Walk Like Messi. Rise Like a Lion

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players ever to step onto the field. His résumé is staggering: over 900 career goals, more than 400 assists, and more goal contributions than any player in history. During Argentina's World Cup run that fell just short, he scored eight goals and assisted on four more.

Yet if you watch Messi closely, you'll notice something surprising.  He spends much of the game simply...walking. During this World Cup, researchers found that Messi walked for nearly two-thirds of every match. Roughly a quarter of the game he wasn't even moving at all and to the untrained eye it almost looks as though he isn't involved in the game at all.

But that's precisely the point.  Part of what makes him so unstoppable is Messi lets the game come to him and he lulls defenders into a false sense of security, almost allowing them to forget about him. He’s not disengaged.  Rather, he’s watching, reading the field, and waiting to see opportunities that no one else sees.   And then, at exactly the right moment, he explodes into action. And, with one perfectly timed burst, he can change the entire match.

Real strength is not always measured by constant motion. Sometimes it is revealed in the ability to wait and then, at the right moment, to act with extraordinary power.

That same image appears in an unexpected place.  In the very first line of Shulchan Aruch, Rav Yosef Karo instructs us: "Yisgabeir ka'ari la'amod baboker la'avodas Bor'o, strengthen yourself like a lion to rise in the morning to serve your Creator.” Why, out of all animals to choose from, does Rav Yosef Karo say we should rise like a lion?

The Tolna Rebbe explains that no animal embodies hidden strength quite like a lion. A lion can appear completely relaxed, lying motionless beneath the hot sun. To the outside observer it seems harmless, almost lazy. But the lion is not resting because it lacks strength. It is resting because it knows exactly when to unleash it. In a single instant it can spring to life with breathtaking speed and overwhelming force. Much like the way Messi plays soccer, the lion’s stillness is not weakness.  It is restrained power. 

The Tolna Rebbe says that this is also the story of the Jewish people. Throughout history there have been countless moments when the Jewish people appeared defeated, exiled, scattered, silent, and powerless.  The world mistook our patience for weakness and our waiting for defeat. And yet, every time the world assumed the story was over... the lion stood up.

Egypt.  Babylonia. Rome. Spain. Nazi Germany.  Again and again, history declared us finished. And again and again, Am Yisrael rose with astonishing resilience. Not because we were the strongest empire.  We survived because beneath the surface has always beaten the heart of a lion.

That is why the Shulchan Aruch tells us to begin every morning "like a lion." Every day brings moments when we feel exhausted, discouraged or overwhelmed. There are mornings when we feel as though life has knocked us down. The Torah is reminding us that those moments do not define us.  Like the lion, we possess reserves of strength that we often do not realize until the moment we need them.

Perhaps no one captured this better than the Tzanzer Rebbe.  One hundred and fifty years ago, the Tzanzer Rebbe had only one good foot.  He could only limp about, but when anyone told him, “I’m going to Yerushalayim, the holy city,” as hard as it was for him, he would not only walk them to the door, he would walk behind them down the street and say, “Give my regards to Yerushalayim, to each street, every stone and every corner of the Old City.  Tell Yerushalayim that we’re coming.  It’s true that we’re limping.  We’re broken.  And we can’t walk fast.  But, we’re coming.”  Even while limping, the Tzanzer Rebbe possessed the heart of a lion.  His body moved slowly, but his spirit never did.

Shabbos Nachamu reminds us that consolation is not merely the promise that things will get better. It is the confidence that Jewish history is not over. We may still be waiting. We may still bear the scars of exile. But we know that stillness is not surrender, and waiting is not defeat. The lion is only gathering its strength.

Every morning we rise "like a lion," because we know something the world has forgotten again and again:  Never underestimate a people whose greatest strength is not how fast they move, but in how powerfully they rise.

We may still be waiting and we may still carry the scars of exile. But we've never stopped moving toward redemption. So if you happen to see Mashiach before we do, tell him we're on our way. It’s true, we're limping. But we're coming.