​The Rose, Master Scientist

Denis Barthel at the German language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

From Cultivate Your Garden (#877) by Rabbi Avigdor Miller 

When you see a rosebush, train yourself: don’t say it’s superfluous. A man once came out of a sfarim (Jewish book) store; he said, “Rabbi Miller, what you’re saying is excellent, but we don’t need it. We have emunah peshuta (simple faith).”

​I’m so happy you have emunah peshuta. When you pass by a rosebush, of course you have emuna peshutah, but Hashem says come, I want to show you now, here’s an opportunity. 

Look at a rosebush; where do the thorns come from? Why don’t other things have thorns? 

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Hashem says come, I want to show you now, here’s an opportunity. 

The answer is a rosebush is a very precious plant and people like to pull it up. That’s why the rosebush has thorns pointing downwards. As you try to pull it up, the thorns point downwards and reach your kabolas ponim (reception) committee; as you’re pulling it, up the thorns come into your hand. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? You didn’t think about that. The thorns are all smooth and all sharp and made for the purpose of penetrating your hand.

So how can you pass a rosebush and not see Hashem’s creation? It says eidus (testimony); the world is a testimony. 

And where did the color come from? The color came from the mud underneath the rosebush. Mud has no color, who made the color in the rose? And perfume? Who made the perfume? So you say, it’s a laboratory inside. A laboratory? Who makes a laboratory? It has a laboratory, able to produce color and perfume and seeds for the next generation of rosebushes.

Climb the Ladder: Discuss the rose (and its lessons) at your Shabbas table this week.