I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share an excerpt from an article by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis entitled ‘A Solution to Every Problem’ sharing a great parable about how to deal with difficult situations.
Our Sages teach us that at Mount Sinai we attained such majestic heights that, if not for the sin of the Golden Calf, we would never have needed to build a Sanctuary. That being the case, it is rather puzzling that in this parashah we are commanded regarding the Sanctuary, although the sin of the Golden Calf had yet to occur. So why are we instructed to build the Sanctuary at this point?
[...] Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis often explains this [...] through a popular parable. At one time or another, through our own foolishness, or for some inexplicable reason, we find ourselves in “hot water” and feel we cannot continue. Under such circumstances, what’s to be done? We have three choices, which can be compared to a carrot, an egg, or coffee.
If a carrot is placed into boiling water, after a while it disintegrates and becomes mush. If an egg is placed into boiling water, it becomes hard and tough, but when coffee is placed into boiling water, the boiling water becomes a delicious drink. These are the choices that we all have when we suddenly find ourselves in boiling water. We can disintegrate like carrots, fall apart, and become depressed; we can become as hard as a boiled egg, tough, cynical, angry, and bitter; or we can become like coffee, converting that water into a delicious drink.
Similarly, we can transform our difficulties, our tragedies into something positive and find our way back to our Creator. God showed us the way: The Tabernacle that would bring atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf was commanded to be built before the sin of the Golden Calf occurred. [...] These then, are our choices: In the face of onerous difficulty do we become “carrots,” depressed? Do we become “hard-boiled eggs,” tough and angry? Or do we convert that boiling water into something positive and create something desirable from our adversity? Learn from that experience! Move on, become wiser and more sensitive, and fulfill the purpose for which you were created by continuing to serve our Creator.
Have a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
