Newsletter May 14, 2013 - 5 Sivan 5773
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The idea was brilliant, at least for a five-year-old, and seems to have fostered a popular Shavuot custom. Staring out the window, I realized how all the colors were sparkling after a heavy rain; the trees, the grass, the flowers, everything looked brighter and healthier. I was sitting with my sister and painting with watercolors. She is blessed with fantastic artistic gifts, and my paintings were dull compared to her masterpieces, so I decided I would make the colors better. I ran into the kitchen took a cup of water and sprinkled water over my painting, imitating rainfall, and waited for all the colors to brighten. "Are you crazy," asked my sister. "No, I'm just trying to water the colors to make them brighter, just like the rain." My imitation rainfall didn't work. My painting was ruined. There's a difference between watering what is alive, and sprinkling water over some children's watercolor that has no life of its own.
A few days after my failed artistic experiment, I entered the Yeshiva on Shavuot night, holding my father's hand. When I saw the room decorated with branches and flowers, I began pulling on his arm, "I was right! I was right!" I told my bewildered father about my experiment with rain, and he lifted me in his arms and squeezed me, and laughingly said, "Yes, you were right. Torah is compared to water, and it has to rain on living things, which is why we fill the synagogue with branches and flowers, reminders of the colors of life."
The lesson I learned from my imitation rain is true about learning. Passionate learning that rains on a living, vibrant, mind, will bring out all the brightest and most magnificent colors. No matter how wonderful the learning, if it falls on a human being who is living as nothing more than a faded watercolor, it will not brighten the soul, it can almost dilute it. A teacher's first responsibility is to stir the soul, stimulate the mind, and wake the spirit of the student. All the greatest learning in the world will not work before the student is fully connected to life.
Each flower and branch we put out for Shavuot is a reminder to approach the festival with our spirits engaged, vibrant, filled with brilliant colors, so that we will be ready to absorb and reflect the waters of Torah and come out shining, sparkling in all the colors of life.
Chag Sameiach
Rabbi Simcha L. Weinberg President If you are interested in sponsoring our  winning Newsletter, please email info@thefoundationstone.org Go to our Blog  Follow us on Twitter   Become a Fan  |
