Life is an Ocean | Rabbi Elazar Meisels

In a letter written by R’ Akiva Eiger to his prize Talmid, R’ Naftali Hirsch, R’ Akiva Eiger decried the sorrow state of the Rabbanus and asked R’ Naftali Hirsch to see if maybe he can find him something else that he can do. R’ Akiva Eiger wrote him, he said, Don't wonder about the fact that so many have been in the Rabbanus before me, and so many will yet come and yet no one has figured out how to solve the problems. He said: By the same token, so many have sailed the high seas and so many will yet sail, and yet no one has charted a path through the ocean. You can beat a path through the mountains, you can cut a path through the woods, but life is not a mountain range and life is not a forest. Life, R’ Akiva Eiger said, is an ocean. And an ocean, everyone must experience the turbulence of the journey. The Admor of Lelov, R’ Shimon Nosson Nota Biderman zt”l, was Niftar in what his Mekoravim say was a מיתת נשיקה. This was a person who was מופרש ומובדל, completely detached, from all תאוות עולם הזה. As they described it, he had the Yetzer Hara in a headlock, from which he couldn't escape. His grandson recently shared with me that he was working with a young fellow, who had many, many struggles, and when he saw that he could help him no longer, he arranged for this young man to meet with his Zeyde, the Admor of Lelov, and surprisingly, the Zeyde connected with him at a very deep level and somehow managed to penetrate and help him out. The grandson said, I figured my Zeyde does have some understanding of how this works. Let me go and talk to him about my own challenges. Let me share with him what I'm dealing with. He sat down with his Zeyde and after a few minutes, his Zeyde looked at him and he said to him in Yiddish, וואָס איז? ער מוטשעט אייך? What's the problem? The Yetzer Hara's pestering you? אַזוי גייט עס אין לעבן. This is how it goes in life. And then the Lelover started making motions with his hands. He said: יעדער איינער, every single person has Aliyos and Yeridos, Aliyos and Yeridos. אַרויף און אַראָפּ. Up and down. He said he sat there, mesmerized. He had no idea that the Lelover, that his Zeyde even knew what a Yeridah was. His whole life was one constant Aliyah. But the Lelover was telling him, This is something that no one gets a get-out-of-jail free card with. Everybody has got to go through the journey. As R’ Akiva Eiger said, It's an ocean. Many have sailed the high seas, many will yet sail, but nobody has charted a course. The goal is not to aim for smooth sailing. The goal, my friends, is just to keep on cruising.