Know Your Ceiling
Years ago, I read a short parable about a man, alone in the desert. Out of nowhere, he hears a voice from above that tells him, “pick up the stones at your feet and tomorrow you will be both happy and sad.” Confused and bewildered, he nevertheless obliges and puts two or three stones in his pocket. Upon arising in the morning, he recalls the strange voice and pulls out the stones from his pocket. He is amazed to discover that each stone had been transformed into a diamond! Indeed, as the mysterious voice predicted, the man was happy that he took the two or three stones, but he was sad that he had not taken more.
The parsha opens with the words, “vayehi b”shalach Paroh es ha”am,” and it was when Pharoh sent out Bnai Yisrael. The Gemarah in Megilla informs us that when a section opens with the word “Vayehi,” as it does in our parsha, it foretells that something negative and ominous is going to occur, and the gemarah goes on to illustrate several places in Tanach where this indeed is shown.
A number of commentators, therefore, ask what is the negative connotation contained in the Vayehi in the opening of this parsha? On the contrary, the Bnai Yisrael were finally free from slavery and bondage and enroute to Har Sinai to receive the Torah. What is the negative message being foretold here?
One of the answers is quite impactful. When Pharoh saw the way in which Klal Yisrael departed Egypt, with Hashem’s pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, leaving with the civility and dignity of a holy nation, he moaned and mourned with his newfound realization that he had a nation with such G-dliness and potential, yet they were used to make mere mortar and bricks! Pharoh now regretted that he had so underappreciated the potential and magnitude of Klal Yisrael. He could have used their abilities, ingenuity, spirituality, and uniqueness to create far greater benefit to Egypt than bricks and cities. He had such a G-dly nation under his dominion for 210 years and he so misunderstood and unappreciated their true potential. This is the groan, expressed by Pharoh at the opening of the parsha.
However, that Vayehi is not only Pharoh’s but ours as well. We sell ourselves short. We settle for being merely good when we have the potential for great. We pat ourselves on the back for making beautiful bricks and cement when we could be shooting for the stars! Unfortunately, the groans of Pharoh’s epiphany resonate and echo to many of us. We need to understand our untapped potential, our spiritual prowess, that we can shatter the self-made ceiling and blow way past it in fantastic ways.
This message of aiming for and actualizing our true untapped potential must also be modeled for, and articulated to, our children and students. In an era where getting top scores in Fortnight or being the captain of the basketball team is a reason for celebration, our children should also receive a clear and articulate message that there are a lot more precious stones to pick up as we travel through our lives. We do not want to regurgitate Pharoh’s groan near the end of our journey with the realization of just how many precious accomplishments we could have accumulated.
Let’s inspire ourselves and our children to aim for greatness each and every day so that we do not look back at the yesterdays of our life and wonder “if only.” Instead, let’s wake up each morning delighted in the realization of our potential and worthwhile accomplishments.
