This past Shabbos's Pirkei Avos was the fifth chapter. The seventh mishna states the 10 miracles that were performed in the Beis Hamikdash, the seventh being "the rains did not extinguish the fire on the Altar pyre." Hashem could just as well have made a miracle that it never rain over the site of the Beis Hamikdash and the Altar/mizbeiach. Why was it necessary that it rain and yet not extinguish the flame? Reb Chaim of Volozhin offers a homiletical answer based on the interpretation of the word geshem/rain, as a reference to gashmius/physicality. No matter what worries and concerns inundate one's life, he must always be sure that the torch of his commitment to the Torah burns strongly. People often claim that making a living stands in the way of their serious involvement in learning Torah and doing mitzvos. The lesson of this miracle in the Beis Hamikdash was that one's physical needs and desires (geshem/rain) must never, G-d forbid, dampen his spiritual pursuits. One must never let the geshamim/physical concerns extinguish the fire of his innate burning passion for the spiritual. "Eish tamid tukad al ha'mizbeiach lo sichbe!!!"
By us every day is mothers day!!!!
peace & joy,
Etan
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