I Wood if I Could

In this weeks parsha, Tzav, we read "The fire that was burning on the alter should not be allowed to go out, and the Cohen must kindle upon it wood every morning."

The fire on the alter was a G-Dly fire that remained whether wood was added or not. What was the purpose of adding the wood? What can we learn from this? 

Every one of us is a Beis Hamikdash, a Holy Temple. At our spiritual center, our alter, is a G-Dly fire that could never be extinguished, this is our Neshama, our G-Dly soul. 

One may mistakenly think, "I am a Jew at heart, isn't that enough? I will set myself on auto-pilot, my current direction is good enough for me."

To this the Torah says, the Cohen must kindle wood on it every morning. You must invest your physical self, possessions and time to develop and grow your fire every day. 

We can take a lesson from this for our personal relationships. One may mistakenly think, he/she/they know how I feel, that should be enough. You might think "I give them everything they want", that should be enough. To this the Torah says "The Cohen must kindle upon it wood every morning". You must invest your physical, mental and emotional self into the relationship regularly.

It is now over a year that my arms and lips stopped working. I ache to hug and kiss my children, I ache to speak to them and tell them how much I love them and how proud I am of them. Now more than ever I see the value of these things. 

Please, do not take your relationships for granted. If the tragic events of the past few weeks has taught us anything, it taught us that we should grab the opportunity to develop our relationships with the ones we love. Keep adding wood to your fires.  Don't wait for the "right moment".  Do it now!


Dedicated to my wonderful wife Dina, who hugs and kisses our children for me, and to our wonderful children that hug and kiss her back.