Generations

18 Cheshvan 5782

“I am a stranger and a resident amongst you” (Bereishis 23:4)

“The Jew is a ‘resident’ in the world, for the Torah instructs him not to escape the physical reality but to inhabit it and elevate it … At the same time, the Jew feels himself a ‘stranger’ in the material world … Indeed, it is only because the Jew feels himself a stranger in the world that he can avoid being wholly consumed and overwhelmed by it.” (Lubavitcher Rebbe)

“The mazal of notzer chesed is of the mochin setimin of arich anpin, which is the source of the task of beirurim, the refinement of the material world by extracting and uplifting the Divine sparks within it.” (Iggeret HaKodesh, end of Epistle 28)

As long as he is alive, the Jew’s task is to engage with the material world, to refine it and make it hospitable to G-dliness. Never allowing the attachment to this world to grow too strong, by remembering that it is on the lowest rung of divine creation and that its reality is far surpassed by those of the higher worlds, is what enables a Jew to surpass all kinds of challenges. Because he knows that the logic of the higher worlds far surpasses that of this world, he can act irrationally for Hashem in this world, surviving insurmountable challenges with minimal apparent reward, and know that it all makes sense up above.

“I will establish Your descendants forever; I will build your throne for all generations” (Tehillim 89:5)

Sometimes we forget that the small impact we have in our life is multiplied throughout the generations. Sometimes we only manage to affect one person in our life, but that doesn’t mean all our effort was worthless. From this one person can come generations and generations of righteous Jews, hundreds if not thousands of Torah scholars and Chassidim. We must never let our subjective feeling of accomplishment get in the way of our divine mission to do all we can, even if the result is not immediately apparent.