The Maharil Diskin (a great rabbi in Russia and later Jerusalem in the 1800s) was walking down the street with a student and casually mentioned the number of leaves on a tree that they were passing. The student was in awe at his seemingly supernatural ability to count hundreds of leaves at a glance.
A similar story goes that a businessman wanted advice from the Maharil Diskin. He didn’t want just a gut reaction, but a fully thought out response to his complete situation, so he brought along the full text of a contract he was considering for the Maharil Diskin to read. When he arrived, the Maharil Diskin took one glance at the contract and told the businessman what he should do. The businessman expressed his dismay that the Maharil Diskin didn’t take the time to read the contract in full first. The Maharil Diskin was a busy man and asked if it would be sufficient if he just proved that he understood every word instead. The confused businessman conceded. The Maharil Diskin told him the number of letters in the contract and went on his way. The businessman counted and found that exact number of letters inside.
In this week’s Torah portion, V’Zos Habracha, Moses climbs to the top of Mount Nebo. The Torah tells us then that G-d showed Moses all of the Land of Israel.1 The Or HaChaim (Moroccan Biblical commentator from the 1700s) wondered how Moses was able to see ALL of the Land at once. He answers from a verse we read every Friday night leading up to Shabbos:
Light is sown for the righteous…
Psalms 91:11
This, in turn, refers to the light created on the first day of Creation.2 That light was no simple light coming from a lightbulb. It was a special light hidden away for the righteous in the future. The Or HaChaim understands that Moses was such a holy man, so full of good deeds and connection to G-d, that he merited access to that special light. And that light, allowed him to see things that an ordinary person with ordinary eyes would not be able to see.
May you have an uplifting Simchas Torah and may G-d open your eyes to see the things that you need to see.
Chag Sameach,
Rabbi A and the JET Team
