“IF A PERSON GIVES SOMEONE ELSE MONEY OR ARTICLES TO WATCH … (22:6)
Responsibility for things entrusted in our care.
Say I borrow someone’s car. Or maybe he asks me to watch his pet.
I have to take care of them. And I can be responsible if something happens.
… But responsibility for things with which we’re entrusted goes a lot further.
Because it’s really about life.
Every minute of every day.
… Because in Jewish tradition, everything we own is really only entrusted to our care.
By G-d.
Our money. Our talents. Our time. And everything else we have in life.
They’re given to us. With a responsibility.
… Sure. We can use them. And enjoy them.
But it’s our job to use them wisely.
And to use them to help others.
… And Jewish tradition takes it even further.
There’s something else we should think about.
If we are parents. Or hope to be.
… Children.
Children are more than a blessing.
… They too have been entrusted to our care. By G-d.
And we can’t afford to lose sight of that.
… We owe it to them. And we owe it to G-d.
Our children need values. Priorities.
And they need to get them from us.
Because children aren’t given to us. They are entrusted to us.
Our job? To help them become great human beings.
And great Jews.
2. STORY OF THE WEEK
A father is trying to help his son do better in school.
‘You know son. You really should start reading more.’
And his son is not convinced.
‘What’s so important about reading?’
‘Are you kidding?
Do you know that when Abraham Lincoln was your age, he used to walk eight miles a day to get
to the library?
‘Dad …
When he was your age, he was President.’
… It’s something to remember: Sure it’s important to try to inspire our children.
But the best way is by example.
3. FROM THE JEWISH MYSTICS
In Jewish tradition, the number ten is a special number.
We find it at the Ten Commandments. And at the ten plagues in Egypt.
And the Talmud says that we also find it back at the creation of the universe.
They tell us that there were ten creative ‘sayings of G-d’. “Let there be … let there be …”
… And the Jewish mystics tell us that all three are related.
Because there are three steps to creation.
First G-d creates the world. But there’s more.
Because Jewish tradition teaches that G-d didn’t simply create a world and ‘move on to other
things’.
… G-d remains involved in His world. Runs it. And cares about it.
Which is why He brings the ten plagues on Egypt.
To free the Jewish People from their slavery.
… But that’s still not the whole story.
Because G-d may create it and run it, but He’s not the one who perfects it.
Who makes it the kind of world He wants it to be.
A world of goodness and meaning. A world of morals and ethics.
That only we can do.
So He gave us the Ten Commandments. And the Torah.
… Our guide to completing His creation.