By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friends
‘We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet’.
I got a lot of positive feedback about the life-wisdom that is contained in this proverbial saying.
I would like to further develop this vivid description to reframe the arduous (and ofttimes painful) journey of the ‘searchers’. To encourage, inject hope and inspiration to those who feel lost and helpless in their attempts to turn off the faucet. I hope this offers some them some strength to keep on trying.
Let’s imagine the scene in the kitchen. The floors are flooded, and the faucet in the kitchen sink is running.
The overflowing kitchen sink came to be because you have a blocked drain, and someone turned on the tap and forgot to turn it off before going to sleep.
By the next morning, you have a flooded kitchen.
You take out the pails and mops and clean up the flood.
And yes, you turned off the faucet first, but then you discovered that the faucet was leaky.
You are so busy cleaning the mess that calling the plumber to fix the leaky faucet (and blocked sink) doesn’t concern you just yet. Your mind is telling you ‘what difference does a bit more water make, when you have so much flooding to deal with’.
You make good progress. You overcome the mega problem. You have generally cleaned up the flood. You are no longer in ankle deep water furiously emptying buckets and mopping. So, while the leak is still there, the water is now manageable, it’s not a few inches deep anymore. And because it’s not a fire hydrant sprouting forth water, it’s just a kitchen faucet, it’s not about to be flooded again within the next immediate future. You have a few hours or days to take care of the issue.
Now, once you generally have the matter under control, you are able to take the time to go to ‘Google’ (or the phone book for those who remember that ancient ‘tool’) to look for a plumber.
It turns out that finding a good plumber is not so easy. One plumber comes and wants to fix the leak but is unable. He is not a total failure though, as at least he is able to unstick the blockage. For now it works, but deep down you feel unsettled because you know that once in a while the pipes in your area back up. with blocked pipes, it is only a matter of time till the leaky faucet will cause flooding again.
You look for another plumber. And another.
On the one hand you have the luxury and time to look for a plumber. Because you no longer are tied up in mopping the floors.
On the other hand, you now have a stressful situation in finding and hiring the right plumber.
Hopefully, you will overcome your stress and pursue your search committedly. Hashem will hopefully bless your efforts and you will find a plumber who can fix your faulty faucet.
Then, you will have truly solved your problem.
What scenario would you prefer?
To be mopping the floors with vigor and dulling distraction?
Or to have a cleaned-up kitchen with a glaring problem that needs to be solved, to find the right skilled worker.
Simple you say. I would rather have the freedom and time to look for a proper solution.
It’s not so clear cut.
Remember, you may get anxiety attacks and stress from the frustration of finding the right plumber to fix the leak.
Mopping the floor may be easier.
When it comes to mopping the floors, you have no time or brain-space for anxiety. You have a defined problem and a measurable solution.
While caught up in mopping the floor your brain imagines that after you finish you will be happy. You conjure up images of the serenity of life after you, mopped the floors, and you are sitting on the couch sipping your drink of choice.
It’s really a mirage. Because once you have solved the pressing flood problem you will have the time and brain space to be bothered by the unsolved problem of the leaky faucet. This will cause you a new set of anxieties. You will realize you are not ‘problem-free’, you have a new problem on your hands.
But objectively, it is a healthier problem. As addressing the faulty faucet has the potential, if solved, to give you a long-term hiatus from a flooded kitchen.
Hashem has given our generation a unique position.
The ‘floods’ of the previous generations, which were about having the means for survival, are in many ways ‘mopped up’.
Children used to go out to work to help their parents pay the bills. Husbands worked arduous and long hours to have money for supporting the household. Wives toiled long and hard in keeping the home running. Just think about ‘laundry day’ before the advent of washing machines and dryers. Not to mention before there was running water in homes.
The prevalent feeling was that ‘if I were a rich man….’ everything would be fine dandy and we would live happily ever after.
Who had time and brain space to see if they were ‘happy’ or felt ‘meaning’ in their life.
You did what you had to do.
Not many people became ‘rich’ or ‘problem-free’ enough to actually find out that being rich is just like mopping the floor but not like fixing the leak.
Progressively, in the past decades, life has become easier physically. More gadgets. Shorter working hours and shorter work weeks. For many, there are no physical flooded floors that require their mopping.
Some can even say not ‘if I was a rich man’ but ‘now I am a rich man’. Yet, they now find out that the faucet is leaky, and the drain is blocked and it’s only a matter of time till the floors start getting flooded.
They have an existential problem to solve.
But they don’t have the distraction of focusing on mopping the floors.
(Some get pulled to the distraction of addiction. This is a lengthy topic not for now).
Let us try and see this in a positive light.
Because societal advances have provided more time and energy for ‘thinking’ about life, now we have the task that all generations have waited for.
Getting to the truth of life.
But admittedly, wealth has its own challenges.
Here is the nucleus of how we begin to repair the leaky faucet.
The faucet cannot be turned off unless we reach the source. To reach the source of our searching soul we need to embrace our deepest existential truth.
A human being can only be truly happy when embracing the purpose of their creation.
Ultimately, one can only be happy when they recognize that they have been tasked with a Divine mission.
We carry out our mission, by first and foremost affirming that there is a Creator and He has created us for a G-dly purpose. By recognizing that G-d is ‘relying’ on us to fulfill His aspirations for His universe.
By stepping up to the plate and embracing G-d’s purpose by studying Torah and observing Mitzvahs’ this is the only way that a Jew can truly turn off that annoying drip of that leaky faucet.
Click here to see a short video clip by R’ Manis Friedman on this topic
And click here (at 2:30 in) where Zevulun our own local Jewish rice farmer shares how he achieved all the material goals in life, like owning his own farm, combine and tractor, all the things he thought would lead to happiness, yet he was left feeling dissatisfied. This led him to discovering his own soul and committing to studying Torah and fulfilling Mitzvahs, which leads to the inner peace he was searching for.
If you are one of those who sometimes feels like a piece of driftwood in a sea of meaningless encounters called life, and you are searching for your inner peace, recognize the great gift you have, to be a sensitive attentive soul.
While there is too often pain involved in this self-discovery, try to recognize the blessings and luxury you have, to be able to work on true healing and not just physical survival. Embrace the Divine gift of the search and find the joy of having the luxury of time and energy to search for meaning.
The way to get to the bottom of it, is by embracing G-d’s Divine road map – Torah and Mitzvahs.
Perhaps even more important, if you are not a searcher yet, try to become one.
Once the floors are mopped, and you have solved your survival issues, don’t sit down with a coffee and a novel and lose sight of the greater goal of fixing the leaky faucet.
All too many, once their immediate issues are taking care of, dive deep into enhancing their physical and sensual indulgences and don’t get to search for their purpose of existence. Get to the purpose you were created for. Delve deeper into the liberating experience of connecting to Hashem.
This ties right in with the Parsha of course. In this weeks Parsha we are told about the Jews leaving Egypt. Actually, not all the Jews left Egypt.
Why not? Because they didn’t all want to leave Egypt.
What? Who wouldn’t want to leave slavery?
Well, once Moshe had started the plagues, the forced labor stopped. The Jews were now living in Egypt without being forced to work. Some of them kind of liked the stability of staying where they were and were not prepared to venture into the unknown with Moshe.
The floors were mopped. The problems were solved. Temporarily.
Except that the faucet was still very leaky.
Ok. You are not slave laborers anymore. That is enjoyable for a while. But then the gnawing questions return. Why am I here. What am I supposed to do. What am I needed for.
This ‘leak’ was about to be fixed for them. The purpose and meaning of life was about to be bestowed upon the Jewish People and presented to them at Mount Sinai.
But for some it wasn’t to be. The ones that were lulled into the short term thinking of staying in Egypt, didn’t make it out of Egypt. Hashem didn’t force them into leaving. They passed away peacefully and without fanfare during the plague of darkness. The Egyptians remained ;in the dark’ figuratively and literally, while the Jews unwilling to be redeemed passed away and were buried.
That was then. In the liberation from Egypt three thousand three hundred plus years ago.
This time around it will be different. Hashem promised through the Prophets that when Mashiach comes speedily in our days, no Jew will be left behind.
Just as the Jews in Egypt once times were good had trouble with wanting to exit Egypt, similarly now, awaiting and truly wanting Mashiach these days is challenging. Back in the day, it was quite easy to await Mashiach’s coming, when the life of a Jew was fraught with danger and suffering. During the crusades, inquisition and second world war, obviously everyone wanted Mashiach.
But when so many of the problems have thank G-d dissipated. When so many Jews are living in a ‘golden age’ in terms of material wherewithal and Jewish observance, this now becomes the challenge. To inspire the Jewish people not to be satisfied with ‘mopped floors’. Not to make peace with exile and say ‘Egypt is not so bad after all’ but rather to await Mashiach with true anticipation.
On Shevat 10 on the Jewish calendar (this coming Wednesday), upon the passing of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, in 1950, leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement passed on to his illustrious son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory. In the decades that followed, the Rebbe revolutionized, inspired and guided the post-Holocaust transformation of the Jewish people that continues to this day.
It was a very challenging time to become the leader of world Jewry. Not only because of the physical state of Jews and Judaism. And during the many decades of the Rebbe’s leadership of the post-Holocaust generation, there was epic progress as the Jewish communities rapidly rebuilt themselves in their new homes in the Western world. Many of the existential post-Holocaust problems were overcome. Tranquility, financial stability and spiritual opportunities only became stronger with each additional year.
But that is precisely where there is a deeper and greater challenge.
It is way more challenging to generate a feeling of spiritual urgency and even anxiety, in a generation that is blessed with having solved most of its material (big) problems.
But the Rebbe identified and nurtured the inner sometimes imperceptible thirst of our generation. For example, the Rebbe saw the Hippy revolution as an inner cry to address the leaky faucet.
The Rebbe posited that what the Hippies were really expressing, if one could cut through the externals and get to the soul, was their burning search and desire to hear the truth of G-d’s message.
Click here to read more about the Rebbe’s approach to the ‘youthful rebellion’ of the hippies.
The Rebbe’s task, (as described in the last discourse that he distributed before his passing) is to teach a generation that has ‘mopped its floors’ to shut the faucet and fix the leak. To engage and address the crux of the issue, the real problem, the problem of WHY we are here.
And to guide, inspire and ignite the generation to seeking the ultimate ‘fix’ and ‘healing’ for this millennia old problem of G-d’s hiddenness, the bringing of Mashiach.
We are all partners in bringing this goal and task to fruition. We need to remember not to be lulled into complacency by the favorable conditions G-d blesses us with during this juncture of history, (may things only get better and better please G-d), rather we must recognize that so long as Hashems presence is not manifest on earth, so long as the ‘wolf doesn’t lie with the lamb’, so long as we still need an army to protect our existence in our ancestral land of Israel, we are still not at the final destination.
We are still in Egypt. We need to be liberated.
Thank G-d, many of us are comfortable in our proverbial ‘Egypt’, and so it should continue, but we must remain ready to be redeemed. We dare not lose our inner drive for liberation and exodus from this dark and long exile to usher in the perfection and peacefulness of the Messianic area.
On the contrary, we are now able to use the immensely upgraded tools-of-life at our disposable to catapult to greater and holier achievements int eh realm of doing acts of goodness and kindness.
This will bring Mashiach sooner, AMEN.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
