A Slice of Heaven

The smitanic is irresistible. It is a Russian delicacy baked with 4 layers of pound cake partitioned by vanilla frosting with crushed nuts on top.  

We went to Meshech Levi, a farm in the Upper Galil to pick berries. In season were blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  

Picking the berries was an adventure in itself. There were 30 berries in clusters and hundreds of clusters on every tree. Each berry tasted like candy as the juice exploded inside your mouth with ripe sweetness. How a small, delicate plant the size of a single digit on my pinky finger can produce so much taste is a testament to the greatness of our Creator.  

We ate our fill just when there were still some berries inside our baskets. My wife took the extras and embedded them inside the frosting in between the layers. 

The cake was irresistible. Which is probably why my son decided to help himself to a sneak preview. 

Learning Wisdom 

As the cake cooled, my son decided to take a piece for himself. About an hour later, my wife and I saw a finger size void in the center of tomorrow’s dessert. Not being his first offense, as punishment, he would have to forfeit his slice.  

He got upset and brooded in his room for a while. I needed to teach him a lesson so I took him back to the kitchen and showed him the cake. 

“Son, look at how much you ate. Barely a single bite. See what it cost you? You could have had 40 times the amount over the course of two desserts, and you gave it up for crumbs.” 

“You are about to become a bar mitzvah. The most important lesson in life you must learn is to consider the consequences of everything you do. If you would have just held off what you wanted right now, later on you could have had much more of exactly what you wanted.” 

I wonder how many times my father said it to me.  

I wonder how many times our Father says it to all of us. 

Joining the Real Resistance  

The only real resistance in our world is to resist the urge to satisfy an immediate desire. 

It can be food.  

It can be money. 

It can be fame.  

It can be lust. 

It can be pride. 

The faster we want it, the more we risk to get it. The smaller we receive, and  the  greater  we  surrender  in  the long run. 

Why do we go to the most extreme measures to get close with a member of the opposite gender?  

As gratuitous as the pleasure can be, it is merely a sneak preview of the greater pleasure that Hashem reserves for us in the Next World after a lifetime of restricting those actions to the proper time and the proper context. 

He prepares the cake while we resist the crumbs.  

While my son could only watch his sisters enjoy the cake, we made it clear that if he behaved this week, he would have an even bigger slice. After all, he knows the sweetness of the cake and the excitement of the heist. To overcome both warrants extra reward.  

Once he discovered the joy of the pie, the crumbs lost their appeal.  

May we all be so fortunate.  

Rosh Chodesh Elul Tov, my brothers and sisters! 

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David Ben Horin lives in Israel with his wife and children.