Living Torah: Think Positively and You Will See Positivity 

We don’t always know what is actually good. Nor do we know what the future will bring. Always think positive, and you will often see positive! 

By Rabbi Ari Enkin, Rabbinic Director, United with Israel

This week’s Torah portion is “Shemot” (Exodus 1:1–6:1) and in it we read about the decent of the Jewish people into slavery and the birth of Moses.

Due to Pharaoh’s decree that all Jewish baby boys must die, it was longer safe to keep baby Moses at home. Because Moses was a preemie, the Egyptian police did not expect him to be born when he was, allowing Moshe to be hidden for three months.

After that, when the police came looking for the baby, “Ben Amram” family realized they could not hide him any longer.

As such, Moses’ parents came up with an idea: leave Moses in a basket floating on the Nile and see what would happen. As we know, that may have been the greatest idea that ever benefited the Jewish people.

After baby Moses was placed on the Nile, “His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.” (Ex. 2:6). His sister was the prophetess Miriam. (There were three kids in the Ben Amram family: Aaron, Miriam, and Moses)

As “fate” would have it, it was Pharaoh’s own daughter, Batya, who noticed a basket floating on the Nile when she went down to bathe. The daughter of the very person who decreed death on Moses was the one to save him. But think about this: When Miriam saw that it was Batya who was about to discover the basket with the Jewish baby inside, she must have been worried sick! She must have begun praying like crazy! Who would have thought that she would go against her father’s orders and save the baby. Miriam must have been sure that it was the end of baby Moses.

But as we know, Miriam’s worst fears became the best case scenario. Batya sees the baby, adopts him, raises him in the palace, and as the movies shows, he was the “prince of Egypt”!

There’s a very important message here: Don’t always think the worst. What Miriam thought would be the worst case scenario was actually the best scenario. We don’t always know what is good, and we can’t always know what will be. Always think positive, and you will often see positive!

Remember that the verse quoted about said “His sister stood off at a distance…” When life presents itself with scary situations, prayer and preparation is important, but we must also “stand off at a distance” and let God do His thing. God has a plan and runs the world. We don’t know why bad things happen, but we have to remember that not everything that appears to be bad will be bad!

For more insights by Rabbi Enkin on this week’s Torah portion, click on the links below:

https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-how-sticking-to-your-principles-beats-following-your-passion/

https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-dont-be-afraid-to-stand-up-for-whats-right/

https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-in-ancient-egypt-blood-was-thicker-than-water/

https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-raising-children-to-be-confident/

https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-the-who-am-i-attitude/