Crossing Paths
I was once invited to the home of a fantastically wealthy individual. As I toured his house, which was more like a mansion, I noticed that the walls were covered with expensive pictures, each worth a small fortune. Every corner announced his wealth. Sad to say, I did not feel any measure of holiness in this home.
But then the master of the house brought me into an inner chamber. This room was truly magnificent. It contained an Aron Hakodesh which was completely coated in silver. When the man opened its door, I was stunned by the brilliance of approximately ten Sifrei Torah resting there! I stood there, speechless in awe. But suddenly, I was shaken at discovering a picture of a cross, resting beside the Aron Hakodesh.
“What is this?” I asked, weakly. “Why do you possess a cross, the symbol of idolatry?”
“Oh, that,” he answered, dismissively. “It’s only a picture. I don’t pay much attention to it, surely never considering it idolatry, chas v’shalom.”
I was enflamed by his answer. I rebuked him severely for allowing an idol into his home, and placing it beside the Aron Hakodesh, of all places. As I left his house, I reflected upon what I had observed. I realized that this man could have such a perverted outlook as to keep a cross next to an Aron Hakodesh only because he never sought the truth. This man never invested effort in his Avodat Hashem. He was satisfied with observing mitzvot, marrying off his children to Jews, and keeping Shabbat and kashrut. Concerning matters of Judaism, he obeyed only his intellectual instructions. This brought him to such a level of self-contradiction that he could placidly place a cross beside an Aron Hakodesh filled with Sifrei Torah.
His life was missing its primary aspect, exertion in the service of Hashem. Had this rich man endeavored to attain the pure truth, he would never have come to perpetuate such a sham. A Jew who seeks the undistilled truth, with no ulterior motives, is helped by Hashem to find the light of the holy Torah. But without this exertion, one will never advance in his Avodat Hashem.
