B"H
Friday, Sivan 25, 5782 / June 24, 2022
This Shabbat we read Parshat Shlach which tells the story of the spies which Moshe and the Jewish people sent to scout the Holy Land. Instead of a good report, they brought back a negative one. The people then refused to go to the Promised Land and as a result, that generation didn’t go into Israel.
Q. One of the things the spies said, "And we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers and so we were in their eyes." What lesson can we derive from this?
A. Our rabbis explain that how a person thinks of themselves in their own eyes, so they are perceived by others. Had the spies been positive and confident in their mission, remembering that they were sent by Moshe, they would have been proud of their mission. But with their negative attitude ("we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers") they projected the same image about themselves to the inhabitants of the land and, they too, viewed them as grasshoppers - small and meaningless creatures.
When we do a mitzvah, performing our G-dly mission in this world, it is important to feel proud and positive about it. This feeling will then be projected and transmitted to others and they too will be affected and influenced to do the same.
The third chapter of Pirkei Avot, which will be recited this Shabbat, begins, 'Reflect upon three things and you will not come to sin: Know from where you came and to where you are going and before Whom you are destined to give an accounting... before the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.'"
Our sages give the following parable which illustrates the point. A fox once passed by a beautiful garden, filled with row after row of delicious fruits and vegetables. The food looked so tempting, the fox wanted to eat it all. But there was a problem. A fence surrounded the garden. The fox went around the entire fence many times. Finally, he found a hole but it was too small to fit through. The fox was not about to give up so easily. "Where there's a will, there's a way!" he thought.
He decided to fast until he would be skinny enough to fit through the small opening. For three straight days, the wily fox fasted. Finally, he was able to fit through the hole.
Once inside the garden, he ate to his heart's content. When he finally could eat no more, it was time to leave. But try as he might, he couldn't. He was too fat to go back through the hole! So he had to fast another three days until he could squeeze through again.
When he finally made it outside the fence, he looked back and exclaimed. "Garden, Garden, how beautiful you are. But what good is your beauty when the way I went in, is the way I went out!”
We come into this world with no material assets and leave this world without any of the physical and material things we amassed during our lifetime. The only assets we take with us in the end are the mitzvot, good deeds and spiritual accomplishments we accumulated in this world.
SHABBAT SHALOM
Montreal candle lighting time: 8:29 / Shabbat ends: 9:46