An error doesn’t becomes a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
Orlando Aloysius Battista
I won’t go into the specific definitions of each word, but the point is that though it’s natural to do the wrong thing sometimes, when you realize the error, you should try to correct it. If you don’t, it becomes a more permanent problem.
Well, I Was Going To…
Let’s say someone buys a product and realizes it isn’t kosher. That happens and it’s normal. If they intend to return it but put it in the pantry, from whence someone takes it and eats it, the problem is worse due to their negligence. Ideally, they should have made sure it was separated, marked, or hidden until they were able to return it to the store or otherwise dispose of it.
If it’s a mistake you can’t correct, like saying something you ought not to have, you can at least learn from it for the future. But then there are other cases where the mistake seems to cause harm, or when you try to correct it, you can’t, and that’s when another dimension comes into play.
Intention Or Mistake?
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai famously asked the Roman government, who were intent on destroying Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), to give him Yavne and its scholars. He did this to ensure Torah would continue and would not be forgotten. He also asked that they provide doctors for an ill sage and spare the life of the Nasi (leader). They acquiesced to all of these things.
There were those who said Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai made a mistake. He should have asked for the Bait HaMikdash (temple) to be spared. Some suggested he knew that wouldn’t be granted so he didn’t ask for it, but one approach is that he absolutely made a mistake. How could someone of Rabbi Yochanan’s stature make a mistake like that? Because that’s how Hashem (God) arranged it. Just because something goes wrong, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t actually right.
In Our Life
When it comes to elections, I always remind people we have an obligation to vote, but the leaders were chosen by Hashem and they will only be able to do what He allows. Especially when it comes to a large number of people, the individual’s free will is curtailed because it would impact people in a way Hashem didn’t ordain. Even when you see a terrible leader enact difficult or even horrific laws, it doesn’t mean they are getting their way. Those are still part of Hashem’s plan, though we don’t understand it.
Then, there are lighter examples that are just as much proof that mistakes aren’t necessarily mistakes. The microwave was invented because a scientist had a chocolate bar in his pocket when working near an active magnetron. It melted and he hypothesized that it was from the microwaves being produced.
Valuable Mistakes
When 11-year-old Frank Epperson forgot his cup of soda on the porch one winter night, with a stirring stick in it, his mistake led to the invention of the popsicle!
In fact, this article was spawned by a mistake. As a writer, I’m very careful about spelling, punctuation, and grammar. But one day I made a spelling error and it taught me the value of appreciating mistakes.
I Learned A Lesson
I write a weekly Parsha sheet. (You can e-mail info@JewishSpeechWriter.com if you’d like to subscribe.) It is formatted in a specific way to fit on a single side of a page, to make it easy to print and enjoy in shul (synagogue), at the Shabbat table, on the bus, or anywhere else you can learn Torah. I use specific fonts as I have for decades, but I will go up and down a bit on the font size depending on the amount of material in the Dvar Torah (Torah thought).
One week I was preparing it and i finally fit everything on the page as I wanted to, and then I noticed something. It was a red line under a word, as my word processing program highlighted something it felt wasn’t spelled right. It was a Hebrew word, which I had spelled in English. That was OK, but then I realized I didn’t spell it the way I normally would have. It wasn’t consistent with the way I’d written that word elsewhere in the document. However, when I added the extra letter to make it conform, something happened.
It pushed the sentence onto the next line, and the bottom line of the page onto the next one! In order to make it fit, I could have changed the font for all the words to a smaller one, but that might make it too small – harder to read and not filling the page. What could I do? At that moment, I opted to embrace my mistake, and remove the letter that messed up my otherwise perfect page. Most readers would not notice and certainly not be bothered by this. However, had I not made the spelling error in the first place, I would not have seen how perfectly the words fit otherwise and not been able to capitalize on it.
Hashem’s Plan
In other words, Hashem made me make a mistake so I could find a better way to do things. Make no mistake – even when things seem to be going wrong, Hashem knows exactly what He’s doing.
By Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz
2025 – All Rights Reserved
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