THE ART OF SEIZING OPPURTUNITIES
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THE ART OF SEIZING OPPURTUNITIES
The first recorded case of ‘Don’t just stand there! Do something!’ was G-d telling Moshe to stop praying, and instead be like Nike, Just do it! Just walk into the sea until the water reaches your nostrils! Moshe was praying, and G-d said, now is not the time to pray, to rely on Me through prayer. Now is time, to rely on Me through action.
G-d wants us to do our part. Not to do Hishtadlut, as if He needs our help. But through Hishtadlut, you are expressing a higher level of faith, that you are putting your faith into practice, not just praying.
The “Do Your Part” mindset, is the most optimistic mindset. If you pray for a job, but don’t send a resume, do you really believe in G-d? If you want G-d to help you find your soulmate, but you’re not dating, do you really want a miracle?
Tefillah, tefillin, are imagination machines. The root is shared with the words that Yaakov told Yosef, I never imagined, פללתי, I would ever see your face again. When we pray, we are in imagining zone. When we say Kaddish, we are imagining the Final Redemption. When we wear Tefillin, we are imagining G-d taking us out of Egypt, and becoming His servants. When we pray, we enter the imagination zone—visualizing G-d’s Hashgacha Pratit (Divine Providence) and miracles. When we pray and wear Tefillin, we are also locking ourselves into dependency on G-d, as it shares the root with the word ונתן בפלילים, he put him in jail, that we can’t help ourselves without G-d. We can’t even move from the place where we are standing, as we stand with our feet together, without G-d.
But just like G-d gives us imagination to dream big, He also gives us two feet to start walking. Only when we pray, our feet should remain together, but after prayer, you got to make your moves. Imagine G-d saying, ‘I will split the sea for you, but I need you first to walk through it, with no preview first. I need you to be vulnerable for Me, and I will save you.” If you don’t act upon your imagination, you are not dreaming, you are just drooling. Faith is sometimes walking, not just wishing. Faith is not about waiting for a miracle—it’s about jumping into the water before it happens.
The Jews are called Ivriim, עבריים . G-d told Moshe to tell Pharoah, that the G-d of the Ivriim, sent you to him. The word עבריים is spelled with two Yuds, because we are not just the children of Avraham HaIvri, who stood alone on one side of the river, alone from the World in his beliefs in a One G-d. We are also עוברי ים, passers through the Sea. Even before we passed through the Sea, we, in our essence, our believers in blind faith. We will work through the Sea for G-d and that is why G-d will split the Sea for us. We will jump into a fire for Him, and be sacrificed for His Name. This is the way we get into the highest level of connection with G-d, as we are supposed to have in mind when we say the words in Amidah, למען שמו באהבה, we are supposed to imagine ourselves going through the four deaths of Beit Din for Him. G-d does miracles, when we stretch out our hand, to grab His. As we say in our prayers ונתנו ידידים זמירות שירות ותשבחות G-d saved by the sea, the Jews that are called Yedidim, as in the words יד ביד , hand in hand. G-d saves us when we rely in Him, when we give Him our hand, and depend on Him.
Seizing opportunities is giving G-d your hand. Nachshon be Aminadav was first into the Sea, as he seized the opportunity to sanctify G-d’s Name. In that merit, he merited to be the great grandfather of King David. Because that is what a Jewish King does. He puts his hand in G-d’s Hand. The Star of David, is made of an arrow going up, with and arrow going down. Because when we go against our nature for G-d, G-d goes against His nature for us.
It is your choice how to look at your world. You could focus on all the things that you can’t change, all the difficulties, and annoyances, all the things you don’t love. Or, you could look for all the opportunities in your life. They are both there, the question is what you look for.
They once asked Bill Gates how he became so rich. On live TV, he pulled out his checkbook and said, “How much do you want? Name any number.” The interviewer hesitated, unsure of what to say. Gates smirked, “That’s why I’m rich and you’re not. When opportunity knocks, I don’t hesitate—I take it.”
Bill was right. There is a book called Outliers, an entire book about how the people who were successful in many fields, including Bill, was simply because they were in the right place in the right time, and they adapted to those new circumstances and realities to “create” the opportunities that were put in their lives. Bill Gates had unique access to a computer in the 1960s, allowing him to code endlessly before launching Microsoft. The word Mazal stands for Makom (place), Zman (time) Lashon/Limud (communication/ competence). Many tech billionaires, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, were born between 1953-1955, making them the perfect age to take advantage of the 1970s computer revolution. Successful hockey players in Canada are often born in January-March because the cutoff for age-group teams is January 1st. This gives them a physical advantage at a young age, leading to better coaching and more opportunities. Many of the most successful Jewish lawyers in the 20th century were born to immigrant parents who worked in garment factories. This upbringing taught them business skills, work ethic, and adaptability, setting them up for success.
This is one of the most important questions in coaching. In the place where you are, in the time that you are in, the people that you are connected to, and the knowledge you know, what are your opportunities? This can be regarding the opportunities in any area of the circle of life. Education, Spirituality, Relationships, Family, Finance, Health, Personal Growth and Self Care. What are your opportunities? This is where G-d wants you to act upon those opportunities, and rely on Him. You might fail, you may make yourself vulnerable, but if you rely on Him, after you pray to Him, He will pull you through. Somehow.
We have never been in a time with so much opportunity. We live in a time that our ancestors could only dream about. Electric cars, AI, virtual meetings, and the inventions that are becoming reality, like flying across Atlantic in half the time.
Even spiritually, the amount of opportunities to grow in Torah, with the latest technology, are enormous. Every moment you are in your car, you can be learning, about anything you want, from anyone you want. Each moment, is an opportunity by G-d for you to learn something. Don’t lose the opportunity. Time is money. But even more true, Time is Torah.
There was a man, who missed the opportunity, to be King David’s grandfather. Most people don’t know, that his name was Tov. People know Tov, as Ploni Almoni. Ruth had in her name, her future grandchild, King David. Ruth is from the word, Shirot V’Tishbahot, songs and praise, and King David was the source for Shirot.
Before Ruth tried marrying Boaz, she first tried marrying a closer relative to her first husband, Ploni Almoni, someone whose name was Tov. Now Tov did not want to marry Ruth because he did not come to the study hall, when they were learning the lesson, the Halacha, that the Torah only forbids marrying a male Moabi, not a Mobit, a female from Moab. So, Tov turned Ruth away. Boaz, who did not miss a day of learning, knew the law, so he married her. This is what the passuk means כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם תורתי אל תעזובו Because I gave you, Tov, a great deal, just don’t miss out on another day of learning. You don’t know when you miss a Torah class, when you miss another level of education, what opportunities you are blowing. Skipping Torah learning isn’t just missing a shiur—it’s missing your destiny. You never know which class, Sefer, or conversation will change your life.
A word of caution. When we focus too much on seizing opportunities, we forget that the purpose of seizing opportunity, of Hishtadlut, is just to express our faith in G-d in practice. Hishtadlut is not meant to be, that the amount you hustle, will be the amount that you will have or achieve.
In this week’s Parasha, we learn about the Mannah. G-d commands Moshe that He wants the Mannah to be stored in a jar for eternity, in the Holy Ark, alongside the Tablets. What is the reason, that out of all the miracles that G-d did for the Jews, G-d wants a jar specifically of Mannah to remember the miracle? Why not a jar of blood, a jar of frogs, a jar of locust? And why was Moshe specifically supposed to place the jar in the place of the Holy Ark?
There was a message that G-d wanted us to remember, forever, as the prophet Yirmiyahu once reminded the Nation. The people complained to Yirmiyahu that if they would learn Torah, who would support them, financially? They don’t have time to learn Torah, because they are working so hard! Yirmiyahu went into the Holy of Holies, and took out the jar of Mannah. He said, the same G-d who supported the Jews with the Mannah for 40 years in the Desert, is the same G-d who will support you!
Picture this: Moshe would teach Torah in the desert from morning to night. Families were dependent on their fathers to bring home food for the family, for the entire day, and fathers would try to be responsible. Whatever Mannah they collected in the morning, is all the food they would have for the day. Some fathers collected as much as they can, for their large families. Many fathers had adopted a few families, as only 20 percent of the fathers left Egypt. 80 percent of dads died in the plague of darkness. Some fathers adopted up to 5 families, as the passuk says, זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך. Each birth in Egypt, was 6 children at a time, so there must have been a lot of Mannah to be collected for each family. But Moshe was starting to teach Torah!! How could you come late to class?
There were some who gathered whatever they could, even if it was not that much, but once class started, they made sure to be there on time! And G-d made His miracle, that the one who gathered more, did not gain any more than the one who gathered less. In the end of the day, the one who learned more, and gathered less, did not lack one bit, from the one who learned less and gathered more! They all had exactly how much they needed!
This test was to be put in a place to be remembered forever, because this is the miracle that goes on forever, as this financial test keeps repeating itself. Which opportunities do you chase, and how hard do you chase them? We must ask our Rabbis and mentors, these questions if we want to know what opportunities, exactly, G-d wants from us to focus on! You don’t want to work, when you are supposed to learn, because the money you make, when you are supposed to learn is not money that G-d is giving you. That is money that you are taking, because G-d could have given you that money in the time that you work, without taking from the time that you learn! The rule is, that money that G-d gives you in your work hours that is balanced and healthy, that money is yours to keep. But the money that you make, when you work unnecessarily on Hol Hamoed, unnecessarily close to Shabbat, off of interest, during times when you are supposed to learn, or during times when you are supposed to spend with family, that is money that you don’t want, opportunities you don’t want. That is money that G-d is not giving you. That money, G-d eventually takes away. There is no beracha in it.
Moshe was to put the jar of Mannah next to the Holy Ark, the representation of Torah study, to teach, that the only way to learn Torah, is to practice this belief, and manage your opportunities wisely.
