It was working!
"Your majesty, if the thief escapes
and the word gets around that the Sultan
cannot protect his own crown it will be a disaster!"
"Yes, yes!" replied the trembling
Sultan, but .?
Abdul fell into 'deep' thought and
then said slowly and wisely as though
thinking out loud.
"The Jews have a virtual monopoly
on precious gems here. The thief will
have to sell the stone somewhere and if anyone will know about
it will be
the Jews. The only solution is to force the Jews to find the
stone."
"Force them?" Asked the Sultan.
"Why use force? I'm sure they will do all
they can to ..."
"Ahh, your majesty," Abdul
replied. "This is different. Here we are talking
about money. The Jews are very strange when it comes to money.
Why, in
their own Bible it brags of how they cheated the poor confused,
frightened
Egyptians and robbed them of everything, even their clothes,
before leaving
Egypt!
"But what can we do?" The
Sultan asked
"Call Rab Avraham. Tell him that
your gem has been stolen and if the Jews
that do not come up with some evidence in one week we will
confiscate all
their wealth and drive them out of the kingdom on the same
day!"
But the Sultan winced. "Expel
them? What have they.?
"Your highness, I understand your
feelings. But this is a matter that
strikes at the very foundation of Baghdad! At the very heart
of Islam!! Who
could have done such a thing if not the Jews? They care nothing
about your
country. They only dream about their Israel. On their Passover
they scream
'Next year in Jerusalem!' Why, they have even totally rejected
our Great
Prophet Mohammed! They don't accept one word of the Koran!!"
The news hit the Jewish community like
a lightning bolt. They had one week
to find the Sapphire or face almost certain death.
Rav Avraham tried to avert the decree;
every day he attempted to talk to the
Sultan but hit a stone wall. Abdul had complete control.
Rav Avraham declared a public fast
day, then another, then a third and a
fourth. The Synagogues were full; the entire Jewish population
of Baghdad,
men women and children, wept, read Psalms, fasted and prayed
for four days,
eating only some bread and water at night.
Then, at the end of the fourth day
Rabbi Avraham solemnly ascended the
podium in the in the main synagogue and announced: "Fellow
Jews we have
fasted and prayed for four days and G-d has not yet answered
us. In two
days will be Passover. Pesach, the joyous festival of our
freedom.. Let us
remove our sackcloth, forget our pain, return to our homes,
clean them of
all leaved bread, bake Matzot, prepare festive meals and celebrate
the way
G-d wants us to. Perhaps our joy will succeed to bring our
salvation where
our sorrow failed."
Meanwhile, back in the palace the Sultan
was miserable. His gem was still
gone and now he was about to lose his beloved Rabbi Avraham
and all the Jews
in Baghdad as well.
He paced back and forth in his room.
It was late at night the week was
almost over and he couldn't even bring himself to lie down.
Suddenly he had a crazy idea. Rav Avraham
hadn't tried to see him for two
days, maybe there was a development! Maybe the Jews found
the gem, or the
thief! He decided to go to the Jewish section of town to see
for himself.
He removed his royal robes, dressed
up like an ordinary person, left his
room from a secret exit and in just moments he could see the
Jewish quarter
from afar.
Aha! Just as he thought! The houses
were brilliantly lit! Faint sounds of
song and laughter could be heard wafting through the air!
They must have
found the thief!
He quickly walked to the house he knew
to be Rav Avraham's and peeked in a
side window. It was like looking at heaven. Everything, and
everyone looked
holy, and shining. They were all smiling, seated around a
large dining
table covered with a festive white tablecloth and decorated
with sparking
silver vessels. It was a definitely not a scene of mourning
or worry they
must have good news!
Suddenly they all broke into joyous
song "Di Di Yaanu, Di Di Yaanu, Di Diiii
Yaanu, Diyaanu Diayynu!!!"
"Aha," Sultan said to himself.
Its Deenu!! Abdul Mustafa Deenu! That rat!
I never really trusted him!!
The Sultan ran back to the palace,
re-entered through the secret path, put
on his royal robes and ordered his personal guards to search
the home of
Abdul until they found the stone. And sure enough they found
it!
Deenu was punished and the Jews again
were miraculously saved.
Now we can answer our questions.
We must keep a continual fire burning.
A fire of enthusiasm, hope and
certainty that HaShem will help us.
And that fire ITSELF will cause miracles
to happen.
This is VERY important and practical
to us today when it doesn't take much
effort to see that the entire world (including the Jews themselves)
seems to
be against us. Anti-Semitism is at an all time high and Jewish
identity is
at an all time low. Arafat (Ym's) is ruling Israel and Sharon,
ironically,
is in effect leading the "Palestine Liberation Organization".
Nevertheless our Torah portion is telling
us that our enthusiasm, our
'constant fire' can change it all: Even the forces and circumstances
that
seem to OPPOSE us will TRANSFORM to become helpers (just as
the Sultan
helped Rav Avraham and the firstborn fought for the Jews).
Soon we will SEE that we are really
what the Lubavitcher Rebbe said we are
(and he never made a mistake): the first generation of redemption!
YES!! Before THIS Pesach the Moshiach
will arrive, build the Holy Temple and
we will sacrifice this year's Pesach offering along with all
the sacrifices
written in this week's portion!!! It all depends on us!
A happy and Kosher Passover to all
our readers with Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This week's section begins with the
commandment of 'Trumat HaDeshen"; removing the ashes
(of the burnt sacrifices of the previous day) from the altar,
before beginning the next day's service in the Temple.
The Torah (Leviticus 6:4) tells us
that the Cohen (priest) had to change
his clothes from Temple garments to ordinary ones before he
removed the ashes.
At first this is not understood. Removing
the ashes was also a Temple
service. And it was no dirtier than, for example, slaughtering
the
sacrifices or throwing their blood on the altar. Why did he
have to
change?
Or even better, why not just bring
a different Cohen to remove the ashes,
why did one Cohen have to do all the work?
And most important; what does all this
mean to us now?
To understand here are two stories.
The Torah is G-d's law. It teaches
us how to sanctify every detail of the
world. But it takes an unusual talent to know what the law
is in every
situation and such a person was Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. He
was one of the
greatest 'Poskim' (decider of Torah law) of all time.
Because of his ability to understand
and determine the most difficult legal
questions he was flooded with inquiries constantly, day and
night; the
greatest Rabbis from the four corners of the earth came to
seek his
opinions on the most difficult legal issues. Needless to say
he was a very
busy person.
In addition to this he was also the
head of a Torah Academy and was a
spiritual mentor to thousands of Jews. So he set certain times
when he
would receive visitors and Tuesday was the day set aside for
the open
public to ask their questions.
So was his custom for tens of years
until, in the year 1986 at the age of
91 after a long and debilitating illness, he passed away and
was mourned by
the entire Jewish world.
But it seems that not everyone knew
of his passing.
One Tuesday, a few weeks later, an
old lady came to his home and asked why
there was no line of people like every Tuesday, did the Rabbi
change his
schedule? etc.
Of course when she heard the bitter
news she began weeping. But when she
calmed down one of the young Rabbis there told her that if
she had
questions he would be glad to try to help her.
After all, he reasoned, how difficult
a question could such a simple woman
have? She probably wanted to know if her chicken is kosher
or something
similar.
"Oy!" The woman replied.
"He was such a wonderful man!! I don't know if
there exists such a person like him. He was such a help. But
I suppose you
are right. Do you understand Russian?"
"Russian?" Asked the Rabbi.
"Yes."
"No" He answered. "I
don't think any of us knows Russian. But what
difference does that make?"
"Ahh! So I guess you can't help
me then." She sadly replied. "You see,
for the last twenty years, every few weeks I would get a letter
from my
sister in Russian. But I don't understand a word of Russian
so I used to
come here and the kind Rabbi would translate it for me. Such
a wonderful
man!"
The second story is about the fourth
(Chabad) Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rebbe
Shmuel.
The Rebbe was totally devoted to the
service of G-d day and night.
But it so happened that he and another
great Rabbi, (I heard that it was
Rabbi Yisroel Salanter) had to visit a certain high Russian
Minister in
order to try to rescind an anti-Semitic decree hanging over
the heads of
Russian Jewry.
But the only way to see this Minister
was to set a meeting in his palatial
home where they would have to remove their head coverings
and also be
exposed to immodest dress and behavior.
But with no alternative they arrived
at the mansion full of hope and
trepidation. Upon entering, both were requested by the doorman
to remove
all head coverings and they had no choice but to comply.
Rabbi Yisroel winced as he did so but
to his amazement Rebbe Shmuel removed
his Yarmulke with ease, almost as though he enjoyed it!
(note: The head covering in Judaism
is a remembrance that the Creator is
above our understanding; so we must fear, love and obey Him
constantly.)
Rabbi Yisroel was truly puzzled but
said nothing as they walked slowly into
the Minister's office.
As they entered Rabbi Yisroel immediately
cast his eyes to the floor so as
not to see the nakedness of the women before him. But he noticed
that the
Rebbe looked straight ahead and never tried to avert his gaze
even once
from what was going on.
The meeting was successful and their
goal was miraculously achieved. But
after they left the mansion Rab Yisroel could not hold back
his amazement
at the Rebbe's conduct.
"Tell me, my friend." He
asked. "I admire your courage and your great
wisdom in convincing the Minister to change his mind. But
I don't
understand how you could remove your head covering so easily?
For me it
broke my heart!"
"Ahh, that!" Grinned the
Rebbe and he lifted his hat with one hand and with
the other gently lifted the front of the toupee he had put
on especially
for the occasion; his head had, in fact, been covered all
the time!
"Very inventive!" said Rab
Yisroel. "But what about in the room; why didn't
you at least look down what with all the crosses on the walls
and there.
"Here, have a look!" Replied
the Rebbe as he removed a pair of glasses from
his pocket and handed them to his friend. "When I entered
his room I put on
these, they are so thick I almost couldn't see a thing! You
see, I came
prepared!"
This answers our questions.
True the removal of the ashes was part
of the service, but it was a part
that dealt with 'outside' of the Temple. It was only a preparation
for the
holy service and that has to be done with different garments.
Just as Rabbi Feinstein sometimes translated
simple letters in Russian, or
the Rebbe put on a toupee and thick glasses to deal with the
Minister.
And this is a lesson to us. Every Jew
is commanded to become a holy Temple
but we must remember that the things we do 'outside' in 'ordinary'
garments
(in other words our normal lives) are also part of the service;
they are a
preparation for Moshiach.
Moshiach will be a true Jewish leader,
a King, who build the Third Holy
Temple. Then we will again be able to do all that is written
in the book of
Leviticus.
Then (as we say thrice daily in 'Alenu')
all mankind will desire ONLY the
truth: that G-d is ONE. Namely that He alone is creating everything
CONSTANTLY and there is nothing except for Him. In the language
of the
Lubavitcher Rebbe: "All we have to do is open our eyes!"
and we will see...
Moshiach NOW!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
This Shabbat announces the approach
of the strangest holiday in
existence: Passover. There is no other nation, religion, or
even fiction
book that ever so much as invented such a story.
The Creator of the universe actually
took millions of people (an entire
nation!) out of slavery amidst earth-shaking miracles at one
time!
Yes G-d did it all Himself. He freed
a nation of abject slaves from one
of the greatest and most evil superpowers of all time. As
we say in the
Hallel prayer "He does great miracles alone" (Psalms
136:4).
If so, what did G-d need Moses for?
Why was it Moses that convinced the
Jews to leave, announced the plagues, and led the Jews out?
Couldn't
that deemphasize G-d? As Maimonides writes (Ysodi HaTora 8:1),
one may
think that Moses did it by magic.
A similar question is found in this
week's portion.
Here we find a commandment to keep
a fire constantly burning on the
altar in the Holy Temple.(6:5,6)
The Talmud (Yoma 21b) tells us that
the sacrifices were really consumed
by a miraculous fire that descended from heaven. So wasn't
this
man-made fire useless?
Even more; fire coming from heaven
is one of the best proofs of G-d's
existence and sovereignty (see the story of Elijah versus
the idolaters.
Kings 1:18:38, 39) why minimize its effect by bringing regular
fire?
To help understand all this, here is
a Pesach story about the Besh't
(Baal Shem Tov).
A little known fact about the Besh't,
is that he once tried to travel to
Israel in order to meet with the Tzadik (holy Jew) Rabbi Chiam
ben Atar
(known as the Ohr HaChiam HaKodesh).
He did not reach the Holy Land, but
he did get as far as Turkey where
the following story occurred.
When he reached the shores of Turkey,
the Besh't was without money or
friends. To make matters worse, he suddenly lost his memory.
Luckily
his daughter, who had accompanied him on the trip, found a
job washing
clothes in the Jewish section of Istanbul while he struggled
to learn
how to read.
Passover was approaching. All of the
poor people of the town were
invited to one home or another, and the Besh't and his daughter
were
invited by a rich man called Rab Mair to be among the fifty
guests at
his Seder (Passover meal, at which we talk about the wonders
G-d did to
us taking us out of Eygypt, eat Matzah, and four cups of wine).
They arrived in Rav Mair's palatial
home with all the other guests
before the beginning of the holiday and were given a room.
But to their
host's bitter surprise, the Baal Shem Tov locked himself in
and did not
come out for the holiday prayers. In fact, even well into
the night when
everyone was seated in their places for the joyous Seder,
the Besh't
still did not appear.
Rav Mair began to regret that he invited
him. Here was such an important
festival with the commandments of telling the story of our
exodus,
eating Matza and drinking four cups of wine, and it seemed
that this man
couldn't care less. The Besht's daughter tried to calm him
down and said
they shouldn't wait for him. But the rich man thought differently.
He excused himself, left the table,
went up the stairs to the Besht's
room and began to angrily knock at the door. When there was
no reply,
he took out his key and opened it.
But what he saw made him freeze with
awe.
The Besh't, who had apparently regained
his powers, was sitting facing
the door, eyes bolt open, staring at the ceiling. His face
red with
intense longing as though in another world, and completely
oblivious to
what was happening around him.
Rab Mair wanted to quietly close the
door and leave, but he couldn't
even move.
After several minutes the Besht came
to himself and calmly said, "Ahh,
excuse my delay. Come, let us go downstairs. I just have to
pray the
evening prayer. Please just give me a room so I won't disturb
your
guests and I'll be with you shortly, don't wait for me."
But it wasn't so simple. As soon as
he began praying aloud in the
adjoining room, his sweet joyous voice drew them all from
their chairs,
and in moments they were either trying to get a look at him
through the
open door, or at least hear a word or two though the wall.
After he finished he joined everyone
at the table, and the Seder began.
The joy was contagious and in moments they were all singing
and
celebrating the exodus of over 3,000 years ago as though it
was actually
occurring now.
But the highlight of the evening was
when they came to the sentence in
the Hallel, "He (G-d) does great miracles alone, forever
is His
Kindness".
The Besh't stood up and told everyone
to repeat this phrase over and
over again, louder and with more enthusiasm, until they almost
felt
their souls jump from their bodies from sheer joy.
After the Seder the Besh't announced
that he had just eliminated a
terrible decree against the Jews of Turkey, and that the next
day in
Synagogue everything would be clear.
Sure enough the next morning the entire
Synagogue was abuzz; instead of
beginning the prayers, everyone was gathered around a merchant
called
Rab Tzemach, one of the richest Jews in Istanbul, who was
standing on a
chair about to tell everyone what happened to him the previous
night.
"This has never happened before,
but last night just as I was about to
begin the Seder, I unexplainably felt very tired. I told my
guests to
continue without me and went to my room to lie down for a
few minutes.
No sooner did my head touch the pillow,
I fell into a deep sleep.
Lo-and-behold, my dear departed father appeared to me, which
also had
never happened before. He looked very worried and told me
there was a
terrible decree about to be signed by the King against the
Jews of
Turkey!
He said that the King's chief adviser,
a wicked anti-Semite called
Mustafa, convinced the King by all sorts of "proofs"
and "witnesses"
that a necessary ingredient in our Matzoth is the blood of
Moslem
orphans.
At first the king didn't believe him,
but when he finally did, he became
so enraged that he decided to evict all the Jews from Turkey
the night
of Passover and confiscate their belongings.
But it is not to late", continued
my father, "The king has not yet actually signed the decree. Now he's asleep and if you can
get to him
before he wakes up perhaps you can convince him not to sign".
"Me!?" I blurted out, "How
can I convince the King? Who am I? Why, I
wouldn't even be able to get into the Palace! This makes no
sense!"
"I have a document that will get
you in" interrupted my father, "and you can talk
to the King. Just listen. You see, years ago I saved the life
of the present king's father who was then King of Turkey.
That's right, I saved his life.
He was kidnapped by highway robbers
who thought he was an ordinary rich
traveler. He was very clever, and managed to conceal his real
identity,
and even convince them that he was an expert carpet maker,
which he also was, and would make fine carpets for them if they didn't kill
him. His
plan worked. He wove the carpets, and they sold them for very
high sums
and in return they kept him alive.
Everything went smoothly for a while,
but it so happened that one day I
happened to buy some of those carpets and something made me
suspicious.
In fact I became so suspicious that I actually followed that
salesman
back to his hiding place in the forest without him knowing
it, and
eventually even managed to free the King.
The King was so grateful that he wrote
me an official document granting
me and my offspring permission to enter the palace for a private
audience whenever we so desired. And that deed is in the false
bottom of
the safe that I left you".
"Up to this time", said Rav
Tzemach to the crowd of Jews, "I must admit
I was skeptical; after all it was only a dream. But when I
actually
woke up and found the document where he said it was, I began
to realize
that something awesome was happening and I had to work fast.
I took the
document, put on my coat, ran out the back door, jumped on
a horse and
rode to the palace.
At first the guards refused to let
me in despite the document. But when
I demanded to see the King's mother they unexplainably agreed
and called
her. It was a miracle that she came, and when she saw the
document she
immediately brought me into the castle to her son's chambers,
which was
no less of a miracle.
Luckily he was still sleeping, but
when he awoke and saw us standing
there he was anything but pleased."
"Do you mean to tell me that my
trusted advisor Mustafa is wrong or that
he lied to me?" the King screamed angrily, "NO NO!
Not Mustafa!'. He is
a wise and devoted servant. If anyone is the liar it's you
and your
blood-thirsty people! So what if your father saved my father's
life? So
what? I will not allow murderers of Moslem children to breathe
the holy
air of Turkey! Bring the Decree!" He yelled shaking with
rage.
"Suddenly I shouted out at the
top of my lungs, "Mustafa is a charlatan!
He is your enemy, a liar and an idolater! Yes! An Idolater.
If you
break into his house you will see that he really is a devout
Catholic
and even sleeps with a cross around his neck!""
"Believe me I don't know where
I got those ideas from, but I spoke with
such authority that the king immediately dispatched a group
of his
secret police to check my accusations.
An hour later they returned with the
shocking news that every word I
said was true, and that they had even killed the Satanic villain
on the
spot.
Needless to say the King profusely
apologized to me and swore that from
now on we will have no troubles from our Moslem brothers in
Turkey."
Afterwards everyone figured out that
exactly when they were saying "He
makes great miracles alone etc.'' the police entered Mustafa's
home and
put an end to his blood libel.
Now perhaps we can understand the reason
G-d wants there to be a Moses
and a man-made fire on the altar. G-d wants man as His partner.
But in no way does this contradict
the fact that "He makes great
miracles ALONE" in fact this is actually the greatest
miracle of them
all. G-d creates us constantly, gives us life, intellect,
power of
choice, power to overcome all difficulties, gives us a 'Moses'
in every
generation to inspire and guide us, and ALSO gives us the
feeling that
WE accomplished something.
In fact He even demands that we have
this feeling! It's called JOY!
Yes, the fact that WE light the fire
on the altar and can CHOOSE to
follow Moses is the source of Joy!
As we see in the Hagadda of Pesach.
It only mentions Moshe's name once,
(in the paragraph that begins 'Rabbi Yosi HaGalili') but in
the most
powerful way possible: "They (the Jews at Yam Suf) believed
in G-d and
Moshe His servant!" After which is written in the Torah
(Exodus 15:1)
'Az Yashir' "THEN THE JEWS SANG".
In other words; the ONLY way to REALLY
be happy is by first believing in
Moses.
This is also very relevant to the the
11th of Nisan (Sunday), the Jewish
date that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Shneerson,
was born.
Exactly one hundred years ago.
The Rebbe was not just a great scholar
or the leader of a certain group
of exuberant Jews. He was, the leader, the Moses of all world
Jewry.
He made the Torah alive and succeeded
in spreading its message
throughout the world; Each Jew is a Holy Temple and must keep
a fire of
enthusiasm burning on its alter constantly.
May we live the lessons the Rebbe brought, and is bringing
us, and this
Pesach REALLY go out of all our problems and limitations with....
Moshiach NOW!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
Torah Online Site: http://www.ohrtmimim.org/torah
Tales
for the Shabbos Table
If you ever noticed, in almost every
synagogue there is a ‘Continual Light’.
Sometimes it is a small lamp hanging from the ceiling in front
of the ‘ark’, or just a fluorescent on the wall,
but it’s always there.
Did you know that the source of this
custom comes from a sentence in this week’s Torah Portion?
“A continual fire should burn
on the Altar, it shall not be extinguished”
(6:6).
Now really this sentence refers to
the bonfire(s) on the altar in the time
of the Temple, so it seems to be about 2000 years obsolete.
Also it also seems a bit redundant
to boot; if the fire must be continual,
isn’t it obvious that we shouldn’t extinguish it?
But really it is neither obsolete nor
redundant.
To explain this here is a story about
Rabbi Mendel Futerfass.
Rabbi Mendel spent several years of
his life at hard labor in a Russian
Concentration camp, but, being a Chassid, he tried to learn
from everything he heard or saw, how to serve HaShem better.
And some of his best classes came from
very unusual teachers.
For instance, one of the prisoners
there claimed to be a tightrope walker.
Rav Mendel didn’t believe him
because he couldn’t imagine why a person would waste
his time walking on a rope and risk falling on his head, when
he could just walk on the ground like everyone else.
But when the evil Stalin died and the
government eased up the pressure on the camps, some of the
inmates decided to make a celebration and the tightrope walker
saw his chance to prove himself.
He found a long thick rope somewhere
in the camp, attached it, first to
the outside of one building about ten feet above the ground
and then
stretched it to another building about fifteen yards away
and attached it
there at the same height.
For several hours he was up on a ladder pulling, testing and
fastening until everything was finally ready.
A crowd gathered around, he removed
his shoes and gingerly but
unceremoniously climbed up the ladder onto the rope.
Rav Mendel was one of the first to
get interested, and he explained what happened:
“First he climbed up onto the
rope, took a few steps, lost his balance and fell. But he
knew how to fall; like a cat. He waited a few seconds and
climbed up again and fell again the same way. But eventually
he got accustomed and started walking, and then dancing from
one foot to the other to the rhythm of the clapping onlookers.
“Then he got to the end, turned
around danced back to where he started and climbed down amidst
the applause and cheering of the crowd.
“After shaking everyone’s
hand he walked over to me and said with a
satisfied smile on his face.
‘Well Rabbi, what do you think
now?’
“I told him I was impressed, but
I couldn’t help wondering how he did it, how could he
walk on such a thin rope without falling off? He told me to
guess and I threw out a few suggestions until finally he revealed
the secret:
‘I always keep an eye on where
I’m going and never even think about falling’ .
“He waited a few seconds for me
to digest the answer, and then asked. ‘And do you know
what was the hardest trick I did?’
When I shrugged my shoulders he triumphantly answered;
‘Turning around! When you turn around you loose sight
of the goal for a second! It takes a long time to learn to
turn around!”
“I immediately got the point”
concluded Rav Mendel.
“If you want to serve G-d, and
not fall down, you have to keep your mind on the goal. And”
he added, “The goal is to do what the Rebbe wants; bring
Moshiach.”
Now we can see how our sentence is
very relevant and every word is
important.
The Baal Shem Tov explained it like
this:
“A continual fire should burn on the Altar, it shall
not be extinguished”
If “A continual fire”, (a
constant burning desire to serve HaShem,) “burns on the
Altar” (should always burn in your mind and heart).
It shall ‘NOT’ (then all the 'NOTs' i.e. the negative
things, will
automatically) be extinguished.
In other words, the sentence is telling
us the message of the tightrope
walker; if we constantly have our minds and hearts on the
goal; to want to see G-d revealed here in the world (as He
was when the world was first created, at Mt. Sinai, in the
Holy Temple, and will be in the days of Moshiach) then we
won’t fall: our desire will automatically extinguish
all the bad and negative forces not only in our personalities
but eventually in the entire world!! (There is nothing more
timely and practical than that!)
Then a continual light will really
illuminate not just the Synagogue, but
all creation….. With the arrival of MOSHIACH
NOW!!!
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad Israel
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MOSHIACH
IN THE PARSHA
WEEKLY
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