As Moshe continues his recounting of the Jewish people’s 40
year journey through the wilderness, he takes note of a number of miracles that
God enacted for their benefit. Among them, he states: “Your garment did not
wear out from upon you” (8:4). Rashi elaborates on this statement, citing a
midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabbah (4:11) that explains that not only did the
Jew’s clothing last for extraordinarily long time but it also grew with them! The one exception to this miraculous
phenomenon, according to the Yalkut Shimoni, was clothes that were stored in
boxes, which did wear out.
Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz, in his book Table Talk: Shabbos
and Yom Tov Divrei Torah, considers these two commentaries and suggests
(based on baalei mussar) that there is a parallel between the metaphor of the
everlasting clothes and our own intellectual pursuits, especially in Torah.
Rabbi Pelcovitz states that when we continually wrestle with, apply, and add to
an area of intellectual interest (we 'wear' it), our exposure to that area
grows with us. But if we allow our exposure to an area of knowledge to remain
static (to ‘stay in a box’), then the knowledge and inspiration we may have
gained quickly begins to fade.
If an area of knowledge is important to you, the lesson from
our parsha is simple – use it or lose it.
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