Dear Friends;

I hope you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

G-d reveals Himself to Avraham three days after his circumcision at age 99; but Avraham rushes off to prepare a meal for three guests who appear in the desert heat. One of the three guests — who are angels disguised as men — announces that, in exactly one year, the barren Sarah will give birth to a son. Sarah laughs.

Avraham pleads with G-d to spare the wicked city of Sodom, but did not succeed. Two of the angels arrive in the doomed city to overturn the place, and to save Lot and his family. Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed the command not to look back at the burning city as they flee.

While taking shelter in a cave, Lot’s two daughters get their father drunk, lie with him, and become pregnant. The two sons born from this incident father the nations of Moab and Amon.

Avraham moves to Gerar, where the Philistine king Avimelech takes Sarah — who is, once again, presented as Avraham’s sister — to his palace. In a dream, G-d warns Avimelech that he will die unless he returns the woman to her husband.

G-d remembers His promise to Sarah and gives her and Avraham a son, who is named Isaac (meaning “will laugh”). Isaac is circumcised at the age of eight days; Abraham is 100 years old, and Sarah 90, at their son’s birth.

Hagar and Ishmael are banished from Avraham’s home and wander in the desert; G-d hears the cry of the dying lad and saves his life by showing his mother a well.

G-d tests Avraham’s devotion by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The Parsha concludes with Avraham receiving the news of the birth of a daughter, Rebecca, to his nephew Bethuel.

“ Dvar Torah “

In this week’s parsha, we read about the famous story of “Akeidat Yitzchak”, the binding of Isaac. We all know the story by now: Hashem wanted to test Avraham’s faith, the tenth and the final time. So one day, G-d tells Avraham to take his only son, the one he loves, Isaac and bring him to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him to G-d Almighty. Immediately, without any hesitation, the next morning, he takes him up the mountain, binds him down, lifts the knife up and was ready to slaughter his son. At that point, an angel of G-d tells him to stop and not to harm his son, for now Hashem knows that he truly believes in him.

Wow, what a story! Every time I read the story of Akeida , it gives me the chills. What a great person Avraham was. Who can kill his own son, specially the one that he longed for more than 100 years?! How can someone do something against his own principles? Avraham was preaching others throughout his entire life about how wrong it is to bring human sacrifice for idols and gods, and now he had to do it himself! Not even once he questioned G-d for this commandment! He only did it because he believed in G-d wholeheartedly. The act of Akeida was so great that we still benefit from it to this very day. In our prayers on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we ask Hashem for forgiveness, we ask Him to remember what Avraham did and we use his zechut (merit) as a defense mechanism for our sins. Because what our forefather Avraham did, I don’t think anyone else would have had the heart to do it!

Justifiably, when we read about the Akeida, we all think of Avraham’s greatness. But what about Isaac? Nearly all of the commentators praise Avraham for his act of bravery, but we can hardly find any praises for Isaac. According to the majority of our Chachamim, Isaac was 37 years old at the time. He wasn’t a child anymore and he was fully aware of what was going on. He layed down on the altar and allowed his father to bind him down and raise the knife to kill him. He also went through a test at the time of Akeida and passed it by accepting G-d’s decision! Yes, killing your son can be extremely difficult, but killing yourself at a young age when you still have your whole life ahead of you is not a simple act either! So, why should Avraham get all the credit? Are there any commentators who give praise to Isaac too?!

After searching for a while, I came across a beautiful explanation given by Rabbi Frand quoting Chatam Sofer, who is another great scholar. He says, the test that Isaac had to go through was even greater than his father’s test! You see, Avraham heard it directly from G-d Himself, to sacrifice Isaac. But who told Isaac that he was to be a sacrifice? Isaac heard it from his father, Avraham! Isaac must have considered it awfully strange that G-d, who values life, wants a human sacrifice. Such ritual was against all the values and believes that his father had taught him in the past. At this point, Isaac had all the rights to question his father’s decision. Keep in mind that Avraham was quite old at the time, 137 to be exact, and could have easily made a mistake in his judgement. G-d did not appear to Avraham in clear vision. He appeared to him in a dream or trance, which is not 100% clear. Just before the Akeida, Isaac could have rightfully asked his father:  ” Are you sure father that you heard G-d telling you to sacrifice me? Maybe you just had a bad dream? Don’t you want to ask him one more time just to make sure?”  But he never questioned his father. He had full trust in his father Avraham. The respect that he had for his father didn’t allow him to doubt his decision! And this was the greatness of Isaac that stands out and makes him one of our forefathers. Avraham obeyed the word of G-d; but Isaac obeyed his father’s! Giving the same respect to your father as you give to the G-d Almighty deserves all the praises in the world! Yes, although Avraham might have got most of the credit for Akeidat Yitzchak, but the test is named after Isaac and not Avraham.

Yes my friends, from the episode of Akeida, we learn that respecting parents and listening to them is as important as respecting G-d himself. Respecting parents and respecting Hashem go hand in hand. You cannot do one and not the other. That’s why, on the two tablets of Ten Commandments, honoring parents is placed on the same side as believing in G-d. Remember that Isaac was ready to give up his life in order not disrespect his father’s decision. If Isaac was willing to do such a sacrifice, then the least we can do is to just listen to them.

As the parents get older, they tend to be more demanding and test our patience. Although this test is not as difficult as the Akeida, but nevertheless, it’s still a test. Could there be a point that we are allowed to lose our patience with our parents? The answer is obviously not! Whatever they do or whatever they say, we can never be disrespectful towards them. We should love and respect them till the end. This is what Hashem expects from us, and this is what our hearts should desire!!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin

Dear Friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

G-d speaks to Avram, commanding him to “Go from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” There, G-d says, he will make him into a great nation. Avram and his wife Sarai, accompanied by his nephew Lot, journey to the Land of Canaan, where Avram continues to spread the message of a One G-d.

A famine forces Avram to depart for Egypt, where beautiful Sarai is taken to Pharaoh’s palace; Avram escapes death because they present themselves as brother and sister. A disease prevents the Egyptian king from touching her and convinces him to return her to Avram.

Back in the Land of Canaan, Lot separates from Avram and settles in the evil city of Sodom, where he falls captive when a war breaks out in that region. Avram sets out with a small army to rescue his nephew, defeats the four kings, brings back his nephew and all his belongings, plus all the belongings of the defeated kings.

Still childless ten years after their arrival in the Land, Sarai tells Avram to marry her maidservant Hagar. Hagar conceives, becomes disrespectful toward her mistress, and then flees when Sarai treats her harshly. An angel convinces her to return and tells her that her son will father a populous nation. Ishmael is born in Abram’s 86th year.

Thirteen years later, G-d changes Avram’s name to Avraham and Sarai’s to Sarah, and promises that a son will be born to them; whom they should call Isaac (“will laugh”). Avraham is commanded to circumcise himself and his descendents as a “sign of the covenant between Me and you.”

“ Dvar Torah “

The relationship between parents and children is so interesting. At the beginning, a child is so dependent on his parents. The first and deepest terror that we all have as a very young child is separation anxiety: the absence of parents, especially the mother. Young children will play happily so long as the mother is within sight. Absent that, and there is panic. We are too young to venture into the world on our own.

But then it comes a time when we become teenagers and start to enter our adulthood life. It is when we have to learn to make our own decisions in life. At this time, we want to show that  we can stand on our own feet and hence we become rebellious. Often there is tension between parents and children at this stage of life.

However, as the years go by, we begin to realise that having spent what seems like a lifetime of running away from our parents, we find that we have become very much like them – and the further away we run, the closer we become. It needs time and distance to see how much we owe our parents and how much of them lives on in us. Towards the end, we want to be with them maybe more than they want to be with us.

In this week’s Parashat Lech Lecha, the Torah introduces us to Avraham Avinu. It begins with the words, “God said to Abraham, Go from your land, your birthplace and your father’s house to a land I will show you”. This is the strangest beginning of any account of a life I’ve ever heard! Why does the Torah start off the life of Abraham from this point in his life?! The Torah gives us no portrait of Abraham’s childhood, his youth, his relationship with the other members of his family, how he came to marry Sarah, or the qualities of character that made G-d single him out to become the founder of monotheism.

With all these questions in mind, it makes me even more curious to know what was the relationship between Abraham and his father? Well, up till now, because of the biblical silence, I used to follow the Midrash which said that Abraham broke the idols in his father’s house. I thought that he was the rebellious child. He was the man of new beginnings who overturned everything his father stood for. He was known to us as “Abraham the Revolutionary”. He was against his father and his beliefs.

But Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says that was not the case. Abraham and his father got along quite well. And the proof is given at the end of last week’s parsha. It says this: “Terach took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and together they set out from Ur Kasdim to go to Canaan. But when they came to Charan, they settled there”. It turns out, in other words, that Abraham left his father’s house long after he had left his land and his birthplace. His birthplace was in Ur, but he only separated from his father in Charan. Terach, Abraham’s father, accompanied him for the first half of his journey. He went with his son at least part of the way. The Torah says that it was Terach who took Abraham, not Abraham who took Terach, from Ur to go to the land of Canaan, which means that Abraham was actually completing a journey his father began. There was no immediate or radical break between father and son.

Indeed it is hard to imagine how it could have been otherwise. Abraham himself was chosen “so that he will instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord” – that is, he was chosen to be a model parent. How could a child who rejected the way of his father become a model father? Why wouldn’t his children reject his ways in turn? It makes more sense to say that Terach already had doubts about idolatry and it was he who inspired Abraham to go further, spiritually and physically. Although Terach did not complete the journey with Abraham, perhaps because of the age, but surely he was happy for him that he had followed the words of G-d!

Yes my friends, often we begin by thinking how different we are from our parents, but sooner or later, we come to realize that we are just the same. Sometimes it takes time and distance for us to appreciate how much they helped us become the people we are. Even when we thought we were running away, we were in fact continuing their journey. We often see that a charitable father has charitable children too. People who like to do communal work, probably have parents who did communal work too.

In Judaism, there is no such a thing as a rebellious child. Parents and children are never so much different. We sometimes might have different views in regards to religion, business and lifestyle, but that shouldn’t create a separation between us. Parents and children should inspire each other, and not criticize! The bond between parents and children is always there. All we need to do is to find it……

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin

ear Friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parasha in a Nutshell “

Parshat Noah begins by describing Noah’s righteousness, compared with the wickedness of his generation. As a result of Mankind’s evil, Hashem brings a flood to destroy every living creature, sparing only Noah, his family, and at least one pair of every animal species, who live in an ark during the lengthy flood. When the waters declined, almost a year after the rains first began, Noah sends out a raven and a dove so as to determine whether the land has dried sufficiently so that they can leave the ark to resettle the earth once again. Hashem promises that He will never again destroy all of Mankind by means of a flood, and He designates the rainbow as a sign for that eternal covenant.

Noah plants a vineyard, drinks from its produce, and becomes drunk. In his intoxicated state, he shamefully uncovers himself in his tent. While his son Cham dealt with his father inappropriately, Noah’s other two sons, Shem and Yefet, cover their father in a respectful manner. Once sober, Noah responds by blessing Shem and Yefet, and by cursing Cham and his son Canaan.

Generations pass and the world is repopulated. The people attempt to wage war against Hashem by building the Tower of Babel, and Hashem responds by mixing up their languages and dispersing them across the planet.

The Torah portion concludes on an encouraging note with Abraham’s birth and his marriage to Sarah.

“ Dvar Torah “

At the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah says: ” Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation…..”. So, the obvious question that comes to mind is why does the Torah mention “in his generation”, when it talks about Noah’s righteousness? Well, there are two schools of thoughts. Some Chachamim praise the greatness of Noah’s righteousness, since it is very hard to stay righteous when you are surrounded with corrupt and evil people. If he would have lived among righteous people, he would have reached a far higher level of righteousness. While others criticize him, for his righteousness is only apparent when is compared to the wicked people of his own generation. If he would have lived in the times of Avraham Avinu, for example, he would have not been considered a righteous man.

But, why should Noah’s righteousness even be in doubt?! Why wouldn’t have he been considered righteous in Avraham’s time? The Torah says that “Noah did exactly as G-d has commanded him”. In Judaism, a righteous person is described as someone who fears G-d and follows his commandments. So, why on earth is Noah even being criticized by some Chachamim? What did Noah do wrong? Why couldn’t the Torah just say, “Noah was a righteous man”, period?!

Our Chachamim explain that Noah’s failure lay in his inability to inspire his generation to change. He spent 120 years constructing an ark, and yet, throughout that period, he did not convince even one person to repent; not a single person was moved to undergo Teshuva by the knowledge that G-d would be bringing a flood because of the people’s sins. This failure compromised Noah’s stature, such that in the generation of Abraham, he would not have stood out as a righteous figure.

The question that still remains, however, is why did Noah fail in this regard? Why was he unable to inspire and lead people away from sin?

Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky suggests that Noah criticized the people instead of inspiring them. When people are criticized by someone, they won’t listen to that person nor to his ideology. Avraham Avinu’s door was open to everybody. He didn’t say that “because you are an idol worshiper, you can not come to my house”! On the contrary, he respected everyone and welcomed them to his house. In return, they respected him and listened to his words of wisdom. Abraham knew that in order to teach people, first you need to understand them and see what is the root cause of the problem. Once you understand their problems and show them respect instead of criticizing them, then it’s much easier to convince them to repent and change their ways. This is unfortunately what Noah was missing that prevented him from inspiring others.

Yes my friends, in order to inspire others, you don’t put people down, but rather, you lift them up! Criticizing them, will only make them to isolate themselves from you. To change people, first you need to respect them and listen to their views. If you see someone doing something wrong, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt, that he didn’t have proper education and he didn’t know better. Only with friendship, you can win their trust and influence them to repent.

We can see a good example of this in Chabad organization. They truly go out of their way to help others and inspire them. They reach out to people who are not observant at all and try to help them. Their aim is to inspire everyone to come close to Hashem. They don’t only care about themselves, but about everyone else too. They are probably considered righteous people, not only in our generation, but in many more generations to come too.

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin

Dear Friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following parsha summary followed by a dvar torah on the first parsha of the Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

G-d creates the world in six days. On the first day He makes darkness and light. On the 2nd day He forms the heavens, dividing the “upper waters” from the “lower waters.” On the 3rd day He sets the boundaries of land and sea and calls forth trees and greenery from the earth. On the 4th day He fixes the position of the sun, moon and stars as timekeepers and illuminators of the earth. Fish, birds and reptiles are created on the fifth day; land-animals, and then the human being, on the sixth. G-d ceases work on the seventh day, and sanctifies it as a day of rest.

G-d forms the human body from the dust of the earth and blows into his nostrils a “living soul.” Originally Man is a single person, but deciding that “it is not good that man be alone,” G-d takes a “side” from the man, forms it into a woman, and marries them to each other.

Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden and commanded not to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” The serpent persuades Eve to violate the command, and she shares the forbidden fruit with her husband. Because of their sin, it is decreed that man will experience death, returning to the soil from which he was formed, and that all his livelihood will come only through struggle and hardship. Man is banished from the Garden.

Eve gives birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain quarrels with Abel and murders him, and becomes a rootless wanderer. A third son is born to Adam, Seth, whose tenth-generation descendant, Noah, is the only righteous man in a corrupt world!

” Dvar Torah “

When I was a teenager, I attended a Yeshiva middle/high school in London called “Hasmonean”. It was the second or the third year of me attending the school, and every friday we had a class on the weekly parsha with a great teacher called Mr. Bedil. Although he wasn’t a Rabbi, but his Torah knowledge and speech power was better than any Rabbis that I’ve ever known. His classes were always interesting because he used to interact with the students and get everyone involved by asking them questions. And his loud voice confirmed his position of authority that everyone kept quiet and listened.

One week, it happened to be Parashat Bereshit and he started his class as follows: ” In this week’s parsha after G-d created “Adam”, He realized that the man is alone and he needs a partner. So, He decided to create a partner for him. But the exact wording that Hashem uses for a partner is a little strange. Hashem said: ” It is not good that man be alone; I will make him “Ezer Kenegdo”, which means “a helper, against or opposite him”. And a few pasuks later the Torah says: ” And every man should leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they shall become one flesh.” From this pasuk, clearly, the Torah is commanding us that every man should get married. It’s not an optional mitzvah — it’s an obligation for every man! But now, let me ask you a question. Why does Hashem want us to get married? What if we are just happy to be left alone? For sure, there will be much more peace and quiet and much less responsibilities! So why does Hashem want us to go through the burden of marriage?! “

Well, since I was new in the field of Torah studies, I usually didn’t know the answers to Mr. Bedil’s questions, but this time I finally thought that I had the perfect answer. So, immediately I raised my hand and with Mr. Bedil’s permission, I began to talk: ” To do the mitzvah of “Pru Ve Orvu”, to increase and multiply – to have children!!” And I was so sure I had the right answer, that I could even hear the applauses  in my ears. But to my surprise, Mr. Bedil wasn’t so excited about my answer. So he said: ” Well, that is one of the mitzvahs you can perform only if you get married, but that’s not the reason that G-d wants you to get married!” So, immediately, the next person raised his hand and said: ” to become complete, since only when you are married you’ll become complete and you can fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah!” Although he liked the answer, but again, he wasn’t thrilled by it. A few more hands went up, each one giving a valid answer, but none of them were the answer Mr. Bedil was looking for. So, finally he said: “let me give you the answer! The answer is given in the Parsha itself. When G-d wanted to create Eve, He didn’t say “let me make him a partner LIKE him?!” He said “let me make him a partner/helper against or opposite him”, which means that men and women are created differently. The woman is created in a way that might have opposing or different views than the man! The whole point of marriage is to see if you can live and get along with someone who might have different opinions than yours. G-d wants to see if you are willing to compromise and work out your differences with your spouse. And this is the whole challenge of marriage. Why do you think that Hashem demands from every man to leave his parents and cling to his wife? Because it’s very easy to get along with someone like your parents, who have loved you and taken care of you since the day you were born. The whole challenge of marriage is to see if you are willing to get along with someone new in your life, who hasn’t done anything for you in the past and who may have different views to yours! Only if you are able to get along with your new wife and are willing to spend the rest of your life with her, then you have truly fulfilled the mitzvah of marriage. So when you grow up and finally find someone who you think is the right person to marry, the question that you should ask yourself should not be, “Do I love her?”, but rather, it should be, “Am I willing to get along with this woman for the rest of my life?” And if the answer is yes, then you’ve found your partner in life!

Yes my friends, marriage is all about getting along with your spouse. It’s all about loving, respecting and understanding your spouse. It’s all about compromising and forgiving. In Judaism, marriage is the union of two people from the opposite sex who are willing to live together and work out their differences. Why do you think that Judaism is so much against same sex marriage? Not only because the sexual act is forbidden and so repulsive, but also, two people from the same gender with same ideas living together haven’t achieved anything. Two men living together, drinking beer and watching a football game is not what marriage about. The whole point of marriage is when you only own one set of television, and you want to watch a football game and your wife wants to watch a soap opera! Are you willing to compromise?! This is the challenge of marriage!

In every marriage there is always arguments and disagreements, but if you can worked them out and stay united, then you’ll become “one flesh”, which is what the Torah is talking about! Remember that G-d created for a man “Ezer Kenegdo”, a helper against him. But you may ask yourself, how can a helper be against you?! They contradict each other?! What it means is, only when you get along with someone who is different to you, only then, she will become a helper to you and the best partner in life till the end!

Remember that marriage is the union of two people from opposite sex with opposing views. But when you make it work, it’s the greatest union of all times!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin

Dear Friends;

I hope you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

Parashat Vezot Haberacha begins by Moshe blessing the tribes of Israel before he passes away. Each tribe gets its own blessing, just like Yakov blessed each tribe individually. Reuven is blessed with life, Judah with success in battle, Levi with serving in the Temple and being teachers of Torah, Benjamin is beloved by G-d, Joseph is blessed by sweet fruits on his land, Zevulun with success in trade, Issachar with success in Torah studies, Dan with a might of a lion, Naftali with fertile land and sea and Asher with sons.

After blessing the people, Moshe goes up Mount Nebo and G-d shows him the entire “Eretz Yisrael”. Then Moshe passes away at the age of 120. He is buried by G-d, and until today, nobody knows his burial place. The Jews mourned for Moshe for 30 days, and then Joshua became the new leader, who was respected by the entire congregation, just like Moshe.

The Parsha, and the entire Torah, ends with describing Moshe’s greatness. ” There arose never again a prophet in Israel like Moshe, whom G-d knew face to face……. and the great awesome things which Moshe did before the eyes of the Egyptians and all Israel.”

” Dvar Torah “

Moses! The greatest prophet of all times! The Torah says, “Never again shall we see in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom Hashem has known face to face”. While G-d communicated with other prophets in a dream or trance, Moses on the other hand was fully conscious when he talked to G-d. The reason that the Torah has mistakenly, but rightfully, been given the name “Five books of Moses” is because four out of the five books of the Torah is dedicated to Moses’ life. The task of an average prophet was to deliver the word of G-d to his people, but Moses’ tasks were a lot more than that. He was given the roles of being a Priest, a King, a leader and a lawmaker too. He was such a special man that Hashem would consult with him his decisions regarding the Benei Yisrael and he would listen to him. So, what kind of special characteristics did Moshe have that Hashem loved so much, that earned him the title of greatest prophet of all times?!

In Parashat Vezot Haberachah, the Torah talks about the final moments of Moses’ life. The Torah says that Moses did not fade. The actual words of praise that the Torah gives him at the end of his long and eventful life is: “ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished”.

Somehow Moses defied the law of physics that states that all systems lose energy over time, including people. Keep in mind that Moses’ task was not easy at all. Dealing with the Benei Yisrael that the Torah calls them “stiff-necked people” can be very stressful and exhausting. There were times when Moses came close to burnout and despair. What then was the secret of his undiminished energy that lasted him till the end of his life?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gives an interesting explanation. He says that when the Torah says “his eyes had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished”, it does not mean that they are two separate descriptions, but rather, the first is an explanation of the second. Why was his energy undiminished? Because his eyes were undimmed. He never lost the vision and the enthusiasm of his youth. He was as passionate at the end as he was at the beginning. His commitment to justice, compassion, liberty and responsibility was unyielding, despite the many disappointments of his forty years as a leader. Moses never lost the vision of his first encounter with G‑d at the burning bush that burned but was not consumed. That is how Moses’ special character was developed: as the man who burned but was not consumed. So long as the vision of the burning bush stayed with him, as it did until the end of his life, he remained full of energy.

Looking back on his life, Moses must surely have asked if he had really achieved anything at all. He had led the people for forty years only to be denied the chance of reaching the destination, the promised land itself. He gave them laws they often broke. He performed miracles yet they continued to complain. Yet he did not become embittered or sad, though he had sufficient reason to be. Moses never gave up or compromised on his ideals. That is why, though he died, his words did not die. Physically old, he remained spiritually young. Moses never stopped learning, growing, teaching and leading. This was a man who never gave up the fight. And this was his special characteristic that Hashem adored so much — He never gave up! The mortal Moses achieved immortality. The good that he did lives on and never dies!

Yes my friends, you can learn a great lesson from Moses: never compromise on your ideals. If you find one way blocked, seek another way. If you find that one approach fails, there may be another. If your efforts do not meet with success, keep trying. More often than not, success comes just when you are about to believe that you have failed. So it was with Churchill. So it was with Lincoln. If achievement was easy, we would take no pride in it. Greatness demands persistence. The great leaders never give up. They keep going, inspired by a vision they refuse to lose.

Moses was not given the title of the greatest prophet of all times — he earned it! Because his compassion for achievements never died and his vision to grow never diminished!

Chag Sameach & Regards;

Martin