1. IF YOU OBEY G-D YOUR LORD, AND DO WHAT IS UPRIGHT IN HIS EYES … (15:26)
Obeying G-d.
… Sometimes it’s easy to know exactly what that means.
Because certain things in life are pretty much black and white.
Theft. Murder. And so on.
We know they’re bad. So we don’t do them.
… But sometimes it doesn’t seem so simple.
Because real life is full of gray areas.
Everyday things like, ‘Was I wrong? Or is he just being overly sensitive?’
Is it the money? Or the principle?
… And it’s so easy to rationalize.
And to fool ourselves.
… So how can we keep ourselves honest?
There’s a tool that can help.
It’s simple.
… But very powerful.
Don’t just, ‘Obey G-d.’
But, ‘Do what is right in His eyes.’
… It means to always picture that G-d is watching.
And to ask ourselves: ‘What would G-d say?’
… Because deep down, we often know the answer.
2. STORY OF THE WEEK
The wagon driver didn’t know who his passenger was.
And he certainly never imagined that it was the famous Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan. The Chafetz Chaim.
Along the way, the driver said: “I’m pulling up by that field. To grab some hay for my horses.
You keep watch. And tell me if anyone is looking.”
And as he bent over the fence, the passenger began shouting:
“Someone’s looking. Someone’s looking.”
The driver jumped back into the wagon. And raced off.
He looked over his shoulder. And didn’t see anyone.
“Who was looking?”
The Chafetz Chaim looked up to heaven.
… “G-d was.”
3. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I was invited to speak in Berlin.
To be honest with you, after the liberation from Bergen-Belsen, I never had any inclination to set foot on German soil.
But when I received an invitation to speak to German students and to the Congress of Jewish Scientists and Physicians,
I said to myself, I have to go …
I was asked, Rebbetzin, what will you say in Berlin? And I said, “What will I say in Berlin?
I don’t have to say anything in Berlin.
I just have to say, ‘Hineni’ – ‘Here I am’.
And that’s the miracle of our generation.
Think about that. Me, a child from Bergen-Belsen, speaking in Berlin.
On Torah. On faith. In the name of G-d.
… And not only that. Do you know where I spoke this summer?
This summer I had the privilege of speaking in Moscow. And do you know where I spoke in Moscow?
In front of the KGB building!
And do you know who was in my audience?
Former KGB agents. Who discovered that they are Jews.
Who came back … and were crying like babies …
… We are living in amazing times … “
(Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis)