“Dad, why can’t you tell me the answer? I will score 100 and win the prize!”
“Son, I’m gifting you the greatest prize. The feeling of owning something. When you are forced to think and come up with an answer, it becomes your answer, and you own it!“
When we receive something, we lack ownership. We lack that deep attachment to what we received. It happens to be ours, but we feel like it belongs to the giver.
Creating something comes through investing ourselves into it. We belong. It’s ours. We feel extremely attached to it. It becomes our baby.
That’s why G-d’s greatest gift to mankind is creating an imperfect world, where we are given the ability to create! We are given the satisfaction of being owners of a good deed! How amazing!
Imagine that everything had been created perfect. We wouldn’t appreciate goodness for what it is! Only because we ‘created’ it and we own it, do we gain an appreciation for what we have!
We have basically become partners with G-D, he needs us to finish the job! Now, that is a tremendous responsibility that comes with an awesome feeling of satisfaction!
Next time we come across an opportunity to do a good deed, why hesitate? After all, we are a partner in this thing called the universe. We have partial ownership!! And, we’ve got to live up to it!
Wishing you and your family a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mendy
