The Sefer Torah was put away, the curtain of the Aron Kodesh was pulled closed, and Rabbi Greenblatt stepped to the amud to give his weekly Shabbos morning droshah at the Agudas Yisroel of St. Louis shul. But before he could begin, two policemen walked into the shul.
“Is everything okay, officers?” the Rov asked, concerned.
“Everything is just fine, Rabbi!” rang out a familiar voice, as Mayor McGillicuddy squeezed between the two policemen and made his way to the front of the shul. “It’s me, your beloved mayor!”
Everyone, including the Rov, appeared to be frozen in shock. What on earth was the mayor doing, bursting into shul in the middle of Shabbos davening?
“Thank you, thank you, you don’t have to clap,” the mayor said, even though nobody had clapped. “I know this is your Sabbath and that it’s an important day for all of you people, but I came to speak to you about something that’s even more important.”
A few gasps filled the shul. Something more important than Shabbos?
“Did you know that we live on a planet?” Mayor McGillicuddy paused, as if waiting for an answer, but everyone just stared at him.
“And did you know that the sun is actually a star? And there are more than billions and trillions of stars with planets in our universe. We are just a tiny insignificant speck.”
Everyone looked around uncomfortably. Did the mayor interrupt davening to give an apikorsus science lesson?
Every Second, 173 Trillion Kilowatts
“Every second, 173 trillion kilowatts of energy from the sun hit the earth. That is seven times more energy than the entire planet uses every day! Don’t you see the waste of energy?”
Rabbi Greenblatt cleared his throat. He didn’t want to be rude to the mayor, but he had a droshah to give and people had hot cholents waiting for them at home.
“Anyway,” Mayor McGillicuddy continued. “I recently became concerned about all of the energy we are receiving from the sun that is just going to waste. I mean, how much energy does the sun have already? We keep taking from it and we’re going to use it up and then we won’t have a sun to melt the snow or to keep the beaches warm. And this is not to mention all of the light coming from other stars in our galaxy. If we don’t act now, we will lose them too!”
The mayor held up a large poster he was holding. “This is why I am announcing my ‘space mirror’ project. I intend to launch giant mirrors into space to reflect sunlight back into the sun and to the other stars which shine light towards the earth. This is much more important than anything else. There is a giant universe out there, and I need your help to save it!”
The Rov finally spoke up.
“Mr. Mayor, “I’m not sure how we can help you in the middle of our Sabbath prayers.”
“Oh, I’m about to leave. I just want everyone to take down the phone number to my space mirror hotline so everyone can donate generously after you finish praying.”
“Mr. Mayor, we don’t write on our Sabbath, nor do we use phones. Maybe you should have come on a different day”, Rabbi Greenblatt said, walking back to the amud.
Mayor McGillicuddy looked stunned. “What? No phones? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I gotta run. Have a happy Sabbath, everyone!” And with that, he rushed out the door, followed by the policemen.
The Rov’s Response
As the door closed behind them, the Rov turned to the kehillah.
“I’m sorry about that interruption,” he began. “This is definitely not the way I intended for our davening to proceed today. And, believe it or not, I had an actual droshah prepared, not some nonsense about space mirrors.”
Everyone in the shul laughed.
“But I want to point out one important thing. The mayor said that the sun and the stars of the universe are more important than anything else here on earth, and that we are insignificant in comparison.
“Now I can’t speak for silly politicians, but as Yidden we have to know that we are more important than anything else that Hashem created! More than the sun, the moon, and all of the gazillions of stars! Moshe Rabbeinu says in this week’s Parshah, that Hashem only loved the Avos out of everyone and everything else in the world, and he chose us, their children, over all of the other nations.”
“That means you, Rabbi Bromberg, and you, Mr. Klein, and everyone else in this shul, and all of the Yidden around the world. We are what is important, and everything else in the universe combined doesn’t even come close to the value of a single Yid!”
And with that, the Rov returned to his seat and everyone stood up for Mussaf.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos!
Takeaway:
“Behold to Hashem belong the heavens and all the galaxies, the earth and ALL that is in it, but only in your Avos did Hashem delight and He chose their children after them; YOU today.”
