“You may feel so far, but even wanting to want is still a level. Never stop wanting”
“A
chas sha’alti me’eis Hashem, osah avakesh, shivti b’veis Hashem, kol y’mei chayai, lachazos b’noam Hashem, u’l’vaker b’heichalo — I ask one thing from Hashem, this is what I request, that I’ll sit in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to see the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit His chambers” (translation: chabad.org)
It was almost two decades ago, but I’ll never forget it. I was leaving for seminary in just another week and had one last chance to see a close friend who was a kind of mentor of mine. She already knew the seminary ropes, having returned a year earlier.
We sat in her father’s minivan parked outside my home in Woodmere. “I have some advice for you when you go away this year,” she told me. “First of all, remember that some people may be changing on the outside in ways that will make you feel like you’re not doing anything. But you’re at a level now where the changes will be mostly internal — and those are the most important.
“And second, think of the pasuk, ‘Achas sha’alti me’eis Hashem, osah avakesh.’
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