The Marathon
Dear Family,
Hope everyone is well.
We are still in the French Alps, and as such I do not have access to all Mazal Tovs, so please forgive if I have left anyone out. I did get wind though that Shmueli Bassin is celebrating a birthday. So Mazal Tov Shmueli. Wishing you much success this year for you and your Family. And I heard that Pesach is in Yerushalayim with his Family, where all our hearts yearn also to be there together with you. Enjoy.
We are coming up now to Rosh Chodesh Elul (this Shabbos is Shabbos mevorichim Elul), the month when we take stock of the past year, and make new resolutions to continue in the direction of our strengths, and try and repair areas where we were weak, *each one of us according to our ability,* and through these efforts we should all merit a Shana Tova Umetuka physically and spiritually. - Hayom Yom of this Shabbos
So, 3 interesting threads came to my attention this week which led me on to this week's theme, and which I wanted to share, and these were:
1. An interesting point I saw in Tanya
2. An interesting discussion Mommy and I had about a Guest speaker on the Ted show.
3. Contemplating the above points, together with the nature of Elul.
*Tanya*
Tanya was speaking about how the flow of life and blessing reaches us by discussing the word *behibaram* the word used about Hashem's creating. The Alte Rebbe looks deeper at this word and sees it saying '*be hey baram' *(He created the world with the letter *hey)*, and also notices that the letters of the word also make up the name of '*Abraham', * who epitomised the characteristic of *kindness*. Ie the flow of life and light which enlivens us, comes down from this very high source in the *yud * of Hashems name, down through the letter *hey* in His Name and then down to our lowly world below.
But what really struck me was how this is brought about. It is initiated by us little people, and not the Torah Scholars who spend most of their day studying and part of their day doing kindness and charity, BUT BY THE ONES WHO SPEND MOST OF THEIR DAY DOING ACTS OF *KINDNESS AND CHARITY*!
Which means each one of us is able to initiate this flow of life, light and blessing to ourselves and the world - Tanya, Igros Kodesh 5
*Ted Show*
The guest was an expert in Education and had done extensive research into what makes people succeed in life, by interviewing successful businesses and people and Institutions etc. Her results showed THAT IT WAS NOT NECESSARILY THE VERY CLEVER, OR TALENTED STUDENTS WHO SUCCEEDED, BUT THE ONES WHO HAD A GOAL, AND HELD ON CONSISTENTLY TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS.
*Marathon*
Which led me to contemplate that life is a Marathon, where the long term goal is important, and we do not need major talents to get there. But, each of us, with our own capabilities, can reach our goals and bring down goodness for ourselves and the world, if we are sensible and *determined* to hold on and get there.
On a light note I am attaching a photo of one of the results of our holiday in France :) Game called Petanque, which is popular in this area.
Gut Shabbos and wishing everyone a Kesiva Vechasima Tova for a Good New Year