The Torah outlines the way to perform the commandments and how to live our life: הֶיְ הִ ת יםִ מָּ ת ךָלקיֱ ֹא’ ה םִ ע”- You shall be wholehearted with Hashem Your G-d.” Whatever grave difficulty is facing us, we may not attempt to seek knowledge of the future from external sources to the Torah. At all times, one must put his trust wholeheartedly in Hashem, to act innocently in the face of the commandments of Hashem, in which great pleasure is caused to Hashem. To appreciate plainly the virtue of innocence, lets recount the story that happened with the Holy Arizal. A young Rabbi was appointed to a community where resided the Ari Hakadosh. In that community lived a simple and innocent man whose livelihood was very difficult, and hunger was common in his house. One day he heard the sermon of the Rabbi about the Lechem Hapanim. The simple Jew thought: “After all, the synagogue is also considered a small temple and offering there 12 loafs of bread should provide the same results. He decided to bake twelve Challahs every Friday and to place them in the Shul Holy Ark. Friday came and the man baked a dozen braided challahs, brought them to Shul and prayed innocently to Hashem to accept his offering. Then he placed the Challahs in the Holy Ark and left to prepare for the approaching Shabbos. How happy he was when on Shabbos the Ark was opened and the Challahs were no longer there. He thought “surely Hashem accepted his offering.” The man decided to keep his secret to himself and opted to rejoice Hashem with the same offering every Friday. The Gabbai of the Shul was so poor he had nothing for Shabbos. It was already Friday early afternoon and still could not even afford to purchase flour for his wife to bake the Challahs. He could no longer bear the disgrace of his children’s hunger. He decided to go to Shul and pray earnestly to Hashem to provide for him. He approached the Aron Hakodesh and started crying and pouring out his heart to Hashem. But something was torturing him, he could smell fresh baked Challah. He thought the hunger was playing with his mind, as if the starvation was not enough, it had to nag him with such a tempting smell. He decided to focus more in his prayer and to forget the smell. He opened the Holy Ark and to his amazement 12 beautiful fresh baked Challahs were there. He thanked Hashem profusely for responding so fast to his prayer and went home with his newfound treasure. True to his commitment, the next Friday the man put 12 fresh baked Challahs in the Holy Ark. A little bit later came the Gabbai. As soon as he approached the Ark, he smelt the Challahs and immediately opened it. Again, 12 beautiful fresh baked Challahs were awaiting him. He was in tears thanking Hashem for responding to his needs even before he uttered the first words of prayer. The next day when the Holy Ark was open and there were no Challahs, the poor man was ecstatic, “Hashem really likes my offering.” It went on for a few weeks until one Friday the Rabbi lingered in Shul and here comes the innocent Jew who makes his way to the Ark with 12 Challahs in his hands. To the Rabbi’s astonishment, the poor man placed the breads in the Holy Ark. The rabbi asked him “what do you think you’re doing?” he innocently replied that since he heard the Rabbi’s speech about the Lechem Hapanim, he’s been placing the Challahs in the Ark and Hashem was taking them, as you will see tomorrow they will no longer be there. The Rabbi asked him “are you that naïve? It is obvious someone is taking them, but surely not Hashem. At that moment came in the Gabbai rushing to the Ark, opened it and with a sinking heart realized that it was empty. The Rabbi asked him “what are you doing?” the Gabbai innocently told him that Hashem has been giving him 12 Challahs the past few weeks. The Rabbi scolded both and forbade the man to place bread in the Ark as it is disrespectful. On Sunday, the Rabbi was summoned to the Holy Arizal who saw everything with His Holy Spirit. When he arrived the Arizal rebuked him and told him: “Do you know that you have prevented Hashem from the great pleasure he had every Friday. Prepare yourself as you will leave this world very soon, which indeed happened. This is the power of innocence. Let us walk before God in innocence and wholeheartedly to make him happy and proud of His children!

By Rabbi Fridmann * [email protected] * 305.985.3461

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