A Preview of the Torah’s Sweetness2 min read

After the splitting of the sea, the first place the Jewish nation camped along its journey to Har Sinai to receive the Torah was a place called Marah. Our Sages teach that although the rest of the Torah’s commandments were given on Har Sinai, the b’nei Yisrael were given three commandments while they camped at Marah, one of them being the foundation of Shabbos. In his classic sefer Sidduro Shel Shabbos, R’ Chaim of Chernovitz presents a beautiful parable to explain why it was imperative for our holy nation to taste the sweetness of Shabbos before being presented with the rest of the Torah’s commandments.

There was once a medicine man who walked around selling healing substances for various illnesses. One day, someone told him about a faraway land where all of the citizens had contracted a certain disease to which only he had the cure. Being a shrewd businessman, he understthe would be sold out in no time at all. But as the minutes passed, his shop remained empty. Many townsfolk limped by, but not one of them heeded his call. Perplexed, the medicine man thought long and hard about why nobody was purchasing his life-saving medicine. After some contemplation, he arrived at the answer: this illness was so much a part of life in this country that the townsfolk simply didn’t believe there was a cure! Surely there had been many charlatans in the past who had claimed to be selling a cure, only to disappear before the hapless customers discovered the hoax. No one was willing to take the risk!

Walking outside, the medicine man found the sickest looking person he could find and offered to heal him for free. The person agreed – after all, what had he to lose? After taking some of the medicine, the man was instantly cured of all his ailments. When the townspeople saw how their friend had been healed, they flocked to the shop, hoping to obtain some of this wondrous elixir at all costs.

Says the holy Chernovitzer – the holy Torah is a medicine for the human condition, guiding us toward the sweetest, most meaningful experience in this world and the next. However, because the world had lived in such darkness and chaos before the giving of the Torah, Hashem wanted to make sure the Jewish nation would buy into its precepts, willing to make the sacrifices that accompany Torah observance for the benefits and sweetness of Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, Hashem gave the b’nei Yisrael a taste of the Torah’s cure, one commandment which encapsulates the beauty of Torah – where the benefit can be readily perceived and the sweetness most easily tasted. That little taste of Hashem’s heavenly elixir of life was Shabbos, which, as Chazal teach, is equal to all of the Torah’s commandments. Once the B’nei Yisrael had experienced the beauty and wonder of Shabbos kodesh, they were able to say “na’aseh v’nishma”, ready to accept the rest of the Torah with open arms.