The Gates Of Nikanor | Rabbi Naftali Reich

Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail. The challenge we have is our mind constantly gravitates to our failures. We feel it's helpless, it’s futile, it's useless. The Gemara in Yuma tells us that there was a great individual by the name of Nikanor. The Rabbonim remembered him with great praise. He devoted and dedicated the gates to the Eastern Gate, the main entranceway to the Beis Hamikdash. And the Gemara tells us when he went down to Alexandria of Egypt to commission these gates and he was transporting them back to Eretz Yisroel by boat, a storm erupted in the ocean. It was as if Hashem was telling him, I don't want your gates, Nikanor. They took one of the gates and the sailors threw it into the raging currents, but the storm wouldn't abate. And they were about to throw that second gate into the water, and Nikanor wrapped himself in the gate and he said to them, השיאוני עמה Throw me in with the gate. You're not going to throw this gate in the water. מיד נח הים מזעפו. The Gemara says: Instantly, the storm abated. And as they arrived in Eretz Yisroel, the gate that had been thrown in the water was מבצבץ ועולה, it surfaced from underneath the boat. Miracles were performed to his doors. What was Nikanor thinking? What use is one gate? It's a joke. The other gate is open. All the foxes, the skunks, all the animals can walk right in. But Nikanor understood a deep secret. I will hold on to whatever I have. I have this one gate, I am going to cherish and treasure it with my life. I’m devoted to what I have and not to what I have not. In our own lives, We have a Mishkan shel Maalah. We have a Beis Hamikdash. We want to build your gates, Yerushalayim, to guard our eyes and guard our mind. And sometimes we feel we only have one gate. We're trying, but the other gate is open. And if we devote ourselves to who we have, to our successes and what we have, we are guaranteed one way or the other, the Ribono shel Olam will ensure and strengthen the bars of your gates. Those gates will be secured and closed, and we will have our Mishkan pristine and clean. The Gemara in Psachim tells us כל השערים נתקדשו All the gates of the Beis Hamikdash were Kodesh, except for the gates of Nikanor, because there the Metzoraim would stand and they would put their בהונות ידיהם ורגליהם, their toes and their thumbs in the gate where the Kohanim could sprinkle from the blood of the sacrifices and they could become pure. Maybe sometimes there's a little voice inside of us that says, I'm a Metzora. It's טמא טמא יקרא. What's the use? But the Gates of Nikanor give us an eternal lesson. If we are ready to stick our hands and our רגילות, our feet, our reflexes, and do whatever we can with what we have, we are guaranteed that ultimately we will triumph and be crowned by success.