Now You Know!

The Torah, this week, adjures us, "Tamim tihiyeh im Hashem Elokecha, be wholesome with Hashem, your G-d."

We are warned not to seek out fortune-tellers or soothsayers, nor those who predict the future. Instead, we should rely solely on Hashem to take care of us. When we do so, we will be "whole" because He will watch over and take care of us. But it's not simply being whole in our trust and faith in G-d.

Why specifically are these the people we're enjoined not to seek out? Because they represent our desire to do things on our own, without help from Hashem.

While, if asked, most of us would say we are simply doing our hishtadlus, our normal efforts, this desire to know the future belies the truth we feel everything is up to us.

When a child wishes to be independent, and insists on doing things himself, he often makes mistakes and sometimes gets battered and bruised. But that's part of growing up.

Once you're grown up, though, a Jew is supposed to realize that independence is a myth. Nothing happens without Hashem.

When we accept that, and know that when the future arrives we will deal with it with Hashem's help, we will avoid the bruises that come from trying to do things alone.

When we act like the child being carried and pampered by his parent, Hashem will carry us, and we will remain whole in mind, body and soul.