By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari:
Shalom, in our Parasha we have the Pasuk:
ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם
“You shall guard your soul greatly” (4,15)
Harav Elyahu Eliezer Dessler זצ״ל writes: “… there’s a natural sense of loving life in a human being and a sense of fear of death. It’s a very deep spiritual sense, a sense that each moment of life is very precious and has a unique purpose of being able to bring out the revelation of the divine glory of HaShem.
We can recognize differences in people through this. The more one is distant and empty of spirituality, the less valuable life is in the eyes of this person.
We see this phenomenon in our times, how people are willing to put themselves in life threatening circumstances for unimportant things, and they call it ”Heroic.” This is a disgrace, it just shows how empty they are of content and how disconnected they are from the reality of life, that’s why they have no respect for life…
And if you aren’t willing to take these risks they call you a coward and faint hearted… that’s because they are not in the understanding of the concept of one who values life because it will bring him everlasting life and therefore each moment is precious… that’s why “ the love of life” for us has a completely different meaning than by them.”
מכתב מאליהו
Shabbat Shalom