THE VOICE WITHIN

The Midrash tells the story of a sly fox passing by a lovely vineyard. A tall, thick fence surrounded the vineyard on all sides. As the fox circled around the fence, he found a small hole in it, barely large enough for him to push his head through. He could see what luscious grapes grew in the vineyard, and his mouth began to water. But the hole was too small for him.

So what did the sly fox do? He fasted for three days, until he became so thin that he managed to slip through the hole. Inside the vineyard, the fox began to eat to his heart’s content. He grew bigger and fatter than ever before.

The fox then wanted to get out of the vineyard. But alas! The hole was too small, as it had been before. So what did he do? He fasted for three days again, and then just about managed to slip through the hole and get out.

Turning his head towards the vineyard, the poor fox said: “O vineyard! How lovely you look, and how delicious are your fruits. But what good are you to me? Just as I came to you, so I now leave you.”

And so, Jewish sages say, it is also with this world. It is a beautiful world, but — in the words of King Solomon, the wisest of all men — just as man comes into this world empty-handed, so he leaves it. Only the Torah he studied, the mitzvot he performed, and the good deeds he practiced are the real fruits which he can take with him.

—the harbinger

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com