A 10-Hour Blanket | Rabbi Aryeh Leiser

I was learning with a Bochur at the beginning of the Zman, and he was just plugging away, ripping apart every Rashi. He was fire. And I couldn't believe it. I said to him: Moishele, what's going on? He says: Rebbi, it's nothing. Let's continue. I learned with him a few more minutes. He's learning with tremendous intensity. He's glowing. He's grinding away. I said: Moishele, tell me your story. He says to me, Rebbi, I have a custom. Whenever we travel, me, my brothers and sisters, we sit in one row together in the airplane. We bring our pillows, our blankets. One brother brings corn pops. Another one the small onion rings, the falafel bits. I bring the jelly beans. I said: Green and black, right? He said: Of course. And we sit and we watch the screens for the entire flight. Two weeks ago, we got on the airplane, and I'm about to turn on the screen in front of me. As I’m about to turn it on, I replay in my head Simchas Torah. Purify our hearts to serve You in truth. I couldn't turn it on. For the next five minutes, my brothers and sisters, I hear them laughing, watching the videos, and I say: I can't. The Aibishter, I can't. As I’m about to turn it on, I realize: What's going to be with this Zman? How's this Zman going to look, Kesubos, after watching for 10 hours the films? I sit back in my seat and I don't know what to do. All of a sudden, I took my blanket, which I had, I put it over my head to block the views from the other screens. He says to me: Rebbi, you ever flew 10 hours with a blanket over your head? My mother came back to check on us and she says: Moishele, why is there a blanket over your head? I showed her that the screen, my screen wasn't on. You know, you always see your mother crying, but there's crying and crying. Rabosai, every single day, we have and carry around a blanket with us. Let it be going in a different street, talking to a different person, not looking, looking the other way. But it's so difficult, the challenges. How do we get that blanket to actually put it over our heads? We need to internalize that we’re a portion of God from above. We’re a portion from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. I'm not R’ Yanky. I'm R’ Yanky, a portion of God from above. I'm special. When we internalize how much holiness we have in us and we focus on who we are, we will have the strength to put the blanket over our heads, any time that we need it. Purify our hearts to serve You in truth.