Providence Torah for Eikev 2010
Jul 30th, 2010 by tkarp
The Tiferes Yisroel, a commentary on the Mishna, relates an amazing story. During the time of Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses), his fame was spread the world over. A certain king wanted to see what was so special about him. He sent his royal artist to draw the likeness of Moshe. When the drawing was brought back to the king, he showed it to his advisors, whom he felt could judge a person by seeing a photo. All of the advisers concluded that this must not be a very good picture, because the person in this picture has the tendencies of a murderer and adulterer, and surely this cannot be Moshe. The king became frustrated and decided he had to see Moshe himself. Upon seeing Moshe, the king was astounded to see that the artist had done a perfect job, but the advisors were fools! The king then asked Moshe for advice on dealing with his advisors.
Moshe smiled and said that the advisers were correct. Moshe continued that he was not born to act the the way he was seen presently. He was born with other tendencies, but he became who he was through hard work.
Moshe is our teacher in the classical sense; he taught us Torah. But we must remember to learn character development and refinement from him as well. May we all merit to do this!
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Naftali