The Everything Bagel | Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff

At the advent of יציאת מצרים, there was one type of bread that Klal Yisroel ate. Matzah. The bread couldn't rise. But as we've developed, we have different types of artisan breads that we enjoy. Many years ago, they invented the bagel. My Shver zt”l, Rav Dardik, wrote a שאלה to R’ Moshe, Moreinu R’ Moshe, What Bracha do you make on a bagel? It's parboiled and then it's baked. And R’ Moshe wrote: המוציא לחם מן הארץ. The first bagel was a plain bagel, but then things started developing. There was a poppy seed bagel. More sophisticated, a garlic bagel, an onion bagel, a sesame seed bagel. And you had a choice. As a kid, you determine which bagel you wanted. Today, we've morphed into a new society. It's called the Everything Bagel. I can't make up my mind. I don't want to make a choice. So I want poppy seed, onion, garlic, sesame, all on one bagel. And that's what life's all about. Nobody savors the flavor of anything anymore. I want it all. I want everything. Vayimaen teaches us you can’t have it all, you don't want it all. If you appreciate what you have, then you can enjoy life to the fullest. R’ Yankel Galinsky zt”l, the Maggid of Eretz Yisroel, told me he once received a Patsh. A Patsh is a delicate art that's disappeared. It's where a parent administers a slight rap, that is done out of love, not out of anger, to chastise, to educate the child. A lost art. He once received a Patsh, he told me. He was in Bialystok. They were very poor, and his mother made a חביתה. She made an egg. And she divided it into minuscule portions for every one of the children. R’ Yankel looked at his brother's plate to see the size of his egg, and his mother gave him a Patsh. Why are you looking in his plate? Look in your own plate. Said R’ Yaakov, That is the צרה of today's דור. Everyone is looking at somebody else's plate. Their family, their home, their car, their job, their lifestyle. If you look at your own plate, you enjoy life. We are taught to abstain from looking at somebody else's plate, to focus on who we are. And then we enjoy life. And then it's meaningful. Not just to be satisfied with your lot, but to celebrate your lot. If you're happy with your life, if you're happy with your wife and your family, there's no need to look around, there's no need to be sidetracked. You remain focused for your entire existence in Avodas Hashem, in ריבוי כבוד שמיים.