Vayakel- The Lion Ability

[Music] the Michigan was an extraordinarily beautiful and magnificent building built from phenomenally delicate and rare materials ever wonder how did the Jews in the desert learn the complex skills to make the mishan the Michigan was not exactly a log cabin it was an extremely intricate and sophisticated building requiring tremendous knowledge and experience and a vast array of skills so where did the Jews who for decades prior were sleeves in Egypt Master skills such as wood carving masonry gem cutting as well as complex sewing and weaving the SE are skills that would normally take people years of training and diligent effort to master how exactly did they become expert Craftsman in such amount of time so I once attended a near laf malava Mala was a night of workshops and inspiration geared to individuals planning and becoming Community leaders teachers Executives rabbis Etc essentially a gett together of some of the young Future Leaders of the Jewish people so the first idea that was discussed came from ralo Cutler the rashash Shiva of Bas medish Gava in lakew the largest Yeshiva in America the second largest Yeshiva in the world he asked the following question we all know the story of Yakov running away from ASV Yakov sort of stole the Bros from his brother ASV ASV wants to kill him yo runs away while he's walking he comes across a well he's thirsty he's tired he gets to the well and he sees a whole bunch of shepherds just sitting around so Yakov turns to them and he asks uh what are you guys waiting for so they turn to him and they say you don't see that 900lb rock on top of the well we're waiting for the other Shepherds to come so we can all Roll Off The Rock together oh says yakob let me help you so he rolls up his sleeves and he flicks off the rock like it's a bottle cap they make a little and the story's over right we all know the story so ask R moio what exactly is Thea telling me with that story what exactly is Thea trying to tell us with the story that Yakov was a bodybuilder that Yakov was secretly lifting weights in his bedroom after ASV went to sleep the Tyra describes in Vivid detail how Yakov mustard up the strength to single-handedly throw off the rock performing a feat of strength that normally required an entire group of men to accomplish okay what is the Torah trying to tell us with the story asra moio so he explained by pointing out a fundamental difference between the secular physical world and the spiritual one in the secular world one only has re responsibilities if he has abilities meaning if one finds himself on an airplane and all of a sudden someone has a heart attack those who know nothing about emergency medicine just sit there they don't do anything for there is nothing for them to do but those that do on the other hand those that have some experience in emergency medicine paramedics EMTs hotella guys nurses doctors surgeons have a sort of unspoken responsibility to get up and help the guy this is not the case in the spiritual world in the spiritual World ability does not lead to responsibility rather responsibility leads to Ability I'll say it again in the spiritual World ability does not lead to responsibility rather responsibility leads to Ability thrusting responsibilities on oneself will grant one the spiritual and physical abilities to carry them out says rokio Yakov is called by the Torah in ish yosim he sat in his tent and he learned he didn't work out he did not play football he wasn't a bodybuilder he was a bookworm out of the group of men that day standing around the well he was probably the least fit to Li lift the Rock by himself yet he was equipped with the one attribute that the others were not he knew how to thrust upon himself responsibilities knowing full well that if sincere it would bring abilities Yakov knew that a Jew doesn't look at a mountain and say I can't climb it a Jew looks up at a mountain and says I must climb it and then he can hasem grants him the ability to do so as an aside points out that this idea is expressed explicitly in gem is the special prayer we pray for reain on suus WE beseech Hashem in the Merit of our forefathers to bring us Reign so when we turn to the Merit of yakob we say zor to mlo remember the one yakob who carried his staff he dedicated his heart and rolled a stone off the mouth of a well what do you mean had laid he dedicated his heart and rolled a stone off the well he rolled up his sleeves he flexed his muscles and he rolled off the stone that's how he was able to do it nah wrong says Reply y was an is Yos he wasn't naturally physically strong because and only only because he dedicated his heart was he able to move that stone so the ran explains similarly in our par that when these men in the desert heard the intricacies of the mishkon they didn't tell themselves they weren't able to they didn't tell themselves they didn't have the training they didn't tell themselves they couldn't they told themselves they must the burning desire in their hearts to contribute actually gave them the ability to do so the Tyra referred to those people who wound up being the Craftsmen of the mishan as naso Libo they were not any more talented than the others in the desert they were not the great grandchild of Masters of trade they didn't run off to some cave in Japan to learn these skills they were people with hearts on fire ready to serve Hashem ready to shoulder the responsibility ready to step up to the plate their instinctive reaction was not I can't it was I must and therefore Hashem gave them the ability to do so so M continue that when a rabbi or a teacher or a rashash Shiva or an executive or a community leader sets forth he should do so he should go forth with the attitude of I must and therefore I can I must do and therefore Hashem will give me the ability to do so how inspiring for us how often do we not take upon ourselves that speech that sheer that class that CED that hosting opportunity that cure of opportunity that Shiva call rationalizing to ourselves that we just can't we don't have the right personality we tell ourselves it's not my skill set it's just not who I am it's not me we tell ourselves these mishun Builders should Inspire us to think a little differently they should transform us from an I can't person to one who says I must out of all the animals in the entire animal world the lion is referred to as the king of the jungle ever wonder why the lion is not the fastest animal a cheetah is far faster the lion isn't the strongest animal an elephant is far stronger a lion isn't the fiercest animal a hyena is far fiercer the lion isn't the deadliest animal a kodo dragon is far deadlier so then what is it about the lion that makes it the king of the jungle how did the lion make it to the top of the pack so there is one trait that makes a lion stand out there is one trait that the lion possesses that other animals do not and that is that the lion is one 100% Fearless a lion will stand at the edge of a plateau and see its cub that fell below it will gauge the height and see that it is too deep for it to jump and you know what it will do it will jump anyway a lion will see food on the top of a mountain and will determine that the mountain is too high to climb and you know what it will do it will climb anyway a lion will see its mate struggling in a raging River with water too powerful to swim in you know what it will do it will swim anyway a lion will see a Predator lurking determine that it is too strong to fight that predator and you know what it will do it will fight anyway the word Jew or Judaism is a derivative of the word Judah or Yehuda Yehuda was the father of the kings of Judaism in the Torah he is also referred to as a lion we carry his name because we carry his lion Spirit we carry the ability to be Fearless to negate preconceived notions about our our own abilities to stare fear in the eye and Beat It we have the ability to thrust on our backs responsibilities that did not seem possible we are called Jews for we are descendants of spiritual Lions if we remember our namesake we too can join their Roar [Music]