The Importance of Order
In this week’s Torah reading, the Torah discusses the order in which the Tribes of Israel settled, as they camped in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (in Da’at Torah) notes the fact that the Torah writes the specific order in which our ancestors were instructed to reside, in detail. This was obviously not a trivial matter.
Rabbi Levovitz says, we can glean from here the importance of organization as a true Torah value. It is not merely a pleasant and efficient way to live. It is a virtue in a Jew’s life which requires our attention.
In the Talmud Torah (school for Torah study) of Kelm, this trait was stressed as an upmost priority. So much so, that if the head of the Talmud Torah, the Alter of Kelm, would find that for some reason his chair was not placed in the exact place where it belonged, this minute lack of orderliness would upset him as though someone had desecrated the Holy Sabbath.
One may wonder, what is so important about being orderly? Why is this attribute vital to being a fine Jew?
The Diamond Necklace
The Alter from Kelm explained that the virtue of organization can be compared to the knot at the end of an expensive diamond necklace which holds the diamonds strung together. The knot in and of itself is of little value. But without the knot, all the diamonds will be gone.
Similarly, being orderly preserves all good qualities. The more a person keeps himself organized, the more his other virtues will remain intact. When a person is organized, especially in his activities of performing mitzvot (the commandments of the Torah) such as prayer and Torah study, his spiritual accomplishments are bound to last.
When a person is lacking order in his life, all that he achieves stands at great risk of being lost.
Rabbi Dessler’s Visit
When Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler was a young yeshivah boy (a student of a Talmudical school), he studied out of town, in the Slabodka Yeshivah. One day, his father made the long and difficult journey from Kelm to check up on his son’s progress.
When his esteemed father, Rabbi Reuven Dov Dessler, arrived in Slabodka, the Rosh Yeshivah (dean) greeted him warmly and engaged him in Torah discussion. After speaking for some while, the Rosh Yeshivah invited him to come to the Beit Midrash (study hall) so Rabbi Dessler could see his son.
Surprisingly, Rabbi Dessler declined the offer and said, “I do not want to create a disturbance in the Beit Midrash. How about going instead to his bedroom?”
And so, they went to check up on young Eliyahu’s living quarters. As Rabbi Dessler entered the room where his son slept, he inspected his son’s closet and found that all the clothes lay neatly in their places.
Upon concluding that his son’s possessions were kept orderly, he turned to the Rosh Yeshivah and said, “I see that my son is studying well. Thank you. I shall now be on my way.”
His son’s neatness was sufficient to prove that his son’s learning was coming along the way it should.
Structure Creates Stability
While some of us are more inclined than others to keep ourselves organized, we all recognize that being neat is a good thing. Nevertheless, this is an area in which everyone can use improvement.
Naturally, we tend to prioritize other attributes which we need to work on, and acquiring this trait is often neglected. At first glance, maintaining order in our lives would seem to be a petty factor in our growth. We now see that it is not so.
Human nature requires structure. The more a person maintains a proper structure in his life, the more settled his mind will be. When a person is lacking proper order in areas of his life, his mind cannot function in proper order.
This disruption in a person’s frame of mind makes him very vulnerable to losing all his other accomplishments. When a person manages to maintain orderliness in his life, he has created a support system for all his endeavors and secured success in all his other virtues.
Protecting Our “Diamonds”
In light of the importance attributed to being organized, we can no longer afford to push this matter to the side. There are many areas and various levels of keeping order.
Keeping to a schedule and boundaries we set for ourselves is a good starting point. The more we thrive in being disciplined with ourselves and maintaining order in our lives, the more secure our “diamonds” will be, and the more success we will have in everything else we strive for.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber torah4every1@gmail.com
