Rushing Toward Expectations

I decided to take four students who could not go home for Chanukah vacation on a trip to Mount Lassen National Park for some cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The park is magnificent. The ride for five large men in a tiny Mazda GLC was uncomfortable, but the discomfort was worth it the minute we saw the park.

The bubbling mud pots intrigued one student. They stank of rotten eggs, so most of us, watched from afar. This student wanted to edge closer and closer. While we were all yelling, “Be careful!” he edged close enough to place his foot over a mud pot, which boiled over just as he played his risky game. The heat melted his heavy boot onto his foot, and we had to carry him up a small mountain back to the trail, and then, in our snowshoes, carry him down the trail to the car.

This time, with a six foot 18 year old screaming in pain, we were even more crowded than before. I had to get him to a hospital as quickly as possible. The first aid station at the ranger’s office was closed. I zoomed around the mountain roads, veering on the edge of the cliffs. I never drove so fast and skillfully before in my life. I was, in all humility, unbelievable. Everyone else in the car had their eyes closed; I was too scared to even blink, as we rounded the dangerous curves of the mountain road. We made it to the closest hospital in unbelievable time.

I have never driven like that again. I admit to temporary insanity. I believe all my passengers were scarred for life, although not as badly as the foot of the risk taker. The story spread through yeshiva like wildfire and soon I had driven 100MPH around curves ten times more frightening than the actual curves. People were begging me to take them on my next trip. They all expected me to drive like that again. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I had to rush. I had no choice. I did things I would not have done if not for the emergency.

I can imagine the rush of the Children of Israel to Mt. Sinai. They just had to get there. It was to be the climax of everything they had experienced. They rushed to experience ultimate connection to God. They rushed as they never did before or would again. There are times we rush for emergencies, and even rarer, more precious times when we rush toward something absolutely wonderful and exciting. How fortunate they were to have something so wonderful waiting for them that they had to rush even more than the wild man of Lassen.

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