Parshas Pinchos 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
כי צררים הם לכם בנכליהם אשר נכלו לכם על דבר פעור ... (כה-יח)
MASHAL: John was a true pessimist. “Why go on vacation?” he’d say. “It’ll probably rain the whole time anyway.” “Why should I fix things in the house? There might be a flood and ruin my work anyway...”
Working for the central train station, his job was to clean the cabins when they came into the station. One day he was cleaning a refrigerated cabin. He made sure to place a block by the door so that he wouldn’t get locked in, but apparently it wasn’t sufficient. Because suddenly he heard a horrible “click” and to his utter shock, he realized he was locked in the refrigerated cabin that wouldn’t be opened for another ten to fifteen hours. Realizing that his end might come soon, he sat down to write a letter to his family. He detailed all of his pessimistic ideas and how it all now became a reality...
Arriving at the new station, the cleaning crew was shocked to find a man lying in a coma on the floor. They rushed in an ambulance and transported the man to the hospital where they managed to revive him.
“What happened to you?” they asked him, and after a few minutes of conversation.
John realized the truth: the refrigerator was never even turned on! His pessimism almost killed him!
NIMSHAL: Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt”l said he heard from the Rosh Yeshivah of Chaim Berlin, Rav Yitzchok Hunter zt”l, an explanation for the avoda zara of ba’al peor (where people would defecate in front of the idol). “Pessimism” is the idea that everything in life is bad, dirty and headed down hill anyway - so who cares about anything in life - leading to excess freedom and licentious behavior. This, said Rav Hunter, is what the avoda zara of ba’al peor was trying to achieve. Total unbridled freedom - to do all the depraved and immoral actions they yearned and desired for.