Parsha Ki Tisah: Stay Above – Operate Within

It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine and to lose our focus on the 'Why' of the things we are engaged in.  Why am I in this business?  Why am I going to school?  Why do I value this friendship?  Why am I putting time into the things I put my time into?

Often, when we lose sight of the reasons we set out to do something – when we lose sight of the deeper motivations and values that drove us in a certain direction – we become a slave to the endeavor or task at hand, and may even sacrifice our motivating values in pursuit of the more mundane task.

One obvious example of this is the many people who take on a job to provide for their family, and then sacrifice time with their family for the pressures they face at work!  Or there is the example of the people who go to school to enable themselves to reach certain dreams, but then resent the process of their own education and the pressure of their schoolwork because they forgot why they went to school in the first place.  Or there are the people who internally resent their friends for their shortcomings, rather than having the courage to talk things out in pursuit of deeper, richer, and more honest relationships.

When we forget the reasons that we embarked on a certain path, we risk becoming slaves to the tasks themselves.

We must always remind ourselves of the "Why" of what we do, and constantly measure our daily tasks in the context of the higher values that we aspire to fulfill in our lives.

Attached please find a Shu-Shine for the Torah portion of 'Ki Tisah': "Stay Above – Operate Within".

May we all be blessed to remain attached to the deep values and Spiritual passions that motivate us to take on the challenges in our life, and to see our daily activities through the lens of those greater pursuits.

With Love and a Smile,

~Shu