Daily Devotionals

If you stop heeding discipline, you will stray from the principles of knowledge (Proverbs 19:27).

Learning without doing can be dangerous. Do you say, "First I will learn what the right thing is, then I will do it"? Or do you say, "Learning includes doing; I cannot really learn without putting what I have learned into practice"? Here, the Scripture tells us that one will go astray morally if musar (discipline) is overlooked. This is sobering!

Rabbi Itzel Peterberger (1837-1907) told the following story at Beyt HaMusar (the House of Discipline) in Kovno one year during the Yamim Nora'im (Days of Awe). A little boy was wandering off the beaten path in a forest when he suddenly realized he was lost. Each turn took him deeper into the forest. After two days of wandering, he saw a figure in the distance. Running with joy, he embraced the man that he had found. "Surely," he thought, "This man will lead me out of the forest!" But the man replied, "I wish I could be as happy as you are, my son. You've been lost for two days, but I've been lost here for over two weeks." The boy's heart sank. However, the old man continued, "Perhaps we can help one another. I at least know where not to go. By working together, we might find a way out."

Straying from God's path can have devastating results. Let us remain faithful in practicing what he has taught us so that we do not lose our way.

...accept God's boundaries and walk in his paths.

JEF