Efshar Letakein

Rav Yisrael Salanter, walking late one night saw that the shoe maker was working. Reb Yisrael walked into the small shop and asked the cobbler what he was doing up so late. The gentleman pointed to the flickering flame providing his light and then replied, "As long as the candle burns, it's possible for me to keep fixing," -"Kol zman shehaneir doleik efshar letakein." From then on Rav Yisrael was often heard repeating as a mantra, "Kol zman shehaneir doleik efshar letakein" - "As long as the candle of my soul is alight, I can continue to fix myself."


Life is filled with fixing. I'd write more about this but I have work to do. Lessons. Reviews. Tests. And then there's teaching too.


Last Wednesday I told my super, who lives in the building next door, about a dripping from the ceiling in my bathroom. He came by and said it would wait till Monday. On Monday the ceiling caved in. After contacting management it was fixed - to some extent - today. I have no idea what Paul M. meant by these words but they come to my mind's wanderings as inspired by the hole in my ceiling (caused by a pipe bursting 2 flights up): I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wandering where it will go. "I'm filling the cracks that ran though the door and kept my mind from wandering where it will go."