The Pnei Menachem zt’l said, “People try hard to tie the Yom Tov to them. Actually, the Yom Tov never leaves us. The problem is that we leave the Yom Tov. Our goal should be to bind ourselves to the Yom Tov. This is the meaning of בעבותים אסרו חג; we should attach ourselves to the Yom Tov.
A story will illustrate the concept of taking our kabbalos of the holiday period with us into the new year.
A landlord in Golders Green, London, was always careful to lease his apartments to people he trusted would pay rent. If the person applying for an apartment appeared to be untrustworthy, he would find an excuse not to rent it to him. But there was a time, ten to twenty years ago, when there were many vacancies in the Golders Green area, and he realized that he couldn’t be too picky. If he found a potential tenant, he accepted him, even if he feared that he might not pay. At least with one of his tenants, his fears materialized, and the tenant refused to pay rent. The landlord summoned him to court, but he feared that he would lose the case because in England, the renter is favored in court over the landlord.
The judge asked the tenant why he hadn’t paid the rent. He replied, “He leased me a deficient apartment. The heating and air conditioning didn’t work, and there are also problems with the plumbing and electricity. I asked the landlord numerous times to fix these problems, but my requests fell on deaf ears. I had to pay tradesmen to come fix my apartment. So, why should I pay the rent, too?”
The landlord feared he would lose the case because he had no proof with which to disprove the tenant’s claims. However, the judge asked the tenant, “Did you pay rent for at least one month? If you didn’t even pay rent the first month, that proves you never intended to pay rent.” He hadn’t paid even the first month, so the judge ordered him to pay up entirely.
Reb Elchanan Halprin zt’l of Radumishla told this story and said that it is a lesson in kabbalos tovos. Sometimes, people have excuses for why they didn’t keep their kabbalos. But the Heavenly court will ask, “Did you keep your kabbalah at least once? Did you begin the year adhering to the kabbalos you took on? If you didn’t even begin with your kabbalos, that shows you weren’t serious, and you never truly intended to keep them.”
RABBI ELI MANSOUR
RABBI ELIMELECH BIDERMAN
