You've Got Mail!
The other day our mail lady, Angie, dropped off a package at our house. Angie is a super-friendly person and my whole family enjoys a nice relationship with her.
This particular package contained a shirt that my wife had ordered online for my 3-year-old son, Chaim.
Being a 3-year-old, especially one who is the 7th kid in the family, Chaim is not used to getting new things for himself, certainly not via a package in the mail. You can only imagine his excitement when my wife told him he got a package.
When I came home from work Chaim excitedly told me “Angie buyed me a new shirt!” (His grammar isn’t quite perfect yet.) I chuckled at his naiveté and I corrected him by telling him that actually his mother bought him the shirt and Angie only delivered the package to him. I don’t think he followed what I was saying; he doesn’t exactly understand the mechanics of Amazon and online shopping. Besides, he was already on to the next activity of his busy day which involved spilling cereal all over the kitchen floor. However, if he didn’t grasp the cuteness of his statement, my wife and I certainly did.
After getting a bit of amusement out of the situation I remarked to my wife that in fact most of us mature adults are guilty of the same naïve thought processes in our lives. How many times do we attribute things in our life, both the good and the bad, to PEOPLE as opposed to G-d? “I made a killer presentation and I got the sale.” “My boss fired me.” “The doctor cured me.” In reality, G-d got you the sale. G-d fired you. G-d cured you.
Your boss, your doctor and your sales skills are only the vehicles through which those things came about. Attributing the outcomes to anyone other than G-d is as silly as thinking your mail carrier bought you a new shirt when in fact your mother bought it for you while it was the mail lady who merely brought it to you.
The Torah records an episode wherein King David was cursed by a fellow named Shimi. David’s acquaintances apprised David of what happened and were hoping to elicit a response in the form of a consequence for Shimi. Instead, David responded, “It was not Shimi who cursed me but rather it was G-d who (caused) me to be cursed.” In other words, King David recognized that another human being only has the ability to do something to him if and when G-d wants that to happen. Clearly, G-d wanted David to suffer the shame of being cursed and Shimi was the agent who carried that out. (As an aside, this attitude should not be construed as license for someone to do something negative and then blame G-d by claiming it was G-d’s doing. This is a topic that is beyond the scope of this article though.)
King David lived his life with the attitude that every single thing that happens in life comes from G-d. Although we are not on the level anywhere near King David, we can try to adopt this attitude as much as possible. Whether it is the good things that “go our way” or the bad things that befall us, they are all divinely sent. G-d alone is the source of those happenings. Those that facilitate the events are merely the “mail carriers” for our Father in heaven, sent to deliver each of us the “packages” that are our lot.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Yosef Koval
