GRATITUDE It says that Hashem said to Moshe (Bamidbar 31:2), "take vengeance for the children of Israel against the Midianites". What does Moshe do in verse 6? "Moshe sent them." The question is how come Moshe does not go out and fight? So the Baalei Tosfos quote the Gemara (Tractate Bava Kamma 92b) "a well that you drank water from, do not throw a rock into that well." In other words, "you Moshe, owe a debt of gratitude to Midian. Yes, Midian is corrupt, it is perverted, but you Moshe Rabbeinu, you found a house there, you found a wife there, all the good things you found. You owe gratitude to Midian. Leave Midian alone." And Moshe was not rebuked for it. Hashem gave Moshe an option here. Hashem wanted to see how much gratitude Moshe will have for the place he grew up with. So He davka, told him "you go and fight." The test was for Moshe to send other people, because the well you drink water from you cannot throw stones into it! From here we see how important is appreciation! The Torah tells us the first three plagues: blood, frogs and lice. The first three plagues, Moshe did not do. The reason why Moshe did not hit the water for the first two plagues [Moshe happened to be 80 years old when he spoke to Paro, and 80 years ago Moshe had a debt of gratitude to the water, the water saved him.] was: Moshe could not hit the water because Moshe owed a debt of gratitude to the water. So that is why the first two plagues, which came from the water, Blood and Frogs, he did not do, i.e. hit the water. The third plague, Moshe did not do because everybody knows in the beginning of Sh'mos, Moshe killed someone and hid him in the sand. So he could not hit the sand because the sand covered up for Moshe. The sand saved Moshe. Even though the sand saved him once, or the water saved him 80 years before. Moshe owes a debt of gratitude to the water, Moshe owes a debt of gratitude to the sand. Moshe owes a debt of gratitude to Midian because he was saved in Midian. The Haftarah of Masei, Yirmiyo 2:4-13: "Hear G-d's word, O House of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel! G-d says: What wrong did your forefathers find in me that they distanced themselves from Me, and they went after futility and themselves became futile? And they did not say: "Where is G-d, who took us out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, a land of plains and pits, a land of thirst and darkness, a land through which no one had passed and where no one had settled? I brought you to a country of farmland, to eat its fruit and its bounty. But you came and defiled my land and turned my inheritance into an abomination. The priests did not say: "Where is G-d?" The guardians of the Torah (i.e. Yeshivah students) do not know me, and the leaders have rebelled against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things of no value. Therefore, I will continue to rebuke you, says G-d, and I will rebuke your children's children. Go to the isles of Kittim and see! Send [messengers] to Kedar and observe carefully! See if there was ever anything like this! Has a nation ever exchanged its god although they are not gods? But My people has exchanged her glory for something of no value! Be horrified at this, O heavens! Be shocked and appalled, says G-d! For my people have committed two sins: they have abandoned Me, the source of living waters and they have hewed cisterns for themselves - broken cisterns, which do not hold water." One of the commentators, comments on the verse from 4. The Jewish People forgot all the good I bestowed upon them. They did not remember the kindliness I did to them from their youth. How does a person forget everything Hashem did for him for all of these years? The only way you forget, say the commentators is, once you start pursuing vanities, then you forget everything! That is what Jeremiah the prophet is telling us. They did not remember Hashem that took them out of Egypt. They did not remember Hashem that fed them in the Midbar for 40 years. They did not remember Hashem that gave them Eretz Yisroel. So they defiled the land and made the land impure. They made abominations. But it all starts from a lack of appreciation of what Hashem does! He goes on to say, maybe you are going to think only the multitude forgot what Hashem did! No , also the priests forgot and the people who learn Torah forgot. They also forgot, even the people in Yeshivah forgot. They didn't recognize all the good I bestowed upon them. They didn't realize it! Jeremiah is castigating the whole Jewish People. Had the Jewish People remembered that it was Hashem that did all this, they never would have sinned!! And then he says further: In the Gemara (Taanis 5b) on the verse "Did a nation ever trade their god in and my nation traded me in for what? So he says, Kittim worshipped fire and the people of Kedar worshipped water. The people who worshipped fire did not trade in their god, even though they knew water could put out fire. So Jeremiah tells the Jewish People, "what did you trade Me in for?" The people who worship fire did not trade in their god! Each nation knows it is vulnerable. Each nation knows that it could be put out, either the water could lose or the fire could lose. These nations stick, these nations believe, they did not change, they were consistent. The Jews traded me in and did not get anything in return! What is the root of this whole problem? What does Jeremiah tell the people? You have a lack of appreciation. The Ramban says the reason why G-d created man, is to recognize His Creator and say thank you! Say thank you! If a person does not need a dialyses machine, if a person does not need a respirator, if a person does not need an oxygen tank. How much gratitude does he owe Hashem! A person walks around with a misconception. We think Hashem owes us everything. Hashem does not owe anybody anything! The earlier a person realizes it the better off he will be!! The Haftarah of Devarim: Isaiah 1: "I have reared and raised children, but they have rebelled against me! An ox recognizes its owner and a donkey its master's trough, [but] Yisroel does not know, my people do not understand!" An ox knows where he gets his food from! A donkey is not as smart as the ox but knows where his stall, he knows where to go and eat! What does he say to the Jewish People? You Jewish People, you do not know! You didn't think about all that Hashem has done for you! The bottom line, the common denominator between Jeremiah's prophecy and the prophecy of Isaiah's and why we read it in the three weeks, is because a person doesn't appreciate what Hashem does for him, it leads to destruction! He is telling the Jewish People that the ox and the donkey are better than you. They know their master. They know where they are getting their food from. You Jewish People you don't think! You walk, you think you own the world. You think you are going to be here for a thousand years. The Zohar says that people think that they are going to be here for a thousand years. At least. You think you are going to live forever! The bottom line is that a person has to have gratitude! Lack of gratitude leads to destruction! There is a Midrash in Sh'mos that says: Everybody knows that Joseph was a king. It says (Sh'mos 1:8) that there was a new King, so there is a discrepancy in the Talmud whether it was really a new king or it was the same king and started making new decrees against the Jewish People. He forgot all the favours that Joseph did for him! So what does it mean he did not know Joseph? Joseph was in the history books! Joseph saved Egypt! So the Midrash says, whoever denies a favour a friend did for him, at the end is going to deny G-d! You hear! If you don't have gratitude! If you don't have appreciation to your friend, to your parents , to your wife, to children, to your brother, to your sister, to your teacher, whoever it is, you deny G- d. A person has to appreciate what Hashem does for him, whatever form or size or shape it takes! That is what Jeremiah says, that is what Isaiah says! That is why Moshe Rabbeinu does not fight Midian! He cannot fight Midian! He grew up in Midian! That is why Moshe cannot hit the water. That is why Moshe cannot hit the sand! You would think that you would just have to have appreciation for a person! What's water? It is an inanimate object! Sand is an inanimate object! How much all the more so you have to have gratitude for a living entity, a parent, a spouse! That is what the Ramban says, that man was put into this world to recognize his Creator and say thank you! This Torah lesson, given by Rabbi Yehoshua Bertram was transcribed by Meir Dovid Bain. Torah Blessings, Y. Bertram bertram@ohr.israel.net