Love of the Land

For the week ending 16 November 2002 / 11 Kislev 5763

Elisha The Charm of Your Place

by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach zt'l
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Soon after the Prophet Elisha saw his master, the Prophet Eliyahu, taken to heaven in a chariot of fire he came to the city of Jericho. The people there told him that their city was a good place to live. The water supply, however, was of very poor quality which resulted in the land being barren. Elisha asked them to provide for him a new plate with some salt in it. He then poured the salt into the source of the water and it was miraculously healed.

If the water was bad and the land barren, ask our Talmudic Sages, how could the residents of Jericho describe their city as a good place to live?

The answer they give is that the place in which one dwells has a special charm for him that enables him to overlook all of its shortcomings.

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