Archive for December, 2024
Put Your Faith In God, Not Man
Thursday, December 19th, 2024Joseph interprets the dreams of the butler and baker while in prison. When the butler is returned to his duties Joseph asks him to remember him to Pharaoh. The butler doesn’t. This is to teach us that we have to put our faith in God, not man. Share on Facebook
A Leader Has To Be Humble
Wednesday, December 18th, 2024Before Joseph can attend his position of leadership he has to learn to be humble. That he can’t just declare himself the leader and expect others to follow. That is the reason he has to be sold into slavery and be in prison. Share on Facebook
Releasing Your Full Potential
Tuesday, December 17th, 2024Judah’s doesn’t realize his potential. But Tamar does. It is only through their union is his full potential realized and he can then become the leader he was meant to be. Share on Facebook
How Do We Handle a Crises
Monday, December 16th, 2024Both Joseph and Judah each have to undergo a crisis to achieve their potentials. The issue is not that there is a crisis that we face in our lives but how we handle them and how do we learn from them. Share on Facebook
A Mistake Can Lead To Disaster
Sunday, December 15th, 2024Jacob makes the mistake of letting all his sons know that Joseph is his favorite. This leads to jealousy and disaster. Joseph compounds the mistake by throwing this in their faces. Share on Facebook
Know The Limits Of Agreement
Friday, December 13th, 2024Jacob and Esau come together one final time to bury Isaac. They leave knowing that they have differences that cannot be bridged. The lesson is to know what we can agree on and what we cannot. Share on Facebook
Ends Don’t Justify The Means
Thursday, December 12th, 2024The reason for Rachel dying before her time was that she had stolen her father’s idols. She did it with the good intentions of stopping him from idolatry. The problem was that she stole them. Your intentions do not matter if your methods are wrong. Share on Facebook
Stand Up For What is Right
Wednesday, December 11th, 2024Simon and Levi destroy Schem for their sister’s honor. The reason the whole city had to destroyed was that all were complicit in the rape of their sister. Share on Facebook
Marriage Civilizes Men
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024Jacob hides his daughter, Dina, from Esau because he knew that Esau would want her for sex. What he did not realize was that Dina had to power to civilize Esau. If Esau would have married Dina then he would have become a righteous man. Share on Facebook
Conquering Your Urges
Monday, December 9th, 2024When Jacob and Esau meet, Jacob states that he was able to live in the house of Laban and keep all the mitzvot. Esau is amazed. Mentally he knows that it is possible, but he cannot control his urges while Jacob can. Share on Facebook
About the Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal is an Israeli-American, or an American-Israeli (I could never get that right) who is unabashedly pro-Israel, pro-US and a great guy.
He has an open mind to opinions that he agrees with.
Besides blogging on whatever he feels like blogging about on any given day he enjoys learning Talmud, davening, being the candyman in his synagogue, smoking his tobacco pipe, giving tours at the Grand Lodge of New York, being involved in Freemasonry, and partaking in an adult beverage every now and then