Becoming Friends With God - Parashat B'midbar

the Arab silberstein in his uh extraordinary uh series of uh if you've been to a Jewish bookstore before you surely have seen these uh Green books before uh it's a very famous Series in Hebrew it's in English I'm sure it's probably in other languages also Rob Silverstein in this week's parashah foreign he brings a couple of things first he says if you notice that the uh Nasi of the tribe of God in this week's when they're doing the census the uh the Nasir of the tribe of God is referred to as in two names the first time he's referred to as a uh uh elif Elisa Ben rewell but then later on in parashat Nassau he is referred to as eliasav Ben deuel so asks why is the same exact person referred to in two different names writes that at the time of this census who chose leaders in each tribe in each section and he chose that the tribe of done was going to be the leader of the four divisions subdivisions and technically the tribe of God could have complained about this because he should have been technically if you're looking at uh uh a uh firstborn rights just like Don was bilas firstborn God was zilpa's firstborn so technically the the Sea of God could have complained about this and protested why why him why not me he learns to what I learned a lot he's the firstborn I'm a firstborn but what did the leader of the tribe of God do nothing he did nothing he simply knew that if this is what happened this was the outcome this is the will of Hashem and he stayed quiet oh I tested you I gave your fellow what anybody else including yourself would want and instead of complaining like everybody else you simply accepted my judgment you and I are friends and therefore your name will change the friend of God is a friend the friend of God so we see here about when a person accepts a decree uh and happiness there's a significant value to it and even more so when a person knows how to give in to give in whether it be in uh in one thing or another in an argument in a marriage in a uh she do in a business partnership in a business dispute one of the signs of a uh of a good day on is is one that's not necessarily always looking to uh uh to prove one party right or another but sometimes look to see if there could be a compromise where both parties uh would in essence contribute and give in at the same time and one of the beautiful things here you see that rev silberstein brings is that he gives you examples of real life stories and he says that in the year 2003 5763 there was an extraordinary Bento a Taurus scholar that uh got married uh and uh also you know found himself an extraordinary that the whole Community was in awe but all of the things were perfect whether it was money looks yehus everything was right and this this also was growing in Torah exponentially and on top of that everything was working for him it seemed like as if everything he's touching was was gold was turning into gold and it was unbelievable and of course people within the community are always looking to see okay these City King did something why do I need to know that these City King did great things because I want to know what uh you know what what did they do that I could potentially repeat maybe I can't fast for a week at a time maybe I can't uh finish the shots every single year maybe I can't do all of these great things but sometimes you'll see that it's the small things that count the most you know it's it's a no one goes from from nothing to full force on day one but the point being is that who sends us different tests and absorbesteem brings the story of a bentalada nearly 20 years ago it looked like everything was going for him and people within the community were looking to see what is this young man's Merit that who is blessing him so much and his love tells the story he says you guys think that everything is going well for him now when you're asking you think it started now he goes no no it started eight years ago eight years ago this young man had a bar mitzvah and to you know he studied for this bar mitzvah he made sure that he knew the Pasha and the after left and right he spent an enormous amount of time and surely he wanted to make sure that he's going to do his bar mitzvah in his shoe in his community with his family when everybody knows him he grew up there but just so happened that his friend also had a bar mitzvah the same exact date they have the same birthday and he also studied and he also worked hard and he also lived in the same community and of course they have to have departments for the same day but uh that doesn't work well only one of you can reach mitula so they came to me the route says and I said to them listen you can do you could they uh uh do a lotto for it and uh whoever wins uh like sort of like a coin toss whoever wins uh is going to get it and as you would have it our dear Katan one and later that night looked at himself in the mirror and he couldn't deal with it he couldn't deal with the fact that his friend is going to be sad on his bar mitzvah because the only other place that he could do is Bar Mitzvah is uh relatively far away a completely different Community where nobody knows him he can't change the name of bar mitzvah and uh he on the other hand will be happy because he's going to uh get his bar mitzvah and everybody that knows him is going to see him and he decided that night that no he cannot come to terms with this and the very next morning he told his friend you could have it you have the bar mitzvah in our show and I'm gonna do it in that far away location the look on his friend's face was extraordinary the Rob says I can't describe to you the joy there was the other boy he felt when he learned that he would be able to celebrate his bar mitzvah narshul his face lit up and he couldn't stop thanking our Katan for the great favor he had done for him and the Rob says that I decided after that to keep an eye to keep an eye on this boy and watch how Hashem would eventually reward him for his Noble deed and I can testify that from that day on he became a completely new person he was successful in everything that he did accomplishing great things both in learning Torah and in other endeavors and this she do there was tremendous certainly there was a lot of hard work but when a person looks above and knows that everything that he has is including the tests including what sometimes looks like a blessing but is really not and sometimes what looks like a curse but in reality is a blessing a person that is committed to academ where his sustenance is coming from and anytime a person is uh decides to give to give in there is no way that that person is going to lose as a result [Music] let me know what you think and make sure to share it because other people need to learn to