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Daily Chizuk #1184
Weekly Parasha
Unexpected Moments: Small Mitzvot that Open Doors
Parashat Ekev: Restore Your Vision
The Gemara says in Masechet Shabbat that when a person takes large strides during the week, it takes away 1/500 of his eyesight, and when he makes Kiddush on Lel Shabbat-Friday night- over a cup of wine, he gets that lost eyesight back. The Sherit Yisrael gave a homiletical explanation of that Gemara. He explained large strides to mean that the person was entrenched in his work and under the impression that he was the one who made things happen and that caused him to lose some of his vision – his vision of emunah that Hashem is in control. But on Lel Shabbat, when he stops all of his work and considers it done, and he testifies over a cup of wine that Hashem created everything, and that He is the real boss, that is teshuva and that restores his eyesight of emunah.
If we are fortunate enough to make a lucrative business deal, it’s only because beforehand Hashem gave us the merchandise to sell, he gave us the idea of who to sell that merchandise to and he put it in the buyer’s mind to say yes when we asked. We can’t even move our fingers to make a phone call without Hashem, how could we think that we do anything? Every time we do attribute our success to Hashem, we are fulfilling the pasuk, “וזכרת את ה' אלוקיך כי הוא הנותן לך כוח לעשות חיל.”
May we always think correctly and use any success we have as a vehicle to get even closer to Hashem, to feel so appreciative of His chesed and become humbled from it. Then, we will have more excitement to follow Torah and mitzvot and do the ratzon Hashem all the time.
Shabbat Shalom!
The Gemara says in Masechet Shabbat that when a person takes large strides during the week, it takes away 1/500 of his eyesight, and when he makes Kiddush on Lel Shabbat-Friday night- over a cup of wine, he gets that lost eyesight back. The Sherit Yisrael gave a homiletical explanation of that Gemara. He explained large strides to mean that the person was entrenched in his work and under the impression that he was the one who made things happen and that caused him to lose some of his vision – his vision of emunah that Hashem is in control. But on Lel Shabbat, when he stops all of his work and considers it done, and he testifies over a cup of wine that Hashem created everything, and that He is the real boss, that is teshuva and that restores his eyesight of emunah.
If we are fortunate enough to make a lucrative business deal, it’s only because beforehand Hashem gave us the merchandise to sell, he gave us the idea of who to sell that merchandise to and he put it in the buyer’s mind to say yes when we asked. We can’t even move our fingers to make a phone call without Hashem, how could we think that we do anything? Every time we do attribute our success to Hashem, we are fulfilling the pasuk, “וזכרת את ה' אלוקיך כי הוא הנותן לך כוח לעשות חיל.”
May we always think correctly and use any success we have as a vehicle to get even closer to Hashem, to feel so appreciative of His chesed and become humbled from it. Then, we will have more excitement to follow Torah and mitzvot and do the ratzon Hashem all the time.
Shabbat Shalom!
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