Rebbetzin Tziporah – On His Terms

 Dear friends,

One of the Bnos Avigail girls told a Chassidic story that I had never heard. While this is not all that surprising, since the stories are told and retold and still don’t reach everyone, this one was one that I found to be really remarkable.

Reb Zusha and Reb Elimelech were brothers, each one developing his particular brand of unique his tzidkus in his own way. Reb Zusha was known for profound faith in Hashem, his love for Him, and the sweetness of his simplicity. Reb Elimelech was known for the depth of his scholarship, and his ability to bring the physical world and spiritual worlds together.

When they were young, they undertook what was known as a private galus, wandering through the shtetlach “learning” Am Yisrael while teaching them simultaneously. They also wanted to feel what the Shechina feels in its own galus, often downtrodden and estranged from Her people. In the course of one of their journeys, they somehow ended up accused of a crime by the non-Jewish police (and in those days a charge against a Jew didn’t have to be all that specific). 

They were thrown into the local lock up, together with a varied group of non-Jewish thieves who had been caught. They kept to themselves, and when the time arrived, Reb Elimelech mentioned to his brother that he was going to say Minchah. Reb Zusha pointed at the chamber pot (used for what in our times we would use a bathroom), and told his brother the obvious – you can’t pray Minchah or study Torah in front of a chamber pot. For a brief moment Reb Elimelech was distressed. Reb Zusha then said, “You can’t serve Hashem by saying minchah. You can serve Him by NOT saying minchah. Serving Hashem is always doing what He wants of you!” Reb Elimelch was ecstatic. He could do it – serve the One and only One Whose will matters, on His terms. He began to dance. 

The other prisoners didn’t quite get what was going on, but they loved dancing, and like everyone, were drawn to simcha. They joined in. Soon there was singing. Soon after the door opened, and the warden came in. The bizarre sight of tens of prisoners dancing around the chamber pot was more than his sensitivities could bear. He grabbed the focus of the simcha, the chamber pot, and left. This was a prison! Not a wedding hall! He would not let the prisoners celebrate who-knows-what.

Once it was gone, Reb Elimelech began to say the ancient words of minchah, with the same devotion as he had when he served Hashem a moment earlier.  

Why am I telling you this story?

One of the most moving messages that I ever heard was the one given by the mother of one of the hostages who had escaped Hamas, only to be shot by Israeli soldiers who had seen the 3 figures running towards them as Hamas. Hamas terrorists often disguise themselves as Israelis, and the soldiers had no way of knowing that this wasn’t just another trap. What would your reaction have been if one of the hostages was your son?

“I am Yotam’s mother. I wanted to tell you that I love you very much, and I hug you here from afar. I know that everything that happened is absolutely not your fault, and nobody’s fault except that of Hamas, may their name be wiped out and their memory erased from the earth. I want you to look after yourselves and to think all the time that you are doing the best thing in the world, the best thing that could happen, that could help us. Because all the people of Israel and all of us need you healthy. And don’t hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist. Don’t think that you killed a hostage deliberately.

You have to look after yourselves because only that way can you look after us. At the first opportunity, you are invited to come to us, whoever wants to. And we want to see you with our own eyes and hug you and tell you that what you did — however hard it is to say this, and sad — it was apparently the right thing in that moment. And nobody’s going to judge you or be angry. Not me, and not my husband Raviv. Not my daughter Noya. And not Yotam, may his memory be blessed. And not Tuval, Yotam’s brother. We love you very much. And that is all.”

The soldiers sent her back a voice note, telling her that she had given them back their lives; that they were able to function again. 

Both she and the soldiers are serving Hashem on His terms.

How about you? We all have stuff. None of us are untouched by galus, untouched by pain or fear or rejection. No matter what, you can still serve Hashem. On His terms. In the life that He provided you. With the tools that you have. If you feel cut off, the key is talking to Him.

This is what happened in Egypt. The Jews had come close to despair. They had looked outward for changes. If there was a different government (or closer to home, a better job / marriage / community / inner life) then things would change. How can I serve Hashem with the chamber pot in the middle of the floor? The Jews in Egypt discovered that even with a new government, they were still slaves. Are you? Are we all? When they cried out to Hashem, things changed. He revealed Himself to Moshe at the burning bush and told him to go to Egypt and demand freedom for His people.

I can sort of hear you saying, “That was then. Now is now” 

Now is the best time to begin the process of redemption. The next set of Parshiot, Shmos, Vairah, Bo, Bishalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, are the ones that narrate the story of the exodus, and the return. The first letter of each of these parshiot spell out (in Hebrew) the word “shovavim”. The word literally means “wild ones”. These are the first words of the haftorah that begins with the words, “Return wild children, I will heal you of your wildness”.

Wildness is the source of not seeing the internal and external structures that Hashem makes you face. You don’t like Hamas, the human errors that lead to tragedy, the so-so marriage or job, the chamber pot that keeps you from davening minchah. You may end up pushing the envelope, protesting overtly or inwardly, and worst of all, acting out the emotions generated by your protests.

In Egypt Hashem silenced the protests by His miracles. He told Moshe that in spite of his inability to see how it would happen, his people (who were at the 49^th level of spiritual degradation) will find themselves at Mount Sinai (where the bush was) ready to hear Hashem’s voice and to respond “We will do, and we will hear.”

So, will you. So, will we all. 

We have to want

And to ask

And to see 

And to love

The One who lets you feel

Love for Him

And Love

For each other.

 

Only the best always,

Tziporah