SOLVING A RIDDLE

On Sunday, at the end of the first lesson, our teacher announced a new project. “B’ezras Hashem, on Thursday, there will be a project for the students of our class. To start with a challenge, you will need to guess what the topic of our project is. I will dictate a riddle to you and the one who solves it correctly will get a book.”

The classroom was silent. Our class loves riddles and everyone wanted to win the prize. The teacher waited until we all took out pens and paper and then he read from the paper he was holding:

“A mission was assigned right from the start, and throughout the generations they worked to complete it. In every place they went, the mission was carried out and soon the dream will be realized.”

I wrote the riddle into my notebook. When the bell rang, I said goodbye to my classmates and walked home as I thought about the riddle.

The next day, I was concentrating on the interesting lesson when my attention was suddenly diverted. A small paper ball flew through the air in an arc and landed on my desk. I opened it curiously and read the following: “Tonight, at 7:30, we get to work. Itzik.”

Ah, Itzik, the class mischief maker. Only he would throw notes in the middle of class despite our teacher’s great lessons. He had started paying attention lately, but apparently he still wasn’t remembering the rules of behavior during class.

The mitzva of judging others favorably was momentarily forgotten, and when I remembered it my curiosity was aroused. I wondered what Itzik was referring to. It sounded exciting.

I tried to guess which of his good friends who sit near me had been the one meant to receive the note. It had to be either Shmuli or Zalmy, I concluded. I expected one of them to ask me for the note but no one did.

I sniffed an adventure and the day passed by with me looking forward to 7:30 that evening. I decided to wait in the yard of Itzik’s house at 7:00 so I could follow him when he left the house.

Fifteen minutes passed and nobody left the building. I almost gave up when suddenly I could see Itzik passing by. I waited a little bit and when a safe distance opened between us, I began to follow him.

Itzik walked quickly with me after him until we arrived at the park. So this was the place Itzik and his mystery friend had arranged to meet. I wanted to know who the friend was to whom he had sent the note when I suddenly noticed him and was taken by surprise.

The person Itzik met was none other than our teacher! What?! Itzik threw the note toward the teacher? That couldn’t be!

My thoughts raced in a jumble. I finally decided to put aside the mystery of who was supposed to receive the note and focus on what Itzik and the teacher were doing. After a few minutes, someone else joined them. I guess that is whom Itzik meant when he threw the note. It was Zalmy, as I had guessed earlier.

They gathered round a large table in a corner of the park and the teacher took out some poster boards, glue, scissors, and colored markers. The three of them got to work.

I carefully moved closer to them while remaining hidden behind thick bushes nearby. I looked at the poster boards that they were working on and noticed that they had outlined a map which was now being cut by Itzik into big puzzle pieces. In the center of each piece was a prominent mark.

I racked my brains to figure out what they were doing. After some minutes of concentrated thinking I got it! They were preparing the project for Thursday! Now I had the opportunity to find out the topic of the project and to win the prize.

At first, I had no idea why the teacher had chosen to prepare the project in the park, but after looking around a little, I noticed something in the shape of a globe set up nearby. I suppose that helped them prepare the project.

On Thursday, during recess, I sat with my notebook and tried to understand the riddle. I remembered one of the lessons I had had in camp. I thought over what I had seen in the park and after a few minutes I knew the answer.

When the first lesson of the afternoon was over, the teacher asked, “Who wants to try and guess the topic of the project?”

After a few minutes of silence, Dovid, who sits at the back of the class and usually has a hard time understanding the lesson, raised his hand. “Yes?” the teacher said, as he called upon him.

Dovid was a bit shy at first but he got up his courage and said, “The mission assigned from the start is to sift out the sparks of holiness that are all over the world. Throughout the generations, we worked to carry this out and to bring holiness everywhere. When the holiness permeates the entire world, we will have the Geula. So the project will demonstrate this.”

“Very nice,” said the teacher, praising his answer, and he called him up to take his prize. You must be surprised about why I did not respond. Wait a bit and you will understand.

The teacher began the project which was very fascinating. We were divided into groups. Each group was given a job and when it was done, we got part of the puzzle of the map of the world. In the center of each piece was marked the location of a shliach of the Rebbe who worked there.

After a long time the map was completed and we could all see how the Rebbe’s shluchim fill every part of the world. The message was clear. Today, there are Jews everywhere in the world who have brought holiness to their place and the world is ready for the Geula.

Now I can tell you that I guessed the answer but decided to forgo the prize. Now that the world is full of the light of holiness, I wanted to do a little act to hasten the Geula. I am sure that in the merit of the small deed that I did, Dovid was encouraged to go further and will, with Hashem’s help, be successful.