Light Lines - Yisro
11 Adar 5759 February 27, 1999 Parshat Tetzaveh
When is taking really giving? One night, a blind man was stumbling on the way. A sighted person saw him and went to help him. He took the blind person by the arm and, with his lantern, led him back to the blind man's house. When they arrived, the blind man invited the sighted man into his house. They both went into the house, the sighted man still holding his lantern.
"You have been so kind to me. Please let me do something for you in return," said the blind man.
"You could make a light for me," said the other.
To which the blind man happily carried out his request. Even though the sighted man still carried a lantern and had no need for the light, he wanted the blind man to feel less indebted to him, so he gave him a chance to repay him, even though the blind man wasn't really giving him anything that he needed.
In this week's Parsha, G-d commands the Jewish People to light the Menorah in the Holy Temple upon their arrival in the Land of Israel. Even though He has no need for this light, He gives us the opportunity to 'give' Him something, to fulfill His wish and command, so that we will feel more comfortable accepting the gifts that He constantly gives us, gifts that we can never repay.
From here we can learn an important way of giving to others: When we allow others to reciprocate a kindness to us, we give them the perfect gift. Even though what they may give is not of use to us, by receiving it we nevertheless have 'given' to them, by making them feel better about the kindness we did them.
That's when taking is really giving.
Light Insight | Love of the Land | The Other Side of the Story Ohr Somayach Home Page |
  Selections from classical Torah sources which express the special relationship between the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael Remembering The Land Purim is not celebrated on the same day everywhere. In walled cities, we are told in Megillat Esther, the celebration is on the 15th day of the month of Adar, while in cities without walls it is on the 14th. The reason for this is that in the days of Mordechai and Esther, the Jews in the unwalled cities overcame their enemies on the 13th of Adar and celebrated on the 14th, while in the walled capital of Shushan the battle still raged on the 14th and the Jews there could not celebrate their victory until the 15th. Therefore, all walled cities celebrate Purim on the 15th because of their similarity to Shushan. The designation "walled city" does not depend on a city's present situation, but rather on whether it had a wall at the time Joshua led the Jewish nation in their original conquest of the Land of Israel. But why is Joshua's time the criterion for the designation "walled city?" Wouldn't it have been more logical to make this determination based on the time of the Purim miracle? The answer is found in the Jerusalem Talmud where Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi declares that this was done in order to accord honor to the Land of Israel which lay desolate at the time of the Purim miracle. Rabbi Nissan ben Reuven explains this as follows: At the time of the Purim miracle there were hardly any cities in the Land of Israel with their walls still intact. Had the determination of "walled city" been made according to the situation at that time, almost all cities in the Land of Israel would have the status of unwalled cities. To avoid this disgrace, it was decided to base the status "walled city" on the situation of the city at the time of Joshua. This made many more cities in the Land of Israel eligible for this distinction. Rabbi Yosef Karo explains differently. Our Sages wanted some memory of the Land of Israel in the celebration of this miracle which took place in a foreign land. In the spirit of "zecher lemikdash" - those laws and customs we follow to recall the Holy Temple - the Sages linked the determination of "walled city" to the Land of Israel so that the Jews living abroad would not forget their Holy Land. |
Light Insight | Love of the Land | The Other Side of the Story Ohr Somayach Home Page |
We present a Purim version of "Judging Favorably."
Judging favorably means finding excuses for questionable behavior. When we find ourselves suspecting others, we must ask ourselves: Are there any redeeming factors? Did I miss something? Did I jump to the wrong conclusion? For instance, take the case of...
Moe and Lenny are strolling home from shul one Saturday morning. Suddenly a cab speeds past, and their friend, Irving, is running frantically behind it, flailing his arms wildly.
"Well," said Lenny, "I never imagined our good friend Irving was a Sabbath violator! Look at him running for that taxi."
"Wait a minute," Moe replied. "Didn't you read that book I lent you, The Other Side of the Story, about the command to judge other people favorably? I'll bet we can think of hundreds of excuses for Irving's behavior."
"Yeah, like what?"
"Maybe he's sick and needs to go to the hospital."
"Come on! He was running 60 miles an hour after that cab - he's healthier than Arnold Schwartzenweis."
"Well, maybe his wife's having a baby."
"She had one last week."
"Well, maybe he needs to visit her in the hospital."
"She's home."
"Well, maybe he's running to the hospital to get a doctor."
"He is a doctor."
"Well, maybe he need supplies from the hospital."
"The hospital is a three minute walk in the opposite direction."
"Well, maybe he forgot that it's Shabbos!"
"Of course he knows it's Shabbos. Didn't you see his tie. It was his paisley beige 100% silk Giovani tie from Italy. He never wears it during the week."
"Wow, you're a really observant Jew! I didn't even notice he was wearing a tie."
"How could you not notice? Didn't you see how it was caught on the back fender of the taxi?"
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