FULFILLING OUR POTENTIAL - VAYAKHEL

In the midst of its account of the building of the Mishkan that Torah states that, “Every man whose heart inspired him came.. ” The Ramban writes that this refers to those who came to do the work of weaving, sewing and building. Where did these people learn how to perform such skilled crafts? The Ramban answers that they found deep within their teva the ability to do them. These formerly hidden powers came about as a result of their deep desire to fulfill the ratson Hashem by helping to build the Mishkan. As a result of their burning desire, Hashem gave them the ability to do things that they had never been taught!

There is a well-known principle that Hashem grants us a unique set of talents with which they can fulfill their potential in life. Whilst this is certainly true it seems that it can be somewhat misapplied: As we grow up we naturally become aware of our strengths and weaknesses - there is the tendency that we can limit our activities to areas in which our strengths lie and ignore those fields in which we fell less able. For example, a person may feel that he is adept at speaking in front of small groups but that he cannot speak in front of large audiences. Thus, even when there is a necessity for someone to speak in such a setting, he will shy away from the responsibility because he has ‘pigeon-holed’ himself as being unable to speak in front of many people. We learn from the Ramban that this is an erroneous attitude - the people who stepped forward to work in the Mishkan had no awareness that they were able to perform such skilled crafts - however, as a result of their devotion to Hashem they found hitherto untapped talents that could be used to fulfill ratson Hashem. So too, in our own lives there may be times when there is a need for a certain task to be performed and we may feel that we are unable to perform it - however, the Mishna in Avos tells us that, “in a place where there are no men, be a man.” The Mishna does not qualify its exhortation by saying that you should only stand up where there is no man in an area where you feel highly capable. Rather, the only criteria that we should examine is whether there is anyone else who can perform the required task as well as we can. And if there is not, then if we dedicate ourselves to doing ratson Hashem then surely Hashem will bring out in us hidden talents.

There are many examples of people who were inspired to bring out hidden talents and consequently achieved great things; one of the most remarkable is that of the Netsiv zt”l. When he completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer, but there was another, more personal reason as well. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard them discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it greatly shocked him and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this incident has such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol. How did he achieve so much? Because he developed a desire to be great in learning - it was through this desire that he found in his teva hitherto undiscovered ability to learn Torah to a very high level.

One may respond to this story by arguing that not everybody can become such a great Talmid Chacham, however Jewish history shows that we need not necessarily be a Gadol to achieve great things - sometimes there are other areas of expertise which are required in order to bring about a fulfillment of ratson Hashem. Reb Dovid Dryan zt”l provides us with an excellent example of such a case. He was a pious shochet known for his adherence to shemiras halashon. However, there is one more thing that makes him stand out - he was directly responsible for the founding and running of the Gateshead Yeshiva and played a significant role in the formation of the Gateshead Kollel and Seminary. To a significant degree, his dedication is responsible for the fact that Gateshead is known as the greatest Torah center in Europe through which thousands of boys and girls have received a high level Torah education. How did Reb Dovid Dryan achieve this? When he came to live in Gateshead he found that there was no Yeshiva there. He said to himself, “how can I live in a place where there is no Yeshiva?!” This may be a question that many of us would ask in a similar situation. However, he did not suffice with just asking the question - he took action; he devoted much time and effort to achieve a seemingly impossible task in the face of considerable opposition. He took on many tasks which were not necessarily within the areas of his expertise, including fundraising and administration. He could have easily felt that he was a shochet and that was where his responsibilities to the community ended. Instead he motivated himself to do what was needed and Hashem granted him the ability to succeed .

Despite these inspiring stories one could still argue that he has in the past made an effort in certain fields and not been successful - consequently he feels that he is exempt from taking responsibility in these areas. The Chofetz Chaim addresses this claim; he points out how much effort we invest into our own interests. For example, if a business venture is not going well, a person will not simply give up, rather he will constantly think how he can improve the situation - he will seek advice from other businessmen and eventually he will often succeed. So too, he writes, “If Ratson Hashem was of equal value to a person as are his own personal affairs, he would seek advice and strategies how to build up Torah so that it does not weaken, and surely Hashem will help him find ways to succeed… however we do not do so in heavenly matters. When one sees that there is no way to improve the situation he immediately gives up and exempts himself from having to do anything. ” If we were willing to apply the same effort in Avodas Hashem as in our financial interests then we could surely rise above our accepted limits.

There is a remarkable present day example of a person who lives these words of the Chofetz Chaim. Rav Meir Shuster Shlita is naturally a shy person who is most happy in the Beis Medrash learning or davenning. However, many years ago, he recognized a need in Klal Yisroel - every day dozens of secular Jews would visit the Kotel and return back to their lives empty of Torah. He saw the necessity to approach these people and offer them accommodation in a hostel that could serve as the base with which to encourage the visitors to go to Yeshiva or Seminary. Consequently, he took it upon himself to go against his teva and walk up to these strangers and engage them in conversation. After doing this for many years, it is impossible to know how many hundreds of lives have been changed by his bold decision to do something against his teva because he felt it was Ratson Hashem. But it is clear that had he limited himself to his natural areas of strength then the world would have greatly suffered for it.

The people who raised up their hearts to fulfill Ratson Hashem found powers that they could never imagine they possessed. We too have the ability to break beyond our limits and achieve the seemingly impossible.

SURPASSING OUR POTENTIAL - VAYECHI

In Parshas Vayechi, Yaakov Avinu elevates his two grandsons, Ephraim and Menashe, to the status of Shevatim (tribes). In the course of the process he bestowed on them a blessing that has become the standard blessing by which we bless our sons to this very day. “So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Israel bless, saying; ‘May G-d make you like Ephraim and like Menashe.” The commentaries ask, why did Yaakov instruct the Jewish people to bless our sons to be like Ephraim and Menashe more than anyone else. This question is strengthened by the fact that we bless our daughters to be like the Imahos (Matriarchs). That being the case, it would seem most logical to bless our sons to be like the Avos (Patriarchs).
One of the answers given is that Ephraim and Menashe achieved more than their potential; up to this point, only the sons of Yaakov Avinu merited to be considered among the twelve Tribes. Ephraim and Menashe were not sons of Yaakov, and therefore were not destined to be one of the Tribes. However, because of their greatness , Yaakov elevated them to the status of Shevatim. In this way, they achieved the incredible accomplishment of reaching beyond their potential. Accordingly, we bless our children to emulate Ephraim and Menashe, in that we aspire for them to reach beyond their potential.

The Targum Yonasan writes that Yaakov was saying that one should bless their son to be like Ephraim and Menashe, at the bris mila in particular. It seems that this interpretation fits with the idea that we want our son to emulate Ephraim and Menashe in the area of becoming great. We see this in the prayer that we say at the bris; ‘may this kattan become a gadol’. This doesn’t mean that we want this small boy to grow up into a large man. Rather, ‘gadlus’ in this context refers to spiritual greatness. We bless our child to become truly great, as did Ephraim and Menashe.

This idea teaches a person that he should aspire to surpass his own potential, but it also educates a parent as to his aspirations for his children. He should not suffice in bringing up his child to be an ‘ordinary’ Jew, rather he should aim to facilitate that his child become ‘great’. Moreover, it is insufficient that a parent merely ‘want’ that his child become great, rather he should try to actively facilitate his child’s path to greatness in how he raises him. Rav Yaakov Kamentsky zt”l expresses this idea based on a lesson in Parshas Shemos. When Moshe Rabbeinu as a baby was picked out of the water by Basya, the daughter of Pharaoh, she tried to have the Egyptian women nurse him, but he refused to drink their milk. Rashi explains that this was because, in the future, Moshe “would speak with the shechina”.

Rashi’s explanation has an application in Jewish law. The Rema states that one should not feed a baby with milk from a non-Jewish woman, if possible. The Vilna Gaon comments that the source of the Rema is the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu would not drink from the milk of the Egyptian women. Rav Kamenetsky asks how we can apply Moshe’s case to that of every child. In the case of Moshe, the reason why he wouldn’t drink from their milk was because he would, in the future speak with the Divine Presence, however, that reason is inapplicable to everyone else. He answers, that we learn from here that we must bring up our children as if they could possibly reach the level where they will speak to the Divine Presence. Accordingly, we must raise them in such a way that is congruent with them becoming great people.

Rav Kamenetsky applies this explanation to how careful we should be to bring up our children in the most holy and pure fashion, free from negative influences. This is a most pertinent lesson in today’s environment. A parent may feel that there is little harm in exposing his child to all types of modern technology that infiltrates into every part of daily living. However, such exposure can very easily involve his child being exposed to influences and visions that are not conducive to a person achieving spiritual greatness. Thus, even if they don’t spiritually destroy a child (which they often do), then they will surely hinder him from achieving his true potential, and certainly from overtaking his potential as did Ephraim and Menashe.
We learn from Yaakov’s blessing to his grandsons, that every parent should aspire for his children to reach and even surpass their potential. This aspiration should manifest itself in actions as well as attitude. May we all merit to surpass our own potential and bring up children to exceed all our expectations.

FULFILLING OUR POTENTIAL - YOM KIPPUR

As we approach Yom Kippur we recognise that there is a great necessity to contemplate our shemiras hamitzvos - where we have erred and where we need to do teshuva. However there is another vital aspect of Avodas Hashem that we are less aware of, that we also need to analyse: In the tefillas for the Yamim Noraim we state that man is judged, ‘maaseh ish u’pekudaso’. ‘Maaseh ish’ refers to one’s shemiras hamitzvos but what does ‘pekudaso’ mean? Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlovitz zt”l explains that ‘pekudaso’ refers to man’s tafkid, his purpose in this world. Every individual is placed in this world with a specific job to accomplish and he is judged according to whether he devoted enough effort into reaching this goal. Even if a person has kept all the mitzvos, he may still be taken to task if he did not fulfil his potential. It seems that this Avoda is even more difficult than that of shemiras hamitzvos as is seen by the following examples.

When the Netziv completed his commentary on the Sheiltos, ‘Emek Sheila’ he made a seuda, partly because that is the custom when one completes a sefer but he had another, more personal reason. He related that when he was a boy he was not particularly serious about his Torah studies. His parents made every effort to help him change his attitude but to no avail. One day he overheard his parents discussing his lack of success in Torah learning - they decided that he had no prospect of becoming a Talmid Chacham and therefore he should learn to become a cobbler. They hoped that at least he would be a yirei shamayim who would go about his work with honesty and dedication. When he heard this, it shocked him greatly and he decided to take his Torah studies seriously - this event had such an impact on him that it led to a complete change in his attitude and he became a Gadol, he was Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin and wrote a number of classic sefarim. Imagine if he had never had this change of attitude and he would have become a simple cobbler who observed Torah and Mitzvos with genuine yiras shamayim. He would have gone up to shamayim confident that he had led a Torah true lifestyle, keeping the mitzvos, and being kovaya ittim l‘Torah. Instead they would have shown him the Emek Sheila, he would look at it and have no understanding of its content. They would ask him, where’s your Emek Sheila, where are all the sefarim that you could have written? He would have lived his life with no idea of what he could have become. It was only through a dramatic change in his attitude that he was able to reach his true potential - to be a Gadol b’Yisroel.

There are other allusions to this concept in the Yom Kippur davenning. At Mincha we read Maftir Yonah - what is the significance of the story of Yonah for Yom Kippur? Of course it teaches us about teshuva but the Mishna Berurah brings another connection. Yonah shows us that “one cannot escape from Hashem.” He elaborates in the Shaar Hatzion; sometimes a person gives up in life, feeling that he cannot achieve what he is meant to, “however, this is a mistake, for eventually, everything that Hashem wants this soul to fix, he must fix, and return many times to Olam Hazeh [in order to do so]… if that is the case, why should he go through the pain of death and ‘Chibut hakever’ and other difficulties and return yet again?” We learn a vital lesson from Yonah. He tried to escape G-d’s plan but could not: We too are all assigned a task to fulfil, but we have a tendency to try to avoid it; Why? It may be because it seems too difficult, or because we don’t feel we can achieve it or we do not want to take the responsibility. But whatever the reason is, we learn from Yonah that we must not escape our tachlis.

After Mincha we enter into the Neila prayers - the climax of Yom Kippur, the day of teshuva. But strangely, we do not say the vidui in the Neila Shemoneh Esrei; where do we express our feelings of teshuva in Neila? The Chiddushei HaRim zt”l answers that our teshuva is found in the words, “so that we can withdraw our hands from stealing.” Why do we davke mention the sin of stealing ahead of all others in Neila? He explains that this does not just refer to regular stealing, but to the fact that Hashem gives us so many gifts, money, food, housing, talents, opportunities, all in order to help us fulfil our role in life. But what do we do? We misuse those gifts for different goals - that is considered stealing, using gifts that are given for a certain purpose and using them for something else . As we approach the final moments of Yom Kippur we have, hopefully, already cleansed ourselves of our aveiros, but now, at the climax of the holiest day of the year, we also repent for failing to use our G-d given talents for the right reasons, and we express our intentions that, this year, we will do our utmost to use them to fulfil our potential. But we must really mean it: Everyone, at some point in their life is given an opportunity to do something significant for Klal Yisroel. Often, we refuse the opportunity, finding many excuses to avoid it. What is frightening about this is that a person may go through life having missed his golden chance to fulfil his potential and he will never realise it - he won’t necessarily feel that his life was missing anything. However, when he goes up to shamayim he may be faced with the same question that Avraham Avinu, the Netsiv and Reb Dovid Dryan could answer - where is the heavenly you, where is your true potential?

This idea is indeed something that should be a cause of concern for people - a person should often ask himself, ‘am I fulfilling my potential? Am I achieving what Hashem wants me to? How could I do more?’ However, this should also be an exciting idea - each of us has the ability to achieve true greatness, each one in his own specific way. How much can one person achieve? On a visit to Aish Hatorah, Rav Shach zt”l was astounded to see so many baalei teshuva - people who came from nothing but whom, through the efforts of a few dedicated and idealistic people, had returned to Torah. This was at a time when the baal teshuva movement had barely begun and it was not believed possible that it could ever take off. In his astonishment at what beheld his eyes he stood up and spoke: He quoted the passuk that we read in the haftara of Shabbos Shuva: “Return, Israel, to Hashem, your G-d, because you have stumbled in your iniquity .” He asked, that the passuk implies that the fact that we have sinned so badly is a reason why we should be able to return to Hashem - why is this so? He answered by bringing the concept that however much evil can do, good can achieve at least as much. Therefore, if a person can turn away from Hashem so much, then surely he can return to Him to an even greater extent. Similarly, if history has shown us that one man can destroy six million lives, then surely one man can save six million lives! With siata dishmaya, we cannot imagine what we can achieve, but it is surely beyond our wildest imaginations - but if we only try to make the effort and take the opportunities that come our way or even better, create our own opportunities, the we can begin to transform our imagination into reality.
We should all be zocheh to fulfill our true potential.