Rabbi's Message
RABBI’S MESSAGE:
TO DO IS TO BE
“Act while you can: while you have the chance, the means and the strength.” Talmud
The world is here to be used and to be enjoyed; however, to accomplish this, we must first be willing to do something about it. In this connection, a charming story is told. It was a beautiful spring day and a grandmother had promised her four year old granddaughter to take her for a walk along the edge of the river. But cooking and other household chores kept her busy inside the house. The little girl waited patiently for a long time. Finally, she could wait no longer. She took her grandmother’s hand and pulled her along. “Stop working, Grandma,” she said. “Let’s go outside and get some use out of the world!” In a similar way, the things that we possess in life are those that we choose to use.
In all of nature, living things atrophy if they are not used to their fullest potential. Thus, in the pools in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, fish have lived for generations in the dark. The optic nerves of these fish have atrophied so greatly that they have become blind. This same process of atrophy and decline occurs regularly in our world as well.
On the physical level, there are patients who have been bedridden for just a few weeks only to find that their legs buckle when they try to walk again. Or athletes, sidelined by an injury, who begin to lose the tone in their muscles simply because of insufficient exercise. On a more abstract level, there are very human emotions that can atrophy as well if we fail to develop them and use them as the Almighty intended. For G-d has given us feelings of compassion, generosity, kindness and sensitivity, but if we don’t use them properly then they too will soon fade. The great naturalist, Charles Darwin tells us that he lost his love of poetry and music, which once was very strong in him, because he ceased to develop it.
These are the real clues to the art of living. Life must be felt and enjoyed in order to be personally fulfilling and of service to others. All of our senses must be employed constantly if they in turn are to give us true messages about the universe. An old Irish proverb says, “A thought, a spade and machine must be used or else they will rust.” If we rest too much we begin to rust, but if we continue to keep on moving, to use all of our senses, to stretch ourselves to our fullest capacity...then we too function at our highest, live to our fullest and find pleasure in a well-coordinated life.
