Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Avraham Moeinzadeh
Every year, fruit trees start the process of bearing fruit by sprouting buds, blossoming, and eventually developing their fruits. By most fruit trees, the fruit season and blossoming season are apart and by the time the tree ripens its fruits, the blossoms are no longer existent.
This, however, wasn’t the case by the staff of Aharon Hakohen in this week’s Parasha. The Torah describes to us that when Moshe Rabenu entered Ohel Moed to take out the staffs that were given to him by every tribe, “And behold! The staff of Aharon of the house of Levi had blossomed, it brought forth a blossom, sprouted a bud, and almonds ripened. Moshe brought out all the staffs from before Hashem to all the children of Yisrael. They saw and they took each man his staff”( Bamidbar 17-23&24).It seems from the passuk that Moshe and Bnai Yisrael saw the staff covered with buds, blossoms, and almonds at the same time. What is the message that Hashem is giving the tribes who were claiming the right of becoming Cohanim and why wasn’t it enough to make the staff have either fruit or blossoms? Why did Hashem cause the staff to have both at the same time?
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein suggests a beautiful answer to these questions. He writes that Hashem is hinting to Bnai Yisrael the difference between the value system in our world and the world to come. In our world, the success is measured only by the achievement and not by the effort that was put into it. One can have good intentions and put all of his effort towards pursuing a certain goal, but as long as he has not fulfilled the task he won’t be considered successful. Blossoming is an intermediary stage for bearing fruits and that’s why the nature of this world is set such that at the time of the fruit ripening, the blossoms are no longer existent.
The value system in the spiritual world however is not the same. Although achieving the goal is very important, that doesn’t nullify the intentions and efforts that one has put into that path. One can be given the privilege of kehunah when he can fulfill many more mitzvot. But that doesn’t nullify his and other people’s conviction to the fulfillment of Retzon Hashem.