We have been blessed to
be on a whirlwind tour visiting our children in their different locales.
It’s been lovely but extremely hectic and sometimes I wake up not knowing exactly where I am.
It reminds me of a movie I never saw which is entitled
“If it’s Tuesday, This must be Belgium”
It’s apparently a story of a hectic tour of nine countries over 18 days and all the mishaps that occur along the way.
The title says it all.
In the many flights and car drives we have experienced these past few weeks we have been generally fortunate to have things go smoothly.
But of course there will always be a blip that occurs.
Last week we spent three days moving one of our kids from house to house. It was quite intense. We timed our departure to the moment as we were next traveling to a wedding in another city.
Of course the flight was delayed by a number of hours due to weather which left us sprinting through the airport to try and arrive at the wedding before it was completely over.
These types of situations occur to us all regularly. It’s not a life or death situation, yet we may respond to the inconveniences with anger, frustration and vitriol to those who are unlucky enough to be in our presence.
Or, we can choose to control ourselves at that moment.
As Viktor Frankl taught us
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.
This week’s Torah portion which is entitled Re’eh, which means SEE, starts with this statement of choice.
At the beginning of the portion Moses tells us that Gd presents each of us with a choice between blessings that we will receive if we follow the teaching of the Torah and curses if we don’t.

Harry Rothenberg, a New York based attorney, shared a travel story of his own. He was flying to Toronto to participate in a wedding. He likes to arrive early to ensure his carry on luggage will get on board, and this time was no different. He was so early that he was able to chat with a friend and even his accountant who happened to be going to the same event. Because he was shmoozing with his acquaintances he actually boarded the plane later than usual and to his chagrin by the time he got on there was no more room in the overhead bins. The crew told him his bag would be in the jetway when he landed and then he would be able to make it to the wedding on time.
When he landed he waited patiently for the bags to be brought to the jetway but his never appeared. After a very frustrating and extended wait his bag finally came. He was fuming. As he turned to begin his sprint to the wedding he heard a flight attendant calling out and asking him if he had perhaps left his laptop on the plane. He looked at the laptop in her hand, it had a silver case and he realized it wasn’t his, but as he was about to leave he remembered that his accountant was using a laptop in a silver case. He quickly called the accountant and inquired if he had left his computer on the plane. The man said he hadn’t, but did a quick check of his bag and was shocked to find his laptop was indeed missing.
Mr. Rothenberg was thrilled to be the catalyst to return the lost item to his friend (a Mitzva!) and all was good with the world.
He shared this story with a Rabbi and said wasn’t it great how Gd arranged the whole scenario so I could get him his laptop back.
The Rabbi said “I think you missed the point of the story”
“We never know why Gd does anything but I don’t think it has anything to do with your friend. He actually never lost his laptop. He never knew it was missing until you informed him it was found. He did not have a moment of anguish over his lost laptop. So maybe this is a story for You! When you were standing in the jetway waiting for your bag you were furious because you were going to be late for the wedding. But when you found the laptop you were joyous, you got to have the opportunity to fulfill the Biblical commandment of returning a lost object. Maybe Gd was showing you that in every moment you have control.
You can choose not to be in a bad mood, you can choose to be joyous in the circumstance in which you find yourself “.
In the difficult times we experience in life we may have a hard time mastering our responses. But we get the opportunity to practice in the day to day challenges we experience to make a choice as to how we are going to react.
If we choose to be positive and focus on the good, we are choosing blessing, and choosing to see Gd’s hand in our life.
It’s like the joke of the person frantically driving around Manhattan, late for an appointment and praying fervently to Gd for a parking space. After circling interminably and offering the first born child with many prayers, all of a sudden a spot opens up and the man says “never mind Gd, I got one”.
One can make the choice to see Gd’s blessing in life, rather than ignore it.
There is another travelogue that I am reminded of which is called “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Perl Kingsley. It is a description of how a family navigates an unexpected journey with a child who has special needs.
Ms. Kingsley compares it to a trip that has been planned to Italy, with all its marvelous sights. And all of a sudden one lands and finds that they are somehow in Holland. This is a major change of plan and requires adjustment, but if that happens there are marvelous things to see in Holland.
On this trip I have witnessed family members dealing with a special needs child and their positive attitude lifts them and all those around them to exalted heights.
The lives we live are full of choices to be made.
We can choose to focus on what is lost and the negative, or we can embrace the possibilities and use them to travel on an infinitely richer journey.
When we wake tomorrow morning we may not know if it’s Belgium or Holland, but the Torah portion Re’eh, which means “see”, exhorts to explore all the possibilities we see before us and choose blessing.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!