The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
The Torah writes in Bamidbar 13:32 that when the spies came back they said אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יֽוֹשְׁבֶ֨יהָ֙ הִ֔וא . Rashi explains this to mean that everywhere they went they saw people burying their dead, so the spies thought that the country was consuming its people. But they did not realize that this was done for their benefit as this would have left everyone too busy to pay attention to them.
R' Frand asked in the name of R' Dovid Zetl (sp?) - why would one think that this was for their benefit? R' Frand drew a parallel to the early days of COVID. If you were in a large city and there were constantly ambulances taking people to the hospital and many deaths, why would you think that this was for your benefit to distract them from you?
He answered by giving a mashal - imagine being in Bnei Brak, standing across from a bus stop and seeing a group of chiloni teenagers. The bus came and when it left they are no longer standing there. You assume that they did not disappear into thin air. Now imagine again that its Shabbos and R' Chaim Kanievsky ZTL is sitting on the bench at the bus stop. The bus comes and then it leaves and he is no longer there. Would you assume that he took the bus to the mall? You would not assume he ever took a bus on Shabbos unless it was to save a life.
R' Frand said that all of us have someone in our lives that we trust to the point that we would never believe that person would do something to hurt us. How could they think that Hashem who made the 10 makkos and took the Jews out of Egypt and gave us the Torah and protected us in the desert - would he bring us to a land that would kill all of us? We may not know why R' Chaim was at the bus stop, but we can be sure that he was not mechallel Shabbos. So too there was no reason that Hashem would bring us to a land where the land would consume us.
The Torah states in 13:33 that the spies said וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֨ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵֽינֵיהֶֽם. The Medrash says that Hashem accepted that they said that in their own eyes they thought they were like grasshoppers, but why would you think that in someone else's eyes you were like grasshoppers?
The Sfas Emes explains that they thought that because they overheard the giants saying that they saw what looked like grasshoppers in the vineyards. But having said that, the reason they looked at us like that is because we saw ourselves that way. Because the way that we think about ourselves, other people will perceive us the same way.
Rabbi Frand noted that a person is supposed to be humble, but that does not mean that a person should think they are a nobody. If a person thinks who am I, that is false humility. R' Frand told a story about a Yeshiva that would go to the mountains in the summer to learn. There was a ba'al teshuva who came to learn with the boys in the Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva saw him and came over to talk to him...and noticed later that the man was not happy. He asked why?
The man responded - I see that the boys learn and its so easy for them and I am working so hard. Does Hashem have pleasure from my learning? The Rosh Yeshiva told him a story about Arturo Tuscanini who was an Italian conductor. One day they were going to play one of his pieces but he was not well enough to be there and he listened over the radio. A reporter went to interview him and asked what was the problem? He responded that there were supposed to be 15 violins and there were only 14 and they missed a special note for the 15th that he wanted heard. The Rosh Yeshiva said that if Tuscanini is such a conductor is upset that one violin is missing, Hashem is looking for your voice in the Beis Medrash and he is disappointed when you are not there.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
No comments:
Post a Comment