WHAT I LEARNED FROM A FIVE-YEAR-OLD
I came early to a simcha. While I was waiting for the other guests to arrive, I noticed children playing. One child, around five years old, acted like a wild man. He was short but very aggressive. He ran around, hitting the other children hard. One boy was crying and ran to his mother. Then I saw another boy, about five, surveying the situation. The wild kid ran up to him and started punching. He was bigger than the wild kid and he could have hit back, but he did not want to fight. Instead, he calmly took two plastic chairs and positioned them in front of him as a shield. The wild kid couldn’t reach him; the punches fell short. Finally, he gave up and walked away.
This child built a shield around himself in order to be at peace with another child. Isn’t this really the meaning of “Magen Avraham … the shield of Avraham.” Because Avraham built a shield of peace around himself, Hashem rewarded him and his descendants with peace.
This week we start learning halachas. We begin with mishpatim and the first one concerns the laws of the eved, the Jewish slave. But there is a prerequisite to the mishpatim. It is called “derech eretz.”
“Derech Eretz kadmah l’Torah.” In order to reach the level of mishpat, we have to be people who want to live by mishpat, people who don’t cheat and don’t start fights. We have to be people who want to make the world a Garden of Eden for all mankind.
Am Yisroel learned this from our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. They were born before the Torah was given at Har Sinai, but they raised a family of wholesome and upright children who merited to receive the Torah. That is called “derech eretz.” The Torah is meant for upright people.
The first bracha in Shemoneh Esreh speaks about Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. It says that Hashem “recalls the kindnesses of the Patriarchs” and will bring a Redeemer to us only for their sake! Isn’t that amazing! With all our Torah knowledge, Moshiach ben Dovid is coming only in the merit of our Patriarchs, who did not even merit to live in the days after Har Sinai! Doesn’t that tell you something about derech eretz?
Baruch Hashem, my family and I are privileged to be able to learn Torah and halacha. Our parents were not privileged to learn Torah, but they lived wholesome lives of complete integrity. People trusted them and honored them because they were upright, and they laid the foundation for our observant lifestyle.
My father merited to live to the age of 107. Years ago, a well-known rabbi asked me to introduce him to my father. He wanted to understand how my father merited such arichas yomim. After speaking with him, this rabbi concluded that my father’s integrity in the world of big business was the cause of his advanced years.
My father entered Wall Street in 1929, six months before the Crash which marked the beginning of the Great Depression. He was a neophyte, but also a genius. He “smelled” the Depression over the horizon and he knew instinctively how to deal with it. He entered Wall Street with a dream of how he could make the world a better place and he never lost sight of his dream. He built a firm which gave not only parnassah to countless people but was also a beacon of integrity which inspired the world.
My wife’s father was a craftsman from the Old World. He came to America in the middle of World War I, having escaped the flames of Europe. He too built his business as a dream. He always gave his customers more than they expected. He built a legendary business based on total integrity and menschlikheit. Not one unearned penny ever remained with him. He built furniture with a lifetime guarantee; you could return a chair after many years of use and have it repaired without charge.
Speaking of chairs, I just read about the Klausenberger Rebbe zt”l. He had old chairs in his home, so rickety that they could hardly support his weight. When questioned, he responded, “The slave should not live more luxuriously than his Master. Hashem is in Golus. His chair, His throne, is not intact and my chairs should be intact?” (The Klausenberger Rebbe/Artscroll/Mesorah)
It is upon such foundations that the Torah rests, the foundation of noble people who walk the earth with dignity, upon whom others look with awe. It rests upon the shoulders of even a five-year-old child who refuses to fight with another Yid, who at that tender age already understands how to uphold the dignity of man.
“Rabbi Elazar said on behalf of Rabbi Chanina: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is said, ‘All your children will be students of Hashem and your children will have peace. Do not read ‘your children,’ but read ‘your builders.’ There is abundant peace for the lovers of your Torah and there is no stumbling block for them…. Hashem will give might to His nation. Hashem will bless His nation with peace.” (Brachos 64a)
“Anyone whose good deeds exceed his wisdom, his wisdom will endure, but anyone whose wisdom exceeds his good deeds, his wisdom will not endure.” (Pirchei Avos 3: 12) May we learn from the wise and become great in derech eretz. Then we will merit to learn Torah and see a world of peace and tranquility.
GLOSSARY
Arichas Yomim: long years
Bracha: blessing
Halacha: Jewish law
Har Sinai: Mount Sinai
Menschlikheit: proper behavior, acting like a mensch
Mishpatim: laws regulating people’s behavior
Parnassah: livelihood
Simcha: celebration of a happy event
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