zach shvat bday story

BS"D

once upon a tale where was an old world inventor who set
out to built his own hot balloon.

After months of toil, as he was finally putting his contraption
together, a local simpleton happened upon him and asked what
he was doing. "I'm going to fly!" the inventor said enthusiastically.
Filled with awe, the townsman asked the inventor if he could
join him on his trip.

The inventor was taken aback by the request. He was about to
refuse and then a though occurred to him. "Imagine his expression
when this balloon takes off!" So the inventor consented.

Soon the ballon came to life as the furnace heated the air inside.
The townsman awkwardly climbed into the large basked. He stood
frozen to this place as the mammoth ball on top of them shook
the whole contraption. Then the basked suddenly started lifting off
the ground. Paralyzed with fear, the simpleton grasped onto the
side of the basket for his life.

It wasn't long before they were soaring above the countryside.
Mesmerized, the simpleton couldn't unglue his eyes from the
breathtaking view above which they precariously dangled.

Which was why he was the first to realize that the balloon was
quickly sinking into the forest.
"Mister...Sir...um...we're falling!"
"Nonsence!" the inventor siad. He peered over just to be sure and
saw the tree tops approaching them dangerously. "oh, my!" he excaimed.
"Wh...what's happening?" the simpleton asked.
"Well," the inventor explained, "the air inside the balloon is cooling off."
"I will simply heet up the air again" the inventor said confidently.
But, the reality hit him. There was no more gas left.
The simpleton didn't exactly know what this meant, but he knew it
wasn't good news.
"Is there anything else we can do? the simpleton asked.
"Well, actually there is. If we throw out our belongings then we will
be able to start rising again."
"Throw our belongings out? But what can we get rid of...? We need
everything we have!"
"First we must throw over the heavy items, like extra food and water,
and the pots and pans. If that's not sufficient, then we will have to drop
everything we don't need to survive-even our valuables."
"Our valuables?! There must be another way!"
"I am very sorry, but there is no other way," the inventor insisted.
The simpleton did a quick inventory of all his possessions. Then he
glanced upward at the huge balloon over their heads. He had the
solution!
"Wait, I have an idea!" he exclaimed. "What do we need this heavy
balloon on top of us for? Let's cut the strings and then we we'll able
to keep our possessions and continue in peace!"

A person is a combination of both the physical and spiritual. While
we live in the physical world below, we are carried along through
this world by our connection to our spiritual part above.
At times though, that spiritual part which keeps us elevated
can become cold. The result is that we begin to fall. In order to hold
on to our spirituality and remain uplifted, we must let go of some of
the physicality which is weighing us down. Unfortunately, though,
sometimes we don't understand that this is the solution. Instead, when
we feel 'down' we let go of our connection to our spiritual part
and cling onto more and more physicality. This only drives us down further.

Clearly this is not the correct way.

It is known that chassidut warms the spirit. May the fire of pnimiyut
Torah and more so the tales of of the besht and his disciples, help us
continue rising and never becoming cold.

from-a neverending tale by Gadi Pollack