A Moral Tale About The Village Donkey

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is it written, (Psalms 126:5) “Those who sow in tears will reap with song.” Why don’t they sow with rejoicing? Why do I need to be in tears all the time?

Answer: The sowing is always done with tears, for we invest much effort and feel the deficiency of dissatisfaction. What is it to sow in the inner work? I take a plow and begin to plow myself with the help of a donkey or a bull, and if I don’t have a donkey or a bull, then I tie the plow to the members of my household so that they will pull the plow and will make furrows in the ground, meaning in my desire.

Through their desire to live, they make a groove in me, in my heart. In this groove, I need to sow seeds, but I want to eat them! I don’t understand why I must put them in the ground. This is completely unnatural. If someone were to look at this from the side, he would scream, “Wait a minute. Why are you throwing this into the ground? Come, and bake bread!” However, my behavior is very strange. I put this into the ground, and further, I water it so it will rot. I look forward to the seeds that could have been eaten decomposing. I am like some lunatic.

And then, the first sprouts, shoots and stem appear. I wait a long time for the seeds to ripen on the stalks. All of my behavior seems completely illogical, but, “There is none so wise as the experienced,” and I understand that from this bread is produced.

Question: However, in any case, can I be sure that they will reap in joy, that there won’t be mistakes on the way?

Answer: If you make a mistake, then there will be nothing to harvest, and everything will be lost, and, if you don’t err, they will grow. If you know how to use all the laws of creation in the right form, then you will reach rejoicing and harvesting, and will eat all the fruit. However, this is only on condition that you are not so naïve as the villager who eats the raw, unprocessed grain, like his donkey. In the book, Sifra D’tzniuta, a story is told about a simple villager who never had left his village. But one day, he journeyed to a city and saw that they were selling all kinds of delicious, breads, cakes, and pastries. He was amazed and asked where all these wonderful things came from? And he was told that it was from the wheat grain that he raised and sent to the city.

However, he didn’t know all this because he was a “donkey” the same as his donkey. “City” means that we are joined together and then we can bake a delicious bread, and as long as you are alone, you will live on the level of the donkey. All the advancements are possible only through connection between people, which is the first, lowest level in correction of the shattered Kli in the correction of the shattering of the soul.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13, Writings of Rabash

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