From the Rabbis Desk:
Excitement is overflowing in the community as we are just days away from entering our new Shul! Everyone wants to help out but I'd like to tell you about a noteworthy phone call I received this week.
A seasonal resident of the area, the man said he would like to do something for the New Shul, 'But Rabbi', he warned me. 'I don't have groiser gelt! I'm just middle class.'
'And who else do you think is making this miracle happen?', I asked him, 'The people with groiser gelt?! No! It's ordinary people like you and me that are pushing themselves, those are the ones that are making this dream into a reality!'
The phone call was apropos to the Torah portion this week, where we learn that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai, in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
Why would G-d have chosen such an arid, desolate location for his grand wedding with mankind? Was the Waldorf Astoria already booked? Surely he could have found at least a 4 star hotel that had a vacancy for such an important event!?
The reason is powerful:
The Torah was given on a mound of earth because this is the essence of life:
Like Mount Sinai, which is nothing more than elevated earth, we too are created earthy and unremarkable with the task of elevating the ordinary; infusing spirit into the secular and meaning into the mundane.
G-d doesn't need holy people to be holy. He created us because he wants unholy people to be holy.
There's nothing special about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. But when an ordinary person does something extraordinary, that is truly amazing!
Like the arid Sinai, we are created ordinary people. Our job is to turn the dull into dynamic!
What is something extraordinary you will do today??