Faith

Can you become friends with a Rabbi, Priest, Minister and/or Imam and if so is it easier to be friends with this clergy if there from your faith or from a different path?  This is a difficult question to ask here are a few more questions to help you discover if this can be a successful relationship for you.

1) If they are from your faith will they continually challenge to go into this faith and/or if they are from a different faith will they seek to push you in that direction? Can you or do you want to accept this pressure in your life.

2) Is the reason you have not drawn that friendship line because you’re afraid to show your flaws to them and/or find the flaws of this holy individual?

3) Would your entire faith be challenged if such flaws became apparent in this individual of the cloth?

4) Do you believe this individual will help you become a better person or will they continually nudge you down a path that you don’t seek?

5) Are the able to understand and empathize with your world as you do with theirs?

6) Can you both roll your sleeves up and be who you are without crossing the line into being rude or insulting?

7) Most importantly can you truly be good friends through such characteristics as loyalty, honesty, empathy and fun?

I’ve read the Bible/Torah probably a hundred times but this weeks Parsha reading has sparked a new change in my life.  Throughout the story of Joseph dreams play a pivotal role in the way G-D speaks to his children maybe it’s because this is the one time he has our undivided attention without the confusion of the secular world. Therefore from this day on I will try to add to my prayers  to ask G-D that my dream(s) be filled with some divine message from him and that I have the ability to listen and deceiver such a dream should it occur.  That I will hear and see the thunder and lightning before a storm awaits or the sun soon appears.

     At c. 20 years old I sat alone in a prison cell accused of a despicable crime that was behind my imagination. Yet just like Joseph my day started with grand plans in which I would run for office even switching my position on a key belief (pro-life) to get there.  As the  newly elected (or appointed) President of  The Young Republican Club of NYC I had felt a new life as we had removed an individual who had brought shame to our group.  Little did I know that this removal would be the cause of such great pain in my life. While I sat looking at the prison floor thoughts of suicide entered my mind because how could I gain my life and reputation back.  Yet those thoughts quickly vanished as I recalled the story of Joseph and how he spent years in prison for a charge he didn’t commit, only to be appointed 2nd to only Pharaoh.  I instead spent only 30 hours behind these dark walls and with the help of legal counsel saw these charges dropped before even a Grand Jury was called. My rise to power may not have been as grand as Joseph but I was able to succeed in my wildest dream when my film “All Screwed Up” was produced and distributed.

In life we go through many hills that appear to high to climb and might even see rocks of despair coming toward us as those that we have trust betray us. Yet just like Joseph if we move steady ahead and trust in G-D there will be a view at the top of the mountain that will truly take our breath away.  Maybe if we didn’t hit those hills we wouldn’t have truly been able to climb to the top. Joseph might appear to be an old biblical story but it’s message rings true even today.

There are different ways to treat your “enemies” based on if they say something or act in such a manner.  Many times you can overwhelm your enemy with kindness and affection which breaks their hate to you. We see that as Jacob offers gifts and affection to Esau after their difficult past. Yet Jacob realizes that these gestures of kindness may not be enough so he prays to G-D for his protection through this difficult path and prepares to separate his family to protect them if war is called upon. His act of kindness and pray do work with Esau and there reunion is peaceful. On the other hand Shechem offers  peaceful offering after violating his daughter Dinah.  In response Jacob’s children pretend to accept the offer only to seek swift and final retribution on Shechem and his family.  This shows that certain actions can’t be paid off to be forgiven but that justice must be the verdict.  In retrospect there are certain enemies we can offer an Olive Branch  but others who because of their actions demand the rod instead.

We work hard everyday and sometimes we feel that we don’t get enough credit for the work we do but before we complain here’s something to think about.  Without the car there is no driver and without the gas we wouldn’t be moving to fast? I believe that is what Jacob thought when he worked tirelessly with Laban’s sheep and discovered his own way to increase the flock. He could have claimed that it was all his hard work but he realized the materials he needed to accomplish that mission and even the thought in his head he truly owed to G-D. This is why he said that G-D allowed him to succeed.  Maybe if we humbling thank G-D for his larger part those around us will notice our part as well and even if that doesn’t occur at least we will truly recognize the one who can’t be forgotten.

Many times we plan a path to move ahead but because of the destructive actions of others we either stop or turn down a lesser path. Yet we may think that we are driving but we are instead a passenger in G-D’s car.  Issac kept building wells and other people’s would claim them this would distress most of us but Issac kept going until he built a well that nobody could claim. Issac was not persuaded by man and neither should we when our true path is hidden in the brush.  If our path is just and right we must continue to keep pushing ahead and with prayers, hard work and G-D’s will our path will become full of health, happiness and success.

Who knows where our own acts of kindness and charity may lead  us to. Rebekah’s small acts  of kindness led to her become the matriarch of a great people but her acts were done not for their reward but because they were the right way to act. In the first encounter we have with Rebekah the matriarch of many of our faiths  shows kindness to  animals.  We can infer from this message that if it’s important to be kind to animals then surely we must be kind to our fellow man or woman.  Acts of kindness may appear to lead us to a dead end but G-D might instead show us a U Turn that opens our world to a new path of hope and happiness that we were unable to see before we acted.