B"H
Thursday, Sivan 26, 5786 / June 11, 2026
In the past few Parshiot, the Torah describes many of the episodes in which the Jewish people complained and rebelled against Moshe, which in essence means they rebelled against G-d.
For example, last week we read how they complained about the manna – their heavenly food that came each day. In this week’s Parsha we will read how they complained about going into Israel, after hearing the negative report from the 10 spies. In next week’s Parsha, Korach, we will read about another rebellion against Moshe and Aaron, this time by Korach and his 250 men.
Even though these events took place over three thousand years ago, they contain a lesson for us today.“Torah” comes from the word “teaching.” What lessons do these negative stories teach?
The Jewish people of that generation had seen and experienced great miracles; The Ten plagues, the Exodus, the splitting of the Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire which accompanied them in the desert, the manna, which came from heaven each day and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai etc., one miracle greater than the other. So how can we understand the fact that they lacked trust in G-d?
The answer is that because they saw miracles continuously, they mistakenly viewed them as nature. They thought, “How can it be otherwise?” As a result, they took these things for granted and stopped appreciating the wonderful miraculous blessings that G-d provided for them daily. They stopped seeing G-d’s hand in everything and complained about trivial things.
The lesson for us is that we, too, must realize and appreciate our daily miracles!It is essential that we realize them as such and not take them for granted. If we only took the time to think about how many breaths we inhale and exhale each day, how many steps we take every day and how many words we speak each day, etc. etc., we would appreciate the magnitude of our daily blessings.
What’s more, our appreciation of all these wonderful blessings would automatically alleviate our feelings of anxiety and distress in our day-to-day life.
A mother was once walking along the seashore with her son, when a huge wave carried him out to sea. The mother began praying, “Please G-d, give me back my child!” Shortly afterwards a huge wave deposited her child unharmed at her feet. The mother embraced the child, “Thank you G-d!. Thank you! I will be forever grateful to you!” Then she looked at her child again, looked up to heaven and said, “And what about his hat…?”
Every morning, we recite a number of blessings thanking G-d for giving us so many wonderful things in life. These blessings are found in the beginning of the Siddur (daily prayer book). Reciting them and concentrating on the good which we receive each day reminds us not to take things for granted, thus our days will be better days!
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY