A wife once asked her husband to take out the garbage. He felt that he was a very distinguished person and therefore it was below his dignity to do a menial chore like that. He said that his wife should be the one to take out the trash.
His wife replied that she was busy with other things and that taking out the garbage was the husband’s job. She refused to do it.
The couple went to their rabbi to resolve the dispute. The rabbi agreed that it was indeed below both of their dignities to deal in such a filthy task. He instructed them to go home and that tomorrow a solution would arrive. They both nodded, pleased with themselves and headed home.
The next day, there was a knock at the door. The couple opened it and were honoured to have the holy rabbi himself travel all the way to their home. They quickly invited him in for some food and drink, but he waved them away and said, “I’m only here because this poor family has no one able to take out their garbage, so I have come to do it for them.”
In this week’s Torah portion, Behalosecha, a number of people were unable to make the Passover offering because they were contaminated from dealing with a human corpse. They were doing the undesirable task of transporting the bones of the deceased and they lost out on that opportunity because of their contamination.
They were saddened by this, so they went to Moses to ask if anything could be done for them. G-d spoke to Moses and declared that they could indeed bring the Passover offering and that He would create a whole new make-up day for them to do it on.
That day is Pesach Sheni (Second Passover), which we have to this day. A holiday that G-d added to His Torah because of these special people who were willing to get their hands a little dirty for the sake of others.
Not every mitzvah in front of us is glamorous or “dignified”. Sometimes the right thing to do even involves getting a little grimy. But G-d won’t let your efforts go unrewarded. When you are willing to go out of your way for G-d, He will be willing to go out of His way for you.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi A and the JET Team
