Transcript
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We have in this week's parashah,
parashah Pinhas ben Elazar ben Aaron a
Cohen. He does a heroic act and there
was an individual Zimri that was doing a
despicable act, something [music]
inappropriate. And many people were were
were putting down Pinhas. They were
making fun of him. They were they were
were rebuking him and criticizing him
and saying, "Who do you think you are?
Why are you doing this?" And at the end
of the day, God himself gets involved,
gives him the peace covenant bris
shalom, and he was able Pinhas to stop a
plague which killed thousands of people
because of immorality and it's all
things to him. But, the question is for
every single one of us, what is the
approach when someone criticizes us,
someone makes fun of us, someone puts us
down for doing things that we know that
is right? And I would like to share with
you a very well-known mashal, a parable,
but it's a very very very powerful to
internalize. You know, today when
[music] a couple gets married, you have
a limousine.
Back then, they didn't have a limousine.
The commodity that they have to go from
the house of the kallah and chatan, from
the bride and the groom,
to the hall was a donkey. And what
happens is that the donkey, back then in
Yemen, where this happened, would only
be able to hold one person at a time.
So, what happens is the custom was that
they would go on the donkey, the chatan,
and the kallah would walk next to him.
The custom was that they would go around
town from block to block and people
would come out of their houses, men,
women, and children. They would throw
candies, they would say congratulations
to them, and they would be able to go to
the hall. So, the first block they're
on, what do they hear? Someone says, "Oh
my gosh, he's sitting on the donkey
because only one person can be on the
donkey at a time and she's walking.
They're not even married and he's
already the boss of the house. Oh my
gosh." And they overhear this and
they're like, "Oh, they're right." So,
the next block they switch. She sits on
the donkey and he walks.
The kallah's on the donkey and he's
walking. And people are saying
congratulations, mazel tov. And then all
of a sudden they overhear someone say,
"Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. They're not
even married and she's already the queen
and he's the servant and he's standing."
And people started talking and they're
like, "Oh my gosh, people are talking."
So, the next block they both get off and
they're walking and they overhear
someone say, "Wow, what fools. It's a
hot day outside. People wish they had a
car {slash} a donkey. They're not even
using the donkey. They're walking." And
they're like, "Oh, they're right." The
next block, what do they do? They both
go on the donkey. Then an individual
comes over to them with a cane, an older
man, he's like, "Hey, hey, hey, Torah by
the way, animal rights. You cannot put
two people on it. It's too heavy." And
they're like, "Okay, okay, okay, we're
right." And they think to themselves, I
was on it, she was off, she was on it, I
was off, we're both on it, we're both
off. At the end of the day, what do they
do? They put the donkey on top of them
because they didn't know what to do. At
the end of the day, what is this coming
to teach us a very important lesson that
people will always be talking, people
always be saying things and criticizing
you. What should you just do what's
right and good in the eyes of God. Don't
worry about this shkhinah, which means
the neighbors, worry about this
shkhinah, which is divine presence,
which is God almighty. And by us doing
so,
we'll always feel good because we know
we're doing what's right in the eyes of
God and that's the only
thing that we should be worried about,
which is God almighty.
