The crowd is going wild! There are ten seconds left in the basketball game, and the home team is down by one point. The coach calls “time out,” and draws up a play for the star player, David. The ball is thrown into play, however the team can’t get the ball into David’s hands. Instead, the ball goes to another player, Sam, who has a wide open shot. Sam thinks about shooting, but then doubts himself to much, gets nervous, and passes the ball away. With less than a second left, the ball is chucked up, and……..the ball doesn’t go in. The whole team is upset and walk into the locker room with their heads down. The coach tells the team that they tried their hardest and that they will get them next time.  However, he asks Sam, who couldn’t get himself to shoot, to stay behind. The coach sat him down and said, “Look, you cost us the game. I may not have drawn up the play for you, but I put you in the game for a reason. You were in there because I believed you could make that last shot if you had to take it.” The coach walked out, but Sam sat there for awhile, grateful that his coach believed in him, yet frustrated he didn’t believe in himself.

This week is a very special one in the Jewish world, as we just celebrated Simchat Torah. We have just finished reading through the torah and are now going to start it over again.  We begin with the parsha of Bereishit.

Bereishit is the start of it all. Hashem creates the world (including Shabbat), puts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they are persuaded to eat from the Tree of Knowledge against Hashem’s commands, and then they are punished and kicked out of the Garden of Eden for eating the tree’s fruits. Cain and Abel, the sons of  Adam and Eve are born; Cain kills Abel because he was jealous about Abel’s superior offering to Hashem, and Hashem curses Cain. Lastly, the ten generations from Adam to Noah are talked about.

There were three specific parts that really stood out to me. First, is the fact that Hashem put his trust into Adam and Eve, rather than just making it impossible for them to eat from the tree of knowledge. Second, was that Hashem asked Adam where he was, after they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge. The Midrash Aggadah states that Hashem knew where Adam was. Therefore, the question was not asked to find out where Adam was, but rather to “initiate a dialogue so Adam would not be terrified to repent” for eating from the tree. The last incident that stood out, was when Hashem asked Cain where Abel was when he showed up alone. The Mediaeval commentator, Rashi states, that just like the case with Adam earlier, Hashem knew that Cain had murdered Abel. However, Hashem asked the question anyways in order to “give him the opportunity to confess and repent”. In all three of the events, Hashem puts his trust in people, and gives them the opportunity to have enough faith in themselves to either prevent or repent for a sin. Just like the coach believed in Sam and put him on the court in the final seconds of the game, Hashem shows he believes in us and puts his faith in every single one of us, by putting us on the “court of life”.  Also, just like Sam realized that if his coach believed in him, he must believe in himself, we must remember that if Hashem believes in us, we must have faith in ourselves as well.

As we are kickstarting the new year and restarting the Torah, let’s make an effort to remember that not only Hashem, but also people around you have faith in you, and use that to believe in yourself and to have the confidence to go out and make a difference in this world.

Shabbat Shalom!

Elliot Berdy

Regional Board Member 2016/17

OC NCSY Chapter