Elul Day 18

Dear Elul Writers,

The eighteenth of Elul is the birth date of the Baal Shem Tov, the folk healer, mystical teacher and story teller who was the founding parent of Chasidism. The wisdom of the Baal Shem Tov is now shared and appreciated across the Jewish world and beyond. His profound tales are often included in sermons; in fact, I learned this story from a d’var Torah given by a friend.

My friend, Matan Koch, may his memory be a blessing, once turned me on to a story about the Baal Shem Tov that goes like this:

It was customary for the students of the Baal Shem Tov, when they concluded their personal prayers to form a circle around their teacher in order to witness his personal devotions that could often last for hours and hours. His swaying, his clapping, his conversations with the Kadosh Baruch Hu were a sight to behold and his chasidim didn’t want to miss a minute of their master’s prayers. One day, when they found themselves particularly hungry, they slipped off one by one to have a quick nosh before returning to their teacher’s presence. Yet, when they came back after only a few minutes their teacher had concluded his davening surprisingly early. They asked the great rebbe, “why were your prayers so short today?” He told them that he would explain by way of a parable. Once, a group was walking through a forest when their leader spotted an exotic bird high up in the branches. The leader said, “my fellows, let us capture that bird so that we might appreciate its song and its beauty.” The group looked high up into the tree and then back to their leader on the ground and said, “how could we get up so high to reach the bird?” Their leader replied, “If you each climb onto one another’s shoulders and form a chain, I will climb up to the uppermost person and we will be able to reach our desired goal.” This is exactly what happened, they formed a human ladder, person-by-person, so that their leader could ascend to the lofty heights. Eventually, though, when they grew hungry, they left for a bite to eat and the leader fell to the ground.

Matan would teach this story to demonstrate the ways in which we hold each other up in community. It was a sweet representation of his vision for a mutually supportive Jewish community. In order to reach our goals, we count on each person in the ladder. A missing rung could quickly turn an ascent into a descent. It is a beautiful teaching that feels truly bittersweet in a year where it feels like there is a rung missing in my ladder. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.

Prompt

Our spiritual lives and our personal journeys don’t happen in a vacuum. We count on others, on friends and family, on teachers and colleagues to lift us up. Tonight, as we do each Elul, I invite you to consider the missing rungs in your ladder. Every year there are people in this group who are mourning– friends who have lost parents, siblings, friends and teachers in the past year and many who during this season of return consider those they’ve lost in the past. Who are you thinking of this Elul? How can they continue to lift you up, even in their absence?

Sending love and comfort,

Jordan