My six-year-old son has a … close relationship with one of my friends. They’re always starting up with each other
when they are together, to the point that I honestly don’t know who’s starting
what.
Yesterday, after picking him up from his pre-school, my wife was walking
down the street and my friend called over my son to give him something. My son ran up to him and started to kick
him. My wife yelled at him to stop, for
obvious reasons. He turned to his mother
with a shocked look and said, “But Mommy… he’s my FRIEND!” That’s what six-year-old boys do to show
their friendship. Why my wife couldn’t
see that… I have no idea…. Women….
After a miraculous escape from Egypt and after witnessing the utter
destruction of Egypt's army at the Red Sea, the Jewish nation received the
Torah and spent a year or so in the desert, cut off from the world and being
supported by miraculous deeds. While
there were some troubling times, in the end, the Nation was poised ready to
enter Eretz Yisroel. With it's entrance,
the Jewish people would have, under Moshe's leadership, conquered the land, and
elevated the entire nation to levels which it never experienced.
Shortly before entering, the people wished to send out spies to tour the
land and to seek it's strengths and weaknesses.
This idea was supported by Hashem, since it is a proper course of action
for any military conquest to gather intelligence before planning the
attack. After all, while we rely on
Hashem, we are still obligated to do our part.
In the end, the spies returned worried about what they saw. It was clear to them that this could very
well be a military blunder that could destroy the nation. The nation in turn, begin to believe their
reports, and it went downhill from there.
It's interesting to note what was going to be and what happened in the
end. Hashem was about to fulfill His
centuries-old promise to Avraham to bring his children "home". This, from my understanding, would be the
Messianic era. Everything would have
been complete. The centuries of exiles,
pogroms, holocausts, etc… would not have occurred. The Beis HaMikdash would have been built, and
our mission would have been accomplished.
The nation itself was ready to fulfill that. They wanted to fulfill that. However, "reality" got in the
way. They began to have their doubts,
despite all that they personally have witnessed. And because of that, look at the opportunity
that was lost.
There is a big lesson we must always remember. Hashem is looking out for our best. He wants us to succeed, both as a nation and
as individuals. He wants each and every
person to grow, and when they grow, they 'enable' Hashem to give more. However, when we forget this, we begin to
believe that the world around us controls us, Hashem falls to the wayside, and we
believe that we are on our own.
Many of us have had times where our Emunah was high. We had periods of life where we were
constantly seeing Hashem's hand in things.
We thought to ourselves, "I can continue like this, this is not so
bad…", but then something occurs, or even if something didn't yet occur,
we know that there might be "troublesome" times ahead. And what do we do? We begin to worry, then we begin to
panic. Then, in the end, where is
Hashem?
It's similar to a person who has experienced years of steady work. They have enough money, plus a little more,
and are relatively comfortable. They
thank Hashem everyday for their income and truly believe it comes from
Him. Then one day, they receive word
that they have only a month left until the company is closing down. The person is shocked. They don't know what to do. They begin to search frantically for other
jobs, speaking to whomever they can. The
begin to worry all day and night. And it
gets worse and worse as the thirty day limit approaches.
And this is a normal reaction.
However, as hard as it is, it's not supposed to be our
reaction. Yes, we are supposed to go
out and look for work. That's what
Hashem wants. However, what is our
attitude? Is it the same as we had when
things were good? Are we able to
maintain the same learning schedule that we did when things were good? Did we maintain the same level of peace in
the home as we did when things were good?
Did we speak to people with the same calmness as we did when things were
good?
This is what the Jewish people experienced and where they failed.
It's a lifetime of work, but it's something that everybody is obligated
to work on. Hashem has a plan and wishes
to give us what is best for us. But
truly embracing that notion even through difficult times, we will in the end receive
what is best for us. However, if we
fail, and lose sight of Who's running the world, we can lose it all.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!