The mission statement of mankind

Not all those who wander are lost

School’s out, summer’s started, and everyone is going somewhere for the holidays. Though it might seem that our destination choices are random, Jewish spirituality teaches us that our itineraries are carefully crafted by Divine design – taking us only to the places that our specific souls have been assigned to.

As you’ll soon see, this refreshing idea is actually the mission statement of mankind, as written in the Torah just after the creation of Adam and Eve. We work hard to define the mission statements of our businesses, but wouldn’t it be nice to discover the mission statement of our lives? It would be a great shame for us to be too busy making a living, that we forget to live!

In a sermon delivered on December 26, 1986, the Rebbe explained the spiritual reason for our business trips and job placements.

“The Baal Shem Tov taught that when a Jew travels to a given place, it’s not of their own doing. Rather G-d, who ‘establishes the footsteps of man Proverbs (20:24)’ has sent him there. If it were just about making a living, G-d could have allowed him to do so without the need to travel elsewhere. But because he desires you to illuminate that place and bring awareness of G-d to that place, He sends you on a mission and guides your steps there.”

Hershel Chitrik was a NY jeweler who would travel to the Far East on business. Once, before heading to Bangkok, the Rebbe asked him to see if he could arrange the construction of a mikvah.

A mikvah is a Biblical spa critical for a kosher marriage. Though there were few Jews living in Bangkok, Hershel announced his mission to a group of Jewish businessmen who were staying with him in the same hotel Naria. When one of them laughed at the proposal, Hershel reminded that man how the Rebbe’s blessing had saved the man’s daughter from a dangerous illness just six months prior. The man apologized and committed to donating half the expenses of the Bangkok Mikvah. Delighted, Hershel agreed to match him. 

But the next day, when they sought out a suitable site for the Mikvah, they learned that real estate was prohibitively expensive – far beyond their means and expectations. Unsure of how to proceed, a Thai woman suddenly entered the hotel where they were staying looking for Jews. She told the men that she and her Jewish husband were owners of the Bangkok hospital and that her husband – who had recently passed away – had asked her to donate their villa to a Jewish cause. She had arrived to gift their home to the Jewish community as per her husband’s dying wish. Needless to say, the Bangkok Mikvah was built soon after and has been in use ever since!

It turns out that our journeys are never random. Wherever we go, we are on a mission. We are never displaced – we are always dispatched!

On October 4, 1981, the Rebbe explained that this is the mission statement of mankind. The Torah (Genesis 2:15) informs us that, soon after he was created, Man was placed in the Garden of Eden “to guard it and to protect it.” The Rebbe explained this to mean that our mission on this Earth is to make this world a place that is conscious, aware, and aligned with the will of G-d Almighty. Each time we do a Mitzvah somewhere, we are fulfilling our purpose in that location.

“You must not think that only when you’re in the Shul or Yeshiva you’re on a mission to learn Torah and do Mitzvahs. Your soul didn’t need to descend from Heaven to this world for that! It already had a holy environment in Heaven!…[When it has come down to this physical world,] the mission of the soul is to fill this world with G-dliness. If it’s difficult, it’s only because G-d is testing you. Stay strong and you will succeed in your mission!

French composer Claude Debussy said, “Music is what happens between the notes.” Motivational speaker Simon Sinek expanded this to say “Trust [in the workplace] is what happens between the meetings.” We’re taking it one step further to say that life is what happens to us in between our plans!

G-d didn’t send you to a playground, but a battleground! You are, right now,  exactly where G-d needs you to be. Every detail is part of his divine plan. Like soldiers on assignment, we are equipped with precisely the right tools we need to fulfill the mission. Sometimes G-d puts you in places alone because he wants you to realize that you don’t need anyone but Him!

When a cousin of ours, Rabbi Avraham Glick, was invited to move to Melbourne, Australia from Worcester, Massachusetts in the early eighties, the Rebbe told them to stay in Worcester until after the High Holiday season. Rabbi Glick found himself winding down his activities and couldn’t understand why the Rebbe would have asked him to stay in Worcester if he would be unable to influence anyone as a rabbi due to his impending departure. When he asked the Rebbe what to do, the Rebbe’s answer stunned him then, as it stuns me today!

Drawing on the weekly Torah portion, the Rebbe explained that when the Jewish people wandered through the desert for over forty years, they camped forty-two times. The miraculous Clouds of Divine Glory would indicate to them when they should stop and when they should move again. Once they stopped for as long as nineteen years, other times they camped for under twenty-four hours. Each time the nation camped, they would go to great lengths to build the Tabernacle – the portable Temple that they would carry with them throughout their Journeys. Erecting the Tabernacle was a gargantuan task that required the synchronized efforts of hundreds of people, yet they never lived out of suitcases. Wherever they were, they were fully present, imbued with the awareness that G-d placed them in this place for a reason.

Rabbi Glick quickly understood the message. If he was in Worcester for the Holidays, he would throw himself into his work wholeheartedly, without worrying about how long he planned on staying put. Where he was is where he was to be fully invested and engaged. 

Quit regretting the past or worrying about the future. Realize that wherever you are now is precisely where G-d wants you to be! Nothing is by chance. What we planned for ourselves isn’t always what life has planned for us. Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles, it only takes away today’s peace. If you don’t leave your past in the past it will destroy the beauty of this moment. Live for what today has to offer, not for what yesterday has taken away or for the fears of tomorrow.

Live every moment. Love every day. Otherwise, the precious time will simply slip away.

Rabbi Dovid Vigler
Chabad of Palm Beach Gardens
6100 PGA Blvd, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
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