Don’t Try This at Home
Now, we can’t do that today; nobody should try it nowadays because once you say you’re Nazir, you’re out of luck. You can’t bring any korbanos and that means you’ll be stuck forever. But at least we should realize what we’re missing out on. It’s a tremendous loss for us that we don’t have the opportunity to accept upon ourselves nezirus and have a certain period of time dedicated to thinking about what it means to be living in an olam she’eino shelanu, a world that doesn't belong to us.
And yet, the message of nezirus, the results that follow from this important principle that this shepherd boy is teaching us is just as available – and just as important – as it was then.
Thirty Seconds of Nezirus
The Nazir tells us that anyone who wants can choose to be dedicated to Him. You’re not a Kohen? So what? You’re not a Levi? So what? You didn’t merit to be a talmid chochom yet? No matter. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to every man, woman and child: “You want to become great? You want to wear a crown of dedication to Me on your head? So you have to volunteer your thoughts to Me.”
It’s a glorious opportunity! Devote yourself to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for a while. Maybe you can’t do it for thirty days; so much we won’t ask of you. But for a little bit, why not? While you’re waiting for the red light you can wear the crown of Awareness of Hashem. When you’re walking down the street, you can make a donation to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. For one half a minute put in some thought to this yesod that this world is not ours; that there’s an Owner and that whatever you take from this world has to be with His permission. And then try it tomorrow again. And then the following day again. You can even do it for thirty days if you want to be great. Do it for a month and you’re on your way to understanding your place in this world!
Begin From The Beginning
Now, this is such a fundamental Torah teaching that it's found at the beginning of the Torah: רֵ א שִ ׁ י ת בְ קִ י ם רָ א אֱ ל בָ – At the beginning, Elokim created. This statement teaches us many things; but one of the teachings is that nothing in this world is hefker. There is nothing in this world that is not owned by Hashem because bara Elokim, Elokim created it all. Not only that He created it; He owns it! It’s His.
That’s the first teaching. קִ י ם רָ א אֱ ל רֵ א שִ ׁ י ת בָ בְ means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Owner of everything. We should study that idea. You know that there are various methods of kinyanim; various ways by which you acquire ownership of something. A movable thing, you pick it up and it becomes yours. If it’s a heavy object, you can drag it – that’s meshichah; or you can put it into your house and be koneh with a kinyan chatzer. If it’s real estate, you have kesef, shtar v’chazaka and chalipin. There are all kinds of ways of acquiring ownership.
But the very best form of kinyan is when you create something. Let’s say you take a few blocks of lumber and you saw them down; and then you sand the pieces and nail them and glue them and finally you build a bookshelf. You created it! It’s yours! That’s the best ownership of all.
You Make It, You Own It
But there’s one way that’s even superior to that. The very best kinyan is when you create the thing out of nothing. It’s impossible; you can’t do it. Yesh mei’ayin, to bring something into existence from nothing at all, that’s the most outstanding kinyan there could be. It only happened once!
That’s why we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the Konei Hakol, the One Who acquired everything. Hashem is a koneh? A kinyan? He acquired it?! He purchased the universe and everything in it? The answer is that by means of Creation, He became the Owner. There was nothing at all and He created everything yesh mei’ayin – and continues to create it every second – so He’s the true Owner of the world. When Hashem made everything, He acquired it with the best possible kinyan. That’s the first and most fundamental principle of the Torah – Hakadosh Baruch Hu created it all and He owns it all!
That’s step number one – recognizing that you’re walking in a world that’s not yours. And if that thought doesn’t enter your mind so you have no place in this world; you have no right to walk the earth. You’re prancing around in a world that doesn’t belong to you and it doesn’t even enter your mind. An Owner?! Who ever thought about that?!
Shopping With Children
We are the same as a little child who hasn’t learned yet. Did you ever experience taking a little child into a Five and Ten. I’m talking about the good old days when they didn’t keep the merchandise behind glass. Maybe there are still some neighborhoods like that. So you’re walking in the aisle with your child and he begins reaching for everything. “I want this.” “I want that.” He’s pulling it off the shelf. So the father has to tell him, “You can’t take it!” He doesn’t understand. “Why can’t I take it?” And you have to teach him, “It’s not ours; it belongs to the storekeeper!”
That’s a tremendous lesson for a little boy to learn. It’s a new concept for him. “An owner? Someone owns all of this; not me?!” A little boy doesn’t understand that! As you walk through the store with him, you have to drill into his mind that what he sees on the shelves doesn’t belong to him. It takes some time for him to understand that chiddush.
Adult Education Classes
The truth is that most adults haven’t yet learned that piece of Torah either. Of course, the Orthodox will say, “Certainly; mai komashma lun.” They know all about it! But the truth is that we are very far away from realizing what that means.
When you see people coming out of the stores with shopping carts jammed with all good things, it’s the same as if they broke the windows and looted the stores. You see that happens sometimes in certain neighborhoods; if they get enough looters to break into the store together, so the police stand by and watch. They don’t do anything while the bums are running in and out of the store with big boxes of merchandise. Sometimes these looters even bring their automobiles to fill them up. And when we hear about it, we are upset about that. We want to protest only we can’t do anything about it because the mayor is on their side! But we think it’s terrible; it’s an avlah, a terrible sin!
But you have to know that these “underprivileged youth” who loot the store are not worse than the person who stands on line and pays good money. He says, “I paid for it,” but what did he pay?! He gave the man in the store a few bits of green paper that are worthless! The shopkeeper agreed to take money for what you have in your cart but is he the true owner?
You’re a Looter Too
Everything that they’re taking out of the store comes only from Hakadosh Baruch Hu; and even if you pay good money, but if you don't recognize the true Owner, you’re the worst type of ganav. According to the principles that we’re learning now you’re also a looter because no one in this world has a right to take anything unless the owner yields! If the conditions are not fulfilled, then it’s considered as if this man is a looter, he’s a pilferer!
So you’ll tell me, “Hashem is the Owner, but if you make a brachah, then He lets you partake of His world” (Brachos 35a). That’s the price, the Gemara says. The Owner yields to you if you’ll pay Him the price of saying הָעוֹלָם מֶלֶך קֵינו ֵׁ ם אֱל ָ ה הַש ַת ך ָרו ב.
The Frum Shoplifter
But a bracha is the smallest possible payment. It’s the minimum, just to get by so that you won’t be called a ganav. So you’re not a holdup man; is that something to be proud of? And what about everything else on the shelves of this world besides for food? Hashem is the Koneh Hakol; He’s the Owner of everything in this world and our first function is to recognize that! It means an awareness that nothing is really yours; that you’re taking everything from the shelves in Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s store.
