Needs and Desires

Parshas Reeh

Posted on August 27, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky | Series: Drasha| Level: Beginner

When I stand in line in a pizza shop or bagel store, I anticipate the counter fellow asking me, “So what do you need?” That’s because I often answer, “bread and water.” Then I smile and add, “that’s what I need. Now I’ll tell you what I want.” Of course I go on to order a potpourri of unneeded calories, that are comfortably arranged on the a staple of Western man dough. To some of us those toppings are the deep insight to the verse in this week’s portion, “Man does not live by bread alone” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Of course as thinking Jews, we know the verse does not refer to bread or pizza garnishing. The suffix of the verse, contains the important message “rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of G-d does man live” (ibid).

 

By all means, this week’s portion tells us to keep life in perspective what we want, what we need and an attitude we must ingest and ultimately exude in the way we live our lives.

 

But the truth is the Torah seems a bit contradictory. It tells us, “He afflicted you and let you hunger, then He fed you the manna that you did not know, nor did your forefathers know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone does man live, rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of G-d does man live.”

 

Did Hashem not sustain us with a physical form of sustenance? Hashem did not say, ” Do not worry; survive without bread;” rather he sent us a form, albeit a miraculous form, of bread. So, if eventually we need bread, and it does sustain us, how is He telling us that man does not live by bread alone?

 

A well-known therapist in the New York Metropolitan area received a phone call late one night.

“Doctor.’ the frantic voice on the other end of the phone pleaded. “I must make an appointment for my six-year-old son. He is in desperate need of a therapist.”

 

“And what makes you think he needs a psychologist?”

 

“Well, his mother and I are separated. During the week, our son stays by his mother. On the weekends he is with me.” The man continued. “Well we just began this arrangement. Tonight as his mother was about to put him to bed, he began to wail. ‘I want to go back to Daddy!'”

 

“She tried unsuccessfully to convince him to go to bed and finally gave up. She got him dressed, and drove him across town to my place.

 

“How did that work out?” asked the doctor.

 

“Well,” continued the father, he came to my place. Everything was fine until he was about to go to bed. Then my son began to cry incessantly. ‘I want to go back to Mommy!’ This time I had to drive him, and then…” The doctor listened a few more moments and then he interjected, “I don’t know if your son needs a therapist, but he definitely needs parents!”

 

The Torah is telling us a very special message. Of course, we need bread to sustain us. We must use the world’s physical resources to aid in our sustenance. But there is a message sent when in the evening we have nothing and the next morning we have manna. The message is that the physical sustenance we need be it agricultural nutrition, medicinal remedies, or a boost in business is all Heavenly ordained.

 

Hashem afflicted us and starved us. Then he gave us food that was totally measured, meted, and doled by His Divine hand. That daily ritual became a metaphor for eternity. Physical amenities are the very source of physical existence. But the source of that sustenance may never be overlooked. Man needs bread. That is the way of the world. But just don’t forget our Father who sends it. We may need therapists. But don’t forget the parents!

 

Good Shabbos!

 

The Tree of Knowledge

Parshas Reeh

Posted on August 27, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Since the dawn of human history, mankind has faced, in one guise or another, the same temptations that confronted the very first man and woman, Adam and Chava. After giving us the details of their creation, the Torah describes the challenge they faced in the blissful spiritual existence Hashem provided for them in the Garden of Eden. They were expressly prohibited to eat from the eitz hadaas, the tree of knowledge, yet its delightful fruit proved irresistible to Eve.

 

The Torah describes the nature of the temptation. “It was desirable to be eaten and beautiful to behold”! The challenge Adam and Chava faced echoes and re-echoes as each and every generation confronts its unique ‘eitz hadaas’ in an ever-changing and often bewildering variation of guises.

 

Our generation has its own enticing ‘tree of knowledge’ that glistens alluringly, urging us to sample its illicit fruits. Its appeal has tragically proven irresistible to so many of our youth. Can they be blamed for surrendering to the tantalizing attraction? Religious rules seem so onerous, rigid and inhibiting to a generation that has been nurtured with an inherent sense of personal entitlement. Don’t we deserve it, and don’t we deserve it now? Freedom of expression and freedom of choice have been elevated to the highest status in society’s scale of values.

 

How then are we to protect both ourselves and our children from the shimmering ‘tree of knowledge’ whose fruits appear ‘so good to eat and so delightful to the eye’?

 

In the first verse of this week’s Torah portion, Moshe Rabbeinu in his parting message to the Jewish people provides them with an eternal answer. “Behold! I have placed before you today the blessing and the curse. The blessing is that you shall listen to the words of Hashem your G-d, and the curse is when you do not hearken to His voice”.

 

Living in our Creator’s embrace and following His dictates is defined as a life of blessing. Living outside its pale is defined as a life of curse. Herein Moshe Rabbeinu frames the arena of life and articulates the challenge that we mortals in every age and in every society are forced to grapple with.

 

But how can we absorb this important message when all our senses and feelings experience and see just the opposite?

 

Perhaps we can explain this with a verse in last week’s Torah portion. (Chapter 10 verse 12): “And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you? Only to see/fear Him, to walk in all His ways, to love Him and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul”.

 

The Talmud questions the word “only”; is this long list such a simple request? Isn’t it disingenuous to request from us the relatively simple assignment of seeing and thus fearing Hashem, immediately followed by a string of complex and challenging spiritual demands?

 

A doting father and mother were tearfully watching their sick son’s vitality drain from him as he lay in bed. His temperature continued to soar. His burning fever robbed him of his appetite; he steadfastly refused the delicious food they put before him as well as all medicine. All their exhortations and pleas were futile. They begged a specialist to come to their home to treat their beloved son. The specialist came and saw that the child’s prognosis was very serious. He extracted a strong medicine from his briefcase and told the child that he will only ask him to swallow the medicine a single time. Hearing that this was only a one- time request, the child acquiesced and reluctantly sipped a measure of the life giving elixir. As the doctor walked towards the door, the child’s mother burst out crying. “Dr.” she exclaimed, “he has only agreed to take it this one time, what will we do tonight when you’re gone?”

 

“‘Don’t worry,” the doctor reassured her. “‘Now that he has taken this medicine, his appetite will be restored. Once he begins ingesting food, he will regain his appreciation for its taste. Before long you can be assured that he will be willing to take the necessary medicine every day until he is fully recovered”.

 

With this parable, the Dubna Maggid explains the meaning of our verse about the Torah’s expectation: We are asked “only” to “see” and fear G-d. If we only ‘see and fear’ our Creator a single time, we will be naturally inclined towards continuing our pathway towards spiritual growth. We will be primed and ready to see the blessing in living a spiritual life.

 

Once we experience the sublime joy of ‘seeing’ Hashem and having a heart-to-heart dialogue with Him; once we taste the pleasure of a true Shabbat; once we absorb the self-fulfillment that overtakes every fiber of our being as we extend ourselves to the less fortunate, we will encounter His precious blessings. The allure of tree of knowledge’s artificial stimulants will no longer exert their magnetic draw. At that point, the distinction between the blessing and the curse will be abundantly clear.

 

This then, is perhaps what Moshe meant at the beginning of our Torah portion. Re’eh, ‘see’ that I present you today with a blessing and a curse. Only after we have seen and experienced the light and delight of a spiritual life pathway will we be able to make a crystal clear distinction in our life choice. How true the maxim that “a little light banishes a great deal of darkness.” By infusing our homes with a joyous life in the presence of Hashem, we will ensure that we will always delight in the kosher fruits of our Garden of Eden.

 

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,

 

 

The Prelude to All That is Good

Parshas Eikev

Posted on July 29, 2021 (5781) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

And it will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that HASHEM, your G-d, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers. (Devarim 7:12)

 

And it will be, if you hearken to My commandments that I command you this day to love HASHEM, your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, (Devarim 11:13)

 

And it will be, if you hearken: Heb. וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ literally, And it will be, if hearkening you will hearken. If you hearken to the old [i.e., if you study what you have already learned], you will hearken to the new [i.e., you will have a new and deeper understanding]. – Rashi

I don’t know what “hearken” and “heed” mean. They are not words that we use often these days. That’s what happens when we study Torah translated to a different language. There is something always lost in the translation. “Hearken” and “heed” are really not bad substitutes for “SHEMA” – Listen! One verse literally reads, “V’Haya Eikev Tishmaoon” “if you will listen”. Eikev literally means heal and “V’Haya”, our sages tell us, always introduces good news. Good Things are coming because of this type of listening. Also, we have “V’Haya Im Shamoah Tishu… “If you will listen–listen to My Commandment”. More good news is promised for that double form of listening. Rashi explains that if you listen to the old you will be able to listen to and learn the new. Somehow the search for new is dependent on success in reception of the old. In any case listening seems to be the master key to all the promises. Let’s explore how it works.

 

Everything in life filters down through 1) Thought 2) Speech 3) and Action. One of my teachers told us that this is true as well in each domain. In the arena of thought, for example, there is the “thought of thought” and then there is the “speech of thought” and then the “action of thought”.

 

This has implications in the world of listening. There are many levels to listening. Listening is an art and like any art form there is a science to it as well.

 

There is a way of listening whereby one hears the words that are being delivered but they remain in the realm of the “thought of thought”. The words are all understood but they are remote, abstract, like a stone skipping over the surface of a pond but they do not penetrate the listener.

 

The apocryphal story is told that Mrs. Einstein was asked once if she understands what her husband is speaking about. Her reply was, “Every word! It’s just the sentences I am having trouble with!” It’s possible to hear every word and not understand and even to understand but still remain unaffected.

 

There is another level in listening whereby one cogitates on the words. He is digesting what is being said. This sparks an inner dialogue. Now in the realm of the “speech of thought” a bridge is being built between the mind and the heart. The listener begins to feel the message and empathize with the speaker. Their worlds are slowly merging and readying to become one.

 

From being two separate circles, they are now touching and overlapping like a Venn diagram.

 

The next level of listening is where the message is validated inwardly, accepted, embraced, and even celebrated. The listener is enveloped by the message. The circle of the listener is surrounded by the size of the message.

 

Sometimes we sip an idea thinking we are larger than it but like the ocean it then swallows us and we are now swimming and bathing in its enormity.

 

From the heart it has traveled all the way down to the bottom of the foot. The heel is the darkest and most unfeeling part of our anatomy, yet it too is affected by message. That’s major!

 

This now is the realm of the “action of thought”. Here decisions are made, life changing decisions, and commitments. Now maybe we can understand the introductory words,”V’Haya Eikev Tishmoon” – If you will listen with the heel of your foot then you will be spurred by and inspired into action and that is the prelude to all that is good!

 No Easy Matter

Parshas Eikev

Posted on August 20, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

In ancient times, many of the more enlightened Romans were fascinated by the purity, spirituality and truth of Judaism – but very few of them actually converted. The burden of the Torah – submission to divine authority, circumcision, Sabbath and festival observance, dietary laws, ritual purity – was simply too heavy to bear. In our own times as well, many secular Jews feel drawn to traditional observance, but only a limited number of them can bring themselves to make the commitment. Without question, keeping the Torah is no easy matter.

 

And yet, in this week’s Torah portion, we find an amazing statement. In summing up the demands of the Torah, Moses declares, “And now, O Israel, what does G-d your Lord ask of you but to fear G-d your Lord, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve G-d your Lord with all your heart and all your soul?” So what is Hashem asking of us already? Not much, Moses tells the Jewish people. Only to fear Him. Only to walk in all his ways and love Him. Only to serve Him with all our hearts and souls. That’s all.

 

That’s all? Is this such an easy thing?

 

The commentators explain that the Hebrew word yirah, fear, is closely related to the word re’iyah, seeing. The key to fear is clear vision. If we see the Creator in the world around us, if we recognize His Presence, we will inevitably be seized by an overwhelming awe of His greatness and goodness. All Moses asked was that we open our eyes and look. The rest would take care of itself.

 

But how do develop this clear vision? How do we penetrate the veil of concealment that separates us from our Creator? This in itself is surely no easy matter.

 

Our Sages find an allusion in this verse to the daily requirement of making one hundred blessings. Nothing may be taken for granted. On special occasions, we are inspired to make the blessing of Shehechianu, thanking Hashem for giving us the life and the sustenance to enjoy this wonderful experience. We can relate to the wonder of these rare occasions. If a sunrise occurred only once every twenty years, we would rise before dawn to watch the spectacle with bated breath, and we would be humbled by the awesome Presence of the Creator. But a sunrise occurs every day, and we have learned to take it in stride.

 

The same is true of the countless miracles of daily living. If they were not so familiar, we would gasp at them in wonder. We would be exhilarated as we wrap ourselves in warm clothing. We would be intoxicated by the smell and taste of a fresh cup of coffee. We would be astounded at the ability of the body to excrete its waste products and cleanse itself. Yet we take all these things for granted. But if we make the hundred blessings, if we take the time to acknowledge the divine benevolence inherent in all the minute details of existence, we would maintain a perpetual sense of awe and wonder. This is what Hashem wants of us, that we open our eyes and truly see the wonders of His creation, so that this clarity of vision will translate into a sense of the awesomeness of Heaven.

 

However, as a great sage once commented, heaven is closer to earth than the heart is to the mind. A purely intellectual awareness of Hashem, expressed by lip service in the form of a hundred daily blessings, is simply not enough to inspire true fear of Heaven. The knowledge cannot be detached from the person. We must “lift up our eyes and see who created all these,” in the words of the prophet Isaiah. We must transcend our materialistic view of the wonders of the world and see them as an expression of an infinite spirituality of which we our souls are an integral part. We must involve our hearts and souls in this awareness of the omnipresence of the Creator, and thereby transform ourselves.

 

A famous Greek philosopher’s disciples discovered him eating flesh ripped from a live animal, and their disgust registered on his face.

 

“How can I philosopher do such a thing?” they asked.

 

“Right now I am not a philosopher,” he replied. “I’m just a hungry man. When we meet later, I shall be a philosopher once again.”

 

We all have the ability to transform our own lives, as long as we integrate our awareness of the Creator into our identities. When our blessing and expressions of gratitude emanate from such an awareness, we will undoubtedly find that all these difficult things Hashem asks of us are, indeed, an easy matter.

 

Sight and Insight

Parshas Vaeschanan

Posted on August 14, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

The long-awaited moment is finally drawing near. The forty long years in the desert are coming to an end. The Jewish people are massed on the far side of the Jordan River, preparing to cross into the Promised Land. Exuberant joy sweeps through the Jewish encampment, but it is tempered by an element of poignant tragedy. Moses, their great leader, will not accompany them on this final leg of their journey from slavery to exalted statehood.

 

In this week’s Torah portion, we watch as Moses pleads with Hashem for a reprieve from this difficult decree, but Hashem grants only one small concession. Before his passing, Moses is allowed to climb the summit of Mount Nevo and gaze upon the entire length and breadth of the land – north, south, east and west.

 

A number of questions immediately come to mind. Wouldn’t showing Moses a tantalizing view of the land he could not enter only add to his sense of loss? Furthermore, even from his vantage point on the high mountaintop, how was he able to see the entire expanse of the land all the way to its most distant borders? And if it was miraculous, why did he have to go up to the mountaintop at all? Why didn’t Hashem simply show him the same miraculous vision right at sea level?

 

Let us stop and consider for a moment. What exactly did Moses see when he stood on the mountaintop? What sort of panoramic view could even partially compensate for his failure to enter the Holy Land? The answer lies in the difference between sight and insight. Moses undoubtedly was not concerned with the graceful contours of the land or the pretty flowers that adorned the valleys. He did not climb the mountain to feast his eyes on the superficial beauty of the land. Rather, he wanted to train his penetrating gaze on the sacred land, to probe beneath the surface and connect with its holy spiritual core, to experience its essence through observation, insight and ultimately knowledge.

 

Earlier, when Moses was a fugitive in the land of Midian, the Torah tells us that he saw a bush engulfed in flames and said, “Why isn’t the bush being consumed?” Our Sages tells us that Hashem rewarded Moses for turning to look at the bush. What was so praiseworthy about turning to look at a burning bush that was not being consumed? Wouldn’t it have piqued the curiosity of any passerby?

 

Clearly, Moses was not being rewarded for simply looking at the bush. It was his faculty of looking beyond appearances and probing for the essence that earned him everlasting reward.

 

Whereas an ordinary man might have seen a piece of vegetation in a state of combustion, Moses saw the deeper symbolism, the image of the Jewish people writhing in the flames of Egyptian slavery but divinely protected from destruction.

 

When Moses trained this penetrating gaze on the Holy Land, he saw beyond its body. He saw its heart and its soul. At this level, the land has a symmetrical unity and form, and seeing part of it is like seeing the whole. Just as a person can see an entire tree even without looking at every individual leaf and twig, so did Moses on his mountaintop see the entire length and breadth of the essence of the land.

 

When the insight of his mind connected with the image absorbed by his eyes, he saw the spiritually radiant land blossom into the transcendent Abode of the Divine Presence, and he experienced a spiritual elevation far greater than lesser people would someday experience when standing near the Holy of Holies.

 

In our own times, contemporary culture and the media bombard us with so many eye-catching images that we have become accustomed to the myriad wondrous sights around us. It sometimes seems our sight has become so overloaded that we have lost sight of insight. But we all have it within our power to look with a more penetrating gaze, with more than our retinas and optic nerves. If we seek out the internal beauty in every creature, every tree, every blade of grass, if we recognize the handiwork of Hashem in every speck of the universe, we will discover a far deeper level to existence, a world where sight is rewarded by insight.

 

Our Family Business

Parshas Vaeschanan

Posted on July 26, 2018 (5778) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah| Level: Beginner

And you shall teach them (V’shinatam) to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Devarim 6:7)

 

And you shall teach them (V’shinatam): – In Hebrew Chidud is an expression of sharpness…They should be sharp in your mouth…That is when somebody asks, you should not hesitate and stammer but rather you should be able to answer immediately. (Rashi)

 

It seems everyone is expected to be an expert and acquire great proficiency in learning Torah. It may already be obvious but what is the purpose of this requirement? Is it to raise the level of scholarship?! How is everyone able to fulfill this standard if people have different learning styles and varying intellectual capacities?

 

The Maharal says that the reason for this Mitzvah is that the Torah should become “his”. The student should make the Torah his very-own. He learns this from the very first chapter of Tehillim. It says, “If the Torah of HASHEM is his desire and in his Torah he meditates day and night, he will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither… (Tehillim 1:2-3)

 

Our sages saw a shift in ownership from the first part of the verse to the second. At first it was the Torah of HASHEM that was his desire. Later it is his, the student’s Torah that he meditates in day and night. It became his possession.

 

How is this done? For sure it takes a great deal of work! There are no short cuts, but perhaps we can find here a hint at a motivation that might make this achievement more possible.

 

How many times does it happen to each and every one of us? We have all experienced it! Sometimes, many times in the same week this wondrous phenomenon will be displayed before our eyes and go unnoticed. Now we can begin to recognize what it means.

 

I was in a grocery store this past week. Like a dutiful husband, and like all the other fellows walking around with shopping carts and a handwritten list of specific items that we must come home with or else, there are always those few items that seem impossible to find. They don’t fit neatly into an aisle category like dairy or beverage, or they are just exotic. So we all pass each other wondering aimlessly and calling home multiple times in search of that clue about how it might look or what category it might fit into. Only after the pressure is built up and his patience for this process is diminished will a man park his ego and ask for help. Who do you ask for help in a large grocery store?

 

There, sitting on a milk crate, busily organizing cans on a shelf is a fellow you may not stop to have a casual conversation with in the street, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So you stand near him and clear your throat attempting politely to get his attention, “Excuse me, but where can I find salmon flavored toothpicks?” He looks up in your general direction pausing for a split second.

 

At first you wonder if he understood your question or if he speaks your language but within that nanosecond he scans the store in his mind and miracle of miracles, he says in a broken English, “Aisle 6 on the left side, 2^nd shelf, half-way down.” Then he goes back to putting cans on the shelf oblivious to and unimpressed with his own intellectual feat.

 

I always marvel. How did he do that? He must be a genius! Perhaps he stays up all night studying detailed pictures of the organization of shelves in the grocery store. Perhaps he is going to school at night in pursuit of a doctorate, a PHD in grocery shelf stocking.

 

None of this is true obviously but the question remains. How does he know where everything in the store is without having to study and memorize notes? The answer is, “It’s his job!” We can learn from here that anybody can learn anything when they make it their business and learning Torah is our family business!

 

 

Tooth and Nail

Parshas Devarim

Posted on August 7, 2024 (5784) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Moses knew he had only days to live. Standing on the Plain of Moab near the banks of the Jordan River, he felt the spiritual tug of the Promised Land only a stone’s throw away, but he knew he would never tread on its hallowed soil. He called together the Jewish people and prepared them for a future without his leadership.

 

As he reviewed all the turbulent events that took place from the time of the Exodus until their arrival on the threshold of the Promised Land, Moses uttered a groan of lamentation. “Eichah?” he declared. “How can I bear it?”

 

The commentaries explain that as he contemplated the troubled past Moses felt a sense of foreboding about the future. In his mind, he followed the sequence of events to their logical conclusion, and thus, he foresaw the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem that would take place nearly a thousand years later. He foresaw the estrangement of the Jewish people from their Father in Heaven and their banishment from their homeland. In pain and grief, Moses uttered the word eichah, which is also the eponymous first word of Lamentations, otherwise knows as Eichah, the book which was to memorialize the national tragedy. Therefore, we traditionally read this verse in the chanting style unique to Lamentations.

 

What did Moses see in the past and present that convinced him that a great national tragedy lay in the future? How did he discern the eventual breakdown in the relationship between the Jewish people and the Creator?

 

The commentators explain that contentiousness derives from a fundamental lack of faith. If a person has a deep and abiding faith in Hashem, he understands that nothing happens without Hashem’s approval. Therefore, if he suffers at the hands of another person, he recognizes it as a test from Hashem. His first reaction is to look into himself and correct his inner laws. His second step is to deal with the situation gently, ethically and honorably, just as Hashem would want him to deal with it.

 

If a person lacks faith, however, he is not convinced that Hashem is behind the injustice he has suffered. On the contrary, he is convinced that he alone controls his destiny. Therefore, when he perceives an attack, he has no time or patience for conciliation and the niceties of ethical conduct. He is prepared to fight tooth and nail for his rights.

 

When Moses considered the combative nature of the Jewish people, he realized that their faith was flawed. Sadly, he understood that these flaws would eventually widen into fissures and create a chasm between them and their Father in Heaven. This was clearly a road that headed for disaster.

A young soldier was assigned to a brigade commanded by a famous general. The soldier was excited about being in the general’s brigade, but he came into serious conflict with his platoon sergeant.

 

Whenever the sergeant gave him an order, he would argue interminably and seek ways to extricate himself. The sergeant grew furious and punished the soldier every time he did not obey instantly.

 

Things went from bad to worse, until one day the soldier struck his sergeant in anger.

The soldier was arrested and court-martialed. The general presided at his trial.

 

“Young man,” said the general, “you stand accused of gross insubordination against me.”

“Oh no, sir,” said the soldier. “You must be mistaken. I have nothing but respect and admiration for you. My problems are with the sergeant.”

 

“I am afraid you are the one who is mistaken,” said the general. “Who do you think gave the sergeant command of his platoon? It was me. Who do you think assigned you to his platoon? It was me. If you had brought your complaints to me, I would have listened. But if you strike the man I appointed, it is insubordination against me.”

 

In our own lives, we find ourselves in highly litigious world. Everyone around us is concerned about his rights and prerogatives and is ready to go to war to defend them. It makes for stressful living conditions, because we always find ourselves contending with our neighbors and associates, with the insurance company, the phone company, even the grocer on the corner.

 

 And even when we win, we often find ourselves emotionally exhausted and frazzled. But if we could reach into ourselves for an extra measure of faith, we would recognize the vicissitudes of modern life as a test of our relationship with Hashem, and we would respond on a spiritual level. Instead of anxiety and stress, we would enjoy peace and serenity.

 

Text Copyright © 2010 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.