“Look, Totty!” Ari Holtzbacher exclaimed, as he walked with his father to pick up the fish for Shabos. “Why is there a dump truck backing up to the Horki shul?”
“Ah, that must be for the aufruf of the Rebbe’s son tomorrow,” Anshel Holtzbacher said. “Jolly Munz is donating the candies.”
Sure enough, the bed of the truck tipped back, dropping hundreds of thousands of candies into a huge pile, which workers shoveled into wheelbarrows and rolled into the building.
On Shabbos morning, the children davening in the Horki Beis Midrash crowded around the bimah as the Rebbe’s son was called up for Maftir. Thousands of mispalelim held candies, ready to throw as soon as the chosson finished his aliyah.
Moments later, the air of the massive beis midrash was filled with candies being hurled from every direction. The clattering sound of the treats landing was deafening, as children scrambled to fill up huge bags with the delicious taffies, lollipops, marshmallows, and more which rained down on them as they collected as much as they could.
That evening, the shul janitor, Zanvil Katz, had just finished making havdalah in his home.
“I have to hurry to the shul,” he told his wife. “At Mincha I saw that there were candy wrappers everywhere. There’s a lot of work to do.”
Zanvil hurried out the door and made his way to the Horki shul. As he entered the beis midrash, he was shocked to see none other than Anshel Holtzbacher and the Horki Rebbe himself sweeping up the candy wrappers!
“Ah, Reb Zanvil!” the Rebbe greeted him warmly. “A gut voch!”
Zanvil blinked and pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, as the Rebbe emptied a dustpan full of wrappers into the garbage bag which Anshel Holtzbacher was holding.
“Is everything okay, Zanvil?” Mr. Holtzbacher asked.
“Uhhh yes,” Zanvil stammered. “But why are you and the Rebbe cleaning the beis midrash?”
“I hope you don’t mind that we’re doing this,” the Rebbe said.
“Mind???” asked Zanvil, bewildered. “Why would I mind? I just don’t understand why the Rebbe and the biggest gvir in town are doing the janitor’s work.”
“Zanvil,” the Rebbe said, as he scraped a flattened piece of taffy off of the floor. “Let me ask you a question. What do you think is the best job a Yid could have?”
“Well, I’m a Kohen, so I think the best job would be serving in the Beis Hamikdash.”
“Ah! A beautiful answer!” exclaimed the Rebbe, picking up a tissue off of a table and tossing it into the garbage bag. “And it’s similar to your current job, too!”
“It is?” asked Zanvil, confused as to how being a shul janitor had any connection to the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash.
“Of course! What’s one of the first things done by the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash every morning? Terumas Hadeshen. Do you know what that is?”
Zanvil nodded as the Rebbe continued.
“The Kohen would go and clean off the ash from the mizbeiach. That was part of the avodah. All day, the Kohanim were cleaning up. Ah! What a zechus it is to clean the house of Hashem!
“It’s such a chaval for someone to see dirty tissues on the floor or empty cups on the tables in shul and just walk by, thinking that the janitor will take care of it. Such a person is giving up an opportunity to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu by tidying up His house. A piece of trash in a shul is a diamond - picking it up is a huge opportunity to serve Hashem.”
“Thank you, Rebbe,” Zanvil said. “I always just saw myself as a janitor. I never thought that I was doing something much bigger.”
“All day I work at a desk in an office,” added Anshel Holtzbacher. “Of course, I always try to have in mind that I’m doing my job to serve Hashem. But when I have the opportunity to pick up a piece of paper or a napkin off of the floor of the shul? Ah! What a zechus!”
Zanvil started mopping the floor. “I’m doing my job as a Kohen by cleaning the house of Hashem,” he said with a smile. “I will bli neder keep that in mind from now on when I do my job.”
Have a Wonderful Shabbos!
Let’s review:
- What is the best job a person could have?
- What does picking things up off the floor in shul have to do with the Kohen’s avodah in the Beis Hamikdash?
