In 1974, a new apparition began to make its appearance in the streets of Manhattan. Even in that hubbub of crowd and clamor, this strange vehicle attracted attention. It was a standard van of the “U-Haul” or “Ryder” variety. It’s back door was rolled up, showing a cargo of one large wooden table, two wooden benches, and a dozen young men with beards and black hats. From a loudspeaker taped to its roof issued forth a medley of Chassidic songs played on high volume—that is, high enough to make itself heard above the din of a Manhattan street corner. Large posters taped to the sides of the moving van proclaimed: “MITZVAH TANK”, “Teffilin on board” and “Mitzvot On The Spot For People On The Go.”
The Baal Shem Tov described life as a spiral
staircase, constantly deflecting away from your target in order to attain it.
In Yiddish it’s called a “swindling
staircase.” Some wise chassidim have pointed out a connection: Life swindles you into believing you are going in circles when
really you are traveling higher each day.
This is the way of every true and lasting
ascent: Just as you’re making some progress upward, you see yourself falling
away and stumbling in the dark.
If you could see the whole picture, how all
things resolve in the end, you would see how those periods of darkness and
failure are truly steps higher and yet higher.
They must be. Because we did not create life.
G‑d did. And for Him, there are...
