קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת אשר עשית את עבדך כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן הזה ועתה הייתי לשני מחנות I become smaller from all the kindness and all the truth that you did [for] your slave because with my staff I crossed this Jordan and now I became to two camps. When Yakov was preparing himself for the encounter with his brother Esav, one of the things that he did was to pray to Hashem (G-D). In the prayer, Yakov mentions that he has become smaller because Hashem bestowed kindness and truth to him. Rashi explains that truth is referring to the promises that Hashem promised Yakov and fulfilled. Rashi explains that Yakov was scared of Esav since Yakov has less merit [I become smaller - in merits]. The reason why he has less merit is because Hashem did kindness and fulfilled His promises to him. Let us analyze this Rashi. Why should Yakov be nervous that he has less merit as a result of Hashem fulfilling his promises to him? Yakov deserved it! Perhaps the answer to this question is as follows. The truth is that everything that we receive from Hashem is a gift. Even something the Hashem promised to Yakov is a gift. Since at the end of the day Yakov received something, this would be a reason why his merits were reduced. In our daily lives there are times when we expect certain things from people. I deserve that this person should do me a favor. Therefore, I don’t need to have any gratitude towards them! However, the truth of the matter is that whenever we receive something we should view it as a gift even if the other person is obligated to fulfill his promise. May Hashem grant us the gift of being grateful and allow us to see the truth.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 22:30:00 +0000
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