You are a Firefighter | Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer

Remember when you were in kindergarten and the teacher asked the class, What would you like to be when you grow up? Statistics show that most children answer, they want to become a fireman. Even in a young age, there's that drive and motivation for bravery, heroism and sacrifice. Last week, I drove by a fire station. I saw the firemen getting ready for a call. They were girded, poised, prepared, but there was a look of fierce determination on their faces. And yet, 90% of the time when they go on a call, it's a false alarm or a non-life threatening accident. Sometimes it's just a cat that's stuck in a tree. It's not a real emergency. But that doesn't take away from their gravitas, from the weight of responsibility that you see on them. We are the firefighters of the world. Hashem appointed us as the firefighters. We never know which encounter, which incident, when we choose to look, not to look, refrain, abstain, action, inaction, which time we're putting out the fire and saving a life. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva, Perek 3 Halachah 4, says, that when you make a choice, The choice that you make, you're actually sustaining the entire universe and you're causing lives to be saved, causing salvation, rescuing people. By your choice that you make, you are the firefighter that's putting out the fire. The Mishna in Avos says, in Perek 2, Know what's above you. Says the Baal Shem Tov an interpretation that's utterly amazing. דע מה למעלה know that what happens above, in the upper worlds, in Shomayim, in the heavens, in the most Divine places, what decides what’s going to be with world events, safety, security, prosperity, lives at stake, דע מה למעלה whatever happens above, ממך, it’s because of you. You're the one that chooses the destiny of the world. It all comes ממך, from you, from your action or your inaction, because you are the firefighter. You got to realize, Vayimaen, when you decide to hold back, when you decide to stop, when you decide to make the right choice, you are putting out the fire, you are saving the world.