This past Wednesday marked my brother's Yahrzeit. David, Alav Hashalom, traversed this planet through many personal challenges. If things did not work out in one place, he would eventually pick himself up and travel to another location. Upon his return to Marin after one of these attempted escapes, he lamented to me, “You know I thought things would be different in the new location, but wherever I went, there I was.”
Change yourself, and your location will automatically be transformed.
In this week's Torah portion, Devarim, we are told of non-geographic locations. Instead of marking where the Jewish People were, these locations described where they were at.
“These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite the Red Sea, between Paran, and Tofel, and Lavan, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.” (Deut. 1:1) Rashi comments: “Rabbi Yochanan said: We searched through all of Scripture and did not find any place named Tofel or Lavan. Rather, it means that he rebuked them for having maligned the manna, which is white (לָבָן), by saying: “and we are weary of this light bread!” And also, for what they did in the Paran Desert in the incident of the spies.”
Location is not solely a spatial phenomenon. Where we are is determined by our geographic coordinates, and more importantly, by our emotional and spiritual coordinates. (Many years ago, I was trying to put my daughter to sleep. After many failed attempts and much frustration, I looked at her and said, “You are driving me bonkers!” My four-year-old daughter turned up her wide brown eyes and replied, “Tatty, where is Bonkers?” All of my frustration evaporated.)
There is another such location for the Jewish People. It is a long-awaited destination and fulfillment of our collective Jewish dreams and aspirations. This place is Zion. The Haftarah of this week is the beginning of the book of Isaiah. The paragraph concludes (paraphrased and elucidated): “Zion is redeemed through divine alignment — the soul’s clarity in discerning truth. And those who return to her are uplifted by the flow of sacred giving and holy repair.” (Isaiah 1:27)
Tziyon is the essential spiritual center of the Jewish people. It is presently located right inside of you.
Metzuyan!
Now, I hadn’t come to become a Shliach [Chabad-Lubavitch emissary]. I’d come to ask a few simple questions, and all of a sudden he was challenging me. So I did the English thing. You know, the English can construct sentences like nobody else, you know? They can construct more complex excuses for doing nothing, than anyone else on earth. (laughter)
So I started the sentence, "In the situation in which I find myself..." – and the Rebbe did something which I think was quite unusual for him, he actually stopped me in mid-sentence. He says, "Nobody finds themselves in a situation; you put yourself in a situation. And if you put yourself in that situation, you can put yourself in another situation."
That moment changed my life.