As we get closer to Rosh Hashana and focus on what kind of year we would like Hashem to bless us with,
I share the following parable.
A certain villager living in a benevolent kingdom was fined by the police and lost his temper During his anger he said something disrespectful about the king.
The king heard about it and felt torn. On the one hand he knew that the simple villager really wasn’t a bad person and had just ‘lost it’, but on the other hand it was unacceptable to allow the disrespectful person off without some kind of punishment that would allow the offender to see the error he had made.
The king devised a benevolent and genius way to deal with it.
The villager was invited to take up residence in one of the guest rooms on the palace grounds. The king showered his guest with care and affection making sure that his every wish and whim was fulfilled.
After a short while, being a direct recipient of the overwhelming kindness of the king, the violator felt horrible about having spoken about the king in a disrespectful way.
‘How could I have spoken about such a benevolent monarch with disrespect’?
As the kindness of the king intensified the remorse of the villager deepened.
This, said the Baal Shem Tov is what the Torah (Devarim 29,1-2) means when it says:
And it will be, when all these things come upon you the blessing and the curse which I have set before you that you will consider in your heart, among all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you… and you will return to the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you this day you and your children,
We all know that suffering has caused many people to draw closer to Hashem, but how does blessing bring people to G-d when they have strayed?
The Baal Shemtov explained that when Hashem brings blessing to people that have been ‘disrespectful’ to G-d in their speech or actions, this brings people closer to G-d as it causes one to reevaluate their actions up to this time.
Just as in the above parable with the king.
The more Hashem blesses, the greater the realization of how much gratitude we ought to have Hashem.
Incredible.
Conventional wisdom says that if someone did something against a king the only way to deal with it is that he should be punished fair and square.
Now remember, punishment in the Torah is never about vengeance. Rather it is meant to rehabilitate and bring a person to return to G-d and refresh his relationship with his Creator.
This teaching introduces an alternative way of transforming a person and bringing him to regret his past behaviors, not by harshly punishing them but rather by surprising them with immense kindness.
The end result will be that they will be closer to G-d.
This is also a methodology that we can use in the way we react and treat others.
Sometimes someone says something irritating, disrespectful or downright nasty.
The classic kneejerk response is to snap back with a cutting incisive response. The problem is that this becomes a descent into a spiral of negativity which begets more negativity.
How about trying the Baal Shemtov’s model.
Take a deep breath the next time someone insults you or wrongs you in some other way.
React with an abundance of love.
See what happens.
Hopefully the positivity you exude will have the desired effect and the irritator will feel bad about the thing that he did to you.
And if we act this way to others, Hashem will act this way to us.
One of the cardinal rules of the Torah is that Hashem treats us ‘measure for measure’.
It is for this reason that the mitzvah of tzedakah is such a powerful tool in preparing for the new year. For when we give help to someone else, Hashem will give help to us.
During these few weeks before Rosh Hashana let us make good resolutions about becoming closer to Hashem by engaging more in prayer and good deeds and Torah study.
Shabbat Shalom
Shana Tova
Rabbi Yosef Kantor