Rav Kalman Krohn, zt”l, when he was younger, once went to donate blood. While he was giving blood a non-Jew asked him, “Are you a Rabbi?”
Rav Kalman replied, “Not yet.”
The man said, “Can I ask you a question?”
Rav Kalman said, “Yes, of course.”
He asked, “I know you have a law called Shatnez. Why does Hashem care if you mix wool and linen?”
Rav Kalman said he would explain with a Mashal. There was once a king who was getting on in years, and he had a hobby that he loved to paint beautiful pictures, and he desired that one of his children should take over his hobby. He requested from one child at a time, that they learn the art of painting, but none of them were interested.
Finally, the youngest child showed some interest. The father was delighted on hearing this, and he was very excited. The excitement however did not last very long, when his child reminded him that he was color blind! The father sent messengers throughout the land, that whoever could teach his color-blind child how to paint, will get presents from the king that cannot be imagined.
One day, a famous painter comes by and tells the king that in two weeks' time he could have his son painting amazing pictures. The king could not believe what he was hearing, and the king sent his son away for two weeks to learn the skill of painting from this expert.
On the first day, the painter said to the boy, “I need you to promise me two things. Firstly, you may never reveal my secret to anyone. And secondly, you may not change even an iota of the instructions that I tell you to do.” The son agreed.
The painter took out a plain canvas and instructed the boy to look very closely at the painting surface. He asked the prince, “Do you see anything?” The boy replied, “I see tiny lines and numbers all over the place.”
The painter explained, “That is the secret. It can only be seen if you look very closely. No one can see it except for you. Each bottle of paint will be labeled with a number, and your job will be to use the color in the bottle on the correct place on the canvas. If you follow these instructions, your painting will come out looking like a masterpiece!” The painter showed him how to hold the brush, and within days, the son was painting the most stunning works of art.
Finally, the two weeks were over, and the painter gave the son hundreds of these pre-marked canvases, and he went back home. The king and queen watched in amazement at how incredible their son was at painting, and they marveled at his work. Soon, his name spread throughout the land, and he was painting in front of thousands of people who watched with open mouths. After many months of becoming so famous, it started to get to his head, and he considered himself to be a great painter. Until one day, the prince said to himself, “Why do I have to follow the rules of my instructor? I want to paint my own way!”
And with that, he started painting by ignoring all the numbers and lines. He was now on his own. The next day, there was a large showing on stage in front of many people, and he was excited to started painting. Everyone watched in surprise as he drew a black sky and a green sun, purple grass and blue trees. The crowd erupted in laughter at this utter embarrassment of the king’s son. The king’s son now realized his terrible mistake. He had just ruined everything, and his reputation as a great painter was destroyed.
Rav Kalman explained, “We were given six hundred and thirteen Mitzvos, or, if you will, six hundred and thirteen different colors of paint. We do not necessarily understand the difference between each color and why we can’t mix this color with that one, and in a sense, we are color blind. But one thing we do know, and that is if our Father, Hashem, told us to paint with it, we know that there is a good reason behind it, even though we may just be ‘painting by number’.”
The man was greatly impressed by this answer, and he walked Rav Kalman back to where he would catch his bus for the ride home. He told Rav Kalman, “After hearing that answer to my question, I can tell you one thing with certainty, and that is, one day you are going to become a great Rabbi!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Eikev 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
