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The wagon driver asked Reb Leib, “Please! Can you help me? I’m trying to push my heavy wagon out of the mud.” Reb Leib responded, "I'm sorry, but I am not capable of ... More
The wagon driver asked Reb Leib, “Please! Can you help me? I’m trying to push my heavy wagon out of the mud.” Reb Leib responded, "I'm sorry, but I am not capable of lifting such a heavy load. I simply can not.”
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How often are we presented with circumstances—a friend in need, a challenge in our lives that we need to overcome, or a spiritual struggle.
We tell ourselves, or those who are seeking our help, “Oh, I just can’t. It’s too much for me. I’m not capable.”
Can’t, or won’t?
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Latest Comments:
The first thing that came to my mind while watching this video is a story that I, and most likely all of your readers, have heard on one occasion or another.
As you know, Asian elephants have enormous strength. in Tunisia they are used to pull trees from the ground with their trunk or, in the case of larger trees, they simply level it with their massive heaft. So what keeps them from running away from their trainer at night? A chain wrapped around their leg attached to a stake in the ground!
They are brought to this condition by chaining them to trees and iron poles when they are too tiny to change their circumstances. As infant elephants they struggled against the chains until they gave up the will to try any longer. They said, I can't, so many times while struggling against the chains it would take a miracle for them to think differently, or they could simply stop saying; I can't...
A good story to start the week : )
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What do you do when you are physically unable to help ? I live in Canada. I have had three hernia surgeries. Pushing vehicles out of the snow is no longer a consideration for me. Perhaps i can, but i won't risk it. On the brighter side, i have booster cables to help anyone who's battery is too low to start their car.
Where you can, help. Where you cannot, don't feel guilty.
I always go to your videos first. They are always on target. Even this one is on target, i just wanted to voice a caveat. I am not a farmer, but farming communities are so very helpful. They grow up with it. You never know when it is your turn to need a helping hand. In my experience, they extend that empathy to strangers as well.
Best regards.
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It's all about positive thinking and the will to change. I always am fearful about new things. But once I try it I find that it was'nt so bad.
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There are so many, many beautiful stories from our past, a heritage of stories, involving drivers, the camel driver, the wagon driver, and rebbes en route, often to a very important destination. Why?
It seems the message, so often repeated, is that there is a kind of arrogance that does emerge, at times from those who feel they are taking a higher road, who do not notice the lowly driver or make unwarranted assumptions about him.
The message, this same message, that Chana so beautifully told, in this story, has to do with humility, with pitching in, and also our assumptions about who is important, and more important than the "other".
I have heard this same story, in different iterations at Hebrew College, and surprisingly even those present did not get the point, and came up with a different interpretation. Actually, the person begging for alms in the street, just could be, the Messiah. That's the message, a deep and profound message, for us all, about dignity and respect for all.
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Your ending, "Let's be in touch" - caused me to stop and think it would be okay to tell you how beautiful this message is, how you've touched my heart and given me the little extra - to do the things in front of me - I once thought i simply can't . . . Now I believe I will do . . .
thank you, thank you!
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Chana
I loved the message and so apt for Rosh Chodesh Elul. Our mind can come up with a million excuses for not taking action- simply because we don't want to undertake that "burden" - Thank you for your analogy that literally "drove the point home!"
Wishing you a good month and a good year
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I loved the pictures of the muddy road and the wagon on this one. The pictures made it easier to visualize the story.
Thanks, Chana! This was good--what you say usually is.
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