Two Minute Torah Podcast

Balak 5772 by Eliana Light

My name is Eliana Light, I am currently a student at Brandeis University, and this is the Koach two minute Torah podcast.

So this week's parsha is Balak, and when I went to open the tanach to look inside, and saw the first line, all I could think of was one of my bat mitzvah students, Hailey. I tutor online through a tutoring service that reaches out to mostly unaffiliated families. They set them up with a tutor and we do a really fast version of getting ready for Bat Mitzvah. For example, Hailey and I had about two months to learn all of the trope and also master the first three lines of her Torah portion, which happened to be Balak, learn the shma, and learn the Torah blessings. Now for someone who has grown up around Torah and synagogue all their lives, this doesn't seem like such a monumental task, but for Hailey, this was exceedingly difficult. She had just gone through the Hebrew program, had just learned how to read trope, and now she had to read three lines, out of the Torah, in a little over three weeks. So I think this actually can serve as a big lesson because sometimes it's a lot harder for us to do things than it is for other people, and we might feel bad about taking pleasure in those little victories, which seem like big victories to us. But we have to know that it's okay. And for other people, for me for example, I just started learning guitar, “just,” I've been doing it for three months or four months but it seems like “just” because I can barely change chords. But when I do, it feels really good. Now for someone that's been playing guitar their whole life, it's not going to feel as great, but we can't take those little victories away from us. So this weekend, I want you to think of my Bat Mitzvah student Hailey, who is celebrating her Bat Mitzvah at this moment and remember to take pride in your little victories. Thanks and Shabbat Shalom!