“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Eikev
19 Menachem Av 5784/ August 23, 2024
Pirkei Avos – Perek 5
UNINHIBITED GROWTH
Our family has the great fortune to
spend our summers at Camp Dora Golding. We have a wonderful and comfortable
bungalow, but obviously smaller than our home in Monsey. For two months we have
to figure out how to get by with only one bathroom.
For some time this summer, on the side
of our bungalow’s bathtub I noticed two styrofoam cups filled with water. In
each cup was a foam-like sponge in the shape of an animal. Those sponges had
started as little capsules that “grew” when placed in water.
Our younger children eagerly watched
how the capsule expanded into a foamy animal. They concluded that if they left
it in water for longer it would continue to grow even more. It was only after
about two weeks that the cups were disposed of, and the foam critters remained
on the side of the bathtub.
In June 1924, at the age of
thirty-eight, George Mallory, one of Britain's greatest mountain climbers, was
leading an expedition attempting to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He had
failed twice before, and this was his third attempt.
In spite of careful planning and
extensive safety precautions, disaster struck when an avalanche hit. The
38-year-old Mallory and with most of his party were killed. It wasn't until
1999 that his frozen body was discovered by another expedition, only two
thousand feet short of the summit.
When the surviving members of his
group returned to England, they held a banquet saluting Mallory's final trek. A
representative of the survivors rose to speak, and looked up at the framed
picture of Mallory on the back wall. Then he turned his back to the crowd to
face the huge picture of Mount Everest behind the banquet table.
With
tears streaming down his face, he addressed the mountain on behalf of Mallory:
"I
speak to you, Mount Everest, in the name of all brave men living and those yet
unborn. Mount Everest, you defeated us once; you defeated us twice; you
defeated us three times. But Mount Everest, we shall someday defeat you,
because you can't get any bigger while we can!"
In Oros Hakodesh, Rav Avrohom Yitzchok
HaKohain Kook writes:
אם תרצה בן אדם הסתכל
באור השכינה
התבונן בפלאי היצירה
בחיי האלוקות שלהם
דע את המציאות שאתה
חי בה
דע את עצמך ואת עולמך
עלה למעלה עלה כי כוח
עז לך
יש לך כנפי רוח כנפי
נשרים אבירים
אל תכחש בם פן יכחשו
לך
דרוש אותם ויימצאו לך
מיד
“If you desire, mortal, look at the
light of God’s Presence,
Gaze at the wonders of creation, at the Divinity in them.
Know
the reality in which you live; know yourself and your world.
Rise up.
Rise up, for you have the strength to
do so.
You have wings of the spirit, wings of powerful eagles.
Do
not deny them, or they will deny you.
Seek them, and you will find them
right away.”
Oros Hakodesh 1:64
A few years ago, Mrs. Avigayil Ouziel,
wrote a beautiful song to Rav Kook’s words. In March of 2015 the Yeshivah l’Tzeirim
from Yerushalayim choir recorded the song in memory of the 8 students brutally
murdered in Yeshivas Merkaz Harav in a terrorist attack a few years ago.
By definition, human beings are
vulnerable and fallible. But that is a core component of our ability to attain
greatness. If we can fail miserably, we can also grow exponentially.
Unlike shaped sponges or even huge
mountains, as mortals we can always ascend. Rav Kook reminds us that we need
only to tap into that capacity for greatness and want to become greater.
Shabbat Shalom
& Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and
Chani Staum