Harnessing Our Inner Passion
During Chanukah 2020, in Tyumen, Siberia, a special ice Menorah was built in honor of the holiday which served as a beacon for the local Jewish population. The Menorah was erected by the local Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yerachmiel Gorelick. The menorah generated considerable publicity in the town and was also featured on a prominent Israeli television show, which described how the Menorah was built and featured the lighting of the first light of Chanukah on the ice menorah.
A day after the broadcast, the rabbi received a phone call from the local Protestant minister. He said that friends in Israel had told him about the ice Menorah in Tyumen they had seen on television, and he wanted to meet with the Rabbi near the Menorah.
Later that day, they met up at the Menorah’s location. To the Rabbi’s surprise, the minister went over to the menorah and gave it a kiss! “This Menorah is mine too…” he said. Rabbi Gorelik was baffled. “My mother's mother was Jewish,” the minister explained. "That means that you're Jewish too", the Rabbi replied in amazement. The minister then expressed his desire to learn more about his Jewish heritage and reconnect with his faith.
Following this encounter, the Rabbi shared an interesting observation during a TV interview. When he had first moved to the area, he understood his mission was to metaphorically melt the ice and cold forces of assimilation and to ignite the spark of Judaism among the Jewish community. Now he understands that his mission is to rather transform the ice itself into a positive force for warmth and connectivity, as prominently demonstrated through the ice Menorah.
In this week’s Torah portion, Va’era, we learn about the first seven of the ten plagues which G-d brought upon the Egyptian people.
These plagues were not given only as a punishment for the Egyptians’ cruel treatment of the enslaved Jewish nation, but also to educate the Egyptian people to change the ways and outlooks that led them to this cruel and abject behavior.
The first plague transformed the water of the nile river into blood. As the first states, “Thus says the LORD, ‘By this you shall know that I am the LORD’. See, I shall strike the water in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood (Exodus 7:17).”
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 Troyes, France), explains further, “Because rain does not fall in Egypt but the Nile rises and irrigates the land and the Egyptians on this account worshipped the Nile, therefore God first smote their deity and afterwards smote them (Exodus Rabbah 9:9)”.
Water is cold, whereas blood is warm. There are two types of coldness and two types of warmth: a person whose primary orientation in life is material will be cold to spiritual concerns and warm to material concerns; a person whose primary orientation is spiritual will be cold to material concerns and warm to spiritual concerns.
The Nile River signified the coldness of materiality toward spiritual concerns. The annual flooding of the Nile gave the Egyptians the impression that their sustenance was due simply to the regular, orderly functioning of nature, without any need of recourse to a supernatural G-d. The very first of the ten plagues, was transforming the coldness of its water into the heat of blood. Allegorically, this signifies the transformation of cold indifference to Divinity into warm enthusiasm for it. This had to be the first step because indifference can quickly lead to a drastic decline in commitment.
While we may be naturally passionate and enthusiastic about work, sports, food, politics, exercise, or entertainment etc., Judaism teaches us how to channel those very passions for a higher purpose and goal and not only for material pleasures and benefits alone.
Hosting a Lunch n’ Learn on Jewish business ethics and Torah values at our workplace, cooking up a gourmet Shabbat/Holiday dinner for family and friends, or bike-riding to raise funds for a worthy cause are just a few examples of how we can elevate our seemingly mundane passions and ambitions for a higher and more G-dly purpose.
By doing so, we can fully maximize our potential and find meaning and connectivity with our Jewish heritage in every moment of our day. Similar to the ice Menorah in Siberia, our inner flame will shine bright and illuminate our own lives and of those around us for eternity with the coming of Moshiach. As it is stated “And nations shall walk by your light, Kings, by your shining radiance (Isaiah 60:3)”.
