Ekev: The Roadblock

A tremendous Mack semi-trailer, the type that hauls goods coast to coast, hit an unmanned roadblock on its way from New York to Los Angeles. A detour would have thrown the driver way behind schedule for this was the shortest way to the destination. He said to himself, "The roadblock looks flimsy; there're no cops around, I'll just ram it and keep on going…" The driver backed up some hundred meters or so, stepped on the gas and ran straight into the roadblock. It didn't budge, but the cab of the semi-trailer suffered a nasty dent in the front and both its headlights were shattered.

Luckily, a bulldozer from a local construction site pulled up. The burly operator called out to the truck driver, "Need help, bro?"

The truck driver answered, "You bet, my man. Hey, knock that roadblock down for me, and you win for yourself a six-pack of Bud."

The Caterpillar D9 bulldozer rumbled to the roadblock lack a batter stepping up to home-plate. It butted the roadblock, revved its massive diesel engine and tried to move forward – the roadblock held fast, stopping the D9 dead in its tracks. The embarrassed operator shrugged his shoulders and called out to the bulldog-looking dude in the Mack, "Ain't never seen anything like this before, bro. My rig can move a mountain, but that barrier ain't goin' nowhere! Good Lawd don't have no beer for me today!"

While the trucker and the D9 operator were talking, a nerd with thick horn-rimmed glasses pulls up to the roadblock in his little Fiat Panda. He rolls down the driver's window, inserts a one-dollar bill in an inconspicuous automat on the side of the road, and woe and behold, the stubborn steel-arm of the roadblock lifts high in the air and he drives right through.

What do we learn from this?

The Torah says, "You shall cut away the covering of your heart." (Deuteronomy 10:17).

In explaining the above passage, Rashi says that the heart has an outer (spiritual) covering that seals it hermetically. This covering is selective, for it absorbs evil but retards Divine light. As such, the Torah commands us to “circumcise” our hearts and cut away this barrier. That's all well and good, but how do we perform spiritual open-heart surgery on ourselves?

Rebbe Natan of Breslev says,[1] “From the magnitude of the tribulations and barriers in this world, a person has extreme difficulty and heaviness in getting close to Divine service, even praying, pleading and expressing his sorrow before Hashem, blessed be He; also, it's very difficult because of the barriers and tribulations that seal one's heart to the extent that he can't even open his mouth or approach the simplest (spiritual) task as each individual knows for himself the heaviness that descends upon him each time and each day, etc. The great advice for this therefore is to remind oneself daily of all the true and eternal favors that Hashem did with our forefathers and with us, and with each one of us individually.”

According to Rebbe Natan's above teaching, the covering of the heart, the orlat halev, is not merely a spiritual seal that closes one's heart to “spiritual oxygen” thus choking it off from holiness, it's a roadblock that closes off every avenue that leads us to Hashem. So how do we circumcise our hearts and break down the barriers that stand in our way?

Rebbe Natan provides us with a priceless and effective bit of advice that painlessly and effectively opens up clogged hearts and destroys the spiritual covering that seals the heart off from holiness. Simply count our basic blessings, the ones we take for granted, and profusely thank Hashem for them. When a person makes the effort to observe and not ignore Hashem's limitless acts of kindness and to express gratitude for them, suddenly his heart opens up and he is able to outpour his deepest feelings and emotions. Hashem puts holy words in his mouth, when formerly he couldn't emit a single syllable.

That's the power of gratitude – it circumcises the heart and dissolves the covering that blocks Divine light. Gratitude is better than anything in lifting roadblocks in the way of our prayers, and we don't even have to put a dollar bill in the machine.