About a week before Passover I was in the NYS Capitol for an annual celebration of the Rebbe’s birthday. On my way out through the Empire State Plaza Concourse there was an elaborate and extensive construction hands-on exhibit/experience, showcasing various construction trades.
In addition to general government awareness, this particular event was designed to engage, educate and attract High School seniors who may be interested in apprenticing to learn a trade, some of which are in great demand (such as elevator repair, for one).
TWO TYPES OF MORTAR
I passed a masonry exhibit. Experienced bricklayers were assisting high school students in building a large brick fireplace. It was a good eight to ten feet wide and already over waist high, and a couple feet deep. Students were applying mortar, lining up the bricks, one row at a time. I asked them how they planned to carry the large and heavy finished all-brick project out of the Concourse?
Ah, I learned not all mortar sets into permanence! As one of the workers explained: There’s two types of mortar and this is “non-setting mortar”. This type takes very long to actually dry and even when it does it’s not fully permanent. At end of the day they’ll wash it all down and take it apart.
Seeing this just before Passover is relevant! Mortar is a feature of the biblical Egyptian slavery story and is recalled prominently on the Passover centerpiece Seder plate as the Charoset, a mixture of chopped apples & nuts (& wine, some add other ingredients) into a paste.
Setting vs non-setting mortar, construction of permanence vs. construction that’s not plays into the Midrash behind the Passover story.
On Passover mortar reminds us of slavery. But in year round Chassidic parlance, mortar has a rich positive connotation for that sticky in-between, the fillers of life, connective tissue. Not the study texts or obligations but the stories, songs, culture & ways of Chassidism.
In the Chassidic definition as well, this difference (that I learned in the NYS Capitol/Concourse in the week leading to Passover) between setting vs. non-setting mortar has great significance & can make all the (lasting!) difference!
SHEETROCKERS HANGERS VS. TAPERS & MUDDERS
One more booth caught my eye at this construction expo at the NYS Capitol. Most of the workers at that booth were wearing heavy-duty stilts-braces, standing several feet tall than anyone else around. Turns out this was “The Tapers” booth, they walk on stilts to easily reach all portions of the walls.
In my short time at the booth (remember this is within a week of Passover, a busy time!), I learned about the rivalry between sheetrock hangers and the tapers and mudders who smooth it out to prepare for painting or wallcovering. Sheetrockers try to work fast. They aren’t as worried about small gaps or misaligned pieces because they know the tapers & mudders will be coming in after them to smooth it all out. But those tapers and mudders are often upset with (what they consider) the shoddy sloppy work of the sheetrock hangers and resent having to fill and fix all the flaws in their work…
The man speaking to me is a veteran taper & mudder, and now is a teacher in the trade. He told me the key teaching he tells all his students: “It doesn’t matter in what condition you get the job. What matters most is what you do with what you get, and how you leave it when you’re done.”
Indeed! Often in life we can’t control the hand we’re dealt, circumstances are often not of our own making. But we can control what we do with it, and how it (and we!) looks once we do our part!