Rabbi's Corner

One Yom Kippur, Rav Yehonaton Eibeschutz was forced to observe the day in a small town away from home.  Without revealing his identity, the Rabbi entered a shul, and looked for what he would consider a suitable place to pray.  He spotted a man who was fervently swaying back and forth with tear-filled eyes.  The Rabbi felt that this man could serve him in whose own prayers, so he sat next to him.  The man sobbed and prayed: "I am but dust in my life, Oh HaShem, all the more so in death!"  Inspired by the Kol Nidre prayers of the previous evening, the Rabbi sat in the same place on Yom Kippur.  Once again, this man poured out his heart in prayer to Hashem describing how insignificant he was.

When the Yom Kippur Shacharit Torah portion was about to be read, the shul's gabbai called up a man from the front of the shul for an aliyah.  Suddenly, the man sitting next to the Rabbi who had been so self-effacing in his prayers called out: "You are giving him the third aliyah?"  The shul immediately went silent and the Rabbi stared in total disbelief at the man, who blurted out once more: "I can learn much better than him!  I give more charity than he ever has, and I have a more illustrious family!  Why does he get an aliyah ahead of me?"  The Rabbi turned to him and said: "Moments ago you were crying to HaShem and telling H-m how insignificant and unworthy you are!  Why are you now shouting how important and wonderful you are?"  "What are you talking about?" the man protested, "Compared to HaShem I am nothing but dust.  But not compared to him!"

After the sin committed by Adam and Chava (Eve) which caused them to be expelled from Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), Adam was faced with making an important choice.  He could dwell on Chava's mistake and live out the rest of his life in bitterness and regret.  Or he could put the mistake behind him and instead focus on Chava's positive qualities and attributes praising her.  The Talmud tells us that a husband and wife who live together in harmony merit HaShem's presence dwelling with them.  Because he knew that being expelled from Gan Eden would cause them leave HaShem's presence, Adam made a commitment to maintain "shalom bayit" (marital harmony) focusing only on Chava's positive attributes.  He did so, according to our weekly parasha, Parashat Bereshit, in the following manner: "And Adam called his wife 'Chava' because she was the mother of all living things." (Bereshit 3:20)   Thus, HaShem was with them at all times.  May it be so with all of us!