Nothing here is on autopilot
Your phone screen looks perfectly still right now. It isn't. It's redrawing itself dozens of times a second. If the refresh stopped, the picture wouldn't freeze. It would just be gone. It seems constant, but really, it's a flipbook.
I used to think the world works differently. Hashem built it once, a long time ago, wound it up, and now it runs on its own; the laws of nature, the economy's ups and downs, the doctors with their metrics, the businesses with their bottom line, etc. Our job is to manage as best we can inside the machine.
Chabad Chassidus says that the words "Let there be" never stopped being spoken. They are holding up the sky right now. The world isn't on autopilot. It is being refreshed.
Most of us carry a quiet assumption that the "real world" and our Jewish life are competing. Spirituality is for Shabbos and the rest of the week belongs to the market, the commute, and of course the inbox. Bringing Hashem into the hours that pay the bills can feel unrealistic, even impossible. After all, the world has its own rules.
Simchat Torah was also homecoming weekend for some of the kids. Hoping we could show the kids that the fun part of Judaism matters just as much as the serious part, I texted parents to bring their kids. "It's always a challenge to find the balance living a secular life when there's so many things going on" was an honest response I received.
The juggle is real. I replied that my job is to be the spiritual personal trainer, always encouraging a little more. No pressure:)
I've been thinking about the word "balance" ever since. Balance pictures two weights on opposite sides of a scale, so that every hour given to one side is taken from the other.
But consider where the world comes from. The same Torah that says "let there be light" and "six days you shall work" also says "I am the L-rd your G-d," along with all 613 mitzvos. The world can't truly stand in the way of the mitzvos because both come from the same source. They aren't on two sides of a scale; they are one life.
A person who lives with this awareness lives a G-dly secular life. Walking down the street or in the middle of a business deal, they say a verse from Tehillim or share something they learned in Torah. A single good deed can tip the entire world to the side of merit. When you know the world is Hashem's, your one deed doesn't only change you. It changes all of creation.
The messages we impart are what our kids see.
The Chabad Rebbes had a well-known saying about this week: the way a person sets himself up on Shabbos Bereishis, is the way his whole year goes. So how do we "set ourselves up" this Shabbos?
Pick one moment each day this week. Modeh Ani (here is a pdf) when you wake up is a perfect start. It literally thanks Hashem for returning your soul to you fresh. In that moment, remind yourself that Hashem just made this day new, on purpose, for you.
Come start the Torah from the very beginning with us this Shabbos.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Kushi Schusterman