In Israel, kids made teams to gather wood for Lag BaOmer bonfires. G-d willing they will light up the night accompanied by singing and dancing. This special time remembers the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the stopping of the plague that killed 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva.
I thought about the great punishment these students received because ‘they didn’t treat each other with respect’. These were rabbi Akiva’s students who kept every mitzvah meticulously, big mitzvah or small. If on these giants it was said that they didn’t treat each other with respect and that’s why they were severely punished where do us midgets stand?
At times a person may think that G-d requires him to do something impossibly difficult. And then of course the evil inclination will give you many reasons to fall into despair and not even bother trying. But we should know that on our day of judgment G-d won’t ask us why we weren’t like Rabbi Akiva or rabbi Shimon. G-d will ask us why we didn’t use all the tools at our disposal which G-d gave us to bring our spiritual potential to actuality.
G-d hopes from a Jew that he tries his utmost according to his unique abilities, strengths and attributes to sanctify himself and keep all mitzvoth between man and man. This doesn’t mean he won’t sin but rather that he will learn from his own mistakes and even from the mistakes of the Torah Giants from every generation and stick to G-d’s path. This will enable him to refine his character sharpen his senses to straighten his ways and repent even if the path is long and tiring.
In this week’s Torah Portion- Emor it says: “If a man wounds a friend what he did will be done to him” the Torah teaches us a great principle to remember: ‘What he did is done to him’. Sometimes a man can harm his friend for one reason or another but he fails to understand that the main harm is not to his friend but to himself. But even worse is that he causes G-d pain with his hurting someone. G-d says: “My sons, what do I ask from you? Just, that you should love one another and honor one another.” (Tanna d’bei Eliyahu) This tells us our important mission is to foster peace with each other in every possible way to merit fulfilling the verse: “Truth and peace they loved”! (Zachariah)