Fitting Vessels
My teacher, Rabbi Binyomin Zev Kaufman, shlita, who taught me in Sunderland when I was young, once came to visit our home in Lyon. He said that he came for only a short time, in order to receive my words of inspiration in Avodat Hashem.
- The yeshiva building in Sunderland, England
I was dumbstruck by his words. That I, a simple student, should offer words of chizuk to this giant, who established Torah institutions and taught untold numbers of disciples?!
“When I observe my disciples going on to disseminate words of Torah and bring people closer to Hashem, I am greatly encouraged,” he explained. Then he added an incisive question. “Why is it,” he asked, “that Hashem gave the Torah to Am Yisrael? We are poor human beings, constantly beset by challenges and tests. Why did He see fit to grant us the Torah, which is so full of obligations and prohibitions? How can He expect us to live up to its commands?”
He answered his own question. “When a vessel is complete, it is capable of holding liquid. And it can also pour of its contents into other vessels. So, too, is the man who makes himself into a fitting vessel for the Torah. If one exerts himself in order to acquire Torah, it becomes a part of him, enabling him to observe all the many mitzvot. When one fills himself to the brim with Torah and mitzvot, performing Hashem’s will meticulously, he is capable of influencing others, as well.
“This is the subject of kiruv rechokim, bringing others under the wings of the Shechinah. One pours into others from the Torah which he worked hard to attain, his virtue influencing them to come closer to Hashem. The question of why Hashem gave us such a difficult Torah no longer exists, for with inner drive and determination, the Torah will be his acquisition, spilling forth from him into others, as well.”
