* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
“Failure” or “success,” “opportunity” or “embarrassment”-- who assigns meaning to your life experiences?
In last week’s parasha, Rabbeinu Bahya describes the stops along the journey of the Children of Israel in the desert and reminds us that before the nation arrived at these locations– they didn’t have a name.
He writes: Every journey was triggered by certain tendencies displayed by the people at the location. It all depended on the people’s attitude toward God. If they conducted themselves properly and transformed their negative thinking to positive, then the name of the location at which they arrived next reflected this, such as “Mount Shefer” (meaning beauty) or Mitkah (meaning sweet). In other words, if the people were in a positive spiritual place— filled with faith and uplifting thoughts— their places of encampment reflected that mindset.
If, however, they sinned and were filled with negative thoughts, then the names of the places where they encamped reflected their gloomy outlook. For example, the Torah says: “...and they encamped in Haradah, meaning fear or distress, or in Marah, meaning bitterness.
Where are you now—in a place of sweetness or misery? Of beauty or bitterness? You get to decide — and thereby determine the story of your life. Of course there are situations that are objectively challenging, but it is important to keep in mind that so much depends on our subjective interpretation of that situation. As Rabbi Bahya writes, “Everything is determined by our thoughts.”
