The Struggle Is Real

I have a few aches; a holdover from an ice skating would (I was showing off for my wife and kids), a sore lower back from carrying a heavy box (I was showing off for some employees) and a shoulder wound from lifting too much weight (I was showing off to myself).

I wonder if we are fortunate to make it to 120 (or even a smooth 95) and you were to open up the body, I assume that you’d find remnants from a childhood bruise, as well as bruises from adolescence, teenage-hood, adulthood. Some might leave more obvious scars than others, others might be subtle. But, I suspect that no one gets through life without being bruised.

Perhaps a princess who sits doted over and tended to from birth might avoid bruises, but there are no princesses today (insert your favorite royal joke here).

It is fair to say that no one journeys this life without emotional bruises as well. It could come from an actual trauma or it could be a genetic wiring that gets exacerbated as we journey life. If you were to dissect the inner emotional system of a 95 year old, you are sure to see bruises and scars from a life lived.

And so I say; if you are on the journey, you are a hero! Life is not for the faint of heart. If you get up each morning to journey this life, to engage in what may cause you a wound, to fight through what hurts to make another day of meaning, YOU ARE A HERO! YOU ARE MY HERO!

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In this week’s Parsha we are introduced to the beginning of the Egyptian Exile. The Exile is a metaphor for life and the journey we continue to struggle in each of us with the time allotted to us.  

Paying attention to the Parsha will shed insight into how to navigate this journey, to suffer a little less, to rise above the struggle when possible and to ultimately attain the Exodus.

It all started with physical and spiritual indoctrination. Pharaoh throws the male children into the Nile and indoctrinates the female children into Egyptian culture.  

We still live in a world that indoctrinates us. Perhaps not intentionally and perhaps not coercively but we are influenced by our surroundings nonetheless. And not all of it is good or healthy.

Our journey begins with education in a healthy and holy way. For our children, that is giving them a solid Jewish education. For ourselves it’s immersing ourselves into the oceans of Torah. In doing so we fortify ourselves and undo the negative influences around us and we have a healthier and stronger emotional and spiritual foundation to begin the journey of life.

Whether you are a young person beginning life or an adult well on in years, you are still on the journey.  It’s never too late to begin. Start today!