One of the stories that never fails to move and inspire is a well-known parable from the Chafetz Chaim.
The story is told of a king who once decided to visit one of his distant provinces. As news spread of his impending arrival, excitement filled the town and the community prepared an elaborate banquet. The finest dishes were prepared and the entire village gathered to welcome their monarch with joy and reverence.
During the meal, the king was served a cup of tea. He took a sip, and immediately spit it out. The crowd fell silent in shock. The king tried another sip, and again, he spat it out.
The mayor rushed over, deeply concerned. “Your Majesty, is something wrong?” The king replied, “There’s something very strange in this tea. It tastes as if there are pebbles or sand inside.”
The mayor calmly explained. “That’s completely normal, Your Majesty. The water from our local well always contains a bit of grit and sediment. That’s just how it is here.”
The king shook his head and said, “But that’s not how it must be. There’s a simple solution: use a cloth as a filter. Pour the water through it. The clean water will pass through, and the sediment will remain behind.”
The community was amazed at the king’s wisdom. What a brilliant and thoughtful sovereign they had.
Weeks later, however, tragedy struck. The king received word that the entire town had been consumed by fire. Immediately, he traveled to the region to witness the devastation for himself. Upon his arrival, the townspeople gathered around him, wailing in anguish.
“It’s your fault!” they cried. “You destroyed our village!” Shocked, the king asked, “My fault? What are you talking about?”
“The fire started in one small house. We rushed to put it out, but it took too long to filter the water, and by the time we were ready, the fire had already spread and engulfed everything.”
The king looked at them and said, “You fools. When there’s a fire, you don’t wait for filtered water. You use any water you have.”
Today, we live in a time of spiritual fire. Flames of assimilation, apathy, and ignorance are burning through the Jewish world. So many of our brothers and sisters are far from Torah, unaware of even the most basic principles of Jewish belief. Many do not know the Aleph-Bet, and have never said Shema Yisrael.
In such a time of crisis, we cannot afford to stand back and wait for “filtered water.”
And yet, that’s what we may say. “I’m not ready to help. I’m not perfect. I have to work on myself first.” Of course, self-growth is vital, and we all must strive to refine ourselves. But if we wait for perfection before we engage in outreach, chesed, or communal responsibility, we will wait forever. And yet, in the meantime, the fire continues to spread.
Each year that the Beit Hamikdash is not rebuilt, our Sages teach, it is as though it was destroyed anew (Yerushalmi Yoma 1:1). And we know why it was lost in the first place: sinat chinam, baseless hatred. A lack of unity. A spiritual and social disconnect that remains with us to this day.
And though we’ve made progress through countless organizations, yeshivot, shuls, kiruv initiatives, and acts of chesed, the Beit HaMikdash has not yet been rebuilt.
We need all of Am Yisrael. Every Jew. Not just the rabbanim, the askanim, the inspired few. We need a collective awakening. A refusal to be satisfied with the status quo, and a passionate commitment to do more for each other, for our nation, and for the Shechinah that still wanders in exile.
It’s time to stop waiting for filtered water. Use what you have. And b’ezrat Hashem, may that effort, imperfect though it may be, be enough to bring about the final Geulah.
