Yesterday, in discussing the third benefit of Bitachon, we introduced the alchemist, a man who can turn simple metals into precious ones. Alchemy was a type of chemistry popular in the middle Ages that dealt with trying to convert common metals into gold. The word Alchemist comes from Arabic. “Al” means “the” (as in Algebra, Aljazeera”) and chemist refers to the science of chemistry.
As we said, for us, the power of the alchemist is the power of reframing. You’re able to take something and turn it into something else.
I had a first-hand chance to reframe one recent Friday, when my daughter was off from school for a few days. She had her sights set on a trip to Israel, as her brothers had all gone for their Bar Mitzvahs. We explained that she would be”H go for Seminary year, but that wasn’t really a satisfactory answer at the moment.
So, I thought, my daughter wants to go to Israel? I decided to reframe and take her to “Israel.”
I told her that Fridays in Israel are usually comprised of people shopping in Geulah or Machaneh Yehudah Shuk , in preparation for Shabbat. So we’d go to Boro Park, the closest thing we have to Geulah, and spend the morning there.
We parked on 53rd Street and for the next two hours strolled down 13th Ave, amongst the Yiddish and Hebrew speaking populace, buying our “souvenirs”. We bought kippas, birchons, wine, chocolate and nuts. We had a wonderful time. When we came home, my son even asked us how our flight was. It was great!!
With reframing you can save yourself a lot of money, and change your whole outlook on things. For example you might feel cramped in a two bedroom apartment. But with reframing, you can imagine what it’s like to live out of a small hotel room, and then feel great that you’re in a big two bedroom suite!
While on this reframing trip, we received a fabulous Hashgacha Pratit (seeing G-d’s divine providence in your life) message from Hashem that fits right into our topic.
One of our stops was at a pen store. While there I noticed a particular brand of pen, Caran D’Ache that brought back memories of my childhood. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, would reward good students with this particular brand of pen that her husband had purchased on his trips to Switzerland.
Feeling nostalgic, I decided to buy one and have it personalized as a gift for my son. When I asked them for a box for the gift, they brought out a box that almost caused me to fall over! The name on the box was AlChemix! It had been just as I was preparing these classes that I first came across the term Alchemist, and here in the store was a box with that very word on it!!
When I got home I did some research, and discovered that Caran D’Ache named the pen Alchemix to represent all of the qualities of the pen:
“.... the Technical expertise and fusion of essential elements” as well because each part of the word stood for something:
Al - Aluminum
Ch- symbol for Switzerland
Em- Emotional Component
Ix--Individuality
But I viewed pen’s name as a sign from Hashem
Never in my 54 years had I ever heard the word Alchemist used before, other than in the Hovot HaLevavot, and now it was on the pen box, while I happened to be on a “reframing” trip with my daughter?
Hashem was telling me, and all of us learning the Hovot HaLevavot that we are learning the right topic. Just as we were introduced to the Alchemist in the sefer , I saw it in the store !