Dear Friends,
Imagine Noah for a moment. The rain has finally stopped. The waters have receded. The door of the ark opens, and he steps outside. The world he knew is gone. Everything familiar has been swept away. After everything he has witnessed, you can almost imagine him standing there wondering: What on earth do I do now?
And then G-d tells him: Tzei min hateivah. Leave the ark.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that the ark had been Noah’s place of protection. It saved him and his family from the storm outside. But protection was never meant to be the end of the story. Eventually Noah had to leave the safety of the ark, return to the world and accept responsibility for it again. It takes enormous strength to survive a storm. But sometimes it takes a different kind of strength to walk outside afterward and invest yourself in life again.
That is what Noah does. He builds an altar and gives thanks to G-d. G-d tells him, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Noah cannot restore the world exactly as it was before, and he is not asked to. He has to take the world as it now exists and begin rebuilding it, one piece at a time. There is something deeply human in that. Life does not always follow the plan we make for it. A business struggles. A career changes. A relationship ends. Illness comes. Something we counted on disappears. We would never choose those moments. But once we find ourselves there, we still get to choose what we do next.
I remember watching Steve Jobs’ famous commencement address at Stanford, and one idea in particular stayed with me. He spoke very personally about the setbacks that had shaped his life, including being fired from Apple, the company he had helped create. At the time, it was devastating. But looking back, he could see that it forced him to rediscover what he loved and opened one of the most creative periods of his life. He did not choose what happened to him. He chose what he would do with it.
And usually, that work is not dramatic. Rebuilding happens one decision at a time. One conversation. One mitzvah. One willingness to try again when it would be easier to retreat. Perhaps that is the real strength of Noah. After watching an entire world disappear, he was still willing to care about the world that came next. There are times when we need the ark. We need protection, space and time to gather our strength. But eventually comes the call of Tzei min hateivah: Leave the ark. There is still work to do. There is still something for you to build.
I find myself thinking about that as we prepare for the grand opening at Chabad Naples on November 8. Some people have even joked that our main building looks a little like an upside-down ark. And in many ways, it has been a place of shelter, warmth and protection for so many. But just as Noah was eventually called to step outside and keep building, we are continuing to grow too. More space to learn. More space to gather. More space to grow and touch more lives. We are deeply grateful for everything that has brought us to this moment, and even more excited about what comes next. RSVP at www.naplesbigbuild.com.
We cannot always choose the storm, and we cannot always return to the world exactly as it was before. But we can choose to step forward, rededicate ourselves, and build from here.
And if you would like to go a little deeper into that work of understanding yourself, your challenges and your purpose, I invite you to join our upcoming JLI course, Kabbalah and the Hidden Architecture of You. Beginning October 26, this six-week course explores the deeper spiritual design of our lives and how understanding that design can help us discover our purpose, face recurring challenges and bring more blessing into the life we are building. Please take a moment to sign up and join us. www.chabadnaples.com/adulteducation
Wishing you and your family a beautiful Shabbos, filled with strength, purpose and blessing.
With love and blessings,
Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos