That is the symbolism of a mizbeiach. It takes one stone after another to reach the point of the actual service

And you shall not set up for yourself a matzeivah — monument, which Hashem, your G-d hates. (Devarim 16:22)

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efore the Torah was given, sacrifices were permitted to be offered on a matzeivah — a monument made of one stone. Once the Torah was given, we find that the Torah forbids using a matzeivah for sacrifices. Instead, only a Mizbeiach, an altar made of many stones, may be used. We wonder, what changed? What does a matzeivah-style service represent that it was beloved in the time of our ancestors, but was now forbidden? (Rabbi Mordechai Rhine)

My father’s cousin, Yisrael, was a young boy when he emigrated from Persia to the United States. This was decades before there was any organized support system for Iranian Jews. Yisrael was thrust into a new country, language, and culture and worked hard to make a new life in his new home. He was a proud, staunch Jew and as he grew up, he knew what he wanted: a family of bnei Torah, children who would sit and get a strong Torah education, the kind he unfortunately hadn’t been able to receive.

Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that a matzeivah represents a great moment, a spurt of positive energy. The one stone altar was the appropriate imagery for an act of service that was momentous, but did not have a process of growth leading up to it or continuing after it. In contrast, the mizbeiach, built of many stones, represents the ongoing process of growth, one stone today and another tomorrow.

Yisrael married a warm, sweet, fine girl, one who shared his vision for their children. The couple worked hard so that each of their sons and daughters received a yeshivah education. The nachas was a dream come true as each one of their children grew in Torah and the girls married bnei Torah.

Before the Torah was given, much of observance was voluntary. The matzeivah memorialized a type of service in which a person experienced a great moment. For its time, this was noteworthy and praiseworthy.

In contrast, after the Torah was given, there are laws and expectations. When a person is obligated in a mitzvah, it may sometimes take time to develop a desire to fulfill the mitzvah. It doesn’t always come instantly. This is what builds the character of a Jew and forms a spiritual bond with Hashem. Likewise, after a particular mitzvah is done, we may not rest on our laurels, just remembering the isolated great moment. We continue to build on the success and strive to reach greater heights and even more consistency.

That is the symbolism of a mizbeiach. It takes one stone after another to reach the point of the actual service. So, too, is the ongoing devotion that is expected of us, a process which guides us both before and after a mitzvah.

At the age of 65, Yisrael decided his working days were over. He’d devoted decades to ensure his family’s security, both in gashmiyus and in ruchniyus. Now it was time for him to retire and to pursue his own dreams.

What were those dreams? Yisrael could have sat back and basked in the nachas and continuity of his family building Torah homes. Yisrael and his wife were respected pillars of their community and the average person at his age would have been content with all he had accomplished.

But Yisrael wanted more than that.  He wasn’t satisfied to remain a bystander; he wanted to be an active participant, a ben Torah himself. So after retirement, Yisrael went to the local yeshivah and joined their first-year Gemara class, sitting in a classroom with 15-year-old boys, learning to dissect a gemara and understand its logic. Perhaps one would think it’s demeaning for a man of his age to be part of a class of teens. But Yisrael wouldn’t let anything deter him from moving slowly, shiur by shiur, until he felt able to learn on his own.

He and his wife made aliyah, and Yisrael became a full-time avreich learning in Yerushalayim.

My father had a picture on his bookcase that he treasured. It was a picture of Yisrael’s family at a simchah. The photographer was hard-pressed to get everyone in the photo as Yisrael and his wife were surrounded by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren ka”h, all living in Eretz Yisrael, all bnei Torah. It’s a testimony to one man’s determination to serve his Creator, in small steps for man, to attain great leaps for His Torah.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 909)