This Generator story goes back to the construction of the all-new, bigger and better Shabbos House in 2009. Part of the construction plans included a built in generator system attached to the natural gas line that would kick in during a power outage and power-up designated lines, including one of the heating systems, some appliances etc. But we were running tight on funds towards the end, and we put this built-in generator install on hold (it’s still something we think about from time to time, but as of yet, still on hold). But the contractor didn’t want to leave us with nothing, so he purchased a heavy-duty portable generator instead.
It was a good generator. But somehow it never worked for us. The few times we had outages we struggled to get it going. So it sat unused, broken, as a relic. Since our last try it has been sitting, for years now, on the side of our house, under the overhang. Until the night before the first day of UAlbany classes 2024.
There we were, a few students and myself, going in and out of the house setting up for the Welcome (Back) BBQ & Firepit when a big pickup truck pulls into the driveway. A man comes out in work clothes and asks if he can borrow our generator. He is doing some welding work restoring a DeLorean car (famous from “Back to the Future”) no far from here on Western Ave, and there’s no outdoor power. He happened to see our generator on the side of the house going down the street. The students were a little surprised but I said sure – we haven’t seemed to been able to get it to work all these years, but go right ahead.
The welding man returned with it a week or two later, (we played phone-tag for a bit) with the generator all fixed, in good working order. And he took the time to show us how to use it. It wouldn’t start in the past because it had old stale fuel sitting in its innards, so he emptied the thing, cleaned it out, changed some small parts and not only did it serve him well on his job site but now it can serve us, too!
Just around this time we were going back and forth with UAlbany’s Campus Center Management regarding the permissions and conditions for the “Let HERE Be Light!” Tour coming with an outdoor fair to UAlbany, and one of the issues was regarding electrical power for the airbrush artist. Campus wasn’t sure they’d be able to provide that, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, and they recommended we look into renting a generator in case we couldn’t get electricity.
Rent a generator? We have a working generator, and after 15 years – just in time!
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As the Baal Shem Tov (this Shabbat Chai Elul was his birthday) taught, there’s a life message in everything:
1) Stale fuel is no good. We can’t rely on old past inspiration. We have to keep it fresh. Weekly Torah study, a daily mitzvah. In fact, this week’s Parsha of Ki-Tavo says we ought to view Torah as if it was given Today! Feel its contemporary relevance, its current urgency. It’s more than just an old historic document. Our Judaism shuts down and won’t work if it’s fueled by old past inspiration that sat around too long without refreshing.
2) It’s great to be tied into the power grid and turn things on and off without even thinking about it. But the generator story reminds us that (especially in a figurative, spiritual sense) we have to also be able to generate our own energy, the motivation has to come from within each of us, not just from the system. The Alter Rebbe (whose birthday is also Chai Elul) was a huge advocate for each person to generate their own spiritual energy, to be motivated from within, to live oneself not only to be enlivened by others. Each of us benefit from the greater community, we energize each other, but that’s best when each of us generates energy not only for ourselves but also to contribute to the pool, to the grid, we are all generators!