YUD SHVAT
By Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn, Chabad of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Older than the pyramids, greater than the Parthenon - it's a truly epic restoration effort.
It is the restoration of the universe itself, a painstaking project to restore God's world to its original glory, and then some.
This monumental project, virtually unimaginable in its scope and vision, was undertaken by the Jewish People, at the request of, and in close cooperation with, the Original Architect and Creator of the universe.
The objective is to bring the universe back to its Garden of Eden sublime perfection, with the added advantage of the kind of wisdom that comes only with 5,000 years of experience. It is a truly audacious idea, but we are determined to see it through.
Seventy-five years ago last Shabbat, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away and the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch passed to his son-in-law, whom we all refer to simply as "the Rebbe."
This was a generational and cultural shift, a giant leap from an old world to a new world and from a war-torn reality to a hopeful American one. One Rebbe had led an exodus of Russian refugees and Holocaust survivors to America, and the next Rebbe was being challenged to lead a fresh generation of kids raised on baseball and newspaper routes. But a solid bridge connected the two epic eras, and that bridge was called Basi Ligani.
Basi Ligani was a scholarly discourse the previous Rebbe had written, edited and published just before he passed away. And the new Rebbe subsequently used Basi Ligani to lay out the plan for the future.
And what is the subject matter of Basi Ligani? The greatest restoration project in the world.
Basi Ligani teaches the mystical secrets of God's original desire to make this world - our world - His primary residence, to live with us. But starting with Cain who murdered his own brother Hevel, God was made to feel unwelcome in the universe He had designed and built. And as humanity continued to sink into materialism and relegate God to yesterday's news, the world ceased to look and feel like the Divine garden it was intended to be and instead, took on all the qualities of a wild, merciless jungle, as godless as could be.
Then Moshe came on the scene. Riding the wave of goodness and holiness triggered by his ancestors Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, Moshe helped the world remember. Together with the Jewish People of then, Moshe cleaned out the mess of Egypt, and at Mount Sinai, invited God back into His own world.
But that was only the beginning. Ever since then, we've been working on this restoration project, wrapping up and putting the finishing touches on what Avraham and Moshe started, and what 4,000 years of careful tradition have nearly completed.
That is the subject matter of Basi Ligani. It was how the previous Rebbe signed off his life's work and it was how the new Rebbe introduced his own.
The message was one and the same: we are here for the long run. We are not here to flee and escape to the afterlife. We have no interest in "shuffling off this mortal coil." We have no Heavenly aspirations because God's aspiration has been focused right here, down on Earth, where we live.
Through the darkest periods of human history, God never gave up on His dream that the trend could be reversed and His beloved universe could be restored to its old glory. God never lost faith in His own vision and never lost faith in His People, His partners in this restoration effort. That's you and me.
So here we are, in the thick of this mighty struggle and colossal undertaking. We are the generation of today, we're up to bat. With blood, sweat and tears, our ancestors brought the world a long, long way from the jungle it used to be. The world is in better shape than it's been in a mighty long time. But we're not there yet.
We need to finish the job. We need to do all we can to make the world perfectly at ease with God, and vice versa. The restoration project is moments from completion. It's history's greatest miracle, and it's happening.
We need to push it over the finish line. Our parents and grandparents brought it to the Red Zone (hello, Super Bowl), but we have that elusive job of getting it into the End Zone.
Here's how:
- We need to get used to the idea that God is depending on us for this. He drafted us for this mission OF HIS, and we accepted and committed ourselves to its completion. He believes in us and is relying on us. That's empowering.
- We should study as much Torah as we can so that we can disabuse ourselves of the conventional wisdom that Heaven is more important than Earth. Torah reveals to us the inner beauty of the world, and of life on earth. Torah teaches us that Heaven is wonderful but that all the souls in Heaven eagerly await the day they'll be able to come down here, because this is where it's at; this is where God is at; this is what God is truly interested in.
- We ought to read up on the Rebbe and familiarize ourselves with his story and his teachings. This way, we will feel comfortable with his insistence that we are qualified and destined to not only nudge the project forward but to be the ones to complete it. That is essential.
- We need to be energetic about not missing Mitzvah opportunities. Like the fine tools of physical restoration, Mitzvot are the tools of the trade in this great project. Shabbat, Kosher, Tefillin, Mikvah, prayer, Tzedakah, Mezuzah, Jewish education - these have brought us to this point and they'll carry us over the finish line. But, here's the catch: to put the world at ease with God, Mitzvot cannot be performed as exotic, spiritual rituals. They must be the most normal things in the world. Not very complicated.
- We need to do our Judaism with intensity and be a little crazy about it. The way successful people go about their business is how we should go about this project. Energetically, optimistically, relentlessly, joyously, and intentionally. Attention to detail; care and concern for the small things; patient and consistent work; loyalty to the vision and the Boss's guidance.
Remember, we are not trying to tear down an evil world with a holy blast; we are trying to restore a divine world to its natural, exquisite beauty. It's difficult, delicate work that requires equal parts endurance and subtlety. Fingertips touching a Mezuzah, hands beckoning to the Shabbat lights, Tefillin resting at the hairline, a search for a Kosher certification, a Kiddush cup spilling over, patient Torah study, Tzedakah in generous portions, blessings of please and thank you before and after eating, an understated gesture of kindness and goodness to someone who could use it - these are the tricks of the trade. These chip away at the ugliness and reveal the beauty underneath. These don't break the world - they restore it.
The project is called Basi Ligani.
The owner is God.
The blueprint is the Torah.
The project manager is the Rebbe.
The structure is the universe.
The artisan is us.
The deadline is, of course, yesterday.
The budget is all of God's blessings, of every kind, every day, forever, until completion, and then forever after that.
And the urgency? Well:
All the souls who ever lived, along with all the angels in Heaven, along with every living thing, along with all the suffering people in the world, along with God Himself, are holding their breath waiting impatiently for us to finish the job.
It's the greatest restoration project in the world. It's seconds away from fulfillment.
Who's ready?!
