Don't Just Go Out Scrambling | Rabbi Haggai Lundin | Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Shlach Lecha

קטגוריה משנית

In the 21st century, many professions depend on ratings – politicians, businessmen, artists, and even rabbis – their livelihood is dependent upon the love of the public, and therefore they collect and "gather" votes, likes, sympathy from the media and applause.

In the Torah portion of Shelach-Lecha, the first desecration of the Sabbath in history is described: a man who "gathers wood" on the Shabbat. A mystical interpretation explains that he deliberately sinned "for the sake of heaven", meaning that he tried to accumulate property (trees in this case), which is positive in itself, but he did so while desecrating the Sabbath. Out of a desire to scramble for wealth and succeed in this world, he ignored the main thing, the Sabbath, the world to come.

Nowadays, many people are interested in scrambling for success in this world. At times, there is an illusion that if we do this while "desecrating Shabbat", if we sell out our values for short-term profit, then we will achieve what we dreamed of – money, love or a position in the government.

It doesn't work that way. Anyone whose main motive in life is to get likes, and to sell out his values in exchange for a handful of likes – will end up with nothing. Certain people in the Israeli public today can serve are an example of this for us. Those who keep the Sabbath in its full sense will eventually also be able to gather and find what they were looking for.