This Shabbat Lech-Lecha (5778/2017) we went with a Tinkertoy theme. The tables were arranged Tinker-toy-style with round tables (like the Tinkertoy wheels) connecting rectangular ones (like the Tinkertoy sticks), and on each of your tables there’s a small arrangement of Tinkertoys as a centerpiece to better acquaint this generation with these classic wooden toys that date back more than a century to pre-WWI 1913! Many students we spoke to had never seen this type of toy, but its something Raizy and I remember from our childhood.
Why Tinkertoys? And what does this have to do with Lech-Lecha?
Lech-Lecha literally means: Go unto you. It’s G-d’s call to Abraham to leave his home in Haran and make the great journey to the Land of Canaan, later to become the land of Israel. This “Go unto You” is also an eternal message for all of us, in every generation, about our own life-journeys and spiritual growth.
Tinkertoys have an insightful message about life-journeys. There are only two types of Tinkertoy pieces (in the classic wooden editions): wooden sticks (of varying lengths) and wheels (that have slots for sticks around the rims and through the middle of the wheels). These wheels connect sticks and also allow them to pivot in different directions.
Tinkertoy Sticks and Wheels.
A stick is like a journey, like a line-segment that begins at Point A and ends up at Point B. The wooden sticks in the set have varying lengths (and in more modern sets, different colors) which can correspond to the different lengths journeys and goals. Journeys need us to persist, to carry-on, to keep going. These rigid, fixed sticks tell us: Stick to it! Don’t lose focus, keep at it.
But even the longest sticks in the set aren’t long enough. It takes sets of sticks, sequences of them, short ones and long ones, to build up what needs to be accomplished. That’s the first reason we need the wheels, for they serve as connectors, they bridge one stick to another, lengthening the journey, taking it to the next step. Yes, the first goal was accomplished, but the wheel acts the bridge to ensure it keeps on going and growing, that we don’t stop at the first stick.
But Tinkertoy wheels are more than just connectors between one stick and another, between one leg of the journey and the next. Every connector wheel in Tinkertoys also broadens the opportunities! There are holes all around the edge of the wheels to allow for multiple connections, in all directions, from all angles. And the sticks that come out of this first wheel can all further those connections with additional wheels and sticks and wheels beyond that!
Many Jews study and prepare for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, the first stick of their Jewish journey. They are persistent and invested, and make it to the end. Sadly, many end their Jewish education right there. But think of a Bar/Bat-Mitzvah milestone is a wheel, an opportunity to build upon what you reached and build on further, opening new opportunities in more directions, furthering and broadening your Jewish education and experiences.
Our Jewish journeys need both wheels and sticks, and the process is ongoing, ever-expanding horizons and connections. That’s why we set up the tables with round tables connecting rectangular ones, going off in all directions, intertwined and interconnected. Because this week is Lech-Lecha and the theme is our Jewish life-journeys. May we continue to go and continue to grow, and to expand and enrich, and utilize every opportunity to broaden and expand our own Jewish lives and those of others and indeed, our entire Jewish campus community – and beyond!