THIS WEEK’S DIVREI SIMCHA IS WRITTEN FOR A REFUAH SHLEIMA FOR RUCHAMA ALIZA SARA CHANA BAS ESTER LIBA

Imagine going to a large, expensive wedding. You enter the hall and everything looks perfect. The flowers are nicely arranged. The dishes sparkle on the clean tablecloths. The dancefloor is shiny and not a speck of dust can be found on the carpet. The tunes from the band are all of your favorite songs. The food smells delicious. The bride and groom look beautiful together.

Then, somehow, a skunk finds its way into the wedding hall and sprays a terrible odor on the party. Everyone evacuates and the wedding reception is ruined. Everything was so beautiful but now it all needs to be thrown away.

In this week’s parsha, we have the famous story of the flood that came during Noach’s time. Chazal, our Sages of blessed memory, tell us that the reason for the flood was because of theft. People stole money without any care for other people. The amount they stole from others was very little though – they stole pennies from each other. This is certainly something we should not do, but is it such a bad sin that the whole world except for eight people needs to be destroyed because of it? Would the world be destroyed because someone stole one pack of gum at a convenience store?

The answer is yes. As the Chofetz Chaim points out, a person’s stolen money gets mixed with their own money. All of their money is seen as being part of the stolen money and not a single penny of it is seen as his. These little amounts that were stolen ruin the whole pile. It is like the metaphor above with the wedding banquet. One little thing can ruin everything. The same is with stolen money: a little stolen money can ruin all of one’s money. Even if the money is used for charity and donations, it is seen as stolen money and the person gets no credit for the donation. Therefore, there is no benefit to stealing even a little. It spoils the whole pot.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
Rabbi Yaacov Seltzer
[email protected]
www.divreisimcha.com OR www.chesedclub.com > Torah Study