Parshat Lech Lecha - All our actions count

In this weeks Parsha we read about an escapee that reports to Avram that his nephew Lot was taken captive. After hearing this, Avram quickly gathers his forces to liberate Lot and save Sodom. He ends up successful on both accounts. 

Who was this reporter? What ever happened to him? And is there a message that we can learn from his story?

According the Midrash, this person was Og, the King of Bahsan. He lived for many years after surviving the flood. This was the same King Og that Moshe was afraid of when the Jewish People were preparing to conquer Canaan. The Gemera explains that Moshe was afraid that the merit of saving Lot's life would protect Og when the Jewish People came to attack. 

Interestingly, the Midrash elaborates on the reason why Og reported to Avram about Lot. His plan was for Avram to hear his report, and then to go to war and die in the battle. This would leave Sarah without a husband and Og would marry her. We see that even though Og did it for a different reason there still was a reward. 

We can not understand how rewards are given out by Hashem. Things that we might see as small and minor might be really remarkable and great. Things that we might think deserve no reward or recognition might really deserve a great reward and high praise.  There is no way to know how Hashem works with reward and punishment. We can only choose to do the right thing  - big or small.  

Parshat Noach - Self Confidence

Self confidence is a very popular phrase in the mental health world. Oxford Dictionary defines self confidence as "a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgment." If you were to google the phrase 'building self confidence' you would get over 27 million results. People claim that this is the most important skill to imbue within our children. I believe that this claim is correct. 

Here are some quotes about self confidence that show it's importance. "Confidence comes naturally with success, but success only comes to those that are confident," "What matters most is how you see yourself," "Don't let anyone dull your sparkle."

There are many personalities in Tanakh that exhibited self confidence. Noach, Yosef, Moshe, Shaul, Jonah are just a few who at times showed tremendous self confidence, but at other times showed low or little self confidence. When researching on this, I started with Noach and found an amazing point in the Kedushat Halevi by Reb Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740–1810).

Noach understood that there is power to Tefillah. If he truly understood this, why did he not pray to save the people of his generation from the flood? Or why didn't he pray for the decree to be nullified?

The Kedushat HaLevi explains that there are two types of tzaddikim in the world. One that serves Hashem with a lot of passion, but he uses his connection to Gd for himself. This type of tzaddik does not bring people closer to God. The other type of tzaddik is one that serves God and also brings back evil sinners to serve god. Avarham was an example of this type of tzaddik.

Noach was on a very high level as a Tzadik, but he did not have confidence in himself. He looked at himself says the Keshhat Halevi, as small or low in his own eyes. He thought that he was similar to the other people of his generation. He did not think he could pray for the generation and save them, so he did not. And that is what Rashi means according to the Kedushat Halevi in the phrase "אף נח מקטני אמנה היה", Noach did not believe in himself.

The lesson from here is that there are two ways to serve Hashem. The first is to believe in Him wholeheartedly, and believe that He makes the best decisions for our lives. The second, which is equally, or possibly more, important, is that we need to be confident in our own abilities and talents. These talents were given to each one of us by Hashem, so instead of only relying on Hashem to make decisions that can help us, we need to be confident in our own abilities to succeed in life. This confidence can help us accomplish great things, and can carry us through great times and harder times. The same way that we need to believe in Hashem we need to believe in ourselves too. We need to have self confidence.