The Bitter And The Sweet

משלי כז ז - נפש שבעה תבוס נפת - ונפש רעבה כל מר מתוק


A satisfied soul will despise what is sweet and for a hungry soul all bitter is sweet.


The secret of Jewish education is creating a hunger within the students for knowledge, for what is spiritual, for growth. If a student is satisfied - either spiritually, because he is not seeking, or materially, which causes him not to seek [to many gadgets..], there is little hope. All Torah and ruchniyus will be rejected.

When a student is hungry, even though the road to greatness is often paved with bitterness, he will nevertheless taste the sweetness. The sweetness of understanding a difficult gemara, the sweetness of getting out of bed for minyan, the sweetness of foregoing ones own pleasure in order to benefit someone else.

Boy, was Shlomo Hamelech wise!!

That is our daily task: Creating an internal hunger for elevation and ultimately perfection.