Begin saying Barech Alenu in Arbit Thursday December 5th
Edmond J. Safra & Joseph S. Jemal Synagogues
Turnberry Village & Porto Vita Minyan
Shabbat Vayesse- Prayer & Class Schedule
Shabbat Vayesse
Friday, December 6th
Shahrit - 7:00 am
Minha & Shir Hashirim - 4:15 pm
Candle Lighting - 4:14 pm
Shabbat December 7th
Shahrit - 8:15 am
Rabbi’s Class - after Habdalah
Minha followed by Seuda Shelisheet - 3:55 pm
Arbit - 4:55 pm
Shabbat Ends - 5:13
Shabbat Vayesse
"... 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 misvah, 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. 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. By acting first, it puts the same action on a 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, it will be an act equal to what Yaacob did for Rachel at the well. And you will have done a great deed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Isaac Farhi