Those blessed with eyes that reflect a true ayin tovah see a different picture

Photo: FLASH 90

The scenes of Motzaei Pesach at pizza shops and bakery counters might make some people roll their eyes in disgust, but others — those blessed with eyes that reflect a true ayin tovah — see a different picture.

Rav Mordechai Eliyahu ztz”l, Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi, was returning home on Motzaei Pesach and saw the hordes descending on the nearby Angel’s Bakery in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood.

“Look at the gluttony,” said the Rav’s companion derisively. “It’s been a week without bread, and these people look like ravenous vultures, like they can’t bear to wait another moment.”

“No,” said the Rav. “You have it all wrong. Look at what a Jew is! They so love bread and baked goods that they wait in line impatiently as soon as they can, desperate to get a loaf or a roll. And yet, for a full week, not one of them would have considered touching a crumb of bread, or even looking at it, because that’s what Hashem wants. What a nation!”  

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 908)