Torah

There’s a story of two elderly men who had been childhood friends but had not seen each other in many years. One day, they ran into each other on the street, and were delighted to recognize one another. One of them lived in the area, so he invited the other into his home. They happily caught each other up on their lives, getting lost in their stories and jokes as the day went on. The guest finally noticed that it had become dark outside, so he asked his friend if he had the time.

Nothing in life is an accident. In Parshas VaEschanan, we read about the Arei Miklat, the Cities of Refuge for those who unintentionally killed (D’varim 4:41-49). This parshah usually falls out immediately following Tish’ah B’Av, and, consequently, shortly before Elul. At face value, the Arei Miklat, Tish’ah B’Av, and Elul do not seem to share a thematic connection.

An old man sat with his grandson by the campfire, gazing into the dancing flames. With a sparkle in his eye, the old man looked at the young boy and began telling him a story. “Legend has it that there is a fight going on inside each of us between two wolves. One wolf is evil, filled with anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good: He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. These wolves are constantly at war, a war that rages on within each of us.”

In our previous article, we began exploring the Torah concept of order and unity. To briefly review, Rav Eliyahu Dessler, a prominent 20^th century Jewish thinker and author of Michtav MeiEliyahu, writes about three different levels of order (Michtav MeiEliyahu, vol. 1, p. 92):

There were once two boys who went ice-skating on a frozen lake in their neighborhood. As they were enjoying themselves, the ice suddenly cracked, and one of the boys fell through into the icy water. His friend started frantically reaching for him, but he was too late, and the boy got swept underneath the ice. Desperate to save his friend, this scrawny boy quickly looked around, saw a tree in the distance, and rushed over to try to pull off a branch. After tugging for a few seconds, he managed to crack off a huge branch, and he then quickly ran back to his friend. He smashed and thrashed at the thick ice until it finally cracked, allowing him to grab onto his friend. He dragged him back to the shore just as the ambulance arrived, and miraculously, they were able to resuscitate him.

In two places, the Torah discusses klal Yisrael going to battle. In Parshas B’Haaloscha, the Torah states, “When war will come to your land against an oppressor who oppresses you, you shall sound t’ruos with trumpets, and you shall be remembered before Hashem, your G-d, and you shall be saved from your enemies” (BaMidbar 10:9).