If Hashem says, “Don’t go,” then there’s no mitzvah to go
The spies sinned by giving negative reports about Eretz Yisrael. Now, on the heels of that sin, came the “maapilim,” a group of people who insisted they were going up to Eretz Yisrael even without Hashem’s permission. They claimed they were rectifying the spies’ sin, saying, “The spies didn’t want to ascend to Eretz Yisrael, so we’ll go with even greater self-sacrifice than was demanded earlier! They didn’t want to go to Eretz Yisrael even with the Aron of Hashem and Moshe Rabbeinu, but we’ll travel to Eretz Yisrael even without the benefit of being accompanied by Moshe Rabbeinu and the Aron!” (Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, shiur delivered Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh)
Pick up the phone! Just pick up the phone! I stood there, staring at the old-fashioned, push-button, corded phone we’d plugged in just for this specific scenario. I knew that halachah mandated that I pick up this phone this early Shabbos morning and call my doctor and an ambulance to get to the hospital to give birth. But my fingers refused to cooperate. My brain knew that this was the correct thing to do, but my body had a mind of its own. It was fighting a lifetime of Shabbos observance. I had to force my hand to pick up the receiver and push those buttons, all the while my brain was screaming, Shabbos!
It’s been close to 20 years since that birth, but I was reminded of it as my daughter was approaching her due date, and we were faced with a two-day Shabbos–Yom Tov, a rarity for Eretz Yisrael.
“Make sure you pack a Shabbos bag,” I warned my daughter on Thursday. “But only what you need for those two days.”
Yet when I asked my husband what I could pack for myself — I’d be accompanying my daughter to give birth — the answer was… nothing.
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