Paris On Fire - My Great Uncle And His Ten Million Dollar Mistake

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by tora anytime.com. >> A Torah Anytime original series. >> My great uncle Fritz Strrook grew up in Berlin. He was 18 years old and like many young men at the time, he decided he was going to backpack through Europe. No plan, no structure, just trains and borders and cities and freedom. So he packed his bag and he said his goodbyes and he was ready to disappear for a few months. But before he left, his parents said, "Listen, Fritz, before you go, why don't you stop by your uncle Herman to say goodbye?" Now, Uncle Herman Strrook was an artist. He was a quiet man, and he had no children of his own. So Fritz's parents thought it would be nice to go say goodbye to him. That's all. One more goodbye before the adventure began. So Fritz went and they spoke for a bit, nothing dramatic. And as Fritz was walking out the door, already, you know, mentally halfway out of Berlin, Uncle Herman said almost as an afterthought, "Oh, by the way, when you're in Paris, if you go, say hello to a friend of mine. His name is Mr. Chagal." So Fritz nodded politely, "If his uncle said so, he'll go to make him happy." So Fritz and some friends took off and they crisscrossed through Europe. They went on trains and hostels and [music] borders and stories piling up one after another. And they went to Rome and London and Budapest and Prague and Barcelona all throughout Europe. And eventually they made it to Paris. And to Fritz's credit, he remembered to send regards to this Mr. Chagal. They found the address. They knocked on the door and the door opened and Chagal's [music] wife greeted them warmly. Hi, how are you? How can I help you? Hi, my name is Fritz Strrook. My uncle is Herman Struck. Oh, you're Herman Strrook's nephew. Please do come in. And she led them into the house [music] and they sat on the couch with Mrs. Mr. Shagal. They had tea. They spoke for a bit, but you know, Fritz was young and restless and already thinking about where they were going next. This wasn't why he'd come to Europe. This was just a stop. So eventually he got up to leave. And as they were leaving, Mr. Chagal said something casually. You know, the kind of sentence that doesn't, you don't announce itself. It's important or anything. He said, "Oh, and by the way, I paint. Would you be interested in one of my paintings?" And Fritz looked at his 18-year-old friends and he rolled his eyes. And, [music] you know, he wasn't really into art. This wasn't part of his adventure. Art was sort of for girls. No thanks, he said. And they walked out. Well, at this point, you may have figured it out. Mr. Shagal was not exactly a run-of-the-mill retired mailman who took on painting as a hobby. Mr. Chagal was actually known to the world as Mark Shagal, who ended up becoming one of the most famous artists in the last 200 years. His artwork hangs in museums around the globe. He's in textbooks. His paintings are featured at the most prestigious auctions in the world. and his paintings sell for tens of millions of dollars each. You hear that? A little innocent painting being offered to Fritz Stroke could have changed his life forever. And yet, he walked away eager to chase the next adrenaline pumping experience. He walked away because he didn't realize that it was a $10 million painting. It was too casual. It was just art. It was just one some old guy handing him a painting. He thought that if it was worth so much money, it would have been given to him with a little bit more drama. And that's where this stops being a story about art and starts being a story about life. Because life offers us value the exact same way. Mitzvah and don't burst into your life with fireworks and drama. They come quietly and casually, almost easy to dismiss. A mitzvah opportunity comes our way. A chance to help someone. A moment to learn. A moment to step up. a moment to step in, a moment to choose meaning over comfort. And we smile politely and we roll our eyes and we say, "It's not really my thing. You know, not now. I'm too busy. I'm too cool for that. That sort of stuff isn't really my style." And we walk out, never really realizing the painting that was just placed in front of us. Hashem doesn't offer eternity with fireworks. He offers it like shagal, softly, calmly, with zero drama. We sometimes read stories about great people who did great things who had homes bursting with and mitzvah and we tell ourselves, "Yeah, well that's because they lived on a certain block. It was near a hospital or they lived at a time where there were a lot of immigrants who were coming into their city and they didn't have a complicated business. So of course they spent a large part of their day learning and doing mitzvah and visiting people at hospitals. Listen, if I lived there, if I had their schedule, if my life were simpler, then I would also in theory do what they did. Just I live on a quiet block. Nobody really asks me to do much. I have a complicated, time-consuming job. I don't really see too many opportunities to do and visit sick people and do extra mitzvah. But that's a mistake. Opportunity always arrives. It always shows up. The question is, are we smart enough to take the painting? Or never shows up to your house as a group of immigrants who escaped from a war torn country who are being driven to your house by the galadar and there's a photographer there to take your picture and there's a journalist who's ready to write an article about you hosting these helpless innocent people. It's never like that. Haknasim usually shows up as a troubled person who was quietly evicted from his house who's embarrassed who doesn't want anyone to know. and the RV calls you on a Friday afternoon and asks if you can take them in. There's no photos, there's no articles, no credit, no fireworks, just a $10 million painting being handed to you by Mark Chagal. That is how opportunities always shows up. Not dressed in drama, not coated with honor. They're not announced with applause. They're almost always arriving quietly, disguised as ordinary, [music] camouflaged as inconvenience. The question isn't whether value exists in your life. [music] It does. It's everywhere. The real question is whether you're willing to stop and recognize and not walk out of the room while the masterpiece is still on the table. So, the next time you get a late night phone call with someone out there asking you to do something you'd rather not do, or host a person you'd rather not host, or give to someone you'd rather not give to, or go to some place you're not in the mood of going, think twice. Perhaps that offer is really a $10 million painting disguised as inconvenience. [music] You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tora anytime.com.