It's time to take ownership

“It seems that a simple cleaning would fix your vacuum cleaner,” explained the salesman. “We would have to charge $50 to do it for you but it’s really not that difficult to do it on your own.”

“Thanks for your honesty,” replied the surprised customer, jokingly adding, “Does your boss know that you’re turning away business?”

“Actually, it’s his idea,” came the sheepish reply. “He maintains that we actually make more money on repairs when customers first attempt to fix it on their own.”

The biggest mistakes happen when we try things on our own – but then again, true success is only possible when we try things on our own.

The pivotal events described in this week’s Torah portion have decidedly negative results; the Jewish people are punished and have to spend 40 years in the desert and the entire generation would have to die out before they could enter the Land of Israel.

And it can all be traced to Moshe being handed the reins.

Until this point, every step had been directly guided by G-d. In the event of uncertainty, Moshe turned to G-d who provided clear guidance. This is the first time he is not given direct instruction; he is effectively told “make the call yourself.”

And the result? Decidedly negative. Yet, it symbolized a turning point; a coming of age of sorts. The Jewish people had finally been trusted to make their own decisions, with all the consequences that come along with it – sometimes good, and as in this first instance, sometimes bad.

American Jews today tend to rely on others for their Jewish involvement; Hebrew School is supposed to teach the kids how to read Hebrew and about their Jewish heritage, the Rabbi and the cantor are supposed to inspire the congregation on the High Holidays. But the truth is that no one can take the responsibility for you and your family’s Jewish involvement – not Hebrew School, not the Rabbi and not the cantor.

We won’t always make the right choices; but when we take ownership of our Jewishness, there is more likelihood that we will be successful. Only then can we truly grow.