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Friday, November 16th, 2018 

Shir Hashirim, Minha & Arbit

Joseph S. Jemal building …………4:20 pm

Candle Lighting ………….............4:20 pm

Shabbat November 17th  2018 

Shahrit

Main Minyan E.J. Safra Syn ……....8:30 am

Minha followed by Seuda Shelisheet.......4:00 pm

Arbit……………………………….. 5:00 pm

Shabbat Ends………………….…. 5:20 pm

Classes………….........….…after Habdalah

All minyanim will be held in the Jemal building this Shabbat.

Choose To Do

"... when Yaacob saw Rachel… Yaacob came forward and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep..." (Beresheet 29:10)

Acts of kindness usually take place when someone makes a request from another person. It could be asking for someone's time, money, opinion, etc. The person being asked could either say yes or no, and if he says yes, then an act of kindness has taken place. This is certainly a praiseworthy act for the person who gave selflessly to someone else in need clearly did a mitzvah, a good deed.

But there's a much higher level that can be attained when doing acts of kindness. There's something you can do that can elevate your good deed into a great deed. This happens when someone anticipates the needs of others and without ever being asked, he simply comes forward. This is what Yaacob did for Rachel. When you proactively do a good deed without ever being asked, then it transforms your act of kindness into an entirely new and higher dimension.

Most people are generally good, meaning, they'll usually do acts of kindness for others when asked. If someone needs something and we're able to give it to him without causing much discomfort for ourselves, most people will do it. These are good people doing good things. Some more, and some less.

Yaacob, however, teaches us how to become a great person who does great things. Ironically, the act we proactively choose to do will usually be the same one we would do if asked. By acting first, however, it puts the same action on a radically higher level.

It's certainly more difficult to anticipate the needs of others and come forward, but now it becomes a supreme act of kindness because it was offered instead of being asked.

It's also important to know that many people also have a hard time just asking others for help. But they're in just as much need, if not more, as those who more easily ask others for assistance - Coming forward with them is of paramount importance.

So the next time you choose to come forward - and you do so without any provocation - and give someone a kind word, a small loan, or a helping hand, you will be emulating what Yaacob did for Rachel at the well. And you will have done a great deed.