יַעֲרֹ֤ף כַּמָּטָר֙ לִקְחִ֔י תִּזַּ֥ל כַּטַּ֖ל אִמְרָתִ֑י (דברים ל"ב ב')
Let my teaching flow like rainfall, let my saying drip like dew (Devarim 32:2)
In this pasuk, Moshe is requesting that his teachings, the Torah, should permeate the Jewish people like flowing rain and dripping dew. Rashi sheds some light on what Moshe had in mind with these similes. Regarding rain, he explains that Torah brings life to the world, just as rain does. Yet despite rain’s life-giving qualities, we must admit that we are not always thrilled when it rains. (Just speak to our M-Cat student-athletes for elaboration.) This is why, Rashi explains, Moshe also compared the Torah teachings to dew, since everyone rejoices in dew – it provides moisture to our crops and vegetation without inconveniencing anyone. Moshe’s vision for the Jewish people was not merely to keep the Torah, but to rejoice in keeping it and learning it.
Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam zt”l (1905-1994), the Klausenberger Rebbe, lost his entire family in the Holocaust, yet devoted himself to helping and inspiring his fellow survivors after the war. In Judah Lifshitz’s biography The Klausenberger Rebbe – The War Years, the following incident is recorded: After the Holocaust the rebbe visited a hospital for concentration camp survivors in Germany, taking with him four packages of tzitzit that he was able to obtain. However, when he arrived, he was stormed by around 150 Jews, desperate for the precious mitzvah of tzitzit. Seeing no alternative, the rebbe suggested that a lottery be done. Everyone agreed, except for one chasid named Mendel. Mendel stood up and with two quick yanks, ripped his shirt vertically on both sides, creating a four-cornered garment. “I should get one of the sets of strings,” declared Mendel, “since I am the only one here with a four-cornered garment!” The rebbe was very moved by Mendel’s actions, but decided to proceed with the lottery. Everyone wanted the precious strings, but a joyous shout reverberated in the room when it was announced, “Mendel is a winner!”
When I think about this story, I am reminded of an incident that occurred last year in my sixth grade classroom at Maimonides. After we davened on the fourth day of chol hamoed Sukkot, I asked my students if anyone wanted to take home the classroom lulav and etrog set. Since there was no school on Hoshanah Rabbah it was no longer needed at school, yet it could still be used by students when they davened on their own. To my delight, a few students who didn’t have their own excitedly expressed their desire to acquire the set. Having no fair way to determine who should get it, I resorted to the Klausenberger Rebbe’s idea of a lottery. The student winner reacted in a Mendel-esque fashion, but the story had a happy ending for the other students as well, since I was able to obtain two other no-longer-needed school sets from other davening locations. I was so proud to see the simcha on the faces of my students that they now each had their own lulav and etrog set for the mitzvah!
These Maimonides students’ reactions are reminiscent of the Rambam’s teaching (see the last halacha in Hilchot Lulav) that when a person is able to fulfill the mitzvot with simcha, they have reached a very high level of service of Hashem. This is what we are striving to provide at Maimonides School – an all-encompassing atmosphere in which Torah and mitzvot are proudly studied and fulfilled with joy, enthusiasm, and simcha.
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