Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Which words do you think are most frequently spoken in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)? This is a question that the reporter Yonatan Rieger asked me yesterday when I presented the news at six o'clock. His answer surprised me. In first place was "keriyah" or reading (as in first, second, and third reading of a proposal). which was said 55,000 times. In second place was "todah" (thank you), then "bevakasha" (please), and then "b'ad" (in favor of).
This is interesting. We mostly hear about the cursing and name-calling that go on in the Knesset and therefore think that's what Knesset members do all the time. And yet, it is clear that most Knesset members, most of the time, simply work. Tens of thousands of times, positive words of action associated with parliamentary procedures are spoken, to which "thank you" and "please" are attached.
This is true, of course, not only regarding the Knesset, but regarding numerous other areas of our national and individual lives. It is worth noting that what is extreme or negative always grabs our attention, and we "broadcast" these debilitating segments again and again, not only on the screen but also in our brains, to ourselves.
Our sages say that *"the trait of good is greater than the trait of evil."* The majority of what happens in the world is good and that's what counts. Not only in quantity, but in essence. Good is primary and evil is secondary. The fruit is good and the peel is evil. Sin is only temporary, while a mitzvah is eternal. Rav Kook writes that the Torah begins with the story of the Garden of Eden in order to convey where our true home is to be found. That is where we came from, and that is where we belong.
