GOOD ATTITUDE

Dear Family,

I hope that everyone is well.

Wishing Dov a continued Refuah shleimah!

MAZAL TOV TO SARITA WHO IS CELEBRATING HER BATMITZVAH IN LA THIS SUNDAY. Wishing you a year of much happiness Sarita with much achievement and many Mitzvos! Enjoy your Party BEH!

Mazal Tov to Channah for her birthday on Shabbos. Wishing you a year of much happiness with good health Channah!

And one day later (plus a year!) Mazal Tov to Rivky on her birthday. Wishing you a year of continued achievement in all that you do Rivky, with much happiness!

Tonight is the important Chassidic Yom Tov of Yud Tes Kislev, celebrating the release from prison of the Alte Rebbe. It is known as the Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus. Gut Yom Tov to all

And Channukah coming up next week

All the above bringing much light to the world!

I heard an interesting Dvar Torah from Rabbi Gordon today based on the teachings of the Rebbe as follows:

In this week's Parsha Vayeshev, Yosef escapes death and is sold into slavery, and then brought down to Egypt and purchased by Potifar, an influential Egyptian.

From the time that Yosef joins his home, Yosef is appointed to be fully in charge of his (Potifar's) household, because " he liked Yosef ...and he saw that HASHEM WAS WITH YOSEF IN EVERYTHING THAT HE DID, AND THAT HASHEM MADE HIM SUCCESSFUL" (V39:3), and as a result the Egyptian's house becomes blessed.

Now, is it not strange that Potifar should see that it is Hashem who is with Yosef!? How could he see that? Normally one just recognizes that another person has strengths or talents?

So Rashi tells us "That the Name of Hashem was constantly on Yosef's lips." Ie he was constantly verbalizing, every day, that his success in his work was coming from Hashem and not directly from himself.

So let's look more carefully at what is happening here. Yosef is a 17 year old boy hated by his brothers, thrown out of his home, sold off into slavery and lands up in a foreign country, surrounded by dangerous people and the unknown.

He had every excuse to feel sorry for himself, and become a victim, depressed etc

But what was Yosef's ATTITUDE?

• He smiled every day (Read between the lines "He (Potifar) liked Yosef")
• He praised Hashem every day (Rashi's comment as mentioned above) - Verbalising a 'Baruch Hashem'
• He spread the Knowledge of Hashem to those around him by verbalizing his recognition of Hashems kindnesses
• He became successful with his work, and brought success to those around him

The next stage of Yosef's life is where he is taken to prison for 10 years. Here again he rises to leadership within the prison.

And when he gets out of prison he rises to leadership over the whole of Egypt, feeding Egypt and the whole world, while still maintaining his unshakeable faith in Hashem!!

And as the Yosef story unfolds, it becomes very clear to see that everything that happened to him, was part of Hashem's overall plan, confirming his faith.

All of our personal situations come from Hashem.

They can be very difficult, but they are all for our good.

By being optimistic and positive, permeated with our recognition and knowledge of Hashem, we can be greatly successful.

Gut Shabbos to all, Gut Channukah, and with much light and joy!