By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
Life is defined by movement. Heartbeat. Pulse. Air moving through the lungs. The first cry of a baby is the sweetest sound possible*.
Silence is golden? True to an extent. But not really. Deathly silence is not golden. It is a sign of absence of life.
I recall attending the bedside of a person who passed away. A family member, thought that perhaps they had detected a flutter of the eyelid of the departed. To counter the hopeful and wishful thinking of the relative, the hospital staff quickly connected a heart monitor and showed the straight line. The unmoving heart was a sure sign of no life and the very disappointed relative conceded that indeed the worst had come to pass.
Movement is a requisite for life and growth is a byproduct of life.
Here’s the thing. Just basic growth is not really enough. For some it’s actually a copout. As a living human being you don’t need to do anything to grow. Without contributing any effort your hair gets longer, your nails grow and your passport age advances.
Well, almost nothing. You do have to provide your body with nutrition in order to stay alive and thus grow. In the olden days that took a lot more effort than today. Much less time was available for other pursuits. Today, many people have leisure hours at their disposal and can afford to just ‘hang out’ or as they say today ‘chill out’.
Is ‘chilling out’ and just staying alive enough to live up to G-d’s expectations of us?
Chanukah teaches us that just sticking to the default and going the bare minimum needed to stay alive is not enough to illuminate the world.
To do what G-d expects of us in this world requires that we put forth effort.
Living in our own comfort zone is not enough to be considered putting forth a true effort. Pump up the volume and aim for new frontiers. Once those additional efforts are part of your norm and come easily, ramp up your efforts even more and exert yourself to achieve more.
This is how Chanukah works. Day one we light one candle. Day two we light two. And so it continues successively. Till we reach the special number of eight which represents the transcendence of nature represented by seven – as in the seven days of the week.
The message is crystal clear. Add. Then add again. Keep on improving. Add more lights. Expend more effort.
Ironically, by putting in effort, you are more at peace. Provided you are doing meaningful things. Slouching and evading your responsibilities does not ultimately lead to more happiness.
This is a law of nature which is counterintuitive.
There are a number of such rules, which are obvious once we point them out, but are not our natural state.
For example:
Controlling our natural desire for indulgence seems to be an imposition on our personal freedom. Say I feel like eating seven-layer cake and my wife tells me not to. A foolish husband will say ‘why are you nagging and telling me what to do’. While the truth of the matter is that refraining from those redundant calories is not to the detriment of our health. On the contrary it is one of those situations where ‘less is more’. Eating ‘more’ may actually lead to ‘less’ in terms of feeling energetic and healthy.
How about exercise. Sure, being a couch potato has its allure. Pulling yourself to the treadmill or swimming pool is not always easy. It’s a kind of slavery. Probably a person who would arrive to our generation with a time machine would think that we are a crazy society. Wealthy people congregating in a gym and running till they break out in a sweat. Lifting weights till they groan under their burden. ‘So much money and so enslaved’? thinks the man from the past.
Indeed, it’s a huge switch in our thinking. In the olden day’s rich people were defined by their ability to choose to be inactive. The poor had to work, shlep, run and lift heavy things. However today we know that for optimum health we need to exert our physical bodies.
It really boils down to allowing your head to do the thinking and deciding. The first Rebbe of Chabad authored the Tanya which contains this very fundamental message. Our minds are meant to steer our hearts and deeds. Practice doing what you know intellectually to be correct, health and right. Do not do whatever you ‘feel like’ based on your emotional urges or natural animalistic drives.
I always wonder why people don’t see the obvious correlation between exerting oneself Jewishly and enjoying enhanced spiritual well-being.
I am talking about sensible, balanced people. Who limit their food intake to be healthy. People that go to the gym and exercise regularly. They obviously know that doing what ‘you feel like’ is not a recipe for wellness.
Yet, when it comes to participating in developing their souls by enhancing their Jewish observance, a different set of values is sometimes applied.
Did you ever think to give your preteen kid a choice of whether they would like to brush their teeth? Yes, it’s a pain and a bother but you don’t wait for your kid to become a scientist and understand how plaque affects the enamel on the teeth. You tell him ‘listen here, I am your parent and you’d better go and brush your teeth’.
So why would you give your kid a choice of whether to participate in Jewish life? Yes, it’s easier not to go to a Chanukah celebration as it may take some efforts on the parent’s part. You may have to juggle your schedule. But that is the only way to gain better spiritual health.
Chanukah reminds us. Our efforts are critical. Growth, true growth can only come if we exert ourselves. If we don’t want to fool ourselves, we have to honestly admit that once our exertion level has become a norm we have to hold ourselves accountable to new levels of output. It’s comfortable to put on cruise control and stay at the same level. It behooves us though to do whatever we can to reach our full G-dly potential.
Add a mitzvah to your repertoire. It seem difficult? Great! That means you are making an effort. Making an effort means that you will truly grow in your relationship with G-d through your actions.
The G-dly way is to keep growing. Not natural growth rather effort based growth. We will never truly be happy until we go all the way.
May G-d bless you with everything good. Ever increasing good. Better health. More nachas from your loved ones. Prosperity. Peace of mind. Until we merit that final game plan – the coming of Mashiach, Amen!
Shabbat Shalom
Happy Chanuka (starting on Sunday night)
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
PS
* I got to think about the cry of a newborn yesterday, as we received the news from New York, that G-d blessed our son Mendel and his wife Chani with a healthy baby girl.
Overwhelming feelings of gratitude to the Almighty for His kindnesses to us fill our family’s hearts.