This week’s Parasha is Parashat Matos – Masei ๐
In parashat Matot we see Am Yisrael go to war with Midian. Thousands of soldiers from each tribe were sent to fight. After the war and returning back to camp, with a treasure chest of vessels and bounty, Bnei Yisrael are told the halachot of hagalah and libun – kashering by boiling water and fire. ๐ง ๐ฅ
Eleazar the Cohen comes to to soldiers, to explain how to do this kashering, but if we take a deeper look at the wording use, we see Torah uses the word โืึทืฆึธึผืึธึื ืึทืึธึผืึดึืื ืึทืึดึผืึฐืึธืึธึืโ
The men who come TO the war. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say come FROM the war?
The battle is over, who is Elazar talking to? We can learn a whole lot from just this little word.
Everytime a person moves through this world, there is a Milchama, a war going on. Every turn, every junction, there is always a war, there is something a person has to face, something you have a defeat. Every moment there are choices that we make. We do them daily and they end up becoming our habits.
Bnai Yisrael were coming with gold, silver, with so much wealth and now they had to go to the kitchen and start kashering, with not even a moment’s rest? What’s going on here?
Bnai Yisrael were in a battle but not a battle of the body, but a battle of the mind and of the spirit.
Now the real war begins.
The battle on the ground, the physical war, you are meant to do your hishdadlut and fight, but Hashem controls that challenge, that outcome. But the battle of the mind and soul, that’s personal. That’s the mindframe a person needs to have in life. If a person wants to accomplish something in his life, he always has to look for the next battle. What can he do to grow more? How will try and figure out one more way to improve himself?
Society trains us to think that we work up until a certain age and then we retire, to rest and chill. But Rav Dessler comes and teaches us what gives us real enjoyment, when you succeed in a mission, a feeling you can’t get on vacation. We need to look at โWho can I make happy now?โ โWhat can I accomplish now?โ Step by step.
Hashem gives us moments to live, how are we going to use them? Life is so precious, and every moment is a gift. We need to utilize the moments to build ourselves and persevere in life in order that we live a full life and stretch ourselves to the max.
โจ *Shabbat Shalom* โจ