WELCOMING SHABBAT

Shabbat is more than a day of refraining from worldly activity.

When experienced to its spiritual fullest, its holiness enlightens all other days of the week.

We invite you to enhance your Shabbat with these words of Torah.

 

Painting of a man wearing a tallit in the desert

Parashat Va’etchanan: Answering Unanswered Prayers

Parashat Va’etchanan: Answering Unanswered Prayers

Weinreb, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh
July 30, 2020

“Judaism insists upon a balance between faith in the divine and the exercise of practical human effort. It acknowledges that while there must be bitachon, trust in the Lord, there must also be hishtadlut, old-fashioned hard work on our part. As the rabbis have it, never rely upon miracles.

We can never allow prayer to become a substitute for our doing all we can do. We must not simply expect the Almighty to achieve Jewish sovereignty for us, but must do our parts politically and militarily. We cannot expect manna from heaven, but must earn our livelihoods by dint of the sweat of our brow. And when we are ill, yes, we must pray, but we must also diligently seek out competent medical assistance.”

 

NOTE:
The above excerpts/quotes are provided by Emor precisely as they appear in the original source, without any modifications or corrections to typos. Text within square brackets, as well as subtitles and bold formatting, are added by Emor for emphasis, clarification, or commentary, and the original content has not been changed.