Listen to Maharat Friedman's weekly parasha podcast "Life Imitates Torah." Click hereto listen, or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Will return next week...
“The Minister of the Drinks did not remember Joseph. And he forgot him” (Genesis 40:23)
The great commentator Rashi teaches that Joseph was punished with two extra years in prison because he put his faith in the Minister of Drinks instead of trusting in Hashem.
In this context the following story is told about the great Sabba of Navardok (Rabbi Yosef Yoizel Hurwitz (1847-1919):
One time the Sabba was sitting in a secluded hut in a forest studying Torah all alone. It was very late at night and the Sabba kept studying Torah by the light of the candle. The Sabba was so immersed in his Torah study that he did not realize until it was too late that his only source of light—the candle---had burnt out. So the Sabba sat in the dark and was extremely distressed that he could no longer study the words of his holy books.
The Sabba said to himself I am certain Hashem will help me figure out a way to continue to study Torah.
The Sabba was so certain that Hashem would help him that he suddenly got up and opened the door to the hut.
At that exact moment a man he had never seen before stepped out from the trees of the forest and gave him a new candle. Just as quickly the man disappeared back into the forest.
For the next twenty-five years the Sabba kept in his house a remnant of this candle as a reminder of the miracle that occurred to him that night and to remind his students of the power of trusting in Hashem. He showed his many visitors the “miracle candle” and taught them about having trust in Hashem.
After twenty-five years a terrible event happened. There was a fire in Navardok and many houses burned down including the Sabba’s house. The “miracle candle” was also destroyed in this fire.
The Sabba then told his family: “The ‘miracle candle’ was destroyed in order to remind us that we shouldn’t need to demand proof in order to have trust in Hashem.” (Vekarata Leshabbat Oneg, volume 1, 50.)
----------------------------
Hadar is now offering Devash, a weekly parsha magazine for children and families. You can download it here.
-----------------------------
Daf Yomi for Kids To download the Daf Yomi for kidsclick here
