Living with the Times
That’s precisely what we want from the weekly portion- to live with it and allow to permeate our lives. It is a reminder of the eternal relevancy of the Torah. Here’s a beautiful teaching from the Parsha by the Skverer Rebbe, Rabbi David Twersky (as shared by Sivan Rahav Meir) about balance in life:
“We need to maintain a delicate balance in life. We read in Jacob’s dream that he saw ‘a ladder set up on the ground and its top reaches to heaven’. When a person is too proud, when he thinks his head reaches up to heaven, he needs to be reminded that ‘a ladder is set up on the ground,’ that his end is to be buried in the earth, that he is limited. On the other hand, when a person is sad and depressed, when he is down in the dumps, he needs to be reminded that he was created in the image of G-d, that he is unique and a superb human being. We need to say to him, ‘Just lift up your head and you can reach all the way up to heaven.’ A person needs to know when to adopt these two spiritual stances, each at its appropriate time.”
The Kotzker Rebbe put it succinctly when he said that a person should have a piece of paper in each side pocket. On one should be written, “The world was created (just) for me”. On the other, “I am (originated from only) dust and ashes”. The trick in life, says the Rebbe is to know when to take out which piece of paper!