Reply To: YWN Coffee Room Nightly D’Var Torah

***************Jax’s Tuesday D’Var Torah – Parshas Eikev*************

Moshe was commanded to carve a second set of Luchos with the Asheres Hadibros, to replace the first set of Luchos, that were smashed during the incident of the Egel Hazahav-Chait Ha’agel. The second set of Luchos were not as great as the first set. The first set was written by the finger of Hashem and possessed many miraculous properties. One might say, “I can never duplicate the original so I will give up and not bother.” We see here instead the correct attitude, that one must always do the best one can with whatever one has to work with.

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried bitterly for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.

Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up!