Before his death, Moshe blesses the nation, defining the unique talents & abilities of each tribe. Before he does so, he recounts the merit that makes the nation as a whole worthy of blessing. Then, in the final posuk before the individual blessings, Moshe qualifies Hashem's kingship over the nation. ויהי בישרון מלך , and He became King over the Jewish people, בהתאסף ראשי עם יחד שבטי ישראל , when the numbers of the nation are gathered - the tribes of Israel in unity.
Rashi explains that when they are gathered together in a single group & there is peace among them, then He is their King but not when there is discord among them.
We see how great it is when we're at peace with each other, for Hashem doesn't even want to be our king when we're not at peace. In the gemara, Reb Shimon Ben Chalafta states, "Hashem hasn't found a vessel that holds blessing for the Jewish people, only peace".
What does it mean that peace is the vessel that holds blessing? Isn't peace itself the blessing?
The Chida answers this question. When the Kohanim bless us, they conclude with the blessing of peace, for without peace, all the brachos are worthless. He explains that Hashem judges a person by the way he deals with other people.
This is illustrated by this story in the gemara. Rav Huna got sick & was about to die. Suddenly he recovered. He said that when his soul got up to the heavens, he heard Hashem say to the heavenly court that since I didn't stand on ceremony to repay those that did bad to me, the heavenly court shouldn't look too carefully at my misdeeds. Therefore, they let me live.
Continued the Chida, when a person is at peace with everyone, then upstairs they can't prosecute him either. For if they try to prosecute him, that creates challenge & this is a person who stays away from challenge so Hashem doesn't let them prosecute him. Since there is no prosecution on him upstairs, all the brachos will be realized. It turns out that peace is the vessel that makes all the blessings come to fruition.
The gemara relates a story that, one year, when the Jews came up to Yerushalaim for one of the three festivals, there was no water for them to drink. Nakdeimon Ben Gorion went to one of the princes & asked him to loan him twelve springs of water & if he didn't replenish them by a certain date he would have to pay him an enormous sum of money. The date arrived without any rain. The prince sent a messenger to Nakdeimon to collect the money but was told there is still time . Every few hours the messenger came to collect but was sent away with the same message. The prince, confident that he would get the money in the end, went to the bathhouse to prepare for his party. At the same time, Nakdimon went to the Beis Hamikdash to daven. Then, as the sun was setting, the rains came & filled the twelve springs with water.
The אצרות התורה asks if that year was one where the rain was held back because the Jewish people had sinned, what was it that Nakdimon did that would make Hashem change & give rain when he had said He wouldn't?
The gemara tells us about Rav Preida who had a student who needed to be taught everything four hundred times until he understood it. One day, while he was teaching this student, Rav Preida was invited to go somewhere. He continued teaching but even after four hundred times, the student still didn't understand. The Rav asked him what's wrong; why aren't you getting it? He answered that since they came to invite you away, I keep thinking that you're going to leave any minute & I can't concentrate. Rav Preida told him, “Ok now pay attention & we'll start over; he taught him another four hundred times .
A heavenly voice came out & offered him two possible rewards. Either you will have four hundred years added to your life, or you & your entire generation will merit the world to come. He answered, let us all merit the world to come.
Now we can understand why Rav Preida would merit the world to come for his exceptional patience. However, what did his generation do to merit anything?
The רמ"ק, after he brings the thirteen attributes of mercy that a person should try to emulate his maker with, ends by saying that however a person acts down here he merits to have them act upstairs. For example, if a person shows mercy to his friend, then Hashem will show mercy upstairs & that mercy will prevail in the world. Since Rav Preida had exceptional patience, he caused Hashem to have exceptional patience with the entire generation. Therefore, they all merited the world to come. So, too, Nakdimon’s willingness to spend a fortune so that the people would have what to drink, was able to change Hashem's judgment from strict justice to one of mercy. Once mercy was dominant, the rains came.
This demonstrates how we can be the ones affecting the outcome of the world. We have the power to control what goes on just by going out of our way for other people. We will have Hashem go out of His way not only for us but for everyone. Let us be nice & at peace with everyone, then Hashem will be nice to us & bring peace into the world showering all of us with bracha!
No comments:
Post a Comment