A Beautiful Midrash

A midrash is a story which makes explicit what is implicit within Jewish scripture or tradition.  Here is a story that goes to the very heart of what it means to be Jewish.  See if you can figure out what the story is all about.

There was Jewish man who lived in a small village or shtetl in Eastern Europe many years ago.  He owned a grocery store.  One Sabbath he violated the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  He opened his store for six hours in order to make more money.  Afterward, he felt terribly guilty.  He ran to his local Rabbi, fell on his knees and begged the Rabbi for forgiveness.  He was distraught.  He wondered if he was really a Jew. He wept.

The Rabbi calmed him down and said, “Your store you kept open for six hours, yes?  So, what did you do the other eighteen hours?”  The man replied, “For eighteen hours, I kept the Sabbath.”  The Rabbi responded, “What you did was sufficient. Maybe next week you will do better.”

Commentary:  In Jewish tradition, the secret resides in the doing.  What you do determines who you are.  Doing what you can do is not intended to earn God’s love.  Doing what you can do is an expression of your trust in God and God’s trust in you.  The man in the midrash did what he could do.  Maybe next week he will do better.

Another short midrash:

“Why are there 613 commandments in the Jewish Bible?”

“There are 613 commandments so that every Jew will find at least one commandment he or she can do. And that will have to be sufficient.”