Sanctuaries Of Solitude

I am in Teacher's Room E. Most people don't know that there is a Teacher's Room E.. I'm alone, save for G-d and Enchanted Ice Cream Truck Radio via Pandora. I am thankful to G-d and his various angels (one in particular) for the office which is mine as of this year. One of the blessings of an office is that it's an address where people (thank G-d) feel comfortable coming to find me and to be. There's a steady flow of people and that room is alive with humanity. The space I am presently in is a sanctuary of solitude, also needed.

The music playing is beautiful and I'm going to free associate just a bit, based on images this tune brings to mind: I see bubbling water, multiplying and flowing. Along side this bouncing flow of water a happy boy and girl, skip along. The sun shines brightly and the sky is the color of Italian Ices.

I am thinking about the spirit of the day.

My understanding is that Rabbi Akiva emphasized midot. One indication of his pro midot approach is the fact that he said that, "Ve'ahavta le'reachah kamochah - love your friend as yourself" is a major principal of Torah. A lesson of the story of the death of Rabbi Akiva's students seems to me to be that a teacher can only do so much.

Rabeinu Yonah applies the adage, Im ein ani li, mi li - If I am not for myself, who will be for me" to words of wisdom. If you don't reapply words that you hear from others by self injecting them into your heart, then everything you hear from others may never effect you.

During this time of building ourselves up toward being true Torah people we must strive to internalize what we read and learn, and inject it into our own hearts. Rabbi Akiva's students were greater than we are. It would serve us well to note that even they struggled with the difficult challenge of taking Torah inside.

It's ironic that during this time we are inclined to focus on externals, when the whole point is to internalize G-d's word. Maybe it's less ironic, than human, because staying on the surface is always easier than digging deep.

Today is Lag ba'Omer. May we be blessed today to take Torah inside our selves. May we be blessed to reach down into our internal sanctuaries of solitude and polish our souls.