Pisqa’ 111
1
“May HASHEM, the God of your ancestors,
increase you a thousand-fold beyond your present number” (Dt.1:11).
Israel said to him:
our Master, Moses!
We do not want you to bless us!
Because the All-Present said to Father Abraham:
“For indeed I will bless you.
And I will surely increase your descendants,
like the stars in the heaven, and like the sand” (Gn.22:17)—
but now you limit our blessing
[to an increase of a thousand-fold]!
There is an analogy—
a king had many possessions and a young son.
One time, he needed to depart for the cities by the shore.
He said:
If I leave my possessions with my son,
he will waste them.
Rather, let me appoint for him a guardian
until he comes of age.
When that son came of age, he said to the guardian:
Give me the silver and gold
that Father left for me in your care!
So the guardian gave the son from his own funds
sufficient for his needs.
Then that son began to complain, saying:
Look, all the silver and gold that Father left for me is in your hands!
Said the guardian to him:
All that I gave you, was nothing but my own!
But what your father has left you is, indeed,
saved up for the future.
Thus spoke Moses to Israel:
“May HASHEM, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand-fold” (Dt.1:11)—
this comes from my own blessing.
And yours?
“And He shall bless you as He promised you” (Dt.1:11)—
like the sand of the shores, like the plants of the earth,
like the fish of the sea, and like the stars of heaven
in their abundance.