Once upon a time there was a peddler that went to a wealthy neighborhood to sell his simple wooden spoons. He made sure that the price was nice and cheap as he stood there all day trying to sell his goods. He would scream at the top of his lungs trying to make a sale but he had no luck, no one wanted to buy his products. A kind man observing the situation approached the poor peddler and said to him, “you probably thought it is a good place to sell here because the people have money in a wealthy neighborhood.” The merchant nodded. The kind man explained to him that rich people don’t like simple wooden spoons; they only want expensive gold and silver utensils. He directed him to a poor neighborhood and there the merchant was successful.
In the parashat Ki Tisa due to the sin of the eigel, Hashem expresses three times that He is upset at us and uses the term “am kashei oref.” Hashem calls us a very stubborn nation, literally a stiff neck. Then in the tefilla that Moshe prays for Am Yisrael, he requests our forgiveness stating “because we are a stubborn people.” Why would Moshe use this defective aspect of the nation in his tefilla? The Dubno Magid explains; first Moshe recited the thirteen attributes of mercy and then he asked Hashem where do you need these attributes in the heavens? Why would an angel need mercy? It is clear that all of the attributes are needed for “the people that are stubborn.” It is only because we are stubborn that Hashem can express His mercy.
Another way to see stubbornness in a positive light is by viewing it in the future. Moshe Rabbeinu is saying to Hashem, it is true that their stubbornness now is a negative trait, but in the future, it will be necessary. When the nation will be in galut, exile amongst the nations of the world this trait will be there to maintain us as a nation through all the challenges of the goyim. It is our attribute of stubbornness that will keep us steadfast in our emuna in Hashem. That will guide us in the time of persecution into holding onto our identity.
A chassid and his wife arrived in New York from Russia, en-route to Eretz Yisroel. The Rav of the shul invited the Russian couple to stay with him until their departure to the holy land. The Russian couple had saved up all their money and would make the lifelong dream of moving to Eretz Yisroel when they had the rest of the funds they needed. One day in shul a man stood up to make an appeal for the local mikvah that was being built. The Russian chassid quickly pledged all his life savings right then and there. The Rav cried out, “Why are you giving away all your money? You dreamed of living in Eretz Yisroel, without your savings you will be stuck here, penniless!”
The chassid then shared his sad story that illustrated his incredible dedication to mitzvos. “My wife and I are childless” the chassid explained, “not due to any medical problems but simply because we had no access to a mikva. Each month my wife would count and complete all the required halachos in preparation for the mikvah, but each month passed and there was nowhere that she could go in communist Russia. Now we finally left that G-dless country but we are both too old to have children. I value mikvah so greatly and never would want anyone to be in the predicament we were in. That is why I want to give all my money to this important mission.”
May we all have to fortitude to embrace this mida properly.
Shabbat Shalom
