Delayed, Not Diminished
This Monday I had the honor to travel to NY, post the Rebbe's Yurzeit on 3 Tammuz to visit the Ohel.
We finished early and since I'm very smart I decided to change my flight from 8:30 to leave a little earlier to the 6 PM flight.
On my way to the airport it starts.
6:00 became 7:30
7:30 became 8:34
8:34 became 9:10
9:10 became 10:14
10:14 became 10:47
10:47 became 11:34
11:34 became 12:46
12:46 became canceled flight!
I realized it would be a long night. I called Delta to see if I can be rescheduled to a morning flight. I'd go back to Crown Heights, get a decent night's sleep and arrive in Atlanta in time for my JLI class. Delta tells me that the first available flight would be 2 PM the next day. No go.
As I'm sitting in the terminal, the pilot from an earlier flight that had been delayed for 6 hours gets off the plane and asks for the microphone. He says the following; dear friends thank you for your patience. On account of the weather our flight was rerouted from LGA to Philadelphia. We'll do our best to get you out of here quickly. The powerful weather is a reminder of how small we are.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches that one needs to learn a lesson in the service of Hashem. The pilot's words didn't land well with me as a thought from Hayom Yom came into my mind; "Chassidus is Divine intelligence, an understanding which shows man how small he is, and how great he can become."
The Rebbe told us that we are not small, we are great! Coming from the Rebbe's yurzeit this was a reminder.
As I've written recently, we live in a time where we need to get in touch with our Neshama and the superpower that it is.
The Torah portion of this week as an antidote to the hate that we are experiencing in the world. Bilaam the non Jewish Prophet wants to curse the Jews, but G-d says don't curse them. So he says let me bless them, G-d says, they don't need your blessings, they are already blessed.
Wow! We are loved by Hashem, we are embraced by Hashem, we are GREAT in Hashem's eyes. What else do we need? We are empowered to live proud and Jewish!
My flight was cancelled at 11:00, suddenly there was space on the 7 AM flight.
I returned to Crown Heights to catch a few hours of sleep and returned bright and early to the airport to arrive in Atlanta in time to teach my JLI class and a little more humble and empowered about my place in the world!
Good Shabbos!
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