Stop Running After Things

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the great eighteenth century Hasidic master, once saw a man running in a great hurry.  He asked him: “Why are you running?”  The man answered: “I am running because I have to earn a living.”  Rabbi Levi Yitzhak asked him: “How do you know you have to run after it and try to catch this earning living?  Maybe it is behind you, in which case you are fleeing from it.”

We chase after many things.  We pursue career advancement.  We run after bonuses and jostle for raises.  Perhaps instead our livelihoods are behind us.  What gives us life might already be present.  We may have already gained everything.  We may have already achieved that which animates our souls.  All we need to do is slow down and look at what is right before our eyes.  

The Torah concurs: “God subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, in order to teach you that a person does not live on bread alone, but that human beings may live on anything that the Lord decrees.” (Deuteronomy 8)

We are sustained by more than bread.  We are nourished by more than the food we eat.  We gain sustenance by whatever God gives us.  The lesson of manna is that food is a gift from God.  Whatever God dishes out, we must take.  We can live on anything.  This is what we learned in the wilderness. 

Everything is a gift from God.  And all we should do is say “Thank you.”  The Torah reminds us, “When you eat and are satisfied you shall give thanks to God.”  We need to slow down and fill our hearts with gratitude.

This is why the rabbis of old counseled that we should never say the blessing for food while standing.  Never say a blessing when rushing.  Instead, we are instructed to sit.  Why?  Because when we sit down, we transform the food our bodies require into a meal.  It is the company of family and friends that changes eating into a meal.  The necessity of food is transformed into a sacred occasion by blessings and by the gift of family and friends.      

It is the people who surround us that nourishes us. 

When you sit, it is impossible to rush.  And then it is much easier to look behind you.  It is much easier to give thanks.  

Stop chasing after things.   Look in the rearview mirror.  Look all around you.

All the sustenance you require is sitting there right before you.