Man Oh Man Oh Friend Of Mine; All Good Things In All Good Time (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Run For The Roses")

     It was an incredibly busy week for our family. I picked up our 15-year-old and 17-year-old daughter from summer camp. Upon our return, laundry was brought in, and then my wife and three teenage children had our first and last family dinner. The next morning, we dropped off the two teenagers, who had just returned from camp, at their grandparents home in Upstate New York. After about a 30 minutes visit, my wife, our 19-year-old daughter and I got back into the minivan and drove to New York City. By 9 P.M., we dropped our daughter’s bags off at her dorm room. After a nice dinner and a nights sleep; we returned to her dorm, stood in line for her key and then mom and daughter got our daughter settled into her dorm room and began her week of orientation before she starts classes at University. As Mom was helping our daughter get settled, I drove back to pick up our two kids who had spent 36 hours with their grandparents. Mom flew back from New York and while we drove back home. The next morning, the two high school age kids went to the oral surgeon and had their wisdom teeth removed. After everything was finished, and the oral surgeon told me about the post-op care, she commented about the fact that we had brought two kids in on the same day to remove wisdom teeth. She thought that it was very smart to do because it was time for both of them to have the teeth removed, and everything happens in its due time. So why wait?

     This week’s Parsha is Eikev. Here, in his second discourse, Moshe explains to the new generation how the second set of tablets that contain the Aseret Dibrot came into being. He explains how God forgave the parents of their idolatrous behavior in regards to the Eigel Zahav (Golden Calf), and all B’nai Yisroel must do essentially refrain from Idolatry, serve God, worship God, and the nation will be rewarded with water, grass and quality lives. Moshe also reminds B’nai Yisroel that they have nothing to fear when they enter into Canaan and conquer the land even if they are outnumbered. God already demonstrated that he will protect his people. He did so during the Yetziat Mitzrayim (Exodus), and he did so over the past 40 years in the wilderness. As long as B’nai Yisroel keeps its side of the B’rit, God will continue to protect his people. V’Haya Im Tishma’u El Mitzvotai Asher Anochi M’tzaveh Etchem Hayom L’Ahavah Et Adonai Eloheichem Ul’Avdo B’Chol Levavchem Uv’chol Nafshachem. V’Natati M’tar Artzechem B’Ito Yoreh Umalkosh V’Asaftah D’Ganecha V'Tiroshcha v’Yitzharecha – It will be that if you hearken to My commandments that I command you today to love Hashem your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. V’Natati Esev B’Sadcha Livhemtecha V’Achalta V’Savata – I shall provide grass in your field for your cattle and you will eat and be satisfied (Deut 11:15). Among the rewards is grass for our cattle and we will eat and be satisfied. In this second paragraph of the Shema, we are told that there is a reward for our obeying God’s commandment.

     The reward for obedience is so simple and perhaps so uninspired. The reward for obedience is rain in its due time. V’Natati M’tar Artzechem B’Ito- then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time (Deut. 11:14). Rashi, the great 11th-century French commentator, explains that “in its proper time” means that the rain will come at night so as not to cause inconvenience. Alternatively, Rashi explains that “in its proper time” means late Friday night when everyone is in their homes. For farmers, that is truly a relief. For those of us who are not farmers, the reward as simple as it is explicitly stated; it is incredibly profound. Rain in its due time means that there is order, that life and nature will progress in an orderly and natural manner. Things will happen in due course and our job is to respond and behave appropriately.

     Moses reminds the people that life happens in due course, That our reward for observance is the reassurance that the life So as our 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son lay on the sofa recovering, as we change their gauze, and feed them ice cream, I am reminded of the oral surgeon’s comments. Everything happens in its due time. Children grow up, they go off to college (university), they get their wisdom teeth out, they graduate, they make a life for themselves. For some reason, as I watch my kids sitting quietly, eating some ice cream, amid the incredibly busy week, the nearly 1000 miles that were driven in three days, I have found great comfort that life’s reward seems to be that life happens in its due course.

Peace,
Rav Yitz