Newsletter

Make The Connection 15 January 2021
16 January 2021 | 3 Shevat 5781
Candle Lighting: 6.15pm
Parsha: Vaeira
Kabbalat Shabbat: 6pm
Havdalah: 7.39pm
Zoom Havdalah: 8.30pm
SHABBAT SHALOM
It has been such a frenetic week. So many of our nearest and dearest, never mind the broader community have been affected by COVID. Some seriously and some, thank G d less so. One thing we need to get us through this all is a level head. To be logical and simply to follow the guidelines that the experts have suggested. To be sensible! Simply, to use one’s kop!
In the Gemara, Sanhedrin 67B, Rabbi Akiva points out to us that the Torah, when referring to the Plague of frogs says ותעל הצפרדע ותכס את ארץ מצרים, and the Frog ascended and covered the land of Egypt (Shemot 8:2).
It refers to a single frog which when struck split into two and continued to multiply and multiply every time it was hit, until there were so many frogs, they literally filled every house, every room, every bed, even their ovens and kneading bowls.
The Brisker Rav asks: Why, when they saw that with each attempt to kill the frogs they simply multiplied over and over and over with each strike. Why did they continue to hit these miraculous creatures? Hitting them just exacerbated to problem serving to increase their numbers exponentially, it was so logical.
His answer is brilliant and oh so true. When one is angry, when one is grumpy and upset, logic simply stops being logical. Even the most obvious truism becomes properly impossible to perceive. Facts are no longer evident. Evidence before our very eyes alludes us.
We have every reason to be annoyed, even livid and cranky with what is happening, however if we allow ourselves to adopt that mindset we are doomed as we will not be in a position to act rationally, wisely and with logic.
Be calm. Be positive. Be safe. Stay well.
G d bless.
Rabbi David Shaw
|