The prayer services for Yom Kippur 2022 at UAlbany was held in CC Room 375, facing east on the third floor of the Campus Center. It so happens that UAlbany is in midst of an extensive repair of the Podium rooftop (along with installation of a huge array of solar panels) so the centerpiece of our vision looking outward was a large extended construction crane atop a truck parked just in front of that portion of the campus center. Everything is for a reason and the Baal Shem Tov taught us to learn a message and lesson from everything we see and hear.
One of the nice things about a crane is that it does the heavy lifting. Aside for helping us get to places far beyond our reach (think of how relevant this is to prayer), a crane does the fighting against gravity so we don’t have to. It’s always cool to watch a heavy load suspended in the air by crane and have a single worker in a construction helmet guide the load around as if it were child’s play. That’s because the crane is doing the heavy lifting, we don’t have to fight the gravity anymore. Our job is just to guide it and get it to where it needs to go.
Gravity can mean a lot of things in a figurative sense. It can refer to earthliness, physicality, materialism – all the things that pull us downward, away from and against the tug of spirituality, idealism and holiness.
Gravity (in a figurative life-lesson sense) can also be those downward emotions that drag us down and keep us low: self-esteem issues, depression, sadness and loneliness, feelings of inadequacy and purposelessness, or just feeling burdened and overwhelmed. The things that keep us in bed, that deny us a spring in our step, all that takes the hopes and joys out of life. When this type of life-gravity is full force, the load can feel too heavy and bulky and overwhelming, virtually impossible to budge, never mind moving in from one place to another.
That’s where the Yom Kippur Crane comes in! It’s a reminder that G-d (and G-d’s many helpers) is helping us with this lift. Of course, we must do our share, but we’re not expected to lift the load alone. The mere knowledge and awareness that we’re not expected to lift the whole load, can in and of itself be uplifting!
The first liturgical poem of the Yom Kippur service, soon after Kol Nidrei is titled “Yaaleh” which means to ascend or uplift. We want our prayers to ascend on high, but also that our prayers should uplift us. May we realize the lesson of the crane, may we have and feel the incredible strength that “Bitachon” (trust that G-d is doing the heavy lifting) offers us.
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We’ve been looking out at that crane all day. As the above-mentioned Yom Kippur eve liturgical poem of “Yaaleh” reads: “from sunset to morning to evening”. And while construction workers came and went on the rooftop, the crane never moved. It stood like a soldier, tall and erect against the brightening and darkening sky, unflinching.
There’s been a lot of talk about how the mighty and feared Russian army collapsed against the Ukrainians. I’m no military strategist and there are other factors as well (including “fire in the belly” but that’s a message for another time) but some of the talk is centered around readiness. It seems that machinery had not been properly serviced and maintained, soldiers lacked proper training and even uniforms and supplies were lacking, even basics were lacking. Some of this may have to do with corruption or other factors, but the reality is that Russian soldiers and equipment lacked readiness, they were not prepared.
There’s a Chassidic story or description about Russian fire-horses. Compared to most other horses they sat around and did almost nothing all day. But they were well-fed, well-groomed, looked after with much care. An onlooker would say: These horses do nothing! Look at the other horses in the village who struggle all day long under heavy burdens – and they are not nearly as well fed or cared for… But the goal was, when the bell would sound, when it was an emergency, these horses would be prepared and ready, strong enough and fast enough.
Perhaps the Russian military has since lost track of this old Russian Chassidic fire-horses message, but the crane this Yom Kippur reminded me of it. It wasn’t used all day, but it stood prepared and erected and supported, with truck arms extended and secured – for the moment it would be needed.
We, too, must be ready at all times. We do not know when the precise moment will be that our Jewish dedication will be tested or needed. We need to have the reserves and resources and good training on hand, advocacy at the tips of our tongues, a Jewish teaching to share at any moment, knowledge stored, equipment ready. Like the Yom Kippur Crane at UAlbany!