By Aharon Spetner
Their mouths watering, the Greenbaum family stood in awe at the Jolly Munz Candy Factory, watching streams of steaming hot melted chocolate flow into rivers of golden caramel. They were absolutely amazed to see the incredible process of how their favorite candies were made.
“This next room is our candy wrapping area,” said the tour guide as the children looked down through large glass windows at a massive space filled with gleaming machines. “And you picked the perfect day to visit — today we started using our brand-new automatic candy wrapping machines!”
Below them, giant machines were taking thousands of freshly made candies, wrapping them at lightning speed, and dumping them into boxes.
“Until today,” the guide explained, “our workers had to wrap each candy by hand. Now they just load the wrapping paper, press a button, and boom — the machine does the rest!”
“Like those workers over there?” asked Shimmy, pointing to two men who were completely ignoring their new machine, which still sat in its box, while they painstakingly wrapped candies by hand.
“What? Where?” the guide asked, startled. He followed Shimmy’s finger and frowned. “Oh no! Why aren’t they using their machine?”
“Maybe it doesn’t work,” suggested Yitzy.
“Impossible,” said the guide. “These machines were custom-made and tested before delivery!”
The guide rushed down to the factory floor and approached the two workers. “Jimbo! Earl! Why aren’t you using your new candy wrapping machine?”
“Oh, we are using it,” said Jimbo with a grin. “It’s great for leaning on when we get tired!”
Earl nodded. “Look at how many candies we’ve wrapped! Bet we’re doing better than the others.”
Illustrated by Miri Weinreb
“Of course not!” the guide exclaimed. “Look at Sticky Stu and Mo Munchy over there — their boxes are overflowing, and you haven’t even filled your first one yet!”
“Hmmm... maybe our machine is defective,” said Jimbo, scratching his head.
“Nonsense!” the guide said firmly. “This machine won’t magically help you unless you plug it in and use it properly! It’s powerful — but if it stays in the box, it’s just a fancy piece of metal to lean on.”
Up on the observation deck, the Greenbaum family watched the scene unfold with amused smiles.
“Kinderlach,” said Totty, “it’s funny, yes — but can anyone tell me what important lesson we can learn from this?”
“That we should turn on the oven when we make Challah?” said Basya, grinning.
“That we have to dial the number before we can call someone?” added Shimmy.
“Well... actually, yes,” Totty chuckled. “Those are good examples.”
“And we should put on Shabbos clothes before eating gefilte fish!” said little Yaeli with a giggle.
Totty smiled. “Yaeli, you’re closer than you think. Boys, we put on Tzitzis every day, right? Do you remember what the Torah says about them?”
“We say it in Shema!” said Yitzy. “The posuk says: — when we see the Tzitzis, we remember Hashem’s mitzvos and keep them.”
“Exactly!” said Totty. “The Torah tells us that Tzitzis is like a special machine that helps us remember Hashem and do His mitzvos. But it doesn’t work on its own. Just like the candy machine won’t wrap anything if it stays in the box, Tzitzis won’t help us unless we use it.”
“You mean it’s like a remembering machine?” asked Shimmy.
“In a way, yes,” said Totty. “But we have to turn it on. That means thinking about Hashem whenever we see the Tzitzis — that’s how the ‘machine’ works. When you notice them during the day, take a quick peek and remind yourself: Hashem gave us mitzvos, and I want to keep them.”
Totty turned to Basya. “And even though girls don’t wear Tzitzis, you can still learn from them. When you see my Tzitzis, or Yitzy’s and Shimmy’s, you can also think about Hashem and His mitzvos.”
“Thanks, Totty,” said Yitzy. “Although I think from now on my Tzitzis will also remind me of candy.”
“As long as they also remind you to make a brocha on the candy,” said Shimmy with a grin.
Have a Wonderful Shabbos!
Reprinted from the Parshas Shelach 5785 email of Toras Avigdor Junior, based on the Torah teachings of Rav Avigdor Miller, zt”l.
