Parshas Bamidbar - Chag HaShavuos 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- May 29
- 3 min read
שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחתם לבית אבתם במספר שמות כל זכר לגלגלתם ... (א-ב)
MASHAL: There was once a boy who was learning in a respectable yeshivah, doing quite well, and understanding what a ben Torah is. Unfortunately, he got himself caught up with a bad group of friends. Although he had been a good bachur in the past, now he began taking his life in a far different direction. He soon found himself totally lost and on his own. He grew his hair long, his clothes were disreputable rags, and he was living in the dumps - with no financial support in his new “lifestyle.”
One day, he found an advertisement for a job as a janitor in a local yeshivah. Due to the lack of a better option, he called to apply. The young man showed up to the interview and was ushered into the office of the esteemed Rosh Yeshivah, R’ Shlomo Freifeld zt”l.
He sat down to discuss his viability for the job and before he knew it, the Rosh Yeshivah had him waste deep in a discussion about his origins and where he grew up. After disclosing that he was a former yeshivah student from a respectable yeshivah and had been a full-time learner at one point in his life, R’ Freifeld smiled and told him that he found a better paying job than the janitorial work.
“What is it?” the young man asked eagerly.
“I want you to become a maggid shiur!”
“What? A maggid shiur?! Me?!”
“Yes!” R’ Shlomo confirmed. “You’ve learned in a respectable yeshivah for years, and you undoubtedly have what it takes to give a good shiur on Gemara. I have a couple of wild guys here in yeshivah, and even some that I have difficulty connecting to, but if you give the shiur, I’m sure that you’ll be able to connect well with them.”
The young man tried to protest but R’ Shlomo wouldn’t hear of it. “The yeshivah is learning Bava Metzia,” R’ Shlomo finally said firmly. “Go home and get working on it. I’ll give you till Monday.”
His confidence restored, the young fellow started preparing a shiur. He knew he couldn’t come to the yeshivah in his current state of attire, so he went out and bought a yarmulke, tzitzis, etc. He put himself together - after all he was going to teach Torah!
Today this “off the deep-end boy” is married with a large family of his own while simultaneously running a Kollel in Yerushalayim! rthfthth
R’ Shlomo Freifeld was a Tzaddik with a penetrating understanding of people. He saw a sterling neshama and knew that here was a human being worthy of respect, worthy of acknowledgement, and worthy of being loved! That outlook saved this young man’s life, and B”H he was zoche to build a beautiful family.
NIMSHAL: In Parshas Bamidbar the Torah recounts how each and every Jew was accounted for. This parsha is read immediately before the holy Yom Tov of Shavous and for good reason: there is a deep connection between the two. Every Yid stood at Har Sinai and said "נעשה ונשמע" - he is therefore worthy of learning Torah. Every Yid counts, and is worthy of dignity and respect. Shavuos is the Yom Tov that teaches us to maximize this reality.