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If you take a look around the world,
you'll find many famous landmarks that
are instantly iconic from the Eiffel
Tower, the Colosseum, the Statue of
Liberty, the Burj Khalifa, the Taj
Mahal. You could literally place them
in the middle of nowhere and people
would still travel across the world just
to see them. They don't need context.
They are the context. They are the
attraction.
But, there's another type of place that
I kept finding myself going to over the
past several years. Places that don't
look like much when you first look at
them. In fact, if you zoom in, they look
kind of
ordinary. Just a village or a small
cliff or some buildings, nothing
special.
But then when you zoom out and you get a
panoramic view, and everything [music]
changes, and you realize you are in some
of the most magnificent places on Earth.
I want to show you what I mean.
Take Cinque Terre, Italy as an example.
When I walked [music]
through it zoomed in, all I saw were
colorful houses stacked on top of one
another and narrow streets and some
laundry hanging between the buildings.
Pretty, but not exactly mind-blowing.
But then you get to an angle where you
can zoom out and you realize this place
is not regular. This entire village is
literally [music] clinging to the edge
of a cliff dropping straight into the
ocean like it shouldn't even be
possible.
Or [music] take this hotel I stayed in
Krabi, Thailand. Zoomed in, it's just a
decent hotel by the ocean. But you zoom
out and you realize that it's sitting on
a tiny mini island surrounded [music] by
an emerald sea and giant limestone
cliffs shooting straight out of the
ocean. Or how about this in Hallstatt,
Austria, where we were lucky enough to
go. Zoomed in, pretty ordinary quiet
lakeside little village, cute, peaceful,
[music] normal. But you zoom out and it
becomes absolutely gorgeous. Or how
about this in Ronda, Spain? This was our
hotel right here.
Zoomed in, just a regular place to stay.
But then zoomed out and you realize the
entire city is split in half [music] by
a massive cliff with bridges hanging
across it like it's completely normal to
live on the edge of a canyon.
Or how about this village of Setenil de
las Bodegas in Spain? I spent the day
there. Zoomed in,
it's just a regular little medieval
village. But you zoom out and you
realize the entire [music] place is
built into a mountain. Or take the Ba Na
Hills in Vietnam, another hotel we
stayed in not too long ago. Zoomed in,
it looks like a small theme park [music]
with hotel. But you zoom out and you
realize that it's literally a city
floating balanced on top of a mountain
top above the clouds. How about this one
we stayed in in Kyoto? Or Alaska? Or
this one in Ninh Binh? Or Ha Long Bay?
Or Montserrat? Or Salzburg? Or Hong
Kong? Zoomed in, they're all ordinary.
Zoomed out and they are nothing short of
breathtaking. None of these places are
particularly impressive [music] when
you're up close.
But you only realize and appreciate
their beauty when you zoom out. Only
then do you see where they are and what
they're [music] built on and what
surrounds them. Now here's where it gets
interesting.
Because how many times do we do the
exact same thing to ourselves? How many
of us live our lives zoomed in staring
at our own little existence [music] from
only 3 in away? Zoomed in on our
routines, zoomed in on our flaws, zoomed
in on our struggles and our
imperfections, zoomed in on what we call
our normal life. And when we live like
that, everything starts to shrink.
[music]
Everything feels small and ordinary and
drastically unremarkable. And before
we've even lived most of our lives, we
quietly write the verdict and declare,
"That's it. I'm average. I'm regular.
I'm just an ordinary guy with an
ordinary career living an ordinary life.
I'm not doing [music]
anything breathtaking. I'm not changing
anything. I'm not building anything
world-shattering and world-shaking. I'm
just a guy."
And then, not only do we say that, but
then we spiritualize it by saying,
[music]
"You know what? That's probably what
Hashem wants from me in the end anyway.
Just be a fine ordinary Yid. So, that's
what I'll be. I'll do a little bit here.
I'll do a little bit there. I won't push
myself too hard. You know, obviously, I
don't want to be like an extremist or
anything. I just want to be normal. I
think that's what Hashem wants from me,
[music]
to just be sort of average and normal."
And so, we settle. Not because we chose
mediocrity, but because we feel like
mediocrity chose us. But not only is
that wrong, it's catastrophically wrong.
Because the same way some of the most
breathtaking [music] places on Earth are
actually just ordinary objects that
become extraordinary through the
context, like a mountain they stand in
front of or the history they carry or
the stories embedded in them, so too
you. You might feel like you're average.
You might feel ordinary. You might feel
random. But maybe your neshama is
standing at the edge of one of the most
spectacular spiritual places imaginable.
Maybe your life is like a small house
sitting at the edge of the Austrian
Alps. Where from the inch 3 in away just
looks like wooden walls and routine and
ordinary days, but when you zoom out,
suddenly that same house is sitting on
the edge of one of the most incredible
views in the world. Maybe your life is
like a simple home overlooking the rice
paddies of Vietnam. Where from the
inside of the house it feels repetitive
and ordinary and maybe even boring. But
from above, it's layered beauty, it's
depth, it's color and design make people
travel across the world just to see it.
Maybe your life isn't random at all.
Maybe your soul is the culmination of a
journey that didn't start with you, but
hundreds of years before you. Maybe your
strength is not just yours. [music] It's
finishing battles your ancestors started
and never got to complete, and the
completion is you. [music] Maybe your
emunah is the final chapter of tears
cried in ghettos and deserts and labor
camps and hidden basements and places no
one saw, but Hashem never forgot. Maybe
that ordinary job of yours isn't
ordinary at all. Or maybe Hashem placed
you there because that is your
battlefield. Maybe your real greatness
is learning to win where nobody is
watching. Maybe your job isn't just to
earn a living, but to become a giant in
something quiet and controlling your
tongue and refining your thoughts and
holding back lashon hara when it's
completely rampant everywhere around
you. Maybe that daily commute of yours,
you think it's wasted time, it's
actually your hidden window of eternity
where it's a built-in space where Hashem
gave you no distractions, just the
choice of what you let into your mind,
what you listen to, what you become.
Maybe [music] that struggle to stay
focused on a shiur when you're tired and
not in the mood is not a small at all.
Maybe that's your ultimate battle. Maybe
winning that battle is the final nail in
the cabin overlooking the Dolomites. You
have no idea what story you're
finishing. You have no idea whose quiet
sacrifices are reaching their
fulfillment [music]
through you. You have no idea what whose
grandparents' mesiras nefesh is finally
landing in your actions. You have no
idea which grandmothers' whispered
feelas are still echoing inside of your
neshama. You have no idea how many
generations fought and davened [music]
and bled just so you could be you. There
is no such thing as a random Jewish
life. Yeah, maybe from up close you look
ordinary, but from the perspective of
heaven, from the perspective of Jewish
history, from the perspective of
eternity, you're not standing on
something small. [music] You are
standing inside of a masterpiece, and
the only reason it doesn't look like one
yet is because you're still inside of
it.
