Moriah Chen from the Hidabroot website published the following questionnaire for anyone who wants to gain a clearer picture of themselves and of their mission in the world:

 1. What would you do for free? Think about the activities you do without noticing the passage of time. What makes you forget to eat or sleep? What subject can you talk about for hours without stopping? Sometimes your profession or direction in life is hidden in the things you would do even without being paid.

2. In what areas do people turn to you for help? In what field do your friends and family already see you as an expert? Sometimes our natural talent is already obvious to others, even when we don’t notice it ourselves.

3. Ask people close to you what they find unique about you. Ask them to describe your singular strengths and the contribution you make to the world. Often, others see us more clearly than we see ourselves.

4. What makes you angry or sparks a desire for change? Which challenges and problems awaken in you a strong desire to make a difference? It is worth exploring, because working on these very issues may bring you special fulfillment.

5. How would you like to be remembered? What would you want people to write about you after 120 years, regarding your family, your devotion to Torah, your values and accomplishments? How you aspire to influence the world and the people around you may be an important clue to your own special mission in the world. 

From the Apple in the Holocaust to Space

Holocaust survivor Dr. Avraham Peter passed away this week, two months before his 100th birthday. Most of us never heard of him during his lifetime, and many may not have heard of him even after his passing. That's a shame. Here is a small attempt to correct that.

As a senior engineer, Dr. Peter helped establish the Israeli Air Force in the early years of the state. He then went on to an international scientific career in the field of astrophysics. Here is just one remarkable achievement: for years he worked at NASA.

During the Apollo 13 crisis, he was called into the American space agency's situation room. The spacecraft had launched toward the moon, but an explosion in an oxygen tank threatened the lives of the astronauts. Operating with complete composure, Peter improvised complex and creative engineering solutions, and ultimately the astronauts returned safely to Earth.

When the media asked him about those moments, he always returned to one small story, which he told countless times throughout his life. In all his lectures and articles, he said those moments shaped him and gave him strength:

Peter was born in Poland. His family was sent to the Lodz Ghetto, to years of harsh hunger, illness, and forced labor. One day, young Avraham was sent to work beyond the ghetto walls, and at enormous risk managed to obtain an apple. Had he been caught, the punishment would have of course been immediate death. He hid the apple, managed to get it past the strict guards, and brought it to his father inside the camp.

His father had not seen fresh fruit in years. He was sick and weak. When his son handed him the apple, tears streamed from his eyes.

But here comes the life-changing moment: instead of rushing to eat the apple out of an almost inhuman hunger, young Avraham was moved to see his father holding the apple in his hand, lifting it upward and reciting slowly and aloud the blessing over fruit: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the tree.” Then he added the “Shehecheyanu” blessing: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and brought us to this moment."

Young Avraham was stunned. His father had not lunged at the apple but had paused to give thanks, to bless, to give this moment Jewish meaning. Then he took a bite of the apple — and shared the pieces among the family.

"That made me a proud Jew," his son said.

"It made me understand that it is not our instincts that lead us. I saw my father rise above everything, and that was the spiritual anchor that accompanied me all my life. Father died in the ghetto, like most of the family. But I survived, and the memory of him reciting the blessing over the apple gave me the resilience to succeed. I understood that even under extreme pressure, even in scarcity, even in the ghetto and even in NASA's situation room — you can be in control, you can function. We are much more than a body; we are a soul.

My father thanked God for an apple, and I was privileged to explore the wonders of creation in depth, to dive into the world of science, and to see the Creator there too — just as in the apple."

For more than eighty years, that apple gave strength to Dr. Peter. Last week he was laid to rest in Jerusalem.

Parashat Shelach: Let Us Not Be Grasshoppers

A verse in this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, reveals a great secret.

Ten of the twelve spies sent to the Land of Israel return to the people in the desert filled with despair. According to them, there is no point in continuing the journey to the Land of Israel. As they describe their encounter with the inhabitants of the land, they say:

“We were in our own eyes like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”

In other words: We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and therefore that is how we appeared to the people living there as well. We lacked self-confidence. We thought we were small and weak, with no chance of success, and that is how the people we met in the Land perceived us too.

Our self-perception is the foundation. It radiates outward. If we see ourselves as people of worth and meaning, if we go out into the world with optimism, vision, and faith, that is how others will look back at us as well.

This is true with our children. It is true in the workplace, in society, and also on the national level, as a people and as a state.