Wealth, Wisdom, and above all Peace
Dear friends,
In this week’s Parasha, Ha’Shem commands Moses to instruct the Cohanim to bless the Jewish people with three important blessings. If you visit a Sephardic synagogue during the week or on Shabbat you will hear the Cohanim recite these three blessings as they face the audience. The blessings go as follows: “May Ha’Shem bless you and safe guard you. May Ha’Shem illuminate His countenance for you and be gracious to you. May Ha’Shem lift His countenance to you and establish peace for you”. (Bamidbar / Numbers 6, 25) According to our Sages, the three blessings correspond to three types of good that people seek in life. The first blessing is for material wealth, the second for wisdom, and the third for peace. Although each blessing is important on its own, the third blessing for peace is “what makes it or breaks it”. One may have prosperity, health, food, and drink, but if there is no peace it is all worthless. Therefore, the blessings are sealed with the gift of peace. As the sages taught in the very last words of the Mishana: R’ Shimon ben Chalafta said, The Holy One, Blessed is He, could not find a container that would hold Israel’s blessings as well as peace, as it says (Psalms 29:11), Ha’Shem will give might to His nation, Ha’Shem will bless His nation with peace.
A Life lesson
Peace is not simply the absence of war. It is a harmony between conflicting forces. Within man, it is a proper balance between the needs of the body and his higher duty to the soul. When people devote most of their energies, thoughts and time towards gaining material prosperity they often times neglect their soul. This creates an imbalance that results in a lack of inner and outer peace. It could manifest itself in having problems in marriage or in the family, as well as becoming depressed or suicidal. The only way to achieve inner peace is by balancing out the spiritual with the material. Watching movies, basketball games, or going out to bars is not going to do the trick. There has to be a meaningful spiritual experience to satisfy the soul and it always revolves around Torah learning. That is why the second blessing is for Torah wisdom, since it is the only way to attain the spiritual “nutrition” for which the soul yearns. Finding the right balance between the body and the soul, together, with Ha’Shem’s blessing will ultimately result in finding true peace. Only then will a person’s life become full and complete. Shabbat Shalom.
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