Do you want to be successful?
I am sure you will ask: ‘Successful in what field?’ To which I will respond: ‘Successful in anything you do!’ No doubt you will answer with a resounding YES! This week’s Parsha Vayeshev spells out the way to be successful. G-d was with Joseph, and he became a successful man For ten years Yosef was successful as the general manager of the household of one the chief ministers of Pharaohs kingdom. After ten years he was thrown into the dungeon because of a libelous scandal against him. It didn’t take long till he rose to the top managerial position in the prison. The Torah identifies his success in the following summation. G-d was with Joseph and made him well-liked among the inmates. He also made the warden of the prison favor him… The warden of the prison could not find fault in anything that was under Joseph's charge, for G-d was with him, and G-d granted him success in whatever he did. It could not be stated more clearly. Success starts with G-d. Make sure G-d is with you, and you will have Hatzlacha – success. To me it seems that the world has never been so ready to hear and implement this message. In 2025 society is ready to embrace, absorb and integrate this concept from the Torah. In the ‘olden days’ cynics would roll their eyes at this concept as sounding too ‘esoteric’ or disconnected from reality. Today no longer. Let me share the following popular teaching which features prominently in ‘how to be successful’ self-help books. ‘Sharpening the saw’ Someone chanced upon a man sawing away vigorously at a large tree, trying to fell it. He suggested that he take a break from sawing to sharpen the saw. The overexerted worker said ‘I am too busy working; I have no time to stop and sharpen the saw’. The ridiculousness and fallacy in the above way of thinking is obvious. Today, it’s commonly known that sharpening-your-saw i.e. self-care and maintaining mental and emotional wellbeing all contribute to a more efficient output. It’s a small investment in time and effort that ultimately saves time and effort. And most of all it yields a more powerful output. We are all trained to look deeper than the immediate action. Eating healthy and exercising regularly is a good path toward better bodily health. We know that some things disturb balanced living. Trauma sometimes causes post traumatic imbalance. Output is better when you have a healthy mind and body. The reason is fairly straightforward. The human is made up of multiple components but they all comprise one living being. There are action-oriented limbs like hands and feet. There is an emotional component which fuels our motivations and fears. As humans we also have the incredible G-d-given gift of human intelligence. We have a capacity for intelligence and self-awareness. We are not robots. We are thinking, feeling and self-aware beings. This is why there is great importance and value in recognizing and aligning with the purpose and meaning of life. Because Hashem has created the human with various dimensions that all comprise one wholesome human being, the more we can get the various parts to be seamlessly integrated the better the functionality of the person. When you balance all aspects of your body/emotions and mind you will get a human being functioning at his prime. All this is true. It’s logical. Conventional wisdom tells us this. Many authors have written books developing this topic. Just visit the self-help aisle in the bookstore or ask Ai. Let us now explore the Torah’s perspective. The Torah teaches us that there is a deeper core truth that we ought to pay attention to. The G-dly spiritual component. The entire universe is likened to a body housing the soul. Hashem is the Creator and energy provider of every aspect of creation. The Torah is the ‘blueprint’ of the world. Every aspect of the universe, as spiritual or as material as it may be, are all an articulation of the blueprint that Hashem has spelled out (subtly and cryptically) in the Torah. If the physical world is like creating a tailor-made glove, the Torah – G-d’s energy – is like the hand that the glove is tailored to fit. The Torah’s instructions (mitzvah’s) are the manufacturers guide to the machine that the manufacturer produced. It is ludicrous to press the wrong buttons and pull the wrong levers and expect the machine to operate properly. When one has Hashem with him – i.e. lives life in accordance with Hashem’s directive, everything he does in life will be successful. When the body does not listen to the soul, it elicits disharmony. It can thus lead to dissonance that doesn’t allow for optimal performance. ‘Sharpening the saw’ now takes on a far deeper dimension that is directly G-d focused. The true existential energy and lifeforce of the world is G-d. The material side of the world may be touchable and measurable, but it is merely an external component of the Divine energy that vivifies the material object that was created. Albeit the G-dly energy is not available to the sense of touch. Would you make the mistake of writing checks when your bank account is empty? Sometimes kids think that getting money is easy. Just take that plastic card to the ATM and take out money. Quickly we learn that the ATM is only as cash filled as your bank account. If you are rushing to get cash from your account but you need someone to wire some money to the account, you would obviously need to arrange a transfer of funds to your account first before you insert your ATM card. To give a practical example. Wouldn’t it be ludicrous to skip praying to Hashem to ask for success and rather just going into the meeting without prayer? This is not a ‘self-help-hack’. This is not just ‘conventional wisdom’ gleaned from studying the habits of successful businesspeople. This is the Torah telling us the truth about G-d’s world. The self-help books speak about ‘work/life balance’. It’s good advice. The Torah advocates very strongly for persevering good health and balancing work and rest. But don’t stop there my dear friend. The Torah gives us glasses to look to the core, to the G-dly truth. The Torah speaks much deeper as it is the source of life. The Torah speaks about a dimension of heaven and earth that we straddle and bring together. We need to recognize G-dly input and human actions as being two parts of G-d’s creation. They seem to be mutually incompatible. Indeed, they are sometimes competing and vying for the person’s attention. Yet, really, they are two parts of one dance and can operate in (near-)perfect equilibrium and balance. For example: ‘Hashem will bless you in all that you do’ says the Torah. Two parts. Hashem's blessing. Our doing. Sometimes one will overdo the ‘doing’ and stress and overwork. At other times, they may not be making enough effort and relying too much on Hashems’ blessing to bring the desired outcome. We need to try to get a good balance between the two. Yosef the son of Yaakov was perfectly aligned with Hashem. This alignment expressed itself in his balanced approach to faith and trust in Hashem on the one hand, and his efforts on the other. His faith was consummate. Therefore, his success was absolute. Let us start by recognizing that these are ‘two sides of the same coin’. Ready to be successful? Invest in balance. Faith and attempt. Prayer and effort. Body and soul. Torah study and mitzvah doing. And keep on doing what Yosef did. He didn’t hide his affiliation with Hashem. At every part of his journey he praised and thanked Hashem for his success. So that his success should be attributed to the G-dly blessing. All those who interacted with him knew the source of his success. As the Torah relates: Joseph's master saw that Joseph was deeply aware of G-d's presence, always articulating his awareness that G-d was with him and granting him success in all he did.69 Potiphar therefore understood that it was G-d who had granted Joseph success in everything he did. Joseph thus gained favor with him and became his attendant. His master put him in charge of his household, entrusting all that he owned into his care. As soon as he had put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, G-d blessed the Egyptian's household in Joseph's merit. God's blessing was evident in everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. May Hashem bless all of us with investing in our connection to Hashem. May we be blessed with success. May it be evident to us that success comes from our connection to Hashem. May we share the attribution of our success to Hashem will all those we know, and may they too become motivated and recognize that Hashem loves us and wants our best, which is why He gave us the Torah and Mitzvahs. Let us embrace the truth and move it to positive actions. More G-d’ly involvement – Torah and Mitzvahs – more success, more health, more nachas from loved ones, more peace of mind and a speeded up arrival of Mashiach! Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Yosef Kantor PS Happy Chanuka for Sunday night!!! Light a Menorah in your home and bring G-dly energy into the world to light up the darkness!
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