The World of Toys and Dolls

The Chofetz Chaim was once walking in the streets of Radin when the rav noticed a little girl avidly playing with her doll. Suddenly, she lost her grip on the doll and it fell in the mud. When she saw her now filthy plaything, she began to cry bitterly. The Chofetz Chaim turned to his students who were accompanying him and said, “Imagine if we would meet this girl again in 20 years and show her the dirty doll. If we would ask her if she remembers how much she cried over the doll, how do you think she would react? Undoubtedly, she would start laughing. She would be amused by how upset she became over such a triviality. Who cares about a doll getting dirty? Who needs a doll in the first place?”

The Chofetz Chaim explained that we live in a world where we cry over nonsense. We get into arguments and fights about inconsequential things. We spend time on matters that do not make any difference in the long run.

We cry about cars and houses. These things are literally toys!

We spend way too much time worrying about and crying over entities that have no real substance.

In Olam Habah, Hashem will show us our earthly possessions and say, "Did you cry over this? Did you fight about this? Did you waste time on this?"

Hashem gave you a beautiful neshamah. Hashem gave us a beautiful world. Hashem gave us the Torah and mitzvot. Why would we spend the bulk of our time on trivial matters?

While we are alive in this world, we must utilize our time to learn Torah, do mitzvot and serve Hashem. We must appreciate and properly make use of the days that Hashem grants us. We must focus on what is truly important!

 By Rabbi Yaakov Rahimi