{"id":1953,"date":"2014-01-12T17:42:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-12T23:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2014-01-13T14:48:44","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T20:48:44","slug":"friday-january-10-2014-9-shvat-5774torah-portion-bshalach-exodus-1317-1716if-you-obey-g-d-your-lord-and-do-what-is-upright-in-his-eyes-1526","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/?p=1953","title":{"rendered":"Doing the right thing … sometimes it doesn’t seem so simple …"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. IF YOU OBEY G-D YOUR LORD, AND DO WHAT IS UPRIGHT IN HIS EYES \u2026 (15:26)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Obeying G-d.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Sometimes it’s easy to know exactly what that means.<\/p>\n

Because certain things in life are pretty much black and white.<\/p>\n

Theft. Murder. And so on.<\/p>\n

We know they’re bad. So we don’t do them.<\/p>\n

\u2026 But sometimes it doesn’t seem so simple.<\/p>\n

Because real life is full of gray areas.<\/p>\n

Everyday things like, ‘Was I wrong? Or is he just being overly sensitive?’<\/p>\n

Is it the money? Or the principle?<\/p>\n

\u2026 And it’s so easy to rationalize.<\/p>\n

And to fool ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u2026 So how can we keep ourselves honest?<\/p>\n

There’s a tool that can help.<\/p>\n

It’s simple.<\/p>\n

\u2026 But very powerful.<\/p>\n

Don’t just, ‘Obey G-d.’<\/p>\n

But, ‘Do what is right in His eyes.’<\/p>\n

\u2026 It means to always picture that G-d is watching.<\/p>\n

And to ask ourselves: ‘What would G-d say?’<\/p>\n

\u2026 Because deep down, we often know the answer.<\/p>\n

2. STORY OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n

The wagon driver didn\u2019t know who his passenger was.<\/p>\n

And he certainly never imagined that it was the famous Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan. The Chafetz Chaim.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the driver said: \u201cI\u2019m pulling up by that field. To grab some hay for my horses.<\/p>\n

You keep watch. And tell me if anyone is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as he bent over the fence, the passenger began shouting:<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone\u2019s looking. Someone\u2019s looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The driver jumped back into the wagon. And raced off.<\/p>\n

He looked over his shoulder. And didn\u2019t see anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho was looking?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chafetz Chaim looked up to heaven.<\/p>\n

\u2026 \u201cG-d was.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. QUOTE OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n

\u201cI was invited to speak in Berlin.<\/p>\n

To be honest with you, after the liberation from Bergen-Belsen, I never had any inclination to set foot on German soil.<\/p>\n

But when I received an invitation to speak to German students and to the Congress of Jewish Scientists and Physicians,<\/p>\n

I said to myself, I have to go …<\/p>\n

I was asked, Rebbetzin, what will you say in Berlin? And I said, \u201cWhat will I say in Berlin?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have to say anything in Berlin.<\/p>\n

I just have to say, \u2018Hineni\u2019 \u2013 \u2018Here I am\u2019.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the miracle of our generation.<\/p>\n

Think about that. Me, a child from Bergen-Belsen, speaking in Berlin.<\/p>\n

On Torah. On faith. In the name of G-d.<\/p>\n

\u2026 And not only that. Do you know where I spoke this summer?<\/p>\n

This summer I had the privilege of speaking in Moscow. And do you know where I spoke in Moscow?<\/p>\n

In front of the KGB building!<\/p>\n

And do you know who was in my audience?<\/p>\n

Former KGB agents. Who discovered that they are Jews.<\/p>\n

Who came back \u2026 and were crying like babies …<\/p>\n

\u2026 We are living in amazing times \u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n

(Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. IF YOU OBEY G-D YOUR LORD, AND DO WHAT IS UPRIGHT IN HIS EYES \u2026 (15:26) Obeying G-d. \u2026 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. \u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-chicago-torah-network-shabbat-fax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1958,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/1958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torahnetwork.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}