Had to repost this beautiful picture of my loved friends Valerie and Ella by @levikhertzelstudios who ran the#Miamimarathon for #friendshipcircle because it is showing us something that this week’s Torah portion is teaching us and hopefully we will learn it for good.
After the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jewish people experiencing unbelievable miracles, they come to stop at Marah. They were very thirsty “and they were not able to drink the water at Marah for they were bitter.” (Shemot 15:23)
The Kotzker Rebbe explained the words “for they were bitter” as referring to the people themselves. When someone is bitter himself, everything tastes bitter.
Life is full of struggles, trials and tribulations. We will always find many reasons to complain and become bitter people. It is our choice to rise above it, stand straight and smile at life.
As an antidote for this malady, we learn:
Rabbi Eliezer said in the name of Rabbi Chanina “Torah scholars increase peace in the world.” The meaning of peace is the opposite of resentment and anger. A person becomes angry easily when he is not satisfied with his life. But when we learn Torah and we do Mitzvahs, we are full of satisfaction and this gives us great pleasure. Because he/she is so full of pleasure, it will be very hard to get him/her angry or frustrated over mundane matters and this increases peace in the world.
Excerpts from “Growth Through Torah “by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
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