Connected to the Source
Connect to Hashem through Intentional Mitzvah Observance
In the early 1900s, when Tel Aviv was first recognized as a city, a delegation of five Bedouin dignitaries from the South of the country came to see its sights and observe what the Jews had built up.
The city’s mayor, Meir Dizengoff, personally showed the five men around.
At the end of the tour, they sat down to a beautiful banquet that had been arranged in their honor. At its conclusion, Mr. Dizengoff graciously asked the group, “What can we give you as a gift to take home with you?”
The Bedouins looked at one another, and then they all nodded at one man, who would be their spokesperson. Clearly, they all knew what they wanted.
“We traveled here from the South,” the appointed representative began. “We make our homes in the most arid, parched area of the country. The main issue we struggle with is the lack of adequate water, both for people and for livestock.
“Yet here we have seen something truly remarkable. All over the city, you have faucets installed from which, with the turn of a knob, water flows in abundance. There are five of us here. If you can give each of us just one of your faucets to take home, our lives and those of our people will improve tremendously!”
A simple request, predicated upon something they had seen with their own eyes – water really does flow from faucets. But, of course, this is only true when the faucets are connected to pipes that lead to the source of the water. We know that a faucet alone is useless!
Hashem gave us the mitzvos to be mekadeish us through connecting to Him when we fulfill His will.
Thus, our mitzvos are like faucets. They are the source of kedushah and taharah, and berachah, as well – but only when they are connected to the Source – Hashem! What are we thinking when we do a mitzvah? Do we have kavanah when we make a berachah? Do we refrain from lashon hara because Hashem forbids it, or because “it’s not nice”? When we truly think about Hashem and what He wants from us, we are making the most valuable connection in the world.
Invest thought and intention into your mitzvos so that you make the all-important connection to your Creator; then kedushah and berachah will flow into your life!
Take This Home
Next time you eat or drink, think: I am doing this in order to have strength to serve Hashem.
Next time you offer to help someone, think: I am doing chessed because it is a mitzvah from Hashem (as opposed to doing so out of a personal desire to be nice to others or to impress them).
In Short
[Your late husband] is enjoying his prominent position in the Yeshivah shel Maalah, and there is no reason to feel sorry for him. His passing is our loss, and it is normal to miss him sorely, but we must not grieve overly much. It is just like someone who has been taken to a distant country, and it is no longer possible to contact him…
Harav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l (in a letter written to a widow shortly before his passing)
It Happened to Me!
My Olam Haba Moment
My aunt passed away at the age of 98.
She was a Holocaust survivor and, eventually, a successful businesswoman.
During her lifetime, there wasn’t much I could do for her, aside from the occasional visit, as she was very independent. In her last year or two, she was well cared for by her granddaughters, as both of her sons predeceased her.
When my sister called me with the news of her passing, we realized that I am the closest relative who is able to say Kaddish for my aunt (she has no grandsons, only granddaughters).
It is interesting that I can do more for her now than I ever could when she was alive. Having said Kaddish for both my parents within the last few years, I know what an obligation it is to say Kaddish for the year, but I am ready to take this on, both for the sake of my aunt’s neshamah, and because I believe doing so will bring nachas ruach to my parents.
S.G.
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