Dear Friend,
What is it like to care about something or someone?
To really care means to completely put our own interests aside, to be selfless, that is when there is true care for others. Ironically, the result will always end up benefiting us.
Let's take a look at the story of Joseph in this week's Torah portion. He rises to the top of any situation he is put in, and even when falsely accused and thrown into jail, he makes the best of it and rises to the top of what is possible in his current circumstance.
Joseph walks around distributing food to the other prisoners and sees that two of them look miserable and worried, “Their faces are not like they were yesterday and the day before” so he asks them what’s the worry, and they tell him. Joseph helps them and eventually years later this would be the reason he gets out of jail and becomes second to the king of Egypt.
What led to this was his concern for fellow inmates in an Egyptian dungeon, hardly a place for a good mood, yet his concern for others is so keen that he notices (aside for his own misery and trouble) that these two gentlemen are more miserable today than they were yesterday. He makes eye contact, notices them, and does something about it.
This is the example of how to care for others, without disregard for oneself, yet without self-interest, just to see and notice others and help them with no self-motivation. Let the self interest playout on its own, and it will!
Some people call it Karma, but we know it is G-d.
The humbler we are, the more we invite G-dliness into our lives.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Mendel & Elke Zaltzman
Directors
Shabbos Times
Friday, December 16
Candle Lighting: 4:11pm
Evening service: 4:15pm
Saturday, December 17 Morning service: 10:00am
Kiddush Brunch: 12:00pm Evening service: 4:15pm
Shabbos ends: 5:16pm
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Daily Minyan Times
December 18 - December 23
Sunday Morning: 8:00am
Monday- Friday Morning: 7:00am
Sunday- Thursday Evening: 4:20pm
A BISSELE HUMOR
Last Chanukah, a grandmother was giving directions to her grown grandson who was coming to visit with his wife. “You come to the front door of the apartment complex. I am in apartment 14T.” She continued, “There is a big panel at the door. With your elbow push button 14T. I will buzz you in. Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow hit 14. When you get out I am on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell.” “Grandma, that sounds easy,” replied the grandson, “but why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow”? To which she answered, “You’re coming empty handed?
WEEKLY eTORAH
In this week’s Parshah, Vayeishev, we read the dramatic story of Joseph—the technicolor dream coat, the sibling rivalry in Jacob’s family, and Joseph’s descent to Egypt, sold into slavery. After being framed by his master’s wife for scorning her attempts at seduction, young Joseph finds himself incarcerated in an Egyptian jail. There he meets the Pharaoh’s butler and baker, and correctly interprets their respective dreams. Later, when Pharaoh himself will be perturbed by his own dreams, the butler will remember Joseph, and Joseph will be brought from the dungeon to the royal court. His dream analysis will satisfy the monarch, and the young Hebrew slave boy will be catapulted to prominence and named viceroy of Egypt.
How did Joseph’s salvation begin? It began with the imprisoned Joseph noticing that the butler and baker were looking somewhat depressed. “And Joseph came to them in the morning and he saw them, and behold, they were troubled. He asked Pharaoh’s officials . . . ‘Why do you look so bad today?’” (Genesis 40:6–7). They tell him about their disturbing dreams, he interprets the dreams correctly, and the rest is history.
But why did Joseph have to ask them anything at all? Why was it so strange to see people in prison looking sad? Surely depression is quite the norm in dungeons. Wouldn’t we expect most people in jail to look miserable?
According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the answer is that Joseph was exhibiting a higher sense of care and concern for his fellow human beings. Torn away from his father and home life, imprisoned in a foreign land, he could have been forgiven for wallowing in his own miseries. Yet, upon seeing his fellow prisoners looking particularly unsettled, he was sensitive enough to take the time to inquire about their well-being. In the end, not only did he help them, but his own salvation came about through that fateful encounter. Had he thought to himself, “Hey, I’ve got my own problems, why worry about them?” he might have languished in prison indefinitely.
Sometimes, says the Rebbe, a simple “how are you today?” can prove historic.
It’s a lesson to all of us to be a little friendlier. To greet people, perhaps even to smile more often.
Aside from Joseph’s many outstanding qualities which we ought to try and emulate, in this rather simple passage Joseph reminds us to be genuinely interested in other people’s well-being. And that it should not be beneath our dignity, nor should we be inhibited, to make an honest and sincere inquiry as to their condition. Who knows? It may not only change their lives, but ours.
