A few weeks ago I flew to New York to attend a two-day educators'
conference. I had
a 6:30 am flight out of Akron/Canton airport. Things were looking really good:
only 23 people on the plane so plenty of room to stretch out, the
doors closed fifteen minutes early, and the pilot announced we had a
real good tail wind which would
help us make great timing to New York. A couple of minutes later the pilot
gets back on the intercom and tells us that due to the very cold
weather overnight, and due to the snow, we had to head over to the
de-icing pad to get de-iced, a process that would take about ten
minutes. At that time I decided to take out my Chumash (Torah text) to
look at a commentary that my friend had told me about at the end of
the previous week's parsha.
The parsha had ended with the war that Amalak, a hostile nation,
started with the Jews right after the splitting of the Red Sea. The
commentary explains that what
Amalak managed to accomplish was that besides for killing out many
Jews, they "cooled them off." You see, the Jews had just witnessed
many great
miracles like the ten plagues in Egypt, the actual exodus from Egypt, the
splitting of the Red Sea, and the many miracles that happened there. The Jews
were on a high now that all those years of slavery were over. They
saw the Egyptians
get their punishment, they were a free people, and they were on their way to get
the Torah. They were on fire! That is when Amalak decided to attack to show
the Jews: you're not so hot. You're not invincible. They numbed
them; they took
away a little of that belief in G-d. They cooled the passionate fire.
As I was reading this I started to hear a thumping on top of the
plane. They'd started the de-icing process. Then, out of my window I
saw a huge stream of the de-icing chemicals coming from above. At that
moment it hit me: don't we all need a de-icing once in a while? Don't
we sometimes feel a little numb and would love for something to get us
back on fire?
Well, I had my de-icing moment on the plane. Since I left Cleveland
before it was light outside, I couldn't pray the morning services
before we left, and I wasn't sure what time I was going to get to the
hotel. So I decided to pray on
the plane. I took my tallis and tefillin bag and headed for the back
of the plane which was totally empty. (I didn't need anybody watching
me strapping myself up on the plane - nowadays who knows what they
might have thought!) I
started walking over to the flight attendant to ask her if it was OK
and she gives me this big smile and says, "As soon as that sun came
up, I knew what you were going to do! Go ahead and enjoy, but please
don't forget to buckle yourself.
I don't want to have to disturb you later." WOW! What respect for
prayer! I pray 3 times a day, 21 times a week, about 84 times a
month, and about 1008 times a year. I sometimes become numb to the
prayer because I pray so
many times, and this was just a little reminder how special prayers
are. It's a one-on-one you have with G-d: a time to spend a few
precious moments talking to Him.
So go ahead, JFX! Let's de-ice a bit this week, and keep those fires
burning! Maybe the weather will even follow!
