"The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; for you are sojourners and residents with Me"
We have a policy in our Yeshiva that students are not allowed to have their cell phones out during the day. Occasionally (ok - often), students violate this policy and their phones are taken away for varying amounts of time. I pointed out the following irony to my students which they all agreed to and laughed at:
If I take away Jake's phone and tell him that I will give it back to him the next day, he will (literally) cry and beg me to give it back to him that day - insisting he cannot survive with out it. Ironically, if I take away Jake's friend's phone and say that I will give it back to him the next day, when Jake's friend begins to beg and cry - Jake will have the clarity of mind to tell his friend to "relax, it's no big deal - you'll get it back tomorrow."
Why is it that Jake has clarity of mind with his friend's phone but not with his own? The answer is that when something is not ours, we don't have an emotional attachment to it - this enables us to not get upset as easily.
In the above mentioned pasuk, Hashem gives us a very strong lesson. Regarding our fields he tells us that we cannot sell them for eternity (only for the duration of a jubilee) because the land is His - we are simply visitors or guests.
WOW!!
If we could go through life with true understanding of this pasuk, then - like Jake - we would never get upset!! If we truly appreciated the fact that our possessions - homes, cars, money - are not actually ours but merely on loan to us from Hashem, we wouldn't feel that they are being "taken" from us when they are lost. In reaching this level of understanding, we would achieve true happiness.
May we all be zoche to understand and appreciate that everything belongs to Hashem and we are simply his guests. In doing so, may we lead more happy, spiritual lives and merit to see the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days.
Shabbat Shalom!
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