Parshas Bamidbar
Can You Break This?
“If it seems good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him” (Esther 5:4)
The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 34:14) says that in the days of Rabbi Tancḥuma there was a drought. So Rabbi Tanchuma decreed that the people fast. The people fasted but it still did not rain. He decreed another day of fasting, but it still did not rain. He told the people to distribute tzedakah as a merit for rain. One particular man took money and went to distribute it. Enroute, he met his ex-wife, whom he had divorced. She was exceedingly poor and needy. She asked him for help. He felt mercy for her and gave her money. When Rabbi Tancḥuma heard what he had done, he lifted his face heavenward and pleaded before Hashem saying, “Master of the universe, this one, who is flesh and blood and cruel, was not obligated in her sustenance, yet became filled with mercy for her and gave her. If so, we, who are the children of Your children, the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and our sustenance is incumbent upon You, all the more so, that You should become filled with mercy for us.” At that moment, rain fell, and the drought was relieved.
Rabbi Tanchuma’s tefillos did not bring rain. The fasts of the people also did not bring rain. What caused it to rain? It was the actions of one man. One man accomplished what everyone else could not. What did he do? He demonstrated shviras hamidos, he overcame his natural disposition and conquered a bad character trait. He overcame his enmity for his former wife, whom he had divorced. He overcame his negative feelings towards her, felt compassion and gave her charity.
Rav Yisroel Salanter zt”l says that the conquest of even one bad character trait is more difficult than mastering the entire Talmud. This gives us an indication about its great merit and value.
The Talmud (Eruvin 54B) brings another instance of someone overcoming his natural tendency. Rabbi Preida had a certain student to whom he had to teach each lesson four hundred times for him to understand the material. One day, some people came during the lesson and requested Rabbi Preida’s presence for a mitzva matter after he would finish teaching the lesson. Rabbi Preida taught his student four hundred times as usual. This time the student did not successfully learn the material. Rabbi Preida asked him why he did not understand it. The student replied, “From the time that they said to the Master that there is a mitzva matter for which he is needed, my mind was distracted from the lesson. Every moment I said, ‘Now the Master will get up. Now the Master will get up to go and perform the mitzva and he will not complete the lesson’”. Rabbi Preida told his student to pay attention and that he would teach the lesson again, until the student understood it. Rabbi Preida taught the lesson to the student an additional four hundred times! “Due to the merit of Rabbi Preida’s great devotion to his student, a Divine Voice emerged and said to him, ‘Is it preferable to you that four hundred years be added to your life, or that you and the rest of your generation will merit the World-to-Come? Rabbi Preida responded, ‘I prefer that I and my generation merit the World-to-Come. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the angels, ‘Give him both. He shall live a very long life and he and the rest of his generation will merit the World-to-Come’’”.
Ben Yohayada explains that a normal reaction of a teacher would have been feeling frustration and anger at his student for wasting the teacher’s time by not focusing on the lesson which was taught so many times. Rabbi Preida not only kept calm, but he even taught the lesson another 400 times! And he taught it willingly and happily. Therefore, he merited a great reward! This was another example of the great reward for someone overcoming his natural tendencies, his shviras hamidos. Both he and his entire generation were rewarded!
Queen Esther also exhibited this characteristic of breaking ones midos. Her merit helped save the Jewish people from the annihilation decree of Haman.
Esther had invited Haman to a private party with her and King Achashverosh. “If it seems good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him” (Esther 5:4). The Talmud (Megillah 15B) brings many different opinions to explain Queen Esther’s reason for inviting Haman. One of the opinions brought was from Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya. He said that Esther said to herself, “Perhaps Hashem will take pity on me and will perform a miracle.” Rashi explains “Perhaps Hashem will take pity on me” since I must demean myself by flattering a wicked person. Once again, an example of an individual going against one’s natural tendencies, showing shviras hamidos, and saving others.
Reb Chaim Shmulevitz zt”l says that shviras hamidos is also a prerequisite for the true understanding of Torah. In the time of Purim, Haman’s decree prompted the Jewish People to overcome their differences and animosities, namely, shviras hamidos, and they reaccepted their commitment to the Torah.
Rabbi Avimi, an amora, a rabbi of the Talmud, enhanced his acquisition of Torah through shviras hamidos.
The Talmud (Menachos 7A) says that Rabbi Avimi forgot the tractate Menachos. He went to his student, Rav Chisda, to remind himself of that which he had forgotten. The Talmud asks why Rabbi Avimi didn’t send for his student, Rav Chisda, to come to him? The Talmud answers that Rabbi Avimi thought that by exerting the effort to travel to his pupil to learn from him, he would better retain his studies.
According to Rashi, Rabbi Avimi felt that the act of going to his student instead of asking his student to come to him constituted an extra level of toil in Torah which would help him to remember it better. In addition, Rabbi Avimi felt that going to his student would constitute shviras hamidos which would enhance his comprehension of Torah. Shviras hamidos is the proper preparation for studying Torah and brings greater heavenly assistance to the person learning.
We see the great power inherent in shviras hamidos, overcoming one’s natural tendencies. It is a merit for the individual as well as for the Klal, the Jewish People as a whole. In addition, it is a prerequisite for the true understanding of Torah.
May we all merit to put in the necessary toil and succeed in shviras hamidos, overcoming our natural tendencies. May that enable us to understand Torah even better, especially when learning on the night of Shavuos, the night that we accepted the Torah.
(Based on Reb Chaim’s [Shmulevitz] Discourses translated by Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman and Rabbi A. Scheinman)
