It so happens that we had a lot of student birthdays this week and it falls near the 25th of Elul which is the birthday of the world/creation so we decided to go with a birthday theme for Shabbat. This story of the Baal Shem Tov and a birthday gift came to mind.
As many stories of that time period in Eastern Europe go, a Jew leased a tavern or business from a wealthy nobleman landowner and due to unfortunate circumstances fell behind on his rent. Financial struggles are always a hardship but back then it could mean total devastation and ruination, or worse they would throw the poor man into debtor’s prison and then his family would have no way out of the ever-increasing hole. Even worse, the nobleman’s birthday was soon approaching and often the gaiety and festivity of the celebration was another excuse to abuse his tenants and serfs, especially those who owed him money. So this was a matter of grave concern.
His wife suggested he go see the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, who was known to be a wonder-worker and a righteous man with great care and concern for every Jew. He went, told the Baal Shem Tov of his great plight, and the Baal Shem Tov gave him a coin and told him to go to the marketplace and purchase the first thing he was offered. He was to bring this purchased object back to the Baal Shem Tov and await further instructions.
The first thing he saw someone selling was a sheepskin. It’s like leather but tanned with some of the wool intact and has various uses (even today). So he bought it with the coin given to him by the Baal Shem Tov. When he came back to the Baal Shem Tov, the holy man looked over the sheepskin and told him to bring this as a gift to the nobleman’s birthday party. The poor man was hesitant, after all there would be many wealthy guests, visiting nobleman and merchants and their gifts would surpass his ordinary sheepskin. If he’d show up it might be cause for ridicule or punishment…
But his wife insisted that he follow the Baal Shem Tov’s instruction, so he went. When he showed up with the sheepskin he was almost laughed right out of the nobleman’s mansion. And the guests started to berate him, there was talk of beating him for the nerve and audacity. But then someone took a second look at the sheepskin and noticed something unusual. If you looked at it from a certain angle you could see written/engraved/sewn in names of the nobleman, his parents and family, his crest, other details about him. It was a personalized sheepskin! A work of art!
Everyone was astounded, everyone marveled at this! Instead of being thrown out or beaten up, the poor man was greatly honored, his birthday gift so appreciated, he was showered with gold coins and other rewards and a renegotiation of his lease in honor of this incredible and memorable gift that became the centerpiece of the birthday celebration!
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What’s the lesson and message for us?
Often we’re looking at a sheepskin. Generic, plain, ordinary. Maybe its the macro experience of college life, maybe its flipping through pages of the long Machzor prayerbook. Lots of sameness, doesn’t feel special. It’s hard for that to do the trick. It’s easy to feel that it’s not going to work.
Personalization is key. See yourself in it, make it individual and personal, find your own name, your niche, the relevance to your life. That’s a game-changer.
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At the end of every Amidah prayer (and at the start of our morning prayers, too) we say a prayer that reads: “Grant us our share in your Torah!” We’re seeking the Torah that personally resonates, the Torah we can call our own, the pieces of Torah that “have our name on it”. Yes, it is G-d’s Torah, but the goal is for us to find ways to make it our own.
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Taking this back to birthdays:
There’s a quite attributed to the Rebbe (in Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s book “Toward a Meaningful Life”) that a birthday is G-d’s way of saying “You Matter.” Whether Rebbe literally said this in those words or not, he certainly oft-repeated the message. The Rebbe hammered home the idea how every individual has a unique life mission and purpose, how each of our work is needed for the divine purpose of creation, how we each play a critical role. Birthdays celebrate our coming to this world for a reason and purpose, and each year is a milestone remembrance of that, to refocus, retool, reengage to strengthen, invigorate and boost our efforts along this journey.