We Count - R. Meir Simcha Sperling - TorahAnytime.com

Now the final example, this is one last story I want to bring out. This is the famous story, the famous story of Arturo Tuscanini, the legendary conductor and musician, composer. You know the story. You've heard it before. It's very famous. They they put it out everywhere, but it's to hear it again because Khazar is the and it just it brings out the point. Okay. So, the great composer hired a biographer, a writer to write his biography. And as he was doing all of his research and all of his writing, there was one day that the writer asked if he could come to his apartment to interview him. And Tuscanini responded that I'm sorry, I can't. I already have plans for tonight. So, the the writer who clearly had a relationship with him said, "What are your plan?" Like, tell me your plans. This is very important that we get this biography out. what are your plans? And he said, I'm going to be listening to a very famous symphony on the radio and I need to be fully concentrated and I have everything has to be has to be total silence and it's not going to be nare for you to come tonight to talk. It's it's not happening. It's actually a symphony that I conducted myself a few years ago. So I want to hear how they did it. So the writer said, "Great, perfect. This is perfect for the biography. Let me come let me listen with you. I'll be able to to taste the beauty of music." And and Tuscanini said, "No, no, no. I listen to these things by myself. I need to be fully focused and fully there has to be total concentration. He's like, "Please, just let me come. Come on. Let I'm literally writing your story. Let me come." And they fought back and forth for a while until he finally said, "Okay, you could come on one condition. You don't say a word. Not a word. You want to come? No problem. Sit there very quietly. Not one word." And of course, he agreed. So the night comes and he comes in. He knocks on the door. comes obviously ahead of time because he doesn't want to interrupt in the middle of the symphony and they sit there in complete silence listening to the entire song the entire uh the entire song. Okay, tremendous emotion, tremendous concentration. Anyways, as soon as it's over the boper looks at Tuscanini and he says, "Wow, that was magnificent. That was beautiful." Wasn't Wasn't that beautiful? And the famous composer looked at him and said one word. No. No. What did he do? It was so complex. There was so many different notes, so many things. What do you It was beautiful. What What was wrong with it? And Tuskini said that there were supposed to be 15 violins and I only heard 14. And that changes everything. There was a missing violinist. Now just parenthetically this was a 120 piece band 120 piece orchestra. The violins 15 violins is a very small part of 120. So when the biographer heard this he was like smirking to himself like um okay sure first of all T4 second of all sure but he wasn't going to start arguing with the great composer. So he said okay okay whatever you said it sounded great to me but okay. Anyways, he left after the interview and he went home and the whole way home he's thinking, "Is it possible? Is it possible that Tosskanini really was able to tell that one violin was missing? Come on, it can't be." So the next morning, what does he do? He calls up the the director of the orchestra and he says to the director, "How many musicians played last night?" And the director said, "It's so funny you should ask because it was supposed to be 120, but at the last minute, one of the violinists got sick and he did not show up." and therefore was only 119. And this man was floored. It's not pos. It's not possible for you to recognize just one when there's so many. It's not like you were there. You were watching. You were counting. It was on the radio. So he goes back to Tuscanini and he says, "Did you call ahead of time? Did you know? Were you friends with the violinist?" And it's like a game, like the interview. We're going to get him. We're going to catch him. We're going to show the beauty, the ego, the huge. Is that Is that Is that Is that the shot? What's he didn't say? Obviously. Anyway, so Tuskanini responded and he said, "There's a huge difference between you and me. When you listen, you're a member of the audience. You hear it and you're like, "Wow, very nice. It sounds beautiful. It sounds magnificent." But as the conductor, the conductor knows every single note. I know every single musician. Every single person has a part to play. I know this song backwards and forwards. I know everything about it, every note. And if you're not playing your part, if you're not there, then the sound is not the same. It doesn't sound the way it's supposed to. You might not be able to hear it. You might not be able to understand the the difference. You might not be able to understand the difference, but I know the difference because I'm the conductor. Now, this is a story that brings out something huge, and it's the exact same idea that we're speaking. is the master of the world is the conductor of the master conductor of everything. And every single one of us, we're musicians. That's what we are. We have a part to play. We don't have the same story. We all have our challenges. We all have our thing. But gave us the instrument, so to speak, exactly what we need for our life. And if one of us, one of us is missing, then the entire song is incomplete. The whole symphony of life is missing. The light that you're supposed to bring is not here. And just because nobody around you could see that, nobody around you could feel it, nobody around you could hear it, does not mean that the conductor, the master of everything can't and Hashem could. That means that you are significant. That means that everything you do is significant. This is not a song. It's not a violin. One violin. Yes. No. Maybe a song. Maybe not a song. Okay, fine. This is the world. This is life. This is this is everything. Everything. So don't ever think that you're insignificant. Don't ever think that you're not going to make a difference. Don't ever think that you can't affect so many that you can't change the world. You could. Maybe not in the way that people see it. Maybe socially it's not going to look the way you want it to look or whatever it is with fame and with this and with wealth. But in the world of in the world of the things that are changing with every action we do every mitzah we do every everything it makes the biggest difference in the world. The world was created for you. So said don't ever ever think that you're not worth anything and it makes no difference if you do or you don't. It does. We need every one of us. Every one of us. Cuz we're all part of the same symphony. We're all part of the same orchestra. And this is the orchestra of life. Not of just a song.