#38- Your Order is “In the Kitchen”

Recently, I was listening to a speech on the topic of Elul and heard a nice moshal that I thought would be appropriate to share with this group. It’s pretty well known, but it’s a good one, so here goes.

A man was traveling by horse and carriage to a neighboring town. As he was enjoying his ride, he saw a hunched-over, very old man trudging along the side of the road with all his packages strapped to his back. The man in the carriage felt sorry for the old man, so he called out to him, “Come inside and get a ride instead of walking!” The old man climbed into the wagon and thanked the man for the ride. As they were driving along, the man noticed the old man still holding all his packages. So he turned & said, “Um, excuse me. There’s room on the floor for your packages. You don’t need to carry them!” To which the old man responded, “Are you kidding? You’re kind enough to give me a ride! I’m not going to burden your wagon with all my packages as well!”

The nimshal is quite clear. At times, we have challenges, and things aren’t going easy. We may feel stuck and trapped. Our burdens can really bog us down. And we may act exactly like this old man, carrying our burdens around with us wherever we go. We hold so tightly to our challenges instead of handing them to Hashem.

Now, this mistake is very easy to point out, but when we’re in the moment, it can be very difficult to let go and fully trust that Hashem has it all planned out when we feel so consumed by our struggles. I heard a really nice idea in a class by Mrs. Yael Bertram. She is a life coach specializing in helping singles with dating, and she said many of her clients are very disillusioned, sad, and frustrated. They either are not being set up with the right kind of boys or aren’t getting suggestions in the first place. As a result, they feel stuck and hopeless. What Yael does is together, she and her client come up with a profile of what the client wants and needs in a husband. And then Yael takes the profile, puts it away in a drawer, and tells her client, “Right now, it’s like you’re in a restaurant. When you’re in a restaurant, once you give in your order, you can chill, schmooze, relax, and enjoy yourself because you know your order is in the kitchen!” You just placed your order. You can relax and leave it all up to Hashem. Of course, you should do the appropriate hishtadlus when the opportunity arises, but just remember that your order is “In the kitchen!”

I liked this restaurant idea a lot because we all know that it’s all in Hashem’s hands, but at the moment, it can be really hard to feel that way. We may think, “I should be doing more or doing something differently...” This moshal made it more real for me to actually feel it and not just know it in my head.

I placed my order. It’s in the kitchen. Now I can be calm & relax while He gets it ready!