Keep On Fanning The Flames

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In this week's parsha, Tzav, it says, "A constant fire should burn on the altar, it must not be extinguished." The Talmud Yerushalmi says, "Constant even on Shabbos, constant even in impurity." 

Every one of us is a small Temple and the service of the Temple happens inside every one of us spiritually. What is the service of keeping "A constant fire" in every one of us? Why does the Talmud Yerushalmi pick specifically these two things, Shabbos and impurity? And what lesson are we meant to take from this? 

The altar is the heart of a person and that is where we have to keep the fire burning towards G-dliness. 

Shabbos is our holy day, it is symbolic of one of the highest levels we can achieve. A person who reaches that level can make the mistake of thinking, "I have already reached such a great level, do I need to put in effort to keep the fire burning?" And he becomes complacent. It is to him that we say, "Constant even on Shabbos," You can never become complacent, you always have to put in the effort to keep the fire burning. 

On the other extreme, one who is far from holy, might think that he is, G-d forbid, too far gone. To him we say, "Constant even in impurity," don't look at your current state, don't let the fire go out. Keep fanning the flame of your G-dly fire, it should not be extinguished. And this will bring you to the positive side of "not be extinguished," as the Maggid of Mezritch taught us that the "not" the bad and the negative should "be extinguished." 

Wherever you are in your connection with Hashem, you should not give up and you should not get over confident in yourself, keep on working on your connection with Hashem. No matter where you are at, there is always a higher level of closeness you can attain. So keep on fanning the flame, don't let the fire go out, because then you are going nowhere and when you are going nowhere, you are not staying put, you are falling. 

The same is with relationships, especially with your spouse and children, don't think that it is too far gone, and don't get complacent, keep on working on it, because there is nothing more important. If you think that you are in a happy place, keep on fanning the flames, because it can always be better and closer. And when you become complacent, it starts to go downhill. 

With a blessing of good and deep relationships with your children, spouse and Hashem. 

In our current situation, we shouldn't give up hope, thinking that it won't get better, nor should we be over confident in ourselves and do things that are dangerous to ourselves or to others, keep on being careful to follow the advice of the experts. May Hashem bring this pandemic to an end, and give all that are sick, a complete recovery. May it happen soon.