Many years ago, when I was a kid, we went to my uncle R' Yechiel Kirshenbaum z"l for a Chol Hamoed visit.
My uncle was one of the most famous Esrogim growers in the world. Chances are, you’ve made a bracha on your Arba Minim on one of his esrogim more than once
Suddenly, the crowded room got silent, he opened his wine bar and pulled out a longneck glass bottle, narrow top, wide bottom. In it, there was a delicious esrog flavored liqueur. Still, the magical part was the fact that a beautiful full-sized yellow esrog was actually inside the bottle.
All the geniuses in the room took off their shtreimel or Yom-Tov hat, and started scratching their head as to how that 'big boy' got in there?
While there's a significant movement these days to open the schools, open our cities, open our camps, etc., the big challenge is: how do we open ourselves and our kids to the new "post corona" reality?
I'm bumping into people who lost their jobs, people who started smoking heavily, let's not even mention our new clothing sizes. Seriously speaking, many people are depressed and are avoiding facing their new future. Kids lost their basic structure; some don't want to go back to school. I talked to a man who is afraid to stick out his head from the window due to his pile of bills, and that's before camps and necessary summer expenses.
In top of it all, we just got hit with these silly nightly curfews, caused by some hoodlums that wreak havoc on our lives as a people, in the “land of the free”. This bonus lockdown is not really adding joy, to say the least, to the many who were so affected by Corona.
Before we let this genie out of the bottle, we need to mold our minds back to pre-corona mode. Life was never perfect. Life always had its ups and downs and challenges were the routine. How will we get out of this one? It seems so big. So many components need to fall back into place to make it, "life," work again.
There’s a famous quote, "The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step." Don't ever underestimate any small step you can take to get things started. Every little step in the right direction will lead 'you and yours' to the next level. The very fact that you embolden yourself to make a move when the going looks so tough, and the mountain seems unusually high, says a lot about you.
A family I work with, shared the following priceless experience with me: their 11-year-old is a genius, the wiz of the class, ahead of all his peers, a real Tzadik, kind of ready to be Bar Mitzvah. Four years after he was born, they had a baby girl, gorgeous round face, blonde hair, blue eyes, a beauty! The Simcha was huge, big Kiddush, outfits galore, the works.
After a while, they sadly started detecting some 'light' developmental issues. The light turned heavy, cumbersome; the cutie couldn't bring herself to talk, oy vey. Many long days and nights went by, Sweetie, please say something, say “Mommy” say “Tatty”. Say “Hi”, please...
But the little princess, and her creator, had other plans.
Although in most areas, she did reasonably well, her precious little mouth only did the crying and the eating, and when she cried, her parents cried along with her, big time. So many prayers, doctors and tears, became steady guests in their life.
This sad new normal, obviously took some attention off their amazing son, but he continued doing his thing and grew steadily and beautifully.
This past Chanukah, as they sit around the Menorah, singing and hoping, suddenly the seven-year-old darling just burst out and said: "LIGHT!”
The shrieking and emotions that filled that room were beyond description. The thrill and joy of the Chanukah miracle were overflowing any imagination. B”H she's doing better, and we're all hoping for a complete recovery.
When I met them, we discussed their experience and ways they can choose to empower themselves and continue the long ride ahead. In one of the conversations, the mother told me a statement that shook me to the core:
"Sometimes, one word that comes after much agony has a bigger impact than a million words said in routine."
Words VS. Deeds. Yes, indeed, it's so hard to go out there and start a new page. So much has changed, so much was lost, so many dreams were wiped off, so many plans and life's savings gone, but one small step and a sincere quest to succeed again, even in a small way, can and will, make a significant change and will I”yh ignite you to go forward.
Make that move. Shake off your fear. Get out there, enjoy the beautiful weather, and start doing what you do best: trying hard and going step by step. The destination is not so far, walk, jog, and run to a brighter future.
Oh, my uncle? By the end of the night, he shared the secret. He put on the empty bottle on a thin branch before the season, and the esrog just grew its way into the bottle. Once it grew to full size, he pulled the bottle off the branch, poured in the liquor into the bottle, and he was a superman.
Let's hold on to any branch, and we'll see our life blooming again.
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