I decided so...

Recently, I called a company to close my account with them. The phone representative was courteous and professional as he collected my information. Then, he asked me: "May I know your reason for closing the account with us?"

Now, I had already thoroughly thought through the pros and cons of keeping the account open, and concluded that I needed to close it. So, I shared my reasoning with the rep. 

Interestingly enough, after hearing me out, the representative found a loophole or two in my reasoning, and explained to me why it would make more sense to keep the account open. I was a bit annoyed to discover that closing the account was going require my wresting my way through a debate of sorts, in order to justify my decision to close it. I agreed to leave the account open and ended the call. 

Love: Fathers and Sons

In the dramatic showdown of power between Yosef and his brothers, the fate of one of them - Binyomin - became the primary focus. Having personally guaranteed Binyomin's safe return home, Yehuda relentlessly expended every effort and made every argument and plea possible in order to free Binyomin from enslavement.

When appealing his fate, Yehuda pleaded: "If you do not let Binyomin return home, you will send my father's soul to the grave in sorrow..."

It would seem from Yehuda's presentation, that Binyomin was a tender, young boy, who still lived in his father's house. Yet, at the time of this episode, Binyomin was actually a grown man, married, and a father of ten sons. (Rashi, Bereshis, 43:29)

This being the case, Yehuda should have made a more powerful appeal, by invoking the sorrow of the young mother and ten children! Surely, the image of the large family in despair would elicit a more sympathetic judgement from the Second to the King. Why did Yehuda plea for Yosef to consider the father's sorrow instead?

Doing Vs. Accomplishing

While tending to the animals and birds in the Teiva, Noach noticed a bird off on the side. 

"Don't you need something to eat?" Noach asked.

"I saw that you were busy, so I didn't want to bother you," answered the bird.

"May Hashem bless you that you should never die!" exclaimed Noach.

(Sanhedrin, 108b)

Understandably, caring for and feeding the creatures in the Teiva was an enormous and time-consuming task. Certainly, Noach could have used some time to rest. But, of what value was the little bird's gesture? Skipping this bird's feeding would give Noach a break of, perhaps, thirty seconds at the most. What was the purpose of it? This gift was going to accomplish nothing.

The Shofar Firetruck

When a firetruck's siren is heard, different people react to it differently. Let us examine each of them.

The inner-city resident
This person hears sirens and honks under his kitchen windows at all hours of the day. He has grown used to these sounds being a part of the ambience which he considers "normal-life city sounds". The siren is no more concerning or interesting to him than the chirping of the birds, or clatter of storefront gates opening and closing.

Mind your own Business

The clock strikes 5:00.

Fifteen neatly-dressed employees hang their aprons, and punch their cards. With no more than a backward glance at the showroom, the smiling workers file out the front door of the shop, the last one flipping the "Open" sign to "Closed".

The bus ride home is spent thinking about the warm dinner that awaits them. Trees and traffic signals pass quickly in a hazy blur. Some doze peacefully, while others engage in small talk about the upcoming holiday break.

They worked diligently and with integrity, and each looks forward to a good night's rest and tomorrow's payroll.

It's About Time

While browsing the freezer section in the local supermarket, an item I have not seen before, tickled my curiosity. It was a small bottle with a spray-top, containing egg-wash. For our less-culinarily-inclined readers, egg-wash is a concoction generally made with eggs, water (and salt), and is used to glaze pastries, Challa, knishes, etc. before baking, giving these delicacies their shiny appearance.

My first thought was: How lazy have we become? Seriously? Egg-wash? I thought we saw the peak of laziness with frozen breaded fish fillets, and pre-sliced kishke. Or when our freezers were graced with frozen pancake mix and pre-formed cookie dough balls, waiting to be popped into the oven for the I-can't-wait-to-make-the-batter-I-need-these-cookies-right-now snack.