Over these past High Holidays, among many stories I told, the one about Mr. Goldberg and his amazing pencils garnered the most interest. Many have asked for a copy of this tale of a town that uses only pencils, and in doing so, find easy contentment. I am sharing the powerful charge to the pencils below. The full story was part of last year’s Rosh Hashanah sermon by Rabbi Perry Raphael Rank, from the Midway Jewish Center. You can find the full text here.
Kinderlach–My dear little pencils. You are about to go forth into the world—schools, businesses, homes, and so forth. Remember the following important lessons: One. Everything you do will always leave a mark. Two. If you’re not so happy with the mark, don’t worry, you can erase it. Erase it quickly because the longer you leave the mark the harder it will be to erase it. Three. You will undergo some very painful sharpenings, but you know what—it will make you a better pencil. Four. At some time, you may end up in a desk for years or behind a shelf or lost on the road, abandoned, forgotten, alone. At those times remember—what makes you a pencil is not what’s outside of you, it’s what’s inside of you. And finally kinderlach, my dear pencils, in order to be the very best pencil in the world, you have to be held and guided by the hand that holds you, so respect that hand, for it will help you become what you were put on this earth to be: a pencil.