Animal Antics

When I was a young girl in Australia, one of my little pleasures in life was diving into our backyard swimming pool to find out I had a few visiting frogs for friends. I would spend happy hours observing them and watching them swim, their muscular legs pumping gracefully away from their raucous invader. Little did I know I was keeping such holy company!
 
I have just learned to appreciate my near-spiritual experience from Rabbi Brody’s lesson titled: “The Unlikely Messenger”. In it, he extols the virtues of the frog, ant and other creatures whose natural attributes put most of us to shame. Not only did I learn to appreciate the hidden, inner wisdom of the animal kingdom, I was left with a fresh understanding of the saying; The entire world was created for the sake of Torah.
 
The lesson centers on the messages we can receive from all of Hashem’s creations: Rebbe Nachman’s first Torah in Likutey Moharan instructs us to seek the innate wisdom that is in each and every thing, and to connect it to Hashem to bring us closer to Him. Rabbi Brody uses Perek Shira to explain how every one of Hashem’s creations has its own unique song and how each song, a pasuk from tehillim, gives a clue as to the nature of its singer; and from this we can gain personal insight and clarity, as did King David when confronted by the “lowly” frog as recounted in the midrash.
 
I once read the true story of a woman, who, after being tormented by a seemingly genius rat who outsmarted even the exterminator, finally caved in after exhausting all physical options and went to see a kabbalist. He told her to read what the rat says in Perek Shira. The rat says: “Let all souls praise Hashem, Halleluyah!” She didn’t understand. The Kabbalist gently told her that perhaps she had a problem with complaining. She was stunned. She did some introspection throughout the night and resolved to improve. After weeks of outright battle with the seemingly immortal rodent, she found him dead in the courtyard the next morning. Halleluyah!
 
I had my own “Perek Shira” experience, in the form of a confrontation with another one of Rabbi Brody’s superheroes: the humble ant.
 
One day, out of the blue, my kitchen became inundated with ants. I gallantly fought a losing battle every morning and evening; I bought spray, cleaned fastidiously, picked up after crumb-leaving family members and, for want of a better word, became quite antsy over the whole issue. And then I remembered the rat story.
 
I rushed out immediately and bought a beautiful copy of Perek Shira, with stunning photos for the kids (OK, I admit, for me, too). As soon as I arrived home I unpacked my little leather-bound savior and held my breath as I read it through for the first time in my life. I almost got sidetracked from my mission but decided to savor the moment just a little longer before I looked up what the ant had to say about me. The ant says: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; See its ways and grow wise”. The commentary tells us about the industriousness of the ant and how we should learn to be as hardworking in our accumulation of Torah and mitzvot. We should never stop growing, there is always more to do, more to gather.
 
I knew then that I was no ant. I had been going through a major slump in my teshuva process and seemed to be voluntarily stagnating. I was amazed that I had to face this fact via an army of ants. I was touched, and I was inspired to do better. If they could get together to tell me what I needed to hear, I wasn’t going to disappoint them, or their Holy King, either. And you already know the finale….. that was the end of the ant problem. After that, whenever I would start the day with a little ant running across the kitchen surface, I knew to be on the lookout for hidden messages. Halleluyah!
 
Rabbi Brody teaches that frogs delivered potent Divine declarations to no less than Pharoah and King David. If such tiny, seemingly insignificant creatures can have such an impact on history and be chosen to deliver some of Hashem’s most important lessons to pivotal characters throughout the Torah, then how much more so we should pay attention to the messages we receive from Hashem via the people closest to us, our family. Since people are of the highest spiritual plane of all of creation, surely it goes without saying that their presence in our personal lives is Divine providence to help us grow, learn about and correct ourselves as part and parcel of our personal soul correction.
 
Rebbe Nachman teaches that children mirror their parents’ relationship with Hashem. He also asserts that a man’s wife is his mirror for his own relationship with Hashem. These are very powerful tools for self-correction and introspection and are thoroughly discussed and explained in Rabbi Arush’s books.
 
Do our children have trouble respecting the house rules? Then maybe we need to brush up on Halacha, Torah law. Are our children ungrateful? Perhaps we are taking Hashem’s blessings for granted. Are our children argumentative? Perhaps we need to build our Emuna and give Hashem the benefit of the doubt.
 
Mirroring also applies to positive messages. A loving father loves to praise his children, and Hashem is no different. Do your children hug you out of the blue? That’s Hashem hugging you. Do your children run up and kiss you for no reason? That’s Hashem right there. And even if the message is one of reproof, whether by way of family or four-legged friend, that’s Hashem’s love, too, since he only wants us to maximize our potential and helps us any way He can.
 
If we can learn a lesson from a frog, we must certainly learn from our family. And if anyone is thinking of getting a pet…. read Perek Shira first!