The Foolish Exchange

Hello,


This week, time is running short. I don't have much time to write, especially if I write as long as I normally do, so I will write something very short, to give you food for thought.

In this week's parasha, Parashat Acharei Mot, Hashem tells us something so important that we must tell it over to ourselves every single day, until it is completely engraved into our brains. At this point in the Torah, we are between lands, and we do not yet have our own identity - we have just left Egypt and are about to enter Canaan. This is the beginning of the formulation of our nation/religion. We're a bunch of rookies at this. We're are a bunch of rookies at life on our own. It is only natural to have questions of how to live as a people, which customs to adopt, what lifestyles to live. And, it is only natural to decide upon a specific lifestyle based on whom we see, whom we compare ourselves to. That being the case, it only makes sense that we would compare ourselves to Egyptians and to the Canaanites, which are the only other nations we know. Just imagine, we only know how to be slaves at this point, we don't know how to think for ourselves. Everything we think, everything we do - it is because that is how the Egyptians thought and did.

"You shall not do the actions of the land of Egypt, where you have dwelt; and you shall not do the actions of the land of Canaan, which I will now bring you there, and do not walk with their customs. Keep My laws and my statutes, to walk with them; I am Hashem. Keep my statues and my laws, to do them and to live by them; I am Hashem" (Vayikra 18:3-5).

Hashem tells us not to live our lives the way the Egyptians live and not to follow the customs of the Canaanites. Instead, He teaches us to adopt customs of our own: Do and keep the Torah and mitzvot. Let the Torah give you customs. Adopt a lifestyle offered by Hashem through the mitzvot. Live by Hashem's laws, statutes, and Torah.

This is so important, because we must realize that we don't want to be like anyone else. We are the chosen nation, the chosen people. And others will be jealous of us and hate us for it - but that doesn't take it away from us. People can hate us all they want, but that will never make us "less chosen." What makes us "less chosen" is when we decide to give up the Torah to adopt their lifestyles, when we give up the mitzvot to spend our time doing what they're doing. By doing so, we are giving up that very gift that sets us apart from the rest of the world. Why would anyone ever do that? You have an opportunity to be gifted with the best way of life, and you want to give it away for a more popular lifestyle, even though it's worthless?

Next time you want to do something that you know Moshe Rabbeinu wouldn't do or go somewhere that you know Moshe Rabbeinu wouldn't go, remind yourself that you are trading in a whole lot of gold for a small amount of plastic.

Sincerely,
Avraham Adam Sabzevari