From our Shavuos email:
The pasuk says that Hashem called Moshe up the mountain to receive the luchos:
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה עֲלֵה אֵלַי הָהָרָה וֶהְיֵה שָׁם וְאֶתְּנָה לְךָ אֶת לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן וְהַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר כָּתַבְתִּי לְהוֹרֹתָם.
What is the meaning of the words והיה שם - Be there?? Of course if he goes up he will "be there".
The Baal Shem Tov teaches a famous lesson. We are where our thoughts are. The real person is where his thoughts, feelings and soul are - not where his body happens to be.
Hashem was saying - come up the mountain and BE THERE. BE FULLY PRESENT!!! Don't be thinking about your tax returns that you have to fill out or a meeting you are having next week with Dasan and Aviram to try to make peace. BE PRESENT!!! היה שם!
Chazal tell us that when the Torah was given no dog barked and no bird chirped and no horse horsed around [my own formulation:-)]. There was complete stillness. The reason is that people's attention spans are so short and they are so easily distracted that any tiny peep would have distracted them from hearing the world of G-d!!!!
Ahhhhhhh - what a contemporary message!! The Twitter-Generation!!! Iphones, Uphones, Smartphones, Dumbphones - endless competition for our attention.
The result is that it is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to find people who are EVER fully present. There are always a million things going on in one's mind and in one's machines.
So sweet friends - here is a great Avoda to start on Shavuos. Whatever you are doing - do it with FULL presence. Daven as if all there is in the world is Hashem and you. Learn as if it is your last hour on earth and your last and only task on earth is to learn the page in front of you. Focus on your wife and children. Put away the phone [at least sometimes]. Put away the distractions.
Be present!! It is a prerequisite not only for kabbolas hatorah but for success in anything.
I heard from my Rebbe, Rav Dovid Kram Shlita, in the name of Rav Nissan Alpert ztz"l who explained the famous line of Hillel - אם אני כאן הכל כאן - If I am here, I am COMPLETELY here.
A sweet delicious Shavuos beloved friends!!!
With much love כאיש אחד בלב אחד,
Me
