This week’s Torah portion is all about Moses –

• Moses pleads with God to let him enter the Land of Israel with the people, but God once more refuses his request.
• Moses orders the Children of Israel to pay attention and follow the laws given by God in order to be worthy of the land they are about to receive.
• Moses recalls the covenant at Sinai and the Ten Commandments. Once again, Moses urges the people to heed God’s commandments.
• Moses recites the Sh’ma, and commands Israel to show their love for Adonai and keep God’s laws and ordinances.
• Moses warns the people not to commit idolatry by worshiping the gods of the nations they will conquer in Israel.

Moses is one of greatest figures in Judaism. He is a great leader, thoughtful, persuasive, pious and humble.  He is successful in leading the Israelites out of Egypt. He parts the Red Sea. He receives the Ten Commandments. He converses with God.

He is also imperfect. He is flawed as a leader and as a man. He knows disappointments and failures and loss of respect.  He feels discomfort and uncertainty in leading his people in the desert for 40 years. And every step of the way, they were critical and ungrateful. And after the Golden Calf incident, he was frustrated, angry and unappreciated. There was family tension. He was not allowed into the Promised Land. How did he deal with these setbacks? These are discussed by Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book, ‘Overcoming Life’s Disappointments.’ He uses Moses as a case study in coping with the failures and unfulfilled dreams which are part of all of our lives. Resiliency is gained by possessing traits such as the following:

1. Wisdom and insight – to recognize that continuous happiness is not realistic. We should expect ups and downs.
2. Perseverance/persistence – Moses approached Pharaoh ten times, repeating “Let my people go” each time.
3. Resilience – the concept that it’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get back up.
4. Forgiveness
5. Trust, faith in the future – ‘This too shall pass.’
6. Humility – Recognition of greater power and greater mission. None of us are God, and it is not our job or responsibility to run the world. Moses realized that he was just one of God’s many servants, as are all of us.
7. Strong value system – keeping priorities and desires in check. For example, here’s my favorite Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

Calvin: “If you could have anything in the world right now, what would it be?

Hobbes: “Hmmm…A sandwich.”

Calvin: “A sandwich?!! What kind of stupid wish is that? Talk about a failure of imagination! I’d ask for a trillion billion dollars, my own space shuttle, and a private continent!”

Hobbes (eating a sandwich): “I got my wish.”

8. Manage expectations – If you can’t get over it, at least get through it. You can’t be everything to everybody. Moses was the right person for the exodus and desert, but not necessarily for leadership in the Promised Land. We all have limitations.

In confronting Life’s challenges, realize that sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms the frightened child. Sometimes God makes the problem go away, but more often God leaves the problem there but He gives us the strength and the resourcefulness to deal with a problem that won’t go away. And He keeps us company so we don’t have to face our problems alone.

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The King’s Jewel:

A king once had a prized jewel, an exquisite diamond. As he held it to the light, perfection glinted from every of its luminous facets. This gem, he felt, would be the crown jewel in his magnificent crown. One morning the king awoke, and upon taking out his precious treasure he found, much to his dismay, that there was a single thin crack descending down its face.

The greatest jewelers were called to look at the stone in the hopes of fixing it, but nothing could be done—the crack ran so deeply down the face of the diamond that any effort to remove it would further ruin it. Finally, one jeweler, a simple man from one of the neighboring villages, stepped forward. He would save the diamond, he claimed.

The king laughed. The greatest craftsmen in the world had seen the gem, and deemed it hopeless; how could this simple jeweler hope to do anything? Seeing, though, that there was nothing to lose, the king informed the jeweler that he could spend a single night with the diamond. If he managed to fix it, then he would see great reward. If, however, he did not succeed, a bitter lot awaited him.

Locked in his room, the jeweler took a long look at the stone. It was truly magnificent, sparkling like the fire of the sun on the surface of the water. And the crack, however thin, could not be removed without destroying the precious crown jewel in the process. What could be done?

The next morning, the jeweler came out with the stone in hand, a look of triumph on his face. When he produced the gemstone, the entire royal court—the queen, the ministers, even the jester—erupted in an uproar. The scratch had not been removed; it remained in its place. The jeweler had instead etched a rose, the symbol of the kingdom, on the face of the diamond, turning the crack into its stem.

The king stood up from his throne and embraced the simple jeweler. “Now, I truly have my crown jewel!” he said. “The diamond was magnificent until now, the best I had ever seen. It was, however, no different than any other stone. Now, though, I have a truly unique treasure!”

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From work to health to marriage and family, no one gets everything he or she expects out of life. We are overlooked for a promotion, we get sick, we have marital and family ‘issues.’ It’s Life. Rather than letting unexpected setbacks defeat us, let’s try to follow the example of Moses, who demonstrated resilience in spite of misfortune.  In the end, we can use the pieces of our broken dreams and expectations to produce a beautiful mosaic which we call our lives. “Life is tough,” says Rabbi Kushner, “let’s be strong enough not to be broken by it.”

D’Varim, Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

click here for cartoon: family circus

This Family Circus cartoon hit home since this Shabbat’s parashah and the entire 5^th book of the Torah are called “Words,” Devarim.  Moses uses the power of words to bridge the spans of time, to promote self-esteem, to encourage and to affirm commitments made. This section includes a review of the lifetime of Moses and events taking place within that time. These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of Jordan in Deuteronomy.  Words can shape our lives. Moses uses words to bridge generations. He uses words to encourage rather than point out any shortcomings. He reminds us that children are a product of their parent’s legacies. Moses becomes a storyteller retelling the story of the past 40 years of Exodus before Joshua leads the Israelites.

“People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell,” said Elie Wiesel. Stories are important in our lives, especially to children. Stories are told through words, deeds, values and actions. As we pass these stories from one generation to another, or L’dor v’dor, we are teaching our children valuable lessons. When I am teaching the children in Sunday School the first thing we do to start class is to have Jewish Show and Tell.  The children share anything about being Jewish.. We also have a Jewish Journal to write in each week, which they also share by reading aloud.  The topic is usually about a particular Jewish holiday, Jewish event in their lives or whatever else Jewish topic is decided upon.

Stories are also told through pictures as well as the written word. My parents always had their den filled with family photos. As it turns out Jay and I do the same thing. If you look in our den you will see many family photos of the past and the present. This is our pictorial history that keeps memories alive. Connections can be made from generation to generation or l’dor v’dor at work.

Words are powerful. They can give us positive or negative messages. I have a daily calendar that most of the time has positive/good words or ideas to think about for that day. Some examples are – ‘Good things come to those who bake.’ Another is by Paul Cezanne-‘We live in a rainbow of colors.’  ‘Never, never give up’ by Winston Churchill, and ‘Believe in Yourself’ to name a few.

When a child draws a picture and tells about it we should write down what they have said. As a reading teacher I know the power of words is strong even at an early age. Seeing their own words in print under their drawing is a first step to becoming literate.  The gift of telling stories whether it be our own stories or those we read is providing our children with a piece of history. I read to the Sunday School students from a different book each year. Ike and Mama and the 7 Surprises by Carol Snyder was a wonderful book about a Bar Mitzvah boy with limited pictures. Last year I read Number The Stars by Lois Lowry  again with limited pictures  . This book was about a 10 year old girl and her family in Denmark who helped Jewish people during the time of the Nazis. This year I will be reading Anne Frank- a graphic biography by Sid  Jacobson and   Ernie Colon.  Telling, reading or drawing pictures then adding the words gives our children and families ownership.   The Torah gives us this valuable gift of telling stories through words.