The Baggage Of Building Blocks
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THE BAGGAGE OF BUILDING BLOCKS
By Harav Y. R. Rubin Shlita
It seems the more you want to save money, the more it costs you. Finances are tight and every pound counts.
So, you want to go to Israel? That’s fine; here is a bargain flight that seems to be just the thing. The advertised cost is hundreds of pounds cheaper that any competitor and the timings seem perfect as well. Ah, but then the extras kick in. You want to sit next to your children? Ten pounds please. You want more leg room (which means enough room so your blood circulation doesn’t stop at your waist)? That will be another £26 please. The list goes on, and all the while the price rises faster than the national debt. Meals? Sure, how glatt? OK, that will be an extra £40, and please don’t complain if it never arrives on your tray.
Recently, some of the more enterprising carriers have been thinking of charging for carry-on luggage (what about rigid hat-shaped boxes that hold wide-brimmed hats?), and even visits to the lavatory. Who knows, it won’t be long before they will charge you extra for your “emotional baggage”!
Now, that’s getting a bit too personal. After all, one’s emotions are highly unique and private. And so they should be, because they are in truth the barometer of your individuality. Our life’s experience and how we react, or sometimes more correctly, how we allow it to shape us, constitutes who we are. Every neshoma has a story, and no two are ever going to be alike. The baggage you accumulate along the way can be a positive force in creating the person you aspire to be or a disastrous source of anger and resentment. So what’s this all about? Why are we all doomed to carry burdens that seem to be obstructing our happiness?
It just may well be that our baggage is the ticket to our kedusha. In this week’s Parsha- Pekudei- we read: “All the work of the Sanctuary was completed, and the Bnei Yisroel did according to all that Hashem had commanded Moshe, so they did.” The Ramban states that during the captivity of the Yieden in Mitzrayim none of them developed the craft skills needed for the intricate work of building the Mishkan. When Moshe related to them what was needed people just volunteered, even though they had no real experience. They stood ready to rise above any obstacle that stood in their way, and through this will Hashem granted miracles and the work was completed with spectacular results.
Here we learn that in the realm of spiritual advancement, we are meant to strive to overcome our obstacles and in so doing we will be granted Divine help. The Mishkan was the forerunner to the Beis Hamikdosh. Both were focal points where Yieden went to become imbued with kedusha. According to Chazal, the commandment to build a sanctuary applies not only to the generations of Yieden who dwelled in the Midbar, but to every generation.
“And make for Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in them”…The Torah does not say “I will dwell in it,” but rather “I will dwell in them.” In other words Hashem is telling us He will dwell in each individual Yied. By living a Torahdik life, doing mitzvos and seeking kedusha, we are in a manner of speaking becoming walking sanctuaries.
Becoming a living sanctuary is no easy task; it takes more than just getting up in the morning, wrapping tefillin on our arm and head and mumbling prescribed words. I doubt any one of us feels we are up to the task of being Hashem’s Tabernacle in this material world. Yet, that is exactly what we are being asked to do. So how is this at all possible? How can any of us even feel comfortable with the thought that this is what is being asked of us?
Should we just shrug our shoulders and give up, throwing in the towel and leaving the holy stuff for Tzaddikim? Well, we learn from the building of the Mishkan that in fact it’s not up to us!
Left to all our human foibles and our capacities there would never have been a Mishkan; there would never have been a place for The Divine Presence in our world.
It was the will power of those all too human Yieden that were ready to try, and the rest came from Hashem. We learn this from Avos (2:16), “It is not incumbent on you to finish the work, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it”.
Sure we have baggage, stumbling blocks that tear at our core. We feel impotent. How can I be kedushadik when I am plagued by so many hurtful points that won’t let me move forward? Well, some of those pekalach we can tackle now; others we can put in the hold till later. The vital point is that we begin.
We carry all these accessories that actually are part of the plan of Hashem. He doesn’t give us anything we can’t overcome. The Eye that sees knows our burdens, and wants us sincerely to try. In doing so, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Yieden in the Midbar, untutored in creating beautiful tapestries, yet certainly ready to try.
According to the Midrash, the Mishkan was erected and dismantled each day of the Seven Days of its Inauguration. According to the opinion of Rebbi Chanina, it was erected and dismantled three times a day! Why? Why not get it standing on the first day and leave it at that? The Nesivas Sholom tells us that the task of creating a Mishkan is not something that can happen at the first attempt. One gets a Mishkan to stand one day only to suffer a setback and have to start rebuilding it again.
A Yied is meant to build a sanctuary for Hashem’s presence within himself. It will never happen in one day. No, it will go up, then seem to be dismantled, and this will happen repeatedly. However, Hashem will grant you help from Above, and as long as you stand ready, you will move forward.
We all have some baggage, but if you see it as a building block for spirituality then Hashem will supply the Divine wherewithal to turn it into something exquisite and wondrous.
לזכר ולעילוי נשמת
כ”ק מרן אדמו”ר הבית ישראל זצוקלה”ה
נלבע ב’ אדר תשל”ז
