Parshas Shemos -- 17 Teves 5771 / December 24, 2010 -- Vol. 2, Issue 5
In this weeks parsha, Shemot, we read about the birth of the greatest Jewish leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. Being that there was a decree that all Jewish male babies had to be killed, Moshe's moth-er took a wicker basket, smeared it with clay and pitch to make it waterproof, and sent Moshe down the river. The Hebrew word used for basket, teiva, is a word that we are quite familiar with and have seen before in parshas Noach. Noach was commanded by Hashem to build an ark, which is referred to as a teiva.
If we look closely we can see that there is a difference between Noach and Moshe‟s teiva. Noach covered both the outside and the inside with pitch, while Yocheved only covered Moshe's teiva with pitch on the outside. While this may not seem like a major difference, in fact it represents a distinction in the way that Noach and Moshe lived their lives.
The pitch represents the barriers and boundaries that we create in our lives. Barriers and boundaries serve several purposes: they prevent people from getting out, as well as getting in. Noach was not affected by the negative people living during his generation and kept himself well guarded from any harmful and unconstructive attributes. At the same time, he didn't seek to have a positive effect on anyone either. Although he did not want the world to be destroyed, he did not act on this and not once did he go out of his way to tell others about the importance of leading a moral and ethical life. It says that Noach was a righteous man in his generation. However, the commentaries state that although he was a good man amongst a generation of negativity, had he lived in another generation he would not have been deemed righteous.
Though Moshe lived in Pharaoh's palace, he kept the Jewish beliefs his mother had taught him and did not let the Egyptian way of life have any effect on him. At the same time, he actively went out and tried to help his fellow Jews. He gave them words of inspiration, tried to bring peace between men, and eventually went on to lead the Jewish people out of slavery.
From this we can learn a powerful lesson. Of course we have to protect ourselves and our children from harmful values and negative influences. However, there is a difference between protecting from the outside and insulating the inside! We must use our abilities, skills, and knowledge to help influence others positively. This is the meaning of the commandment to love your fellow man as yourself.
If we look closely we can see that there is a difference between Noach and Moshe‟s teiva. Noach covered both the outside and the inside with pitch, while Yocheved only covered Moshe's teiva with pitch on the outside. While this may not seem like a major difference, in fact it represents a distinction in the way that Noach and Moshe lived their lives.
The pitch represents the barriers and boundaries that we create in our lives. Barriers and boundaries serve several purposes: they prevent people from getting out, as well as getting in. Noach was not affected by the negative people living during his generation and kept himself well guarded from any harmful and unconstructive attributes. At the same time, he didn't seek to have a positive effect on anyone either. Although he did not want the world to be destroyed, he did not act on this and not once did he go out of his way to tell others about the importance of leading a moral and ethical life. It says that Noach was a righteous man in his generation. However, the commentaries state that although he was a good man amongst a generation of negativity, had he lived in another generation he would not have been deemed righteous.
Though Moshe lived in Pharaoh's palace, he kept the Jewish beliefs his mother had taught him and did not let the Egyptian way of life have any effect on him. At the same time, he actively went out and tried to help his fellow Jews. He gave them words of inspiration, tried to bring peace between men, and eventually went on to lead the Jewish people out of slavery.
From this we can learn a powerful lesson. Of course we have to protect ourselves and our children from harmful values and negative influences. However, there is a difference between protecting from the outside and insulating the inside! We must use our abilities, skills, and knowledge to help influence others positively. This is the meaning of the commandment to love your fellow man as yourself.
Parshas Shemot -- 19 Tevet 5772 / January 14, 2012 -- Vol. 3, Issue 5
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In 1976, Michigan’s Lake Superior University created a “List of
Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse, and General
Uselessness” as a publicity ploy by the school’s public relations
department. Thirty-seven years later,
they receive tens of thousands of nominations each year as people anxiously
await the list to be published on New Year’s Day. The number one word deemed unacceptable for
2012 topping the charts with over 1500 nominations was “amazing.”
What might you ask is so wrong with the word amazing? Nominations cited the word’s overuse in describing things considered only marginally better than mundane. One university spokesman said that he was surprised that it took so many years for ‘amazing’ to finally make the list. He remarked, “The simple ones are always the ones that get through the cracks.” Are the intellectuals at Lake Superior University onto something? Should the word ‘amazing’ solely be reserved for those occasions that are extraordinary, exceptional, and unique? Is it a word that only retains its value when scarcely used? Have we all been making a colossal mistake by not tracking our usage of the word ‘amazing’ and neglecting to put deep thought into our everyday vernacular?
One of the most sought after pursuits in life is the secret to how to make each and every day amazing. To the great dismay of Lake Superior University, the answer is actually quite simple; amazingly simple. In this week’s parsha, Shemos, the world’s greatest leader is born. And to think, the most amazing man to have ever lived had his beginnings from a simple wicker basket. Every aspect of his birth, existence, and leadership was of amazing caliber, perhaps one of the reasons being because he was not afraid to see how G-d fills the world with true amazingness. And yet he was the most humble man to walk the face of the earth.
What is amazing about life isn’t the moments of grandeur which we experience every now and then. But rather the times before, after, and everything in between. It is when we reveal the divine in the austere, the heavenly in the basic, and the remarkable in the ordinary. Our perception of life directly affects what becomes our life. To realize life is a gift and actualize our potential to make the world a better place even with small acts of kindness, if you don’t mind my saying, truly is amazing.
What might you ask is so wrong with the word amazing? Nominations cited the word’s overuse in describing things considered only marginally better than mundane. One university spokesman said that he was surprised that it took so many years for ‘amazing’ to finally make the list. He remarked, “The simple ones are always the ones that get through the cracks.” Are the intellectuals at Lake Superior University onto something? Should the word ‘amazing’ solely be reserved for those occasions that are extraordinary, exceptional, and unique? Is it a word that only retains its value when scarcely used? Have we all been making a colossal mistake by not tracking our usage of the word ‘amazing’ and neglecting to put deep thought into our everyday vernacular?
One of the most sought after pursuits in life is the secret to how to make each and every day amazing. To the great dismay of Lake Superior University, the answer is actually quite simple; amazingly simple. In this week’s parsha, Shemos, the world’s greatest leader is born. And to think, the most amazing man to have ever lived had his beginnings from a simple wicker basket. Every aspect of his birth, existence, and leadership was of amazing caliber, perhaps one of the reasons being because he was not afraid to see how G-d fills the world with true amazingness. And yet he was the most humble man to walk the face of the earth.
What is amazing about life isn’t the moments of grandeur which we experience every now and then. But rather the times before, after, and everything in between. It is when we reveal the divine in the austere, the heavenly in the basic, and the remarkable in the ordinary. Our perception of life directly affects what becomes our life. To realize life is a gift and actualize our potential to make the world a better place even with small acts of kindness, if you don’t mind my saying, truly is amazing.
