Today we will study perek כג pasuk ב:
בִּנְא֣וֹת דֶּ֭שֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי
In beautiful luscious grasses, He crouches me down (as a sheep crouching down to eat luscious grass)
עַל־מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי
On tranquil waters, He leads me
The Hasid Yaavetz gives the simple explanation that it takes a certain amount of effort for a sheep to eat grass- maybe there isn’t a lot of grass around, maybe the grass is too short… in other words, he has the grass, but it takes effort.
But when the grass is luscious, long and plentiful, the sheep is able to enjoy it without a lot of effort.
Just like with the manna, for the people that were zoche, it came to their doorstep without a lot of effort. This is what David HaMelech is saying. “Hashem is taking care of me in such a way that I don’t have to work hard. I have Menucha/ peace of mind, when I do my work.”
This should be our goal: Yes we have to put forth hishtadlut, but it should be effortless and painless; we should be be able to maintain our serenity at the same time.
That is what David HaMelech is requesting this pasuk.
The Alshech offers a further explanation, based on what we discussed in the previous pasuk, of לא אחסר/ I will not lack.
David HaMelech is saying, “Hashem is my Shepherd. He gives me what is wonderful in this world, and at the same time, He is careful that I will not be lacking in the next world. This pasuk is a continuation of that last one:
בִּנְא֣וֹת דֶּ֭שֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי
I am in luscious pastures in this world,
עַל־מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי
I will be on tranquil waters (referring to Gan Eden) in the next world
Hashem takes care of me in this world and the next world, at the same time, which means that He make sure that whatever He gives me in this world will not take away from my next world. Sometimes, the Sefer Hasidim says, Hashem does not give a person money because He knows that the wealth will cause him to sin. Therefore, we ask that Hashem does it in such a way that our Gashmiut/physical bounty will not ruin our Ruchaniut/ spiritual bounty.
There is yet another (uncommon) way to read this pasuk. The root of the word for crouching in this pasuk, יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי can also mean “to hit”
Using this definition, the Chafetz Chaim gives us another way to read this pasuk:
בִּנְא֣וֹת דֶּ֭שֶׁא
When I finally get to this luscious grass,
יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי
He whacks me!!
Why? I am finally in the place I want to be ?!
The answer is that you may think that this is the best place to be, because you see the luscious grass, but if you go a little bit further, there are tranquil waters, which are better than the luscious grass.
The reason He is hitting me when I reach the grass is because He wants to guide me towards the tranquil waters. The Chafetz Chaim says that he has seen, many times in his lifetime, that when it looks like someone is being hit, he is actually being directed someplace else. There are many such stories. There was a rabbi in the Chafetz Chaim’s town, who had to leave town because people made up stories about him. Prior to this, the rabbi’s children started to become affected by the secular influence around them.
Because he had to pick up and move, the children were exposed to, and got caught up in, a different (Chasidic) culture in the new town, and whole family ended up getting uplifted in their religion. So while it looked like a libel against the rabbi made him leave town, it actually saved his family.
There are many stories about people that had to leave Europe against their will, but then were saved from the Holocaust.
We never know what Hashem is doing, or what He is saving us from, when He makes us leave a place.
The Hovot HaLevavot tells the story of a man who was asleep next to a wall. In the middle of the night, an animal came and dirtied him, so he had to get up and leave the spot. It looked like here, he had a nice comfortable spot to rest, and he felt like Hashem was whacking him, but then the wall collapsed! So it was really that Hashem was moving him to
מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת
tranquil waters
This is yet another Bitachon lesson that David HaMelech is teaching us:
בִּנְא֣וֹת דֶּ֭שֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי
When I think I have found the luscious paths, and sometimes I have to leave that grass, I have to believe that Hashem is guiding me to more tranquil waters עַל־מֵ֖י מְנֻח֣וֹת
Have a wonderful day.