Parshas Chukas

 “The pure person shall sprinkle upon the impure person …”

(Bamidbar 19:19)

In the Talmud Yerushalmi Rabi Yehoshua Ben Kabsoy comments: “I always understood this pasuk to mean that one pure person may sprinkle [the ashes of the parah adumah] on one impure person until I learned from the ‘treasure house of Yavneh’ that one person may sprinkle on many impure people!”

Rabbi Meir Shapiro ztz”l of Lublin explained that the “treasure house of Yavneh” is referring to Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai’s request of Emperor Vespasian to grant him the city of Yavneh and its sages. Rabi Yehoshua was inspired by Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai’s words which teach us the power of the individual to spread abundant purity. This single achievement of Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai enabled the entire nation to continue learning and teaching Torah. (Rav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach Merosh Amanah)

The mighty Roman army was besieging Jerusalem. Starvation a horrific civil war battering rams destroying the city walls and the threat of total destruction.… Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai surveyed the scene and thought of the future when the Jewish nation would disperse to the four corners of the earth and the lishkas hagazis nucleus of the Sanhedrin and heart of the nation would lie desolate. What would become of the Torah?

Considering his lack of financial means and military prowess he should have given up in despair. He was one man within a doomed nation. But he smuggled himself out in a coffin stood before the emperor and begged: “Grant me Yavneh and its sages!”

Yavneh — a tiny yeshivah in northernIsrael where Torah would continue to be taught and learned.

Yavneh is still in our midst. There are talmudei Torah yeshivos kollelim and seminaries. These are the offshoots of Yavneh. Without them there would be no Jewish Nation.

That was the message Rabi Yehoshua imbibed from Yavneh. One pure person has the power to purify many impure people. One pure individual can save the entire world.

We realize that although we cannot confront the entire secular world head-on we do have the power to spread abundant Torah and purity dispelling much of the darkness with a tiny flame. We must embrace the strategy of Rabi Yochanan Ben Zakai and establish mekomos Torah chadarim yeshivos and kollelim. (ibid.)

I use to dream of doing kiruv.

I’d travel to some far-flung corner of the globe where I’d bake my own bread and milk cows. Disillusioned Jews would gather around our Shabbos table to experience spirituality for the first time. The zmiros and divrei Torah would ignite a spark of yearning in their souls.

I’d give inspiring classes and have heart-to-heart talks late into the night. One family would change the lives of so many Jew — and their descendants. My children would be emissaries of G-d role models for the community.

But my dream vanished the day I married my husband and discovered that his dream couldn’t have been more different than mine. No need to milk cows knead 50 pounds of dough or learn Portuguese.

But I still actualize my kiruv dream.

My sons run to cheder. My daughters daven every morning and do their best to honor their parents and avoid lashon hara. They are miniature kiruv workers.

I bake challos for Shabbos daven to Hashem and trust Him. I get up during the night to a crying baby so my husband can sleep. I can nap tomorrow afternoon and he can’t … he’s learning Torah.

That is my shlichus.

I can’t know how many people do teshuvah in the zchus of my efforts. How much kedushah filled the universe when my daughter and her friends said the entire Sefer Tehillim. How many teenagers had thoughts of teshuvah because my husband learned an extra daf of Gemara today. How many people refrained from desecrating Shabbos because we sang zmiros at the Shabbos table. Never mind the late-night discussions in the light of the Shabbos candles.

Despite our meager resources and limited capabilities we realize how much we can achieve. Most importantly we must not underestimate our strengths and abilities. On the contrary — let’s recognize the power of our holy Torah which empowers one pure person to purify many impure people. (ibid.)

We can each be that small candle spreading light.