Parshas Vayeitzei
Whew! What a Message!
By Rabbi Label Lam
And Yaakov left from Be’er Sheva and he went to Charan. (Breishis
28:10)
It was only necessary to write that Yaakov went to Charan, so why does the
verse mention his leaving? In order to teach that when a Tzadik leaves a
place he makes an impression…. (Rashi)
What impression does the righteous one make when he leaves? Shouldn’t it
be that an impact is made by his presence? What does Rashi mean?
King Solomon writes, “Many a person is called a man of kindliness but a
reliable man who can find?” (Mishlei 20:6) A lot of folks do generous
actions and are credited as kindly but a reliable person is a rarity. In a
book of original aphorism by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein called: A Candle by
Day he states, “It is easy to make your presence felt but it is hard to
make your absence felt!”
Just how had Yaakov made his absence felt? Perhaps we can judge from his
reaction to the lounging shepherds of Charan the profound nature of his
work ethic; “Hey, the day is yet long…” (Breishis 29:7)
In 1899 Elbert Hubbard penned a letter to explain who he thought was the
real hero of the Spanish-American war. Here are a few truncated excerpts
from that now famous essay entitled, “A Message to Garcia”:“…When war
broke out between Spain and the United States, it was very necessary to
communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was
somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba—no one knew where. No mail or
telegraph could reach him. The President must secure his co-operation, and
quickly. What to do?! Someone said to the president, "There's a fellow by
the name of Rowan who will find Garcia for you, if anybody can." Rowan was
sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by
name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch,
strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of
Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks
came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile
country on foot delivered his letter to Garcia—are things I have no
special desire now to tell in detail. The point I wish to make is this:
McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the
letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! There is a man
whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in
every college in the land. General Garcia is dead now, but there are
other Garcias… No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where
many hands were needed, but has been well-nigh appalled at times by the
imbecility of the average man – the inability or unwillingness to
concentrate on a tying and do it. Slipshod assistance, foolish
inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and
no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes
other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a
miracle, and sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant… My heart goes
out to the man who does his work when the "boss" is away, as well as when
he is home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes
the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking
intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else
but deliver it… Civilization is one long anxious search for just such
individuals. Anything such a man asks will be granted; his kind is so rare
that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city,
town, and village—in every office, shop, store and factory. The world
cries out for such; he is needed, and needed badly the man who can "Carry
a Message to Garcia.”
Whew! What a message!
DvarTorah, Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Label Lam and Torah.org.
