Let go Zalman!

A few weeks ago I took my kids to a play center called Jozi Eggs, where my fearless six-year-old insisted he wanted to attempt the very tall monkey bars. He climbed the ladder and swung from the first bar to the second effortlessly, but then he looked down and it hit him just how high up he was.

He froze.

Then he started crying.

I tried to help him, but he was too high up to be reachable from the ground, too far in to be reached from the ladder. The ground, however, was very well padded, so I encouraged him to let go and drop. For two minutes I tried, to no avail. He hung there miserably until he lost his grip and fell safely onto the cushioned floor.

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It reminded me of the well known joke:

Jack was walking along a steep cliff when he got too close to the edge and began to plummet. On the way down he managed to grab hold of a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down, and saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet.

He couldn't hang onto the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb back up the steep wall, so he began yelling for help, hoping that some passerby by would hear and lower a rope or something.

"HELP! HELP! Is anyone up there? HELP!"

He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him. He was about to give up when he heard a voice.

"Jack! Jack! Can you hear me?"

"Yes, yes! I hear you. I'm down here!"

"I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?"

"Yes, but not for much longer! Who are you? Where are you? I can't see you."

"I am G-d. I'm everywhere."

"G-d, please help me! I promise if you get me outta here I'll stop sinning. I'll be a really good person. I'll serve You for the rest of my life."

"Easy on the promises, Jack. Let's get you down, then we can talk. Now, here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully."

"I'll do anything, G-d. Just tell me what to do."

"Okay. Let go of the branch."

"What?"

"I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go."

There was a long silence. Finally Jack yelled, "HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?"

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Our lives are like the hectic flood waters we read about in this week's Torah portion. They toss us around from place to place, meeting to meeting, from Facebook to Instagram, to Whatsapp to Snapchat.

 We all have rising waters to contend with: The stresses of daily life, business deals gone sour, arguments with family members, work and social pressures... The tumultuous whirlpools of these daily pressures threaten to engulf us and take us down.

And that is when G-d offers us a lifeline. Enter the Ark, he says. I've created a sanctuary for you: There's Torah, there's Shabbat. Come inside. Give it a try. Turn off your smartphone, your computer, your TV, escape the hecticness for 25 hours. It is the greatest gift you can bestow upon yourself. Let go and leap, says G-d. Don't worry, I'll catch you. 

The Hebrew word for ark is "teiva" which can also mean "word," or more specifically, words of Torah. Just as Noach saved himself and his family by entering that structure, we can save ourselves by entering the haven that Torah creates in our life.