It was close to midnight, Saturday night, as I drove from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on my way back from the Kotel.
I noticed a police car behind me, but I wasn’t concerned. I was wearing my seatbelt and driving below the speed limit. I was not using my cell phone or doing anything else wrong.
The police car continued to trail me, so I switched lanes to let it pass. But it didn’t.
Still, I wasn’t fazed. I knew I was driving safely and legally.
Some minutes later, the lights began to flash and I pulled over, wondering, “Really? What did I do?”
A policeman approached my window. “License and registration,” he barked.
“Good evening, officer, is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?” I asked in English.
“Oh! You are from America,” he said. “That explains it.”
Apparently, I had been driving too well, following the rules a little too closely, to the point that he assumed I must be hiding something!
What a lark!
The Baal Shem Tov taught us that we should seek the spiritual lesson in every encounter, and so I found myself wondering what the takeaway is here.
In terms of our spiritual growth, we cannot become complacent. We need to remain vibrant, alert, never satisfied with our current standing. While driving within the speed limit is honorable, when it comes to spirituality it’s vital that we accelerate, accomplishing mitzvah after mitzvah.
We cannot be content to cruise along in our relationship with G-d and the Torah. We must put the pedal to the metal!