Shavuah Tov!! Wishing everyone a blessed and successful week!
In this week’s Parasha “Vayeishev” (He dwelt), begins with how Jacob wanted to dwell in peace and tranquility in the Land of Israel, having overcome the many challenges posed by Eisav, Laban and the inhabitants of Shechem. Jacob wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to the pursuit of spiritual matters by learning Torah all day. The question would be, what is wrong with this? It’s not like he would be sitting all day doing nothing on a beach drinking piña coladas.
But G-d had other plans for him, his son Yosef was sold by his brothers and taken down to Egypt and Jacob was made believe that he had been attacked and killed by a wild animal. And here the most painful time of his life began not giving him even one minute of peace.
This world the Olam Hazeh (physical world) is not meant to be a world of tranquility, that will come in the Olam Haba (world to come). The only tranquility we can come to achieve in this world is the tranquility of knowing what is our purpose here and doing what is right. But the external influences of our day to day are full of ups and downs and tons of challenges or as I like to call them “growth opportunities.” Our sages teach that the purpose of this world is to elevate it by doing ” Tikkun Olam” (perfecting the world). This is done by rectifying our own character traits and doing H”S will in every situation that is presented to us. For sure we have to learn, but not only for the purpose and pleasure of learning, but to put it into action and living up to what the Torah teaches us.
Every occurrence in this world can make you a better person. When you have this awareness your attitude will be a positive one and you will be able to live in peace with H”S, yourself and the world around you.
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