Every Person’s Gift

 

We should know that every good trait – not just humility – can draw down God’s Presence into our lives.  Moshe’s (Moses’) outstanding trait was his humility, and that was the “staff” with which he performed miracles, as explained above.  But every person has different natural strengths, and by perfecting his own special trait, he can merit God’s help and even miracles.

           

The Gemara tells a story about the great Tanna, Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair, who was walking on a road with his students.  They came to a river. The waters split before Rabbi Pinchos, allowing him to walk across on dry land.  When his students asked if they were permitted to follow, he said, “Only a person who has never harmed or belittled one of God’s creatures may benefit from such a miracle” (Talmud Yerushalmi, Demai, 1:3.  See Pnei Moshe).  The reason is that when a miracle is performed for a person, it awakens an accusing voice in heaven:  Does that person deserve such a miracle?  Is it right to suspend the laws of nature for him?  Someone who has never caused any harm is immune to all heavenly accusation, thus he can benefit from a miracle safely.

           

We see from this story that Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair himself was extremely careful never to harm another creature, and this was the outstanding trait by which he merited special heavenly assistance and miracles.  In fact, according to Kabbalah,(Limudei Atzilut 13b. See also Zohar 1:11b) the soul of Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair was related to the soul of our forefather, Avraham (Abraham), and it is well known that Avraham’s soul was rooted in the trait of kindness.

 

The following story from the Zohar (Zohar 3:201b.  See Chulin 7b for additional examples of this trait) also illustrate this trait.  Once, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his students were traveling through a desert and discussing Torah as they traveled.  At one point, they became so involved in their discussion that they sat down to be able to pay full attention to their Torah discussion.  When the desert sun became too hot, God sent a flock of birds to circle over their heads and provide them with shade.

 

As they were studying, Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair arrived and joined their discussion.  But since he was careful not to cause harm to any creature, he rebuked the members of the group:  “Why are you causing these birds to suffer by making them fly around in the hot sun?”  Rabbi Shimon agreed with him, and ordered the birds to fly away.  At just that moment a miracle occurred. Three large trees sprouted from the ground to provide them with shade, and a spring of water started flowing nearby to quench their thirst.   This spring became known as “the spring of Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair.”

 

This story also shows that God will help a person in the merit of his outstanding character trait.  When Rabbi Pinchos ben Yair showed kindness to the birds, God showed kindness to him, and even changed the laws of nature to protect him from the heat.

 

 

A good trait can actually elevate a person to greatness.  A famous Sage was once asked: “By what merit did you become the leader of your generation?”  He answered:  “I never met a person in whom I did not find some quality in which he was superior to me” (Chovot HaLevavot, Sha’ar HaKeniyah, ch. 10).  This sage’s humility enabled him to recognize the outstanding trait of every person and to learn from that trait.  As a result, he was able to incorporate every type of goodness within himself, and this made him the leader of the generation.

 

           

In many communities there is a custom to study the Mishnayot of Pirkei Avot on Shabbat afternoon during the months between Pesach and Rosh HaShanah.  These Mishnayot consist of short, pithy teachings about the need for good middot, and the ways in which they can be acquired.  Why is this material studied at this particular time of the year?  One answer is that the evil inclination is particularly strong during the summer, and good middot are they key to overcoming it.  Hence it is a time when we need to improve our middot, and Pirkei Avot shows us how to do this.

           

The material contained in Pirkei Avot is also light and appealing – and that itself is good advice for any educator.  If you want to inspire people to improve their middot, you must win their interest and attention, and even more important, you must appeal to their hearts – for middot are in the heart.

 

One of the best ways to appeal to the heart is with agadata – the stories, parables, and ethical teachings of the Sages.  The Torah says, “On that day, you shall tell (vehigadeta) your son, for the sake of this God took me out of Egypt” (Shemot 13:8).  Rashi explains, “This refers to the son who does not know how to ask.  The Torah is telling you to engage him in the subject with stories (agadata), for stories speak to the heart” (Rashi on Shemot 13:5, s.v. “Es ha’avodah hazot”).   In Aramaic, the word agadata is related to a word that means “to draw after,” because everyone is drawn after a good story.  This type of material is particularly appealing to young people, and parents should keep this in mind when preparing divrei Torah for the Shabbat table.

 

There are rebbes in yeshivah who spend many hours a day preparing for a one-hour lecture, yet the average father has trouble finding one hour a week to prepare a dvar Torah to tell his children at the Shabbat table.  It’s helpful to know that books of stories and works of mussar can be a source of excellent material.  Stories have a wonderful power to plant good middot in the hearts of children.  And in the process of telling a story, it can be embellished with many different points – halachot, mussar and teaching of the Sages – and they will be readily accepted by the listener.  Children are very affected by this approach, and it is an excellent way to awaken their love and fear of God.

 

I know of one yeshivah rebbe who used to entertain his class with stories about Tzaddikim every Friday morning (when the students often found it hard to concentrate on the regular studies).  He was superb storyteller, and he knew hundreds of stories.  The boys would listen in rapt attention, enthralled by his words.  Years later, one of his students told me that those Friday-morning stories had provided him with more fear of heaven than any other influence in his life, educational or otherwise.

 

 

Our Sages taught: “Derech eretz kadma leTorah,” which is often translated as: “Good manners come before Torah.”  Now, on the face of it, good manners don’t seem to have much to do with spiritual refinement or with Torah.  Nevertheless, they can provide an important starting point, as I once explained by means of the following humorous illustration.

 

There was a time, a generation or two ago in Jerusalem, when people were very poor.  Even their Shabbat meals were barely sufficient to feed their families.  When a person made a Kiddush in shul after Shabbat morning davening, the congregation was always more than eager to partake of the delicacies.  Their hunger was often augmented by the long prayers.  When the Kiddush was made, there tended to be a lot of pushing to get a choice spot at the table, and respectable piece of kugel.  Inevitably, in the melee, someone’s clothing would get stained.

           

Now, an individual with good manners is someone who cares about keeping his suit clean, and hence he will stay far away from the line of scrimmage.  Although his motives are essentially mundane, he will force himself to overcome his physical desires – and that is already a kind of spiritual accomplishment.  In addition, since he is capable of self-control, he has the potential for further spiritual growth.  You only have to convince him that keeping his soul clean is even more important than keeping his suit clean, since the process of scouring a dirty soul is considerably more unpleasant and expensive than anything related to dry cleaning.  Once he understands that, he will be able to overcome his physical desires in every situation where the Torah requires it; and so in the end, his “good manners” will lead him to keep the entire Torah.

 

May God help each of us to choose good and to reject evil.  May we fulfill the verse, “that you should walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous” (Mishlei 2:20).  And in this merit, may He annul any harsh judgements that might be upon us and upon all Israel, and bless us with all forms of material and spiritual abundance.

 

 

(Excerpt from The Scent of Gan Eden, by Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, Keren Ohr Publications. Used with author’s permission.)