The Birds’ Song

A story is told about a man who lived at the time of King Solomon, who the king wished to bless in some way. The man knew that Solomon could understand the language of every living thing in the world, so he asked to be blessed with the gift of understanding the birds’ song.
 
The man went to sleep, and he woke up next day able to understand everything the birds were saying to each other. He heard the birds singing to each other: tomorrow, this man’s cow will fall sick and die!
 
The man rushed home to check his cow, who still looked very healthy, and ran off to the market with her, where he sold his still-fit cow for a very good price. The next day, the cow sickened and died, and the man was overjoyed to have escaped his misfortune.
 
The next day, he heard the birds singing again: tomorrow, this man’s house will burn down to the ground! Again, he ran home, and arranged the sale of his house to a neighbor, for a very good sum of money.
 
Overjoyed, he moved all of his possessions out and found somewhere nearby to lodge, while he looked for a new place. Sure enough, his old house burnt down the next day. Again, he’d escaped his misfortune.
 
The next day, he heard the birds singing again: tomorrow, this man’s soul will be taken by the angel of death! Panic-stricken, he went to speak to King Solomon, to see what he could do to try to get the decree overturned.
 
“Nothing!” the king told him. “First, G-d in His mercy decided that you should atone for your sins by your cow dying – but you sold it for a handsome profit. Then, G-d determined that you could atone for your sins by your house burning down – but you moved. Now, there is nothing left to take your place.”
 
* * *
 
A little while ago, I heard about someone else who is planning to move out of Israel. I don’t know exactly what the ‘issue’ is; maybe it was the education system (not good enough on secular subjects…); maybe it was the rude treatment dished out by government officials and bank clerks; maybe it was the fact that after all the ‘sacrifice’, all the ‘effort’, all the cost of doing G-d a favor and moving to Israel, Israel simply didn’t come up to scratch and life here simply wasn’t 100% perfect 100% of the time. I really don’t know.
 
But I felt really sad when I heard the news, and not a little apprehensive.
 
A lot of people complain that life in Israel is ‘hard’. I don’t agree. Life in Israel is real – and real life is challenging – but it’s also immensely satisfying.
 
But a lot of people would prefer to go shopping than to think about what they are really doing down here on the planet in the first place. A lot of people would rather go to a movie, or spend money on a pricey meal out, or go bowling, than spend any significant time quietly with themselves, or with G-d.
 
For those people, life in Israel is hard.
 
But for those people, life anywhere in the world is hard, just there are more distractions to help them take their minds off it.
 
Just because we move away from our problem, or we do everything we can to ‘solve’ the problem (without involving Hashem or making teshuva) – doesn’t mean the problem goes away.
 
Just like the man in the story, we start patting ourselves on the back that we got our own way, and sold off our cow before it keeled over – but really, what have we gained?
 
Just like the man in the story, we feel pleased as punch that we ‘got away’ from all the stress about an upcoming war, or all the abrasive behavior and lack of manners, or all the frustrations that come from not knowing the language, or the supposed difficulty in making a living.
 
But what, really, have we got away from?
 
We solved the smaller problem (without G-d and without making teshuva…) but the bigger problem is waiting for us just round the corner. The bigger problem that moving country won’t fix; that the leading consultants can’t fix; that the overdraft facility at the bank can’t cover; that we can’t just try to patch up and work around ourselves.
 
And then what?
 
If we’re reading Rav Arush’s books, then we know that even at that low point, we can still make an appointment with the King, and ask Him to help us. And often, if we’re willing to try to change ourselves a bit, or bend ourselves a bit, or tone down our expectations a bit, He does.
 
But if we aren’t reading Rav Arush’s books or attending emuna lectures, then what?
 
It doesn’t matter what country a person lives in. If they are living there without G-d and without emuna, their life will be hard, even unbearable. But if they are constantly trying to see G-d’s hand in their difficulties, and constantly trying to thank for them and grow from them, life may still appear to be hard. But ‘real’ life – a person’s internal life, their spiritual life – gets sweeter and sweeter every day.