What parsha is it anyway???

Parshat Vayshev:

What happens in this parsha? A lot does so I'm not going to attempt to summarize all of it. B'H, I've reached a point in my learning where I now remember the storyline of the parsha without needing to learn the pasukim, not that learning the pasukim is not beneficial.

So, after glossing over the events in the parsha a plain and simple thought struck me, WE'RE IN OLAM HAZEH!!! We're not in gan eden. Now, i know that everyone knows this, and that this fact is not a revolutionary idea. However, i feel that many times I lose focus on this simple fact. How do I do that? I do this by thinking that 'big is better' and that, therefore, I should aim to get the newest models available. I can lose focus by concentrating on the gashmiut that i DON"T have (B"H) and then by getting upset and trying to attain it. In this way, I treat olam hazeh like olam haba and lose track of my tachlis in this world.

B'H, this parsha has reminded me and taught me to keep focus. Yes I don't have a car, yes I"m not rich with lots of money. But what do I have? I have the ability to pay for post-secondary education (with the help of student loans ;-p) I have the ability to attempt to get myself out of Vancouver and into Toronto. I have the ability to contact my friends, half way across the globe, and I have the ability to make a difference in children's lives and teach them Torah once a week....

I could go on. Rabbi Meisels taught me that I have a lot, if only I tilt my head away from the negative and focus on the positive I'll be able to see it all.

Yes, Yaakov (Yisroel) had a hard life, we all have our nissoynot and pekala, and we can understand why he wanted to 'settle'. But Hashem told him clearly that is not his tachlis and that he will 'settle' in olam haba.

May we all be zoche to settle in olam haba with tova and concentrate our current existence as being ovdei Hashem.


Shabbat Shalom.

Sarah Rutti