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There were once two boys who went ice-skating on a frozen lake in their neighborhood. As they were enjoying themselves, the ice suddenly cracked, and one of the boys fell through into the icy water. His friend started frantically reaching for him, but he was too late, and the boy got swept underneath the ice. Desperate to save his friend, this scrawny boy quickly looked around, saw a tree in the distance, and rushed over to try to pull off a branch. After tugging for a few seconds, he managed to crack off a huge branch, and he then quickly ran back to his friend. He smashed and thrashed at the thick ice until it finally cracked, allowing him to grab onto his friend. He dragged him back to the shore just as the ambulance arrived, and miraculously, they were able to resuscitate him.

In two places, the Torah discusses klal Yisrael going to battle. In Parshas B’Haaloscha, the Torah states, “When war will come to your land against an oppressor who oppresses you, you shall sound t’ruos with trumpets, and you shall be remembered before Hashem, your G-d, and you shall be saved from your enemies” (BaMidbar 10:9).

Nothing in life is an accident. In Parshas VaEschanan, we read about the Arei Miklat, the Cities of Refuge for those who unintentionally killed (D’varim 4:41-49). This parshah usually falls out immediately following Tish’ah B’Av, and, consequently, shortly before Elul. At face value, the Arei Miklat, Tish’ah B’Av, and Elul do not seem to share a thematic connection.

There was an old man who would walk along the beach every morning before work. He was walking along the shore early one morning after a big storm had passed, and found the beach littered with starfish. As he continued farther down the shore, he suddenly noticed a small boy in the distance who was picking up shells from the shore and gently throwing them into the ocean. As he got closer, he realized that this boy was actually walking amongst the thousands of starfish that had been washed up during the storm. As he came across each starfish, he would gently pick it up and throw it back into the ocean.

In our previous article, we began exploring the Torah concept of order and unity. To briefly review, Rav Eliyahu Dessler, a prominent 20^th century Jewish thinker and author of Michtav MeiEliyahu, writes about three different levels of order (Michtav MeiEliyahu, vol. 1, p. 92):

Previously, we began exploring the Torah concepts of seeing and hearing. To briefly review: The spiritual concept of seeing is the idea of observing something as it is, i.e., in a completely static state, lacking any movement. When you see a picture, you grasp the entire image instantaneously. There’s no process of constructing or building the picture in your mind; everything is just there, at once, without any effort.