A proud Jewish grandmother is walking in the park with her two grandchildren and meets her good friend, Sadie.
“Such beautiful grandchildren! Will you introduce them to me?”
“Of course... this one’s the doctor and this one is the lawyer.''
Too often, we allow external pressures and societal expectations to drive our choices in life. So many of us think, “What will my neighbors think,'' when making a decision rather than “What should I be doing?''
Last night we began our first class of the new JLI course, ''Toward a Meaningful Life.'' We discovered that humans are unique; we are created in the divine image in order to fulfill the mission of taming and refining the world. We learned that initially only one human being was created and that although we are all created in the “mold” of the first person Adam, no two people are alike. Therefore we each must be mindful and think that “the world was created for me.”
The fact that we look different is because we are different; we each have our own portion of the world to perfect. Our mission is unique and indispensable. Birth is G-d saying “You matter.”
When we have a mission and a purpose to our life, we are free! We are no longer bound to what society expects from us, we make decisions based on our mission. Without this focus, we may have everything we would ever want, but it will be fragmented and confused. When we have a mission, all that we do is woven together in a coherent manner.
The Jewish lifestyle, based on the profound precepts of the Torah, provide this center and meaning to our life. Living according to the Torah’s guidance actually provides a freedom not offered anywhere else – the freedom to make our own decisions based on what we need to be doing.
Let’s discover the freedom that Torah offers. We’re in this together.