Personal and life sustaining forces

I am delighted to hear that my blog is being read and many are gaining inspiration from my words. Please continue to post your comments for they equally inspire me.

I recall being a guest  for a Shabbat meal and noticed a beautiful arrangement of flowers on the table. I complemented my host on their beauty to which she replied that they were artificial, plastic flowers. They were indeed lovely but lifeless and I asked her why she didn't have live flowers. She replied , "live flowers must be watered every day and that is somewhat tedious".

Indeed at that moment I realized  a very basic truism.Anything worthwhile in life needs to be nurtured and watered constantly to keep it alive and vibrant . Life lived to its fullest requires attention and personal involvement, patience and care.

Our Parsha this Shabbate  relates a dialogue between Hashem and Moshe. G-D tells Moshe to go to Pharoah and tell him to release the Jewish People from bondage.Hashem then tells Moshe that  

Pharoah will ask you תנו לכם מופת,"to show a sign for you".  I find the language of this request very confusing. If Pharoah wants a sign to prove that G-D sent him , then the request should of been show Me a sign , but the words he used was "show a sign to YOU". This is a very curious  request.

I sense that our answer can be found in the אזנים לתורה wherein he says, שאתם בעצמכם אינכם מאמנים במי ששלח אתכם אלי, suggesting thay Pharoah will only be impressed if Moshe and Aaron are impressed themselves by the power of the Almighty. 

How amazing is this idea:the only way Moshe and for a Jewish person in general to have influence over a Pharoah , or over any person of importance, is for a Moshe to be impressed by his own words and by his own deeds , then and only then can he influence others .

The message is so cogent. Judaism needs enthusiasm and a personal sense of pride to evidence to the world the beauty and it's relevancy to our modern world.We need  to first offer the sign of Yiddishkeit to ourselves with all it's magnificence and then and only then will it be contagious to others and influence them to become part of our wonderful Judaic way of life.

Let us start now and show our pride and our dedication to all that Judaism has to offer us and let us do so with tolerance and with empathy. This will indeed herald our glorious Messianic time.

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