By: Upper School Judaic Studies Teacher, Shiffy Jacobs
There was once a man who used to travel to do business. He sold extremely rare and beautiful merchandise and was very successful wherever he went. People would flock to him to buy as much of his merchandise as they could get. In his travels, he would always stay at a local inn and stay however long it took to sell his merchandise. On one trip, he came to a town to sell his merchandise, and the only room available in the local inn was on the top floor of the building, which had dozens of steps. Upon seeing how many bags the traveler had, the innkeeper offered to have the bellboy schlepp them up the stairs for him. The man insisted he didn't need the help and that the bags were no burden at all, but the innkeeper wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he sent the bellboy to carry the bags.
The man walked up to his room and patiently waited for the bellboy to arrive with his bags so he could unpack and prepare what he would be selling for the upcoming day of sales. As time was ticking, the man began to get a little nervous about what was taking the bellboy so long. He continued to wait and wait until finally the bellboy came along, dripping with sweat and red in the face from exertion. The bellboy was sure that the man would be extremely grateful for carrying this heavy load up for him, but instead, the man seemed a little sad. The bellboy asked him what was wrong, and the answer he got shocked him.
"Well,” said the man, “those bags aren't mine. But thank you for your effort, and I'm sorry about the confusion." The bellboy was shocked. How could he possibly know that these bags weren't his? He hadn't even checked inside. And with absolute confidence, the man insisted they were not his, but how could he know? The man answered him and said, “My bags, although filled with precious merchandise, are not heavy; in fact, as difficult as it may seem, the more you carry, the more strength you will have to continue carrying, and it would have been an easy job to bring them up. So even without looking inside, I can say with certainty from the fact that you exerted so much energy and sweat that those were not my bags.”
So, too, can this be said about the Torah. Although there are many laws and it seems like quite a daunting task to bear, the truth of the matter is that the more you carry, the easier it becomes. If you are sweating, red in the face, and laboring beyond normal, it may just be that you have the wrong bags.
In this week's Parsha, Parshas Mishpatim, we follow up the inspiring story of Matan Torah with a seemingly endless list of rules and regulations, which at first can seem extremely daunting. But the important thing to remember is that the Torah is not a load that slows you down and makes you exhausted and weary; rather, it is a beautiful lifestyle filled with meaning and purpose. The more we take on the task of living a Torah life, the more strength it gives us to continue forward.
Have a good Shabbos!