Ibn Ezra: a great poet etc…….had such bad luck in any material thing that he stated….if he would deal in burial shrouds [tachrichin], then people would stop dying…….

…… And she responded with such a beautiful response. She said, “No one is more fortunate than I.

Yeshiva Ateres Shimon

Inspiration Daily

Rabbi Yechiel Spero

“A Wise Woman

Hello everybody, and welcome to Inspiration Daily. In this week’s Parsha, we talk about an “Isha chachmas lev”, women with a wise heart. What is a wise heart? In order to better understand it, I’d like to share with you something that I saw in a beautiful Sefer, “Mashcheini Acharecha” written by R’ Reuven Elbaz.

R’ Reuven Elbaz tells over that Ibn Ezra, one of the greatest Rishonim, one of the greatest lyricists and piyutonim, said something wonderful. He lived in extreme poverty. He felt he had such bad luck that he thought that if he was someone who sewed tachrichim for a living, then no one would die. If he would sell candles for a living, the sun would never set. Such was his luck. He felt terrible for his wife. And he told her, “Even though my mazel is bad, I always hope your mazel is much better than mine”. And she responded with such a beautiful response. She said, “No one is more fortunate than I. No one has it better than I do. Because I am the one who is married to you and we are partners. There is no end to my happiness. There is no boundary to my food fortunate”. That is what brought her happiness and joy.

Sure, we all want good comforts in life; a little bit of luxury, to always have more than we need. But what brings a person happiness? What really matters? In the words of the Ibn Ezra and choshuv wife, what brings a person the greatest joy is friendship, love, being able to have people who care about you, people who are there for you and being able to care for others.

Perhaps today, take a little time out of your day and say something nice to someone you care for. It will make all the difference in the world. And who knows, maybe in a thousand years from now, we will be saying it over just like we are saying over that beautiful conversation from Ibn Ezra and his wife.

Have a great day and a great rest of your week.

“Inspiration Daily” is a short audio shiur via email.

Topics include Torah, Tefilla, Happiness, Faith, & Hashkafa.

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