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TEMPLE EMANUEL
CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY
SHABBAT SHALOM FROM TEMPLE EMANUEL
WE HOPE THAT THIS WILL ADD TO YOUR FAMILY'S ENJOYMENT OF SHABBAT
Shabbat February 6, 2010 / 22 Shevat 5770
Parashat Yitro - Exodus 18:1 – 20:23
Parasha Overview
- Yitro brings his daughter Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to his son-in-law Moses. (18:1-12)
- Moses follows Yitro's advice and appoints judges to help him lead the people. (18:13-27)
- The Children of Israel camp in front of Mount Sinai. Upon hearing the covenant, the Israelites respond, "All that God has spoken we will do." (19:1-8)
- After three days of preparation, the Israelites encounter God at Mount Sinai. (19:9-25)
- God gives the Ten Commandments aloud directly to the people. (20:1-14)
- Frightened, the Children of Israel ask Moses to serve as an intermediary between God and them. Moses tells the people not to be afraid. (20:15-18)
The namesake of this week's Torah portion is Jethro (in Hebrew "Yitro"), the father-in-law of Moses. The portion opens with Jethro bringing his daughter (Moses' wife) and her two sons to join Moses in the desert after the Israelites exodus from Egypt.
Moses relates all the wondrous things which have happened to the Israelites since their escape. Jethro responds by praising God and hosting a festive meal for Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite elders.
Jethro observes Moses spending his days settling disputes among the Israelites. Jethro suggests that Moses share this burden and delegate chiefs to judge all but the most difficult cases. Moses accepts this advice. Jethro departs and the next stage of the Israelite experience begins: Sinai.
On the third new moon after the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites enter the wilderness of Sinai and camp at the base of the mountain. Moses, speaking for God, informs the people that if they obey God's teachings, they will be for God, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6). The Israelites agree and a nation is born.
Three days later, in a cloud of smoke and fire, God appears to the people and proclaims the Ten Commandments. The Israelites are very frightened by this spectacle and appeal to Moses to intervene and to speak to God for them from that moment on. God instructs Moses to remind the people that they had heard God speak and thus must remember to never worship idols.
COMMENTARY
This Torah portion is one of six in the Torah, and the only one in the book of Exodus, which is named for an individual.
Jethro was not a Hebrew, yet he declared that "God [YHVH] is greater than all gods"(Exodus 18:11). This declaration indicates the final victory of God over the gods of Egypt. This was important for the Israelites to hear. It would help to insure their feeling that their God was the only God and that they would be ready for the experience of Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Jethro was a very wise man. He saw that Moses would not be able to endure and lead the people if he wore himself out judging each dispute that was brought before him. Jethro counseled that Moses share this judicial burden. Jethro advised Moses to choose judges who were capable individuals, individuals who feared God (Exodus 18:21). Abraham Ibn Ezra, a medieval Spanish biblical commentator emphasized this instruction that these individuals were to fear God and not people.
The Midrash tells us that before God revealed the Ten Commandments, God asked the Israelites for a surety, a promise or collateral, that the Torah would be kept and obeyed by the people. The people responded that the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be their surety. God responded that the patriarchs were not adequate. The people then said that the prophets would be their surety. Again God said that the prophets would not be adequate. The people then said that their children would be their surety. And God agreed that the children would be their surety for the gift of Torah.
TABLE TALK
Moses needed to choose capable individuals to share the role of leader. What qualities do you think these individuals would need? Who are the individuals we choose as leaders today? Would the qualities needed by leaders in the time of Moses be the same or different from the qualities required for contemporary leaders?
Why would a judge or any leader need to fear God, but not people? Is Ibn Ezra's interpretation still valid for us?
Do you think Moses will be a stronger or weaker leader by establishing judges? How does sharing leadership make us partners in decision making?
How does Jethro's advice to Moses to share his burdens influence us? What burdens and responsibilities are shared in your family? With your family brainstorm all the positive outcomes for sharing responsibilities. Use this fill-in-the blank sentence to help you do this:
When you help me _________ I feel _________.
How does sharing responsibilities help make your family stronger?
What does it mean to you to personally be a guarantor of Torah? How have the generations of your family acted as guarantors of Torah and Jewish tradition? What must you do to maintain that role as guarantor in the next generation?
DID YOU KNOW... there are many ways to braid a challah? A special form is the yod-bet challah known in Yiddish as the yud baisnick challah. Its name comes from the Hebrew letters yod and bet which have the numerical value of twelve. This challah is based on the mystic tradition of the Jews of Safed having twelve Sabbath breads. The Hasidim of Eastern Europe created their own variations on this tradition. They braided a challah from 12 strands of dough or they made 12 rolls with a band of dough around them. The rolls were symbolic of the 12 tribes, and the band of dough represented the wish for all the people of Israel to unite as one. It was at Mt. Sinai that the Israelites first united as Klal Yisrael, the community of Israel. Celebrate this Torah portion and the unity of the Jewish people by creating this challah.
Delegate and Soar by Adam Lieberman
Jethro couldn't believe that Moses was the only person who was able to give advice and answers to the Jewish people. Jethro knew that this lack of hierarchy was destined for failure. So he advised Moses how to establish a system whereby the Jews would first go to other knowledgeable people and only seek out Moses for the most complicated and difficult questions and cases.
This method of delegation is in place in virtually every company, army, and government around the world. In fact, it's vital for any large entity to ever run effectively.
Even though the power of delegation can be just as effective in our own lives, many of us have a difficult time delegating certain important tasks to others. The reason for this is that the moment we ask someone else to do something for us we immediately lose a sense of control. Even though we all have very capable people around us, many of us live with a belief that the best outcome can only occur when we do something ourselves.
But ironically, the exact opposite is true. This is because the only way ever to achieve greatness is to be able to go "outside yourself" and be humble enough to realize that others are extremely capable and many times can actually do a better job then you can. Also, allowing others to assist you in the countless tasks that they're very capable of doing will immediately increase your self-esteem. This is because it will reign in your egocentric belief that you're the best one to do everything and demonstrate that you have the ability to trust others to get a job done. And all of this will then free you up to do the things that no one else really can't do.
Additionally, there are times when we would love to delegate something to someone else but the other person simply lacks the knowledge to do it. So we say to ourselves, "it's easier if I just do it myself." Again, this is a debilitating belief. While initially it might take some time to teach others a new set of skills or knowledge, investing a few minutes with them now will enable and empower them to know exactly what to do in the future.
So fight the urge, and delegate important tasks by asking someone to do something that you ordinarily would only do yourself. This will prevent you from "surely becoming worn out" and allow you to focus your energies only on the things that have the potential to make you great.
Adam Lieberman runs a non-profit foundation which helps Jews of all backgrounds to see the beauty and relevance of their heritage.
“In Your Face!” Ropczyce on Sinai by Lawrence Kushner
What really happened up on Mount Sinai is, for Jews, the whole kazoo. Everything depends on it. Like similarly preposterous claims at the center of every religion, not only is Sinai logically impossible, but how you reconcile its paradox determines everything yet to follow.
Sinai is impossible for the simple and logical reason that the infinite cannot meet the finite without one of them getting destroyed. You may claim that God literally spoke and wrote the words on the tablets—in which case God effectively becomes finite. Or, you can resort to the poetry of MidrashTanchuma (s.v. B’reishit ), for example, and say God wrote the Torah in “black fire on white fire,” in which case, in order to read Torah, the reader must become infinite. But there’s more.
If God somehow could speak all those words and, therefore, what we have in the Torah is an infallible record of the divine will, then liberal Judaism not only is no longer viable, but is also a terrible mistake. If, on the other hand, the words are essentially human (for example, Moses was “inspired”), then the Torah has no more claim on our behavior than any other equally “inspired” literature and orthodoxy, and in turn, collapses. Neither option is acceptable. The trick is to find some way to maintain that somethingreallyhappened on Sinai but it is not literally what the Torah says. (Welcome to liberal Judaism.)
Fortunately we are not the first generation that has tried to solve this conundrum. The Chasidic master Naftali Tzvi Horowitz of Ropczyce (1760−1827), in his Zera Kodesh (2:40a, Jerusalem, 1971) offers a dazzlingly relevant solution. (Note: The complete translation of this teaching appears in my book, The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition [Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2000].) The Ropczycer begins his teaching by citing Sh’mot Rabbah (29:2), where “I am Adonai your God” (Exodus 20:2) is set against “Adonai spoke with you face to face” (Deuteronomy 5:4). Rabbi Levi went on to suggest that what happened on Sinai was (in essence) cardiac surgery: the Shem Ham’forash —the Tetragrammaton, the Ineffable Name of God, the four-letter Name yod, hei,vav,hei —was inscribed on our hearts.
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz then continues with a teaching he heard from his own master, Rabbi Mendl Torum of Rymanov (d. 1815). He taught that at Sinai we did not hear the whole Torah or even the ten utterances! All we heard there from God was the first letter of the first word of the first utterance: alef, “I [anochi— first letter alef] am Adonai your God . . .” (Exodus 20:2). But alef, as the master historian of Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem, points out, is technically not silent (On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism [New York: Schocken Books, 1965], p. 30). Instead, it is the noise of the larynx clicking into gear and therefore the mother of all articulate speech. It may also just be the softest audible noise in the universe. In other words, while it may not have been very loud, there was indeed something to hear.
The Ropczycer continues: We can now also resolve the apparent contradiction between Deuteronomy 4:15, “You saw no image when Adonai your God spoke to you at Horeb [Sinai] from out of the fire” (i.e., there was nothing to see!), and Deuteronomy 5:4, “Adonai spoke with you face to face at the mountain from out of the fire” (i.e., something was visible). At Sinai, in other words, we couldn’t see God, but we did see God’s voice!
We also have a numerical connection, suggests the Ropczycer, between the yod, hei, vav, hei Name of God and the letter alef. The letter alef is constructed of two letter yod s (the tenth letter of the alphabet) on either side of the letter vav (the sixth letter) joining them in the middle. These two 10s and one 6 make a total of 26, just as the four-letter Name of God, yod (10), hei (5), vav (6), and hei (5), also totals 26! In kabbalistic studies this is indeed a very, very important number.
(Sephardic Jews, by the way, know nothing of our Ashkenazic preoccupation with the number 18—drawn from the word for “life,” chai , 18, chet [8] and yod [10]. Instead, they chose the far more spiritually mysterious 26. Just imagine how much more money they must give to tzedakah!)
This number 26, in turn, says Naftali Tzvi Horowitz, also evokes a human face. Our two eyes resemble two letter yod s, and the nose between them looks like a letter vav. In other words, on every human face there is a letter alef, which in turn evokes 26, and we all know what that signifies.
This further explains the odd passage in Genesis 1:27 that states that we are created in the image of God. Thus, while God can have no image, God can and does have a Name, and the facial alef engraved on everyone’s punim (two eyes and a nose) has the same numerical equivalent, 26, as God’s Name, yod, hei, vav and hei! Indeed, as we are instructed by the Psalmist, “I set the [Name of] Adonai before me continually” (Psalm 16:8) may mean simply to look at one another!
And, therefore, when our Sages spoke of this keeping God ever before you as a great principle of the Torah, they meant that when we stood at Sinai and heard only the barely audible sound of alef , the shape of the letter alef was simultaneously also revealed to us as being smack dab in the middle of each other’s faces. And just that is the great revelation.
This also explains, while we’re at it, the cryptic expression in Exodus 20:15 that literally reads: “And all the people saw the thunder.” In other words, they saw what was normally only heard. We all saw the letter alef evoking the Name of God. And at that moment we also all saw and understood that this letter was also engraved in the physiology of our own faces!
In other words, the voice of God that we heard was actually the Name of God we saw—on one another’s faces. And just that alef, the first letter, is a Torah seed of Sinai.
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner is the Emanu-El Scholar at Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco. He is the author of several books on Jewish spirituality including a new novel, Kabbalah: A Love Story (New York: Morgan Road Books, 2006). Lawrence Kushner ©2006
A Continuing Conversation by Mark Washofsky
What really happened on Sinai? The Babylonian Talmud (M’nachot 29b) suggests this answer:
When Moses ascended the mountain into heaven, he found God writing a Torah scroll and adding crowns [keterim] to its letters. “What do these crowns mean?” he asked. God told him: “One day, a man named Akiva ben Yosef shall derive numerous laws [halachot] from each and every point of these crowns.” Amazed to hear of such an intellect, Moses pleaded: “Show him to me!” Turning around, Moses found himself centuries in the future, in the academy of Rabbi Akiva, where he was dismayed to discover that he did not understand the topic under discussion. At one point, however, Akiva informed his students that one of the laws he has derived is “a halachah revealed to Moses at Sinai.”
Hearing this, Moses cheered up. “Master of the universe,” he exclaimed upon returning to heaven, “you have such a scholar and yet you give the Torah through me?”
Like most Jewish texts, this story can be understood in many ways. Here’s one of them: On Sinai Moses learned that not even he, who received the Torah, can say with absolute finality just what Torah means. Instead, its full meaning awaits the future generations who interpret its precepts in order to live by them. What Moses brought down from Sinai was not, therefore, a set of rules so much as the outline of a conversation, a continuing argument over the meaning of Torah that began with him and stretched through the era of the Rabbis, culminating in our own time and beyond. It is a conversation rooted in the Divine, yet we are the ones who must complete it.
And that is why, as a liberal Jew, I really like this version of what happened on Sinai.
Rabbi Mark Washofsky is professor of rabbinics at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati
MOSES AND JETHRO CREATING A MODEL OF LEADERSHIP by Sharon L. Sobel
The American and Canadian elections were held in autumn, and the Israel elections to choose a new government have just concluded. With the races so hotly contested in all three countries, there has been a great deal of discussion about the necessary qualities and characteristics of a good leader. For the most part, we look for traits that reflect our own viewpoint of the world. We ask ourselves, whose views most closely resemble our own? or Which candidate is more likely to bring about real and lasting peace in the Middle East? Our discussions, however, tend to focus on issues rather than on actual leadership characteristics.
The Torah portion for this week, Yitro, teaches us that we must look beyond the superficial qualities when it comes to choosing a good leader. It helps us understand that there are certain criteria for leadership that transcend political, ethnic, and socioeconomic boundaries. Parashat Yitro enables us to make a distinction between the characteristics that make a great leader and those that make only a good leader. Ultimately, these qualities enable leaders to create meaningful relationships with those around them so that together they can work for the betterment of all.
Yitro provides us with two models of excellent leaders: Jethro, the Midianite priest who is also Moses' father-in-law, and Moses. Jethro is an example of a wise and seasoned leader. He is an impartial observer who is willing to share his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom with Moses. Moses is still in the first stages of his career as the leader of the Jewish people. He is a reluctant leader who ascended to his position only at God's insistence. Moses is humble: His ego does not get in the way. He is an excellent example of a leader who is able to listen to and learn from others. One of his great strengths is that he listens carefully to Jethro's wise advice and does not hesitate to integrate and incorporate that advice into the manner in which he leads.
From Exodus 18:1-27 we can extrapolate an outline of a training manual for leadership development, which we can use in all aspects of our lives: personal, religious, political, and professional. Jethro's behavior and actions show us that the following are crucial traits for a great leader:
Seek your constituents where they are. (Exodus 18:1-6)
Show care and concern for the well-being of others. (Exodus 18:7)
Celebrate the accomplishments of others. (Exodus 18:9-12)
Offer constructive criticism in a way that can be understood. (Exodus 18:13-23)
In a nonjudgmental manner, give advice on how to improve things or help devise a plan for such action. (Exodus 18:19-23)
Empower leadership (and encourage growth) in others by sharing the responsibilities. (Exodus 18:13-18; 21-23)
Remember to delegate responsibility and authority wisely. (Exodus 18:21-22) Choose those who are:
· Capable
· Trustworthy
· Believers in God (crucial for religious leaders, both lay and professional)
· Ethical/principled
· Representative of the whole population
Moses' behavior and response to Jethro exemplify the following traits:
Sharing one's accomplishments with those who care. (Exodus 18:8)
Being open to, listening to, and learning from constructive criticism. (Exodus 18:24-26)
Not hesitating to implement change when necessary. (Exodus 18:24-26)
Being humble
Parashat Yitro reminds us that when we choose leaders, we must question more than their stances on political issues. We must ask, do they have the necessary qualities to work with others to make this world a better place? Yitro also provides us with excellent models for creating relationships, which will enable each of us to be leaders in our everyday lives vis-à-vis our families, our colleagues, and our community. With Jethro and Moses as our guides, we will be able to lead one another to the Promised Land.
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel is the executive director of the UAHC Canadian Council for Reform Judaism.
YITRO: WAS GOD SPEAKING TO WOMEN? by Sandy Schlanger
In the Bronx shtetl in which I grew up, being Jewish was what you were. We weren't totally observant, but we accepted without question the traditions of our people: On Shabbat and the holidays my father davened in shul and my mother cooked. My brother took lessons and became a bar mitzvah, and I learned from my mother how to light the candles and make a kugel. It was only as I grew older and became more of a feminist that I began to question those roles. By the time my second daughter was born and I had become a Jewish educator, I was firmly ensconced in Reform Judaism. But I had another problem: How could I reconcile my love and respect for my Jewish heritage with my disappointment in our tradition regarding its treatment of women?
In Parashat Yitro we read: "And the Eternal said to Moses, 'Go to the people and warn them to stay pure today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes.'… Moses came down from the mountain to the people and warned the people to stay pure, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, 'Be ready for the third day: Do not go near a woman.'" (Exodus 19:10,14-15) What's going on here? Perhaps Moses misinterpreted or misspoke God's words when he warned the people not to go near a woman. Therefore, Moses was a chauvinist, but that's another story. Or, we can just agree that the Torah was written by human beings, most likely men (despite Harold Bloom and The Book of J). Therefore, all this seeming exclusion of women from Revelation can be attributed to people who were only reflecting the attitudes of their generation. Or, most scary of all, Moses was reporting what God really wanted him to say, even though God didn't use the exact same words that Moses did!
According to Judith S. Antonelli in her book, In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah (Jason Aronson, Inc., 1995), there is another entirely different possibility, one that I like best of all. It goes as follows: There were actually two different meetings about the Revelation. While Moses was speaking to the men and telling them not to go near the women, Miriam was speaking to the women and telling them not to go near the men. And why was it necessary for men and women to be instructed separately? Says Antonelli, "Thus, like crossing the Red Sea, receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai was an extremely intense spiritual experience at which men and women were separate." Later on she adds, "Not only the experiences of the sexes differed, but each individual's encounter with God varied according to his or her personal capacity."
To me, this is a more than satisfactory conclusion. I have no trouble with God speaking and relating separately to all of us, as men and women and as individuals. As long as we are all allowed to assume our place in the story of the Jewish people, with Miriam alongside Moses and Aaron rather than following a step behind, my concerns are eased.
Questions for Discussion
Do you think women are justified in feeling that they are "second-class" people in traditional Judaism?
Do you agree with Antonelli's interpretation of the above-cited passage?
Do you think that it was necessary for men and women to receive separate instructions?
Sandy Schlanger, RJE, is the director of education at Temple Sinai in Summit, NJ .
FAMILY PARSHA FOR PARENTS AND KIDS
In this week’s Torah portion, God gives the Jewish people the Ten Commandments. One of them teaches us not to covet -- not to be jealous of what others have.
This is more than a lesson in good manners. God is telling us that He is very concerned with each of our lives and makes sure to give everyone exactly what we need to grow and live fulfilled lives.
God is also telling us that what one person has really wouldn’t be good for somebody else, even when it doesn’t seem that way.
We can learn from here to be happy with what we have and trust that God has given us what’s very best for us.
In our story a girl realizes that it isn’t worthwhile being jealous of what others have.
STORY
“City Block”
By Nesanel Safran
It was late at night -- way past Jennifer’s usual bedtime. But she and her sister Lynne were still lying awake, chatting excitedly.
The Rose family had returned that night from their visit to their cousins in the city. It had been an exciting visit and the girls still hadn’t calmed down.
“Oh Lynne,” exclaimed Jennifer. “I wish we could live in the city. Our cousins are so lucky that they live there. It was so much fun being there, much better than here. They have their own doorman; they get to take an elevator ride each time they go in or out. And that view! Uncle Chester said you could see for 20 miles from out their window!”
Her sister, by now fighting sleep, turned to her. “Yeah, it was nice. But we have a nice view also.”
“Oh, it’s not at all the same,” cut in Jennifer with a sweep of her hand. “All we can see is trees and more trees. From their window you can see the world! They are so lucky to live in the exciting big city instead of these boring old suburbs.”
Jennifer waited for a response. Not getting any, she looked over to find her sister peacefully asleep. But Jennifer had no peace that night as her mind kept racing as she imagined the excitement of the city and her longings to have a life like her cousins instead of her own.
Over the next few days, the Rose family settled into their daily routine and forgot about their city visit. But not Jennifer. “It’s not fair, I want to live in the city like our cousins,” became her constant refrain. She plastered her walls with posters of city-scenes and began to collect shopping bags, newspaper articles, and anything else she could find to remind her of the city.
One day, Jennifer was sitting at her desk reading a novel about, of course, the city. Her sister burst into the room. “Well Jenny,” she said. “It looks like you’re going to get to live your dream after all.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jennifer, flipping the book onto her bed.
“Next week Mom and Dad are going on their yearly vacation.”
“So?”
“So,” her sister continued, “They decided that this year it would be too hard for both of us to stay in town with Grandma like we do every year. Instead, they arranged for one of us to spend two whole weeks with Uncle Chester and Aunt Eleanor in the city. To me it doesn’t make much difference which place I stay, but I figured you would be happy to go there.”
Jennifer’s face lit up. “Happy? I’m thrilled! I can’t wait to get out of here and start really living.”
Time passed quickly. The big day came and Jennifer’s parents dropped her off at their cousins’ on the way to the airport.
Two weeks later, Mr. Rose, now with a sun tan from his vacation, came to pick up his daughter. He rang the door bell. Immediately the door popped open. It was Jennifer wearing her coat, suitcase in hand. “Let’s go dad,” she said. “I want to go home!”
Her father looked down, surprised. “I though I’d have to pry you out of here with a crowbar,” he joked.
After some brief good-byes, the two of them headed down to the car. Jenny couldn’t contain herself any longer. With tears in her eyes she burst out, “I thought I would like it, but I couldn’t stand it there. The city is so noisy I barely slept the whole time. Aunt Eleanor said it wasn’t safe for the kids to go out alone like we can do at home, so I just sat in the house all day looking out the window. And, you know, I missed our view -- all I could see here was buildings and not a single tree.”
Her dad nodded with an understanding smile.
“I really don’t know what I was so jealous about,” Jenny sighed. “Where we live is just right … for me.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Ages 3-5
Q. How did Jenny feel at first about where her cousins lived?
A. She felt it was better than where she lived. She wanted to live there too.
Q. Did she feel differently after she stayed there for two weeks? Why?
A. Yes. She realized that it wasn’t as good as she thought it would be. And that her own home was really the best place for her.
Q. Should we feel jealous when other people have what we lack?
A. No. We should remember that whatever God decided to give us or not give us is the very best thing for us.
Ages 6-9
Q. Jennifer wanted nothing more than to live in the big city. But once she got there she wasn’t happy. Why do you think we can want something badly, but not be happy once we get it?
A. Jennifer thought that living in the city would make her happier than she was at home. But once she got there she found reasons not to be happy there either. When we feel unhappy, we sometimes think that we would be happier if things were different. We sometimes tell ourselves that if only we had this certain thing, all would change for the better. But happiness comes not from getting something that we don’t have, but rather from learning to appreciate what we do have. It’s fine to want nice things. But we shouldn’t expect that these things will make us happy.
Q. Can you think of a time you got something that you thought you wanted but it didn’t make you happy?
Q. How can a person look at the world in a way that will make him feel less jealous of others?
A. It’s helpful to remember that everybody is different. Each person is put in the world with a different lesson to learn. To best learn this lesson God puts each of us in a certain situation. He gives us some things, and He withholds others things. If somebody has something that we don’t, it’s only because God knows that he needs it and we don’t. There’s no point in being jealous. If it was really for our best to have it, we would. And if we don’t, that’s a sign that it’s not for us.
Ages 10 and up
Q. Do you think it is possible for another person to take something away from us that we were meant to have? Why or why not?
A. It seems logical to think that if there’s only one piece of cake and he takes it, then I’ve lost out. However, the deeper reality is not like this. God has designed the world with each individual in mind. He sees to it that each of us is provided with exactly what we need to fulfill our ultimate purpose. There is nobody and nothing in the universe that can prevent us from receiving these things. Likewise, it is impossible for us to take away something that was meant for someone else. Any appearance to the contrary is an opportunity sent by God to strengthen our faith and trust in Him.
Q. Can you think of a time you got something that you thought you wanted but it didn’t make you happy?
Shabbat Shalom,
Mayda Clarke
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