Finding the Fire Through the Seder - R. Don Jarashow - TorahAnytime.com

So, I was in Monsey, my parents live in Monsey in Wesley Hills. Uh I was there this past Shabbos, Monday, so 2 days ago. So, not often, it's not that often that I get to speak to people who are who do interesting things off the beaten path that are unique. Everyone's unique. Everyone has their own story. And uh I definitely try whenever I can, whenever I feel that uh talk and uh hear more about the person and their experience. I do that a whole lot. But, on Shabbat, I made a stepped a little bit out of my lane to make sure that I would capitalize on the opportunity. So, there's a man, his name is Mr. Jacobson. He davens in my synagogue, in my shul. And he's a firefighter. So, I don't really cross paths with firefighters too often. It's not a common occurrence. And it was after Sudachilisheet on Shabbat and there was a few minutes before Arvit. And I didn't even know I was coming here, but I always like uh trying to you know, always have things points to ponder and things to you know, draw and learn from. And never know when you could pull out of the back pocket, but I think this is a great instance. So, I asked him as a firefighter, he's like an executive director of the Monsey Fire Department. From years, a beautiful man and he he's the ba'al koreh. I don't know. He reads the Torah and he's he's he's he's just a great person. And I said, "What can you tell me? Give me a great lesson from fire from firefighting." I was thinking about like matzah and was actually in my mind about like, you know, they have all you know, baking matzah, and there's a fire, and so I saw him and like, you know, maybe it can relate to Pesach or just in general, but what message do you have that has to do with your particular occupation? And he thought about it for a little bit. And he said, "The lesson that everyone can learn from fighting a fire is when he's on his knees and elbows in a big, dark, smoky building, he can't see anything, and he knows there were people in there, and he knows every single second counts. He said, "The feeling of exhilaration, his heart is pumping like this, and he's but what's he looking for? What's he doing? What's he looking for? Through all the smoke, through all the darkness, there's one thing he's looking for. There's a person there. The shine itself. People. He's looking for the light. He's looking for the source. He's looking for the fire. Oh, you said light? Yeah. Sorry, I didn't hear you. He's looking for the fire. He's looking for that one second where there's a bolt, and finally he understands where the issue is, he understands where the source of all this is, and he can fight that, and when he neutralizes that, everything else can settle. He's not busy looking for people. He's not busy looking to save anyone. There's one goal, which is almost counterintuitive, but the answer is that as long as the fire is still burning, God forbid, then people's lives are still in danger. Attack the source, find the source, and when that's sorted, when that's found, when that's revealed, everything else shifts. Everything else falls into place. We can refocus. We can focus on saving people. But that's number one. And he said in Judaism is no different. Often, as you brought up before, sometimes we encounter the mud, we encounter the black smoke, the heaviness, we feel we can't breathe, we feel we can't get through. But essentially, we're all firefighters. We're all trying to find the source. We're all trying to find the light. We're all trying to find where everything sprouts from, figure everything out, have that revelation, have that clarity. And on Layla Pesach, as we spoke about before, but this is really all one thing, it's absolutely no different. This is really the opportunity where we're all suited up, we're all geared up, and we're coming from so much discomfort, so much pain. There's so much going on in the world. And in our own personal journeys, our own selves, and the smoke we feel we're being attacked, we can't breathe, we can't see. But the revelation that we can tap into should exhilarate, it should excite us, because the change that can occur, that can take root on this night, as we said, it's the fundamental, it's the night of nights, it's the Layla Seder that is really the Seder for the rest of the year. It's not just the Seder for those few hours, but it really establishes, it really structures Seder, order, for the rest of the year. How is that so? How is that done? Because again, when it's all about building in the foundation, when it's all about building, finding the center, finding the spot of balance, of equilibrium, of peace, of harmony, which is all God, then everything else gets itself sorted out. Everything else can make sense. And all the clarity that we so badly all want and strive for, suddenly becomes attainable when we have when we attach ourselves to that source.