Learning from the Mistakes of Others
Please send your feedback to [email protected]
To join the thousands of recipients and receive these insights free on a weekly email, obtain previous articles, feedback, comments, suggestions (on how to spread the insights of this publication further, make it more appealing or anything else), to support or dedicate this publication which has been in six continents and over thirty-five countries, or if you know anyone who is interested in receiving these insights weekly, please contact the author, Rabbi Yehoshua Alt, at [email protected]. Thank you.
לעילוי נשמת שמואל אביגדור בן יצחק מאיר
This newsletter can also be viewed at https://www.dirshu.co.il/category/הורדות-עלונים/fascinating-insights/ and http://www.ladaat.info/showgil.aspx?par=20200425&gil=2725
Archives: https://parshasheets.com/?s=Rabbi+Yehoshua+Alt
To view these essays in German, please visit https://judentum.online/
Please feel free to print some copies of this publication and distribute it in your local Shul for the public, having a hand in spreading Torah.
COMING SOON Bez"H
Fascinating Insights—The Sefer (in English)
Learning from the Mistakes of Others
While many may learn from
personal experiences, one can also learn from the experience of others.[1] This is why the section of
Sota and Nazir are placed next to each other since one who sees a Sota in her
disgrace should abstain from wine by becoming a Nazir as wine can lead to
adultery.[2] In this way we can grasp איזהו חכם הלומד מכל אדם, who is wise, one who learns from everyone.[3] This includes even learning
from the mistakes of others. An example of this would be wealthy people. Many
of them have achieved their wealth by learning from the mistakes of others such
as where they failed in businesses. This message is taught to us in Parshas
Shlach as the section of the spies is put next to the section about Miriam’s
criticism of Moshe since she was stricken because of her speech, yet the spies
didn’t learn from this and spoke negatively about Eretz Yisrael.[4] Why make your own mistakes if
you can simply learn from the mistakes of others![5]
[1] This would include taking a
lesson from an earthquake in a foreign country to do Teshuva.
[2] Bamidbar 6:2, Rashi.
[3] Avos 4:1.
[4] 13:2, Rashi.
[5] When one learns from the
mistakes of others, he can excel more than he would have since he doesn’t need
those setbacks in his personal life to learn that lesson. Even if one still
needs this setback in his life to learn this lesson, it can still be ingrained
in him more if he also takes the lessons from the mistakes of others.
