Saturday, October 11, 2008

Our Fears By Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser

In the Sefer Hirhurei Teshuvah, a parable is cited from the Maggid of Lublin concerning the import of the moment when we reach the juncture of Ne’ilah in our tefillos of Yom Kippur.

A hunter who was traveling in the forest lost his way and with each further step he wandered deeper into the dense woods. All he had with him for protection was his quiver of arrows, with his bow in hand. Afraid of a wild animal that could jump out at any moment, he jumped at every rustle and noise that he heard.

When the trees stirred rather loudly, he shot an arrow in that direction, hoping to waylay a tiger that might jump through the branches. However, when he approached the trees he saw that some large withered branches had fallen off the tree.

He walked a little further and heard the leaves crunching behind him. He turned and shot another arrow, but when he looked for the arrow he found it had become trapped very high up in a tree.

As the wind blew through the trees, he heard strange sounds, and again he pulled an arrow from his quiver to eliminate whatever danger lurked in the dark. By now the hunter was so frightened that he kept plucking arrows from his cache, until he realized that he only had one more arrow in his possession.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is an amazing story !