Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion, Bereishit / A grandfather's wish for his Bat Mitzvah girl

By Sivan Rahav-Meir/Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Posted on 10/04/21

The following words have not left me for several days. The Farkash family came from the United States to Jerusalem to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter. Her grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Friedland from Kiryat Malachi, blessed her as follows:

"In life there is much that can cause tension, stress, and anger. Yet there is a verse in your Torah portion that can help you at such moments: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. We know this by heart, but do not remember it, do not internalize it. I suggest that if, in the future, life is a little difficult and you get upset, repeat this verse to yourself. It will remind you that there is a Creator of the universe, that we do not run the show by ourselves, that there were people here before us and will be others after us, that we are part of something much bigger than us. So why get stressed out and angry over everything? In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth. Mazel tov."