In the Machane Yehudah neighborhood of Yerushalayim, there was the renowned cheder "Eitz Chaim", and across the street was a police station. Two lions, made of stone, decorated the front of the police station.
Once, a melamed of Eitz Chaim said to his young charges, "Did you know? When the lions across the street hear music, they begin to dance."
The young children believed their melamed and were amazed. They decided among themselves that on the following day, they would come to cheder with tape recorders and play music before the lions and watch them dance.
They were disappointed when they saw that the lions weren't dancing. Even when they turned up the volume, the lions didn't dance. They returned to their melamed and asked him why he had lied. The melamed said, "I said the truth. When the lions hear music, they dance. The problem is that they never hear music."
The melamed explained to his students that he said this to inspire them to listen to what he teaches them. He noticed that many children were uninspired and didn’t pay attention. He told them, "If you listen, you will dance with joy and love for the Torah. But if you don't listen, you won't dance."
For our purposes, Pesach is approaching. The yom tov Pesach has a beautiful nigun, which descends from heaven. The nigun is the joy of emunah that comes from this yom tov and the bounty that comes along with this yom tov. The problem is that people are deaf and don't pay attention to the music being played. If they would hear the beautiful tune, they will dance with joy.
The Shaarei Teshuvah writes that the most honorable limb in a human body is his ears. The proof is that Chazal tell us that if someone makes someone blind, he must pay him the worth of his eye, and if he amputates someone's arm, he has to pay for his arm. But if he makes someone deaf, he must pay the entire worth of his fellow man. The Gemara explains how this is measured in dollars and cents, but we see from this Gemara that the ear is the most crucial limb, more than other limbs. But that is solely when he uses the ears to hear.
Reb Moshe Shmuel Shapiro zt'l would say the following story every year in his yeshiva, before Neilah, to arouse the students to make use of the final holy moments of Yom Kippur: "I was a young child, living in Europe, and like children, I enjoyed playing outdoors, in the yard. Once, the Chofetz Chaim zt'l arrived in my city to visit the beis din. The beis din was near our house. My father came out of the house and said, 'Moshe'le! Moshe'le! Come with me to the beis din, and you will see one of the gedolim of our generation – the Chofetz Chaim! And you will receive his brachah. Stop playing and come with me.' But I didn't want to stop playing with my friends, and I lost an opportunity of a lifetime to see the Chofetz Chaim and to receive his brachos. I cry my entire life, and I am upset that I missed the opportunity to see the Chofetz Chaim and receive his brachos. And it was just because I wanted to play."
Reb Moshe Shapiro concluded, "Now, we are before Neilah, and we have the privilege that Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes down to us, to listen to our tefillos. Let us leave behind our childish ways and come close to Hashem. The opportunity is before us; let us take advantage of it."
The same can be said about the upcoming yom tov of Pesach. It is an opportunity of a lifetime. So much kedushah, closeness to Hashem, and brachos can be attained. Let's not be like young children who don't recognize the opportunity and forfeit their chances.
The Ben Ish Chai (Pekudei) tells a mashal of a father teaching math to his son. He asked his son a math question: "If there are ten birds on a gate, and a hunter shoots one of them, how many are left?"
The child answered, "One remains."
The father asked, "Why don't you say that nine remained? He only shot one bird!"
The child replied, "After he shot one, all the others flew away. All he is left with is one dead bird."
The Ben Ish Chai explains that throughout a person's life, he chases gold and silver and wastes his years without a significant, true accomplishment. He doesn't realize that he has captured "dead birds". Everything "alive," such as Torah and mitzvos, flew away, leaving him without anything.
Pesach is approaching. Let us grasp what is real and important, and we shouldn't let the opportunities fly away.
The Rebbe of Stutchin tells that he heard from Reb Moshe Dovid Shtrum a"h, a story that he heard several times from the baal hamaaseh – a grandson of the Rebbe of Gorlitz zt'l. Every time the grandson told the story, he would sit and cry. This is his story:
As a child, I was at the seder of my grandfather, the rebbe of Gorlitz (Rebbe Boruch of Gorlitz, a son of the Tzanzer Rav zt'l). In the middle of the seder, my grandfather took the זרוע from the קערה and said, 'זרוע spells זרע, children.' Then he called for me because he wanted to give me the זרוע as a sign that I will bear children. But I was very embarrassed to take the זרוע, and I didn't go to my grandfather. My grandfather, the tzaddik, stood up, and he came over to me to give me the זרוע, but I ran away from him. My grandfather chased after me, and I ran around the table. He chased me around the table several times, but I didn't take the זרוע.
Now I know why he wanted to give me the זרוע. He saw with ruach hakodesh that I wouldn't have children, and this was an eis ratzon to grant me children. Sadly, I didn't take the opportunity, I didn't take the זרוע, and I never had children."
His entire life, he was upset with himself that he didn't take the זרוע.
On Pesach, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is running after us to give us hashpaos tovos, brachos, and yeshuos. The truth is, the entire month of Nisan is a time of yeshuos, as we say in the yotzros, מקיפות בו ישועות, that salvations surround us in this month. We can receive them when we take advantage of these special times and immerse in avodas Hashem.
The grandson of the Gorlitzer didn't know that he needed the brachah for children, and that's why he didn't realize how important it was for him to receive the זרוע. His grandfather, with ruach hakodesh, wanted to help him, but he didn't realize how much he needed. We also don't always know which brachos we need. We don't know what the future will bring. But Hashem wants to give us brachos. We can gain so much; let us be prepared to accept.
