What Are You Going to do About it?
We live in the information age. Our inboxes, cell phones, Facebook and Twitter messages, continually feed us facts, figures, invitations, statistics, humor, heartfelt tales, important fundraising campaigns, comics, etc. etc.
But how much of what we hear do we actually act upon or internalize?
Our Exodus from Egypt, the 10 plagues, and the splitting of the sea were events that reverberated across the world. As the Torah tells us (Exodus 15:14) “The nations heard and they were shaken” by the magnitude of these events.
For the first time, the G‑d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had publicly revealed himself; his glory and might on display for all to see. It was front page news. The “Egyptian Morning Gazette”, the “Mesopotamian Post”, and the “Canaanite Free Press” were all over the story.
But while everyone heard about, only one man decided to do something about it – Yitro, the father in law of Moshe. As the opening sentence of this week’s Torah Portion tells us: Yitro heard all that G‑d had done for Moses and for Israel. So he took his family and came to the desert to join the Jewish People” (Exodus 19:1-5)
They tell the story about a family in the shtetl who tragically lost their home in a fire. In the synagogue the next morning four men are sitting around; each expressing his sorrow and grief. “Oy, I feel terrible”, said the first man. “Oy, I feel so bad”, said the second man. “Oy, what a tragedy”, said the third. At which point the fourth man reached into his pocket, pulled out some money and said, “I feel bad $10. How bad do you feel?”
Dear friends, the Torah is not merely a great history book or a fabulous guide for life’s conundrums. It is a call to action. In fact, the Hebrew word Torah means teaching or instruction.
We, the generation of the information age, are blessed to be the recipients of so many wonderful Jewish messages and so many important causes to support; so much important information (providing we properly filter out all the garbage).
Let us take Yitro’s lead. Let us internalize the information and translate it into action.
Fruma and our children – Malka, Yaakov, Shimi, Mendel, Mushka, Riva, Rachmiel, & baby Yosef – join me in wishing you a Shabbat Shalom!
