To Live with the Times

"We all must live with the times."



Those were the words of the Rebbe Shneur Zalman to his disciples before he secluded himself in his room. But what could they mean?
Could he possibly mean that the Divine intention was for man to keep up with the latest fashion and news?
So Rabbi Yehuda Leib, the Rebbe's brother, explained to the Chassidim that 'Living with the times' meant to connect with, learn from, & live with every week's Torah Portion.

Well, let's take a look at the week we find ourselves in.
As we leave the high holiday spirit that coursed throughout the Hebrew month of Tishrei, with Rosh Hashana,Yom Kippur, and who could forget Sukkot & Simchat Torah, we find ourselves ready to enter the month of Cheshvan.
Cheshvan? Check your calendars people, there's no special holiday of note (except for the weekly Shabbat of course).
Talk about a downer! From a month full of inspiration - to nada??

This week's Torah portion is Noah. Let's see if we can find in it any help to this problem and "live with the times."
In the portion we see Noah's building of a massive ark at G-d's Command, saving his family & members of the animal kingdom,and together surviving a tumultuous flood, finally arriving on land in order to restore goodness to a once corrupt earth....
Well, it looks like the 1st life lesson for this time of year is clear in our parsha! How so?

Life in this physical world is full of tests and challenges, physical & financial, troubles that engulf us like flood waters.
G-d Knows this and therefore Gives us a respite at times from these worries of the physical world, by granting us holy slots in time to take a step back.
He Brings us into an ark of holiness. Our Sages tell us that in Noah's ark, no animal attacked another, despite the cramped area and mixture of predators with prey. This is because the ark contained a holiness within it, a pervasive holiness akin to the time of the future redemption, when "The wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a young goat." (Isaiah 11:6)

Noah's ark symbolizes the month of Tishrei, an "ark" that contained us within it & shielded us from the troublesome waters of the mundanity of everyday affairs. But like we see with Noah, the purpose of the protection of the ark from the flood was not in order to only remain in it's holy environment, but in order to be strengthened to eventually re-enter the world and replenish it for the good.

As we leave the ark of Tishrei & enter the new world of Cheshvan, let's live with Noah and his mission to re-enter the world fresh and invigorated,
ready to make the world into the world G-d Intended it to be. A world full of Torah and Mitzvot, good deeds and kind words, love and joy.
The inspiration of Tishrei has strengthened us to re-invigorate the world for good.
So let's get to it!

Shabbat Shalom!

Daniel