Shalom,

This Shabbat we will read the Torah Portion “Ki Tavo” in the book of “D’Varim”.

“Woe to the pampered one who has never been trained to be patient. Either today or in the future he is destined to sip from the cup of affliction.” (Rabbi M. M. Leffin)

Researches in psychology show that when people frequently lose their patience to one another, they start acting like enemies and eventually become real enemies.

A lot of times, losing patience is related to continuous stress situations which a person experiences…

Our Sages taught: A man should always be gentle like Hillel, and not impatient like Shammai.

The Talmud tells us the following story about a person who tried to make Hillel angry by asking him supposedly strange and foolish questions: 

It once happened that two men made a wager with each other, saying, He who goes and makes Hillel angry shall receive four hundred zuz.

Said one, I will go and incense him.

That day was the Sabbath eve, and Hillel was washing his head. He went, passed by the door of his house, and called out, “Is Hillel here, is Hillel here?”

Thereupon he robed and went out to him, saying, “My son, what do you require?”

“I have a question to ask”, said he.

“Ask, my son”, he prompted.

Thereupon he asked: “Why are the heads of the Babylonians round?”

“My son, you have asked a great question”, replied he: “because they have no skillful midwives.”

He departed, tarried a while, returned, and called out, “Is Hillel here; is Hillel here?”

He robed and went out to him, saying, “My son, what do you require?”

“I have a question to ask”, said he.

“Ask, my son”, he prompted.

Thereupon he asked: “Why are the eyes of the Palmyreans bleared?”

“My son, you have asked a great question”, replied he: “because they live in sandy places.”

He departed, tarried a while, returned, and called out, “Is Hillel here; is Hillel here?”

He robed and went out to him, saying, “My son, what do you require”

“I have a question to ask”, said he.

“Ask, my son”, he prompted.

He asked, “Why are the feet of the Africans wide?”

“My son, you have asked a great question”, said he: “because they live in watery marshes.”

“I have many questions to ask”, said he, “but fear that you may become angry.”

Thereupon he robed, sat before him and said, “Ask all the questions you have to ask”.

“Are you the Hillel who is called the nasi of Israel?”

“Yes”, he replied.

“If that is you”, he retorted, “may there not be many like you in Israel.”

“Why, my son”, queried he.

“Because I have lost four hundred zuz through you”, complained he.

“Be careful of your moods”, he answered, “Hillel is worth it that you should lose four hundred zuz and yet another four hundred zuz through him, yet Hillel shall not lose his temper.”
 

So, how is all that related to our Torah portion?

Well, the following verse appears in Torah portion “Ki Tavo”:

 וַיָּרֵעוּ אֹתָנוּ הַמִּצְרִים וַיְעַנּוּנוּ, וַיִּתְּנוּ עָלֵינוּ עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה

“The Egyptians caused evil with us and afflicted us, and they put upon us hard labor.” (Deuteronomy 26:6)

Rabbi Alsheich asks a question on this verse: according to Hebrew grammar, the Torah should have written:

…וַיָּרֵעוּ לָנוּ הַמִּצְרִים…

“The Egyptians caused evil to us…”

Why does the Torah use the language “they caused evil with us”?

Rabbi Alsheich answers:

The Torah used the word “with us” in order to tell that through the enslavement that the Egyptians cast upon the nation of Israel, they turned the people in the nation of Israel to evil.

The hard work caused a state where the people in the nation lost their patience and became evil to each other.