The
Flavor of Favor
Parshas Naso
Posted on June 17, 2016 (5776) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar
Torah | Level: Beginner
HASHEM spoke to Moses
saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the
Children of Israel, saying to them: “May the HASHEM bless you and watch over
you. May HASHEM cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you. May
the Lord raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.” (Bamidbar
6:22-26)
and favor you: May He grant you favor- Rashi
Amongst the many blessings
showered by the Holy Kohanim upon the People of Israel and favor you: May He
grant you favors the granting of something called –“Chen”- favor! How does one
merit this Divine favor? “And Noach found favor in the eyes of HASHEM” – the
Torah tells us. What did he do to attract or be deserving of such favor.
Obviously, it’s a gift, a Heavenly gift at that, and it’s not something that
just anyone command or control. Yet there are factors that might make one an
antenna for such a beautiful blessing.
The Chovos HaLevavos in
Shaar Bechina describes an odd phenomenon that is universally experienced. He
speaks of the wonder that the Almighty made it so that an infant is perceived
as cute and adorable by adults. In particular, the mother finds the child so attractive
and charming that she is willing to give away her sleep and her food and her
health to be constantly attentive to the child. To the extent that the child is
helpless, to that degree people, especially young girls find that toothless,
hairless, inarticulate creature beautiful.
As the child becomes more
able to care for its own needs the less it is reliant on help from others, to
that extent it is much less attractive and the amount of favor it finds
decreases. After a while, if a person is not cleaning and clothing and earning
his keep, people will become disgusted and they will find just the opposite of
favor. Why is that so? People have a Divine instinct to help the helpless. It
appeals to the deep natural good within us. However, that is only if a person
is doing all in his power to help
himself.
The helplessness must
necessarily be accompanied by an innocence and pure vulnerability. Perhaps for
that reason an orphan is often the beneficiary of the attitude of favor.
The following story is
recorded in the biography of a giant of a man Rabbi Eliezer Geldzahler, who
died tragically as a young man. His daughter writes the following:
Sometime after Reb Leizer’s petirah, his daughter
was driving on the Garden State Parkway. She stopped for gas and noticed that
the attendant was a midget. As he began to wash her windows, he caught sight of
a large picture on the passenger seat. He became visibly excited as he pointed
to it. “How do you know that man?” he asked in a state of agitation. “I’ve been
looking for him for more than two years. Where is he?”
The girl gently informed him that the man in
the portrait was her father and that he had passed away from injuries sustained
during a bus accident. The fellow stared at her, disbelieving, and then began
to cry silently. “You know,” he said, “I do this job day after day, morning
after freezing morning. There aren’t many jobs available to someone like me.
Cars pull in here every few moments, but everyone averts their eyes, feeling
uncomfortable with my strange appearance.
“Then, one day, your father pulled in. He
looked me straight in the eye, like no one else had ever done. ‘My friend,’ he
said to me, ‘you are an inspiration. You were born with what might appear as a
great handicap, but you refuse to play the role of the victim. You get up in
the morning, go to work, and earn an honest living.
You are a role model for all of us. You teach us
that circumstances should not dictate the terms of our existence.’ “‘I am on my
way to New York, where I am the head of a large school. Today, I am going to
tell my students all about you so that they might learn from your example.’”
With his eyes glistening, the gas station attendant completed his tale. “Of
course, I so looked forward to seeing your father. He made me feel tall.”
This may just be the
biggest hint and the most effective way to find that ever elusive gift. Shower
others with the authentic experience that you so desperately seek. By emulating
HASHEM, as the Kohanim do, by blessing others, you too may attract the
flavor of favor.
Pennies
From Heaven
Parshas Naso
The portion of Naso
contains phrases that are said every day by every congregation in the world. In
the Diaspora they are incorporated in the repetition of the Shemone Esrai, the
(morning) standing prayer, and in Israel the kohanim themselves, the priests,
recite them each morning as they bless the nation: Birkas Kohanim, the priestly
blessings. In this week’s portion Hashem instructed the kohanim to bless the
people: “Thus shall you bless the nation of Israel, speak unto them. May Hashem
bless you and safeguard you. May He illuminate His countenance upon you and let
you find grace. May He lift His countenance upon you and establish peace for
you.” (Numbers 6:22-26)
It seems that we ask for
more than blessing. Why is each one of the blessings followed with its
practical implication? Bless us… and safeguard us. Illuminate us … and let us
find favor in the eyes of others. Lift countenance.. and establish peace for
us. Is it not enough to be blessed and have the illumination of his
countenance? What is the necessity of the second half of each blessing?
Noted attorney Robert
Harris, Esq. of Woodmere, told me a wonderful story:
A man once pleaded with the Al-mighty to bestow a bit of His abundance upon him. He implored and begged his Creator for long life and wealth. After all, the poor soul figured, G-d had an abundance of everything; why then, wouldn’t He spare something for a Jew in need. He entered a huge, empty synagogue on the Lower East Side and began to cry.
A man once pleaded with the Al-mighty to bestow a bit of His abundance upon him. He implored and begged his Creator for long life and wealth. After all, the poor soul figured, G-d had an abundance of everything; why then, wouldn’t He spare something for a Jew in need. He entered a huge, empty synagogue on the Lower East Side and began to cry.
“Ribono Shel Olam (Master of the universe),” he
cried “in the great extent of Your eternity what is a million years?”
The man began to tremble. He imagined that he
actually heard a response.
“To Me a million years is just a mere second!”
boomed a voice inside his mind.
The man continued. “And,” he pleaded, “to the
magnitude of Your great bounty, what, may I ask, is a billion dollars?”
“A billion dollars is just a mere penny,” came the
resonating reply.
“Then,” begged the man, “can I not have just one
of your pennies?”
“Surely!” came the response. And then a pause.
“But you must wait a mere second!”
It is not enough to get a
blessing from Hashem. It must be given with the assurance that it will have a
practical implication. Many people receive blessings of wealth and health only
to lose them to thieves and aggravation. Each of the priestly blessings is
followed by a safeguard – a follow up. A blessing of wealth alone is not
enough. Hashem must guard it. Illuminating us with His countenance is not enough.
Unless fellow humans appreciate the grace that G-d has given the Jews, in this
very corporeal world, it is a worthless gift. And of course, even if He lifts
his countenance upon us we still need the blessings of shalom – peace.
The Torah also teaches us
that blessing others must be done with a full heart and full hand. To bestow
generosity on others must include a vehicle to appreciate the bounty. Otherwise
you have given the gift of a billion dollars – in a million years. We may give
blessings to our fellow Jews, but the greatest blessings we receive and give
are those that we can use – immediately and forever.
Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Mordecai
Kamenetzky
Dedicated in memory of Irving I. Adelsberg by the Adelsberg Family
Copyright © 1998 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky
and Project Genesis, Inc.
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The author is the Dean
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