Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
Has there ever been a time that you’ve felt like you had to keep going, even though your body would have preferred to stop and take a rest?
The Torah says that, in exile, Benei Yisrael will have that feeling that they just can’t stop moving.
וּבַגּוֹיִ֤ם הָהֵם֙ לֹ֣א תַרְגִּ֔יעַ וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה מָנ֖וֹחַ לְכַף־רַגְלֶ֑ךָ וְנָתַן֩ יהוה לְךָ֥ שָׁם֙ לֵ֣ב רַגָּ֔ז וְכִלְי֥וֹן עֵינַ֖יִם וְדַאֲב֥וֹן נָֽפֶשׁ׃
Yet even among those nations, you shall find no peace, nor shall there be a resting place for your feet. God will give you there an anguished heart and eyes that pine and a depressed spirit.
The word מָנוֹחַ (manoah, a place to rest) is familiar from other places in Tanakh. Is there a connection between the different places where this word appears?
"וְלֹא מָצְאָה הַיּוֹנָה מָנוֹחַ" (בראשית ח:ט) -
ר' יְהוּדָה בַּר נַחְמָן בְּשֵׁם רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ אָמַר: אִלּוּ מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ לֹא הָיְתָה חוֹזֶרֶת.
וְדִכְוָתָהּ, "הִיא יָשְׁבָה בַגּוֹיִם לֹא מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ" (איכה א:ג) - אִלּוּ מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ לֹא הָיוּ חוֹזְרִים.
וְדִכְוָתָהּ, "וּבַגּוֹיִם הָהֵם לֹא תַרְגִּיעַ וְלֹא יִהְיֶה מָנוֹחַ" (דברים כח:סה) - הָא אִלּוּ מָצְאָה מָנוֹחַ לֹא הָיוּ חוֹזְרִים.
“The dove didn’t find manoah” (Bereishit 8:9).
R. Yehudah bar Nahman said in the name of Reish Lakish: If she (the dove) had found manoah, she never would have returned (to Noah’s ark).
Similarly, “she sat among the nations, without finding manoah” (Eikhah 1:3). If she (Benei Yisrael) had found manoah, they never would have returned (from exile).
Similarly, “yet even among those nations you shall find no peace, nor shall your foot find manoah” (Devarim 28:65). If she would find manoah, they would never return.
When you first read the pasuk in our parashah, not finding a resting place seems really tough. But the midrash is suggesting that, if you can connect this to the story of the dove that also contains the word manoah, you can see something good come out of not resting!
- When the Jewish people are in exile, where does the midrash think they are supposed to return to?
- When is it important to keep going, even if you want to rest? When is it important to take a rest, even if you want to keep going?
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