Elephants in Circus

Did you ever go to the circus? Remember those huge elephants that weighed several tons who were held in place by a small chain wrapped around one of their huge legs, and held to the ground by a small wooden stake? If those huge elephants wanted to, they could walk right through those small chains and that small wooden stake like a hot knife going through butter. But they don’t. Why is that?

When they were little baby elephants, they were chained down by those same small chains and the small wooden stakes. But to them, as babies, they couldn’t move. They tried and tried and tried again and could not release themselves from those chains and stakes. And then, an interesting thing happens. They stop trying. They gave up. They developed a belief system. 

Now, as adult elephants, they don’t try because they are programmed to believe that there efforts would be useless – in vain. They simply don’t try because the memory of trying as babies is their main program.

And as huge, adult elephants, they don’t even try. So they’re held in prison by their beliefs.

The same is true with the elephant in each of us. 

Yehuda Avner & The Rebbe - " You need to light the candel"

- Mr. Yehuda Avner was an advisor to five Israeli Prime Ministers and was


an Israeli ambassador to the UN. In 1977 he met with President Carter, and

then Menachem Begin sent him to report to the Rebbe. He sat with him for

several hours and they discussed many subject, several of which he refuses

to tell anybody about.



At midnight, the Rebbe saw that Yehuda Avner was tired. He put his holy

hands on Mr. Avner and asked him why he’s not a Chossid. Mr Avner replied

that there are people in his family who see powers in the Rebbe which the

Rebbe himself doesn’t even realize.



The Rebbe then told Mr. Avner what his job entails:



“You open up a cupboard and you see a candle inside. But in reality it is

not a candle. It is but a lump of wax and a string through the middle. When

does it become a candle? Only when you put a flame to it, then it becomes a

candle and it fulfills the purpose for which it was created.”



And immediately the conversation moved on to the next subject.



At 2:10am, Yehuda and the Rebbe finished the meeting and when Mr. Avner rose

to leave, he turned around and asked the Rebbe “Has the Rebbe lit my

candle?”



The Rebbe replied “No. I have only given you the match. You need to light

your own candle!”

The Dancer

The Dancer


....Some of you may have heard of a woman by the name of Gillian Lynne. She's a ballerina and choreographer, famous for many Broadway productions (such as Cats, and Phantom of the Opera).



When Gillian was in school, in the '30s, she was hopeless. She couldn't concentrate, she was fidgeting. Now they'd probably say she had ADHD. The school wrote to her parents and said, "We think Gillian has a learning disorder." So her mother took her, aged eight, to see a specialist in a big oak-panelled room, and she was led and sat on a chair at the end, and she sat on her hands for 20 minutes while this man talked to her mother about all the problems Gillian was having at school, disturbing people, late homework, and so on.



Finally the doctor said, "Gillian, I've listened to all these things that your mother's told me, and I need to speak to her privately. Wait here, we won't be very long," and they went and left her. But as they went out the room, he turned on the radio on his desk. As soon as they were outside the room, he said to her mother, "Now, just stand and watch her." And sure enough, the minute they left the room little Gillian was on her feet, moving to the music. They watched for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick, she's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."



The rest is history. She went to dance school - full of people like herself, and ended up a multi-millionaire, responsible for some of the most successful musical theatre productions in history.



Gillian's story is the story of the Jewish soul. She herself was unaware of the talent which lay latent within. Only after being recognised by a professional and after being educated in the correct way - did she blossom to fulfil her real potential.



Our neshama too has latent potential. Our neshama also wants to "dance," needs to dance - but we usually don't let it do the things it wants to do. We carry it round with us to places it does not belong, seeing things it does not want to see, eating things it does not want to eat, and we are often surprised when do not feel content: when our lives sometimes feel empty or unfulfilled.



On Rosh Hashana we focus on our neshama. Like Gillian we need to let our soul hear the music and let it dance. Bring it to shul, bring it to a Torah class, and help it to reconnect with its source. Let it light Shabbat candles, and lay tefillin, give charity and visit the sick. Let it get re-accustomed to the Hebrew letters in the siddur, so that the words of the prayers flow naturally .... etc etc\\