I drove down a tree-lined street and saw a group of crows circling overhead. Suddenly, I had a subtle negative feeling.
While my sinking feeling probably came from fables portraying crows as a bad omen, the Torah also describes them as impure – not kosher to eat.
However, Hashem also commands the raven to bring Eliyahu HaNavi meat and bread to eat (1 Kings 17:2-6). This act sustains Eliyahu’s life.
Imagine you are a raven. You feed off meat and carcasses. How hard must it have been for a raven to give the meat to Eliyahu, when surely he himself wanted to eat the food? Feeding another species is way beyond their nature. The raven had to overcome its nature, bypass its own desire, and give meat to a human.
Sometimes in life we are like the raven, tested by Hashem in areas that are precisely our very weakness. You may not be the most patient person, and Hashem gives you a child with needs beyond the scope of most. Or, you may be struggling financially when you are bombarded with tzedakah requests. We sometimes feel expected to do more than we can handle, and are tested precisely in what we feel we need.
Hashem shows us that if the raven, a lowly impure animal, can overcome its nature to serve G-d, then surely a human, the loftiest of all creatures, can overcome their nature to serve G-d.
Next time you see a crow, don’t shudder in superstition; rather, remember your purpose on earth. To overcome your nature and serve G-d.
