A donkey fell into a pit and tried desperately to climb out. After a while the donkey resigned to failure and made peace with its sad fate.
Suddenly, the donkey felt something landing on its back. Dirt was being thrown into the pit and the donkey felt like it was going to get buried alive.
As the donkey was getting nervous, it realized that when it moved, some of the dirt fell off its back and onto the floor of the pit. The more it moved the more dirt fell to the ground, and the more dirt that fell onto the ground the donkey was able to stand on the dirt and realized that it was rising. Sure enough, after a while the donkey was able to stand on all the dirt being thrown onto him and climb out of the pit to safety.
Then the donkey realized that the dirt being thrown onto him was coming from his owner who came up with this entire scheme to save his donkey's life.
Perspective is not just important; it is literally what quality of life is made of.
Even if things are so bad that it seems like we will be crushed by them and buried alive, there is always a way to stand on those very bad things which then lift us up.
And when we reach the top, we realize that all those “bad” things were only our perception, while what we thought was bad, was really coming from people or circumstances that were designed to help us all along.
We see this idea from the words of the Torah when it says, “the waters increased, carried the ark, and lifted it from upon the earth.”
Although there may be a Flood, it is our G-dly perspective that acts as the “ark” which has the potential to lift us high above earthliness and materialism to a place where we grow, achieve, and move forward.
This is a G-dly perspective. It’s right here in this week’s Torah reading.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
Shabbos Times
Friday, October 28
Candle Lighting: 5:39pm
Evening service: 5:40pm
Saturday, October 29 Morning service: 10:00am
Kiddush Brunch: 12:00pm Evening service: 5:40pm
Shabbos ends: 6:38pm
Kiddush Sponsored by Dima Alkin and Ravit Tal
in honor of their son Ido's Bar Mitzvah
Mazal Tov!!
A BISSELE HUMOR
Who was the greatest financial genius in history?! The hero of this week’s parshah, old Noah himself. That’s right. He floated a company when the whole world was in liquidation!
WEEKLY eTORAH
Superheroes are fantastic. But you've got to admit, they're over the top, rather otherworldly and, realistically speaking, beyond our reach. We can fantasize about flying through the skies in our capes, climbing skyscrapers with our webs and rescuing damsels in distress, but at the end of the day, it is nothing more than wistful daydreaming. What bearing does it have on me and my life, me and my problems? The answer is, not much.
That's why Noah always appealed to me. He comes across as a real live hero, real in the sense of being human rather than superhuman and, therefore, realistically possible to emulate.
Rashi describes Noah as a man of "small faith" who had doubts whether the flood would actually happen. In fact, according to the great commentator's understanding, he didn't enter the Ark until the rains actually started and the floodwaters pushed him in. That explains why many people look down on Noah, especially when they compare him to other Biblical superheroes, people of the stature of Abraham or Moses.
Personally, this is precisely what makes Noah my kind of hero. He's real. He's human. He has doubts, just like you and me. I know we are supposed to say, "When will my actions match those of the great patriarchs of old?" but I confess, for me that's a tall order. Noah, on the other hand, is a regular guy. He is plagued by doubts and struggles with his faith. But at the end of the day, Noah does the job. He builds the ark, shleps in all the animals, saves civilization and goes on to rebuild a shattered world. Doubts, shmouts, he did what had to be done.
There is an old Yiddish proverb, Fun a kasha shtarbt men nit--"Nobody ever died of a question." It's not the end of the world if you didn't get an answer to all your questions. We can live with unanswered questions. The main thing is not to allow ourselves to become paralyzed by our doubts. We can still do what has to be done, despite our doubts.
So Noah, the reluctant hero, reminds us that you don't have to be fearless to get involved. You don't have to be a tzaddik to do a mitzvah. You don't have to be holy to keep kosher, nor do you have to be a professor to come to a Torah class.
Perhaps his faith was a bit wobbly in the knees, but he got the job done. My kind of hero.
