Reply To: Short & Sweet

Vayigash: Silent Shepherds

When deciding where in Mitzrayim they should settle, the שבטים chose to live in Goshen. They did this so their children could be shepherds, like their fathers before them. But why? What is so great about being a shepherd?

Rabbeinu Bachya explains that a shepherd spends most of his time alone. For the sheep to have enough grass to graze, they must be far from civilization. This meant that a shepherd was often alone with his own thoughts, free to think undisturbed.

We live in a time of almost unlimited access to information and stimulation. But that makes it even more important to take some time to ourselves every once in a while and just think our own thoughts.

Thoughts that we ponder and explore on our own become a part of who we are far more than ideas that we merely receive from somebody else. Passively consuming even the most useful and enlightening information is not the same thing as thinking your own thoughts.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום