וְאַנְשֵׁי־קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיוּן לִי וּבָשָׂר בַּשָּׂדֶה טְרֵפָה לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ לַכֶּלֶב תַּשְׁלִכוּן אֹתוֹ׃

You shall be holy people to Me: you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs. (22:30)

Although the animal torn apart by beasts is forbidden to eat, it is permissible to benefit from it such as feeding the carcass to your dog. Is there a reason why the Torah chose this example of benefit over others?

The commentary of Da’as Zekanim explains that dogs were commonly used to protect sheep from wolves. Although there may be times that the dog fails, feed it the sheep that was torn apart by the wolf because until now that sheep had been protected by your dog and the dog continues to protect the rest of your sheep.

This is an incredible message. The Torah is telling us that when the dog fails, show it your gratitude for what it has done and continues to do for you! Although failure tends to lead to rejection, the Torah teaches us at that very moment never to forget the benefits we have received and continue to receive from that same person who failed you.

This lesson that failure should never lead to rejection can also be seen In the first chapter of the Book of Samuel I. We read there how the childless Chana prayed at the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) in a very unusual way for those times.

“Now Chana was praying in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard.” (Samuel I, 1:13). The result of this was that the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) Eli who was observing her, thought that she was drunk. The following conversation ensued.

Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? You must become sober!”

And Chana replied, “Oh no, my lord! I am a very unhappy woman. I have drunk no wine or other strong drink, but I have been pouring out my heart to the LORD. Do not take your maidservant for a worthless woman; I have only been speaking all this time out of my great anguish and distress.”

“Then go in peace,” said Eli, “and may the G-d of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.”

She answered, “You are most kind to your handmaid.” So the woman left, and she ate, and was no longer downcast.” (Samuel I, 1:14-18)

The Talmud tells us that Eli came to his conclusion through the means of the breastplate, called the Choshen HaMishpat, that he wore. This breastplate contained the holy names of Hashem called Urim V’tumim. When the Kohein Gadol had a question he would gaze at the letters engraved upon the breastplate and the letters would light up with the answer. As Kohein Gadol, he was able to take the letters that lit up and decipher the answer to his question. When he questioned the nature of the woman acting in this odd way the letters that lit up spelled the word כשרה, k’shaira, which means an upright woman. Those same letters can spell the word שכרה, shikora, which means a drunken woman! The answer to his question was that she was upright. But Eli read it to mean that she was drunk. This was no small failure on his part. The Talmud says that Chana pointed that out to him (which is why she said, ”Do not take your maidservant for a worthless woman; I have only been speaking all this time out of my great anguish and distress”).

This incident could have been the perfect excuse for Chana to reject Eli as the Gadol HaDor, the leader of the generation. Chana’s reaction is clearly different.

“So the woman left, and she ate, and was no longer downcast.” She accepted Eli’s blessing of “may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him,” with so much trust that she went from a self described,”very unhappy woman (verse 15)” who would weep and not eat from the Festival sacrifice (see verse 7) to a woman that verse 18 tells us that she ate, “and was no longer downcast.”

Chana understood that this failure on Eli’s part did not disqualify him from being the great and holy man that he was. Therefore his blessing gave her the comfort and peace of mind that she sought.

We should never reject someone who fails us.

Besides, would we want to be rejected when we fail others?

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak