'Hey, Johnny, you coming to the festival tonight?'
'I don't think so. I got a ton of research to do for this paper I'm working on.'
'What's the paper about?'
'The social and economical impact of storms on the ant world.'
'Are you serious? Why would you want to waste your school break on studying and writing about a bunch of bugs when you could be having an awesome time with music, beer and buddies?'
'First of all,' Johnny started, a bit insulted, 'Bugs comprise the Hemipterian family, and ants are formicidae. Second of all, I'm not stopping you from going to the festival. You don't need me to have fun.'
'Come on, man, you could do your research there. Just watch how the throngs of people mill about from stand to stand picking up little bits of food and transporting them back and forth…'
'Cut it out, Timmy. I'm not going. And that's it.'
Man. What a nerd. Timmy thought. Well, it's his loss.
Hey, I'll go see what Sammy's up to.
'Hey, Sammy.'
'What's up Timmy?'
'Not much. You coming to the festival tonight?'
'Why? Who's playing?'
'Everyone, man. You name it. They'll be there.'
'I don't know, Tim, I was kind of hoping to catch up on some sleep.'
'What?! Are you nuts!? The one time when school break comes along when something's actually happening in town and you're going to sleep through it?'
'Yeah. I got a long week ahead of me and I don't want to be all crashed out after a long festive party.'
'What could you possibly have to do next week that warrants missing this once in a lifetime super festival?'
'Well, I got this new night job and..'
'You've had jobs before. They never stopped you from appreciating good music, cheap alcohol and hanging out with your pals.' Timmy said, almost pleadingly. 'What kind of job you got anyway?'
'Well,' Sammy stood proud, 'I was just hired by the FDA to be chief food inspector at all the major burger franchises in the county.'
'Chief Food Inspector?' Timmy almost choked on his own laughter. 'Well, you better get some sleep, then. Don't want those fries to tire you out.' Timmy bellowed and stumbled away laughing, holding his stomach.
'You don't have to be so mean.'
Timmy looked up to find a wizardly looking man in long, flowing white beard and cloak standing before him.
'Wh..Where'd you come from?'
'The deep recesses of your heart.'
'What is that? Some kind of band? What do you want from me? You got some free tickets to the show or something?'
'As a matte of fact, I do. But, Timmy, you mustn't scoff at people just because their plans don't fit into your idea of the way things ought to be.'
'But I'm just trying to help those guys. They're always studying or working. They need to get out and have a good time.'
'But your idea of a good time and their idea of a good time are totally different. Look at Yitro in this week's Parsha: Moshe tries convincing him to stay with them and enter the Holy Land. All kind's of blessings and bounty beyond description lay waiting for him, but he chose to stay with his family and possessions.'
'Yeah, yeah, yeah. He probably foresaw that they would wander aimlessly for forty years first. You call that blessing and bounty? Have a nice day, recess man, but I think you got it all wrong. Oh, and thanks for the tickets.'
What a weirdo, Timmy thought as he continued his meandering across the campus lawn. I must find someone to come with me to the festival. There's no way I'm staying home. Dad will make me clean out the garage and the pool and build that shed he's been bugging me about. But I'm the only one in my class that has a license, so the only way I could convince him to give me the car is if I tell him my friends are stuck and they need me to drive them.
'Yo, Ronny, are you busy tonight?'
'Not really. What do you have in mind?'
'Weelllll, there's this music festival in town that I just happen to have some extra tickets for, and I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to join me?'
'Hey, cool! What time's it called for?'
'It starts at nine, I'll pick you up at eight thirty, all right?'
'Sounds good to me. See you then.'
HONK! HONK!
Ronny looked at his watch. 8:30.
'Hey Timmy, I'm sorry but something came up, I can't come with you to the concert.'
'What do you mean? You said you'd come?'
'Yeah, I know, but my mom needs to go out of town for a few days, and I need to stay home and baby-sit.'
'Are you serious? Bring the baby along.'
'Come on, I can't do that. He's not even two years old. Anyway, we'd be stuck taking care of him instead of enjoying the show. Just go on without me.'
Timmy's mind began racing…
Dad already gave me the car, so I might as well just go…
But what if he speaks to Ronny's dad and finds out that he didn't go…
I could tell him that some friends from out of town showed up at the last second and…
'It's because of people like you that the Jews had to wander for forty years.'
The Wizard man suddenly appeared in the passenger seat.
'Whoa, where'd you come from?'
'The debris you left out to dry on the top of your fleeting conscience.'
'Say what?'
'Timmy, you need to accept the fact that people need to be in certain places at certain times. Why are you trying so hard to run away from home when you already admitted in your heart that it's really where you ought to be?'
'Get real, con-science man. I could do that stuff for dad next week. And anyway, who knows? Maybe I'll meet my soul-mate there? I gotta go. You can't make me stay home and be a prisoner to chores during the break.'
'What makes you so sure that anything good will come out of this festival you're so set on going to?'
'Are you kidding? The best musicians in the country will be there tonight! They'll probably have the best junk food too. And, chi.., ahem, I mean, soul-mates..'
'That's exactly what I mean, Timmy. The people in the desert refused to see the great kindnesses that Hashem was constantly bestowing upon them and instead, chose to focus on the few things their belly desired.'
'Hold on just a second there, Mr. Debris, you're the one that gave me the tickets.'
'Sure, and Hashem gave them the meat they cried for. And they also had the privilege of being buried with the meat still stuck between their teeth.'
'Are you trying to scare me? What are you getting at.'
'By the mouth of Hashem they camped and by the mouth of Hashem they traveled.'
'Timmy, it's clear that your motives for going to this festival are not exactly coming from the mouth of Hashem. It's more than safe to assume that your father's voice is much closer to being just that. Why don't you stop complaining and just go home.'
This guy is right, Timmy admitted.
Reluctantly, he turned the car around and drove back home.
The next morning, while he was out back dragging sopping wet leaves from the pool, he noticed that one of his sister's friends was eyeing him from the patio. They were married a year later, moved to Israel, had many children, acquired a large plot of land and sponsored their own music festival..
Whatever…
The point is, our own, selfish ideas of what need to be done, and where we need to be usually take us away from where the true blessings reside. This all results from not knowing how to differentiate between the Hebrew letters alef and ayin…
Hashem tells us to follow the clouds, in Hebrew, 'anan', with an ayin. Instead, the people begin to aonen, (complain), with an alef. Interestingly, related words which share the same alef root mean: my strength, grief, wickedness, egotism, deception, injustice, mourner, and one who spills seed. The ayin root, on the other hand, creates words which mean, humble, responsive, to sing, etc.
The Shulchan Aruch writes that one who does not know how to differentiate between these two letters should not lead the congregation in prayer and is questionable if he can fulfill his requirement of reading the Shema, the ultimate in hearing Hashem's voice in the world.
By the mouth of Hashem they traveled, and by the mouth of Hashem they camped…Listen well…
Shabbat Shalom.