At the end of this week’s parsha, Emor, the story is told of a man who was given the death penalty for blaspheming the Name of G-d. Our Sages state the reason this man cursed G-d is connected to the chapter that appears right before this story: the Twelve Loaves of Bread that were placed in front of the Altar every week. These loaves were cooked on Friday, placed on the Table in front of the Altar until the following Shabbos (nine days later) when they were eaten. This man mocked it is not proper to give the King week old bread. Why should cold, stale bread be eaten? The bread should be eaten when it is fresh and warm. His anger led him to commit a terrible sin that got him punished with the death penalty.

I saw a commentary this past week that has a valuable lesson for all of us. If this man only waited a few days, he would not have sinned. The next Shabbos he would have seen that a miracle took place: the nine day old bread was not stale nor was it cold. It was kept warm and fresh. This man committed a terrible sin because he spoke in his moment of anger. If he only waited a little bit, his anger would have cooled down and he would have seen the truth.

Our generation is the generation of speed. We are always rushing. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commented to me that he does not understand why people need to check their email five times a day (NOTE: he was talking about a personal email account, not a work email account). I was hurt when I heard this comment because I’m sometimes checking my email more than five times a day. The reason is because once I get a new message, I want to respond to it. After I thought about it, though, I wondered why I needed to be in such a rush. Why do I need to constantly be in such a hurry to read every message? It is not good to always rush, but this is the conditioning we are giving our brains. The great Rabbis of Kelm (a yeshiva that existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Europe) would wait one full day before they opened new mail they received. They practiced taking their time. This is a great idea to get in the habit of doing!

People unfortunately perform so many sins because of rushing. Especially when someone is in a fit of anger, that person needs to take a step away from the situation. Responding immediately is very hazardous. The only reason the man in the end of this week’s parsha died was because he rushed to respond. Let’s train ourselves to act with calmness and not always be in such a hurry. Even if we are not as great as the Rabbis of Kelm and have the need to open our mail on the day we receive it, we can still practice more self control. We can have patience or we can become a patient at a doctor’s office.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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