SAGE ON THE BRIDGE
When Rabbi Zeira finally realized his dream of reaching Eretz Yisrael, only a river separated him from his goal. Rather than wait for the next ferry to take him across, he decided to use a primitive bridge consisting of a log spanning the river, which he walked upon while holding on to an overhead rope to ensure that he wouldn’t fall.
A heathen observer of this rickety crossing cried out to him: “Impulsive people that you are, who put your mouths before your ears (when they said “we will do” before they said “we will hear” in accepting the Torah without knowing what it required of them), you are still acting impulsively. Why don’t you wait for the ferry in order to make a safer and more comfortable crossing.”
To this Rabbi Zeira sighed: “A land which Moshe and Aharon did not merit to enter – who knows if I wait any longer that I will have the privilege of entering it!”
(Kesuvos 112a)
Excerpted from “The Love of the Land – Selections from classical Torah sources which express the special relationship between the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael“, by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institution.