We originally planned a family vacation for right after Sukkos, given it was more than a year since our previous one and we would be expecting a baby a month later. However, Hamas & Hezbollah decided to change those plans for us, leaving us without a break, and turning our favourite places to go, into closed military zones.
This Sunday, I had access to a seven-seater and I told the kids on Shabbos, that school was cancelled, and I'm taking them on a hike, which received absolutely no opposition.
We went to Nachal Tavor, located south of the Kinneret. It's a 7.5 km hike, with a very full "stream" that you need to cross several times, hills, valleys, and a surprisingly large amount of VERY thick mud (we were hoping it was just mud, considering there were cows in the area). It was so thick that when my 8-year-old pulled his leg up, his shoe decided to stay where it was.
None of us expected the amount of green that we encountered. It looks like a filter was put on the entire landscape making everything super-green. And the stream, thanks to the large amount of rain we've received, was higher and stronger than usual, making the idea of crossing it while remaining dry, impossible to do. And every 50 meters gave us a new view of something. Oh, and to make it even nicer, every step we took was counted as a mitzvah (the joys of living in Eretz Yisroel).
The hike itself, with a lunch break, took four and a half hours and gave us the break and the nature that we've been craving to have for months now. If you can ever make it to Israel during this time of the year, don't bother with the center of the country, focus your time on the north.
If anybody would like a few photos, shoot me an email, and I'll be more than happy to send a couple your way.
Okay, on to Torah.
I ran into an interesting Gemara in Pesachim (119a) today that is related to this week's parsha. Always a good sign when that happens.
We find that some chapters of Tehillim start with "Lemnatzayach Mizmor L'Dovid," which, I believe, is usually translated as "To the Conductor," and I'm not sure how that is grammatically connected to the actual word. However, the Gemara translates it as: Sing to the One who rejoices when conquered." Then the Gemara asks, "Who rejoices when conquered?" Obviously people, when conquered, are generally not in a happy mood. However, the Gemara explains that this refers to Hashem, who is happy when others "conquer" Him. And to prove its point, the Gemara brings in this week's parsha, when Hashem declared to Moshe that He plans to wipe out the Jewish nation, and start afresh with Moshe himself. At that point, Moshe begs Hashem and argues with Him, that He should not do so, explaining why, in the end, it would be a desecration of His name. At that point, Hashem "admits defeat" and reneges His threat.
Obviously, this whole episode and its explanation opens a whole can of worms for us. Obviously, Hashem knew Moshe's argument before Moshe knew his argument, and Hashem knew that He wasn't really going to destroy the nation. So, how does one defeat an omnipotent being?
This is tied in with the famous question, "Why does Hashem test us, if He already knows the results?"
One of the many answers to this issue is that Hashem sets things up, not to prove ourselves to Him, rather to prove ourselves to ourselves (and possibly others). So too, when Hashem threatened to destroy the nation, he was setting Moshe up to plead on our behalf.
We're then left with, "Okay, Moshe can 'defeat' Hashem, because he's Moshe. But, how do I have such an opportunity? Hashem is not speaking to me directly." Perhaps we can say that when a spiritual test is put in our way, Hashem is "in doubt," so to speak, about whether you can pass it or not. After all, one can say if it was a given that you would pass or fail, you would not be given this test in the first place. Since when are kids in 8th grade given math tests that are appropriate for a first grader or for a student in a university? And by passing these tests, you are showing Hashem that you really are bigger than He might "think." And it seems from here, Hashem wants nothing more than for us to prove Him wrong.
Just a thought that I had. I have no idea if it's legit or not. Just something to think about.
With that, I wish you all a nice and quiet Shabbos.