Reb Shlomo Carlebach zt"l on Naso
(Via Stuie Wax)
Who is Carrying Who?
Here in our parsha there are three groups carrying the Mishkan throughout the desert. The first group is B'nei Kehas, they carried the Holy Ark; gevalt, they carried the light of the Torah.
Do you know how heavy the tablets were? Do you know how heavy those stones were? The Medrash says it must have weighed around ten thousand tons... ten thousand tons! But you know the most unbelievable thing? The moment Bnei Kehas mamesh tried to pick it up, the greatest miracle took place. They didn't carry it - it mamesh carried them. The Gemara says the Torah is 'Noseh Es Nos'av', the Torah carries you; you don't have to carry the Torah.
And here everyone has to ask themselves from the deepest place. Am I keeping Shabbos or is Shabbos keeping me? If you keep Shabbos you are not shabbosdik yet. Shabbos keeps me. Gevalt, where would we be without Shabbos? A person can live without Shabbos even if you're keeping Shabbos. It's very beautiful, maybe you'll go to paradise. But Shabbos is not yet on the level of the tablets, because you are the one who thinks you are carrying it.
The Heilige Chortkover Rebbe mamesh never ate, never slept, but he mamesh when it came to Hagba (the honor of lifting the Torah), he picked up the heaviest Torah with ease. So he said, “When is the Torah heavy? When you are carrying it. But when you let the Torah carry you - it's not heavy, it’s Mamash light."
What a gevalt.
Good Shabbos!
