“This week, after a day of missiles, sirens, threats – everything suddenly stopped.

And I asked myself:

Why are we stopping?

If we can finish the job, if the evil can finally be dealt with, then why does it feel like we’re pulling back at the very moment of opportunity that we’ve been waiting for?

And it’s easy to get pulled into all the usual explanations. Politics. Trump. Bibi. America. Strategy.

Maybe some of that is true.

But I keep wondering if Hashem is giving us a chance to think about something much deeper here.

What if Hashem really wants to give us all of the blessings, but we’re simply not ready to receive them?

What if we’re holding ourselves back from being able to receive everything we’ve davened for for so long?

This week we read Parshat Korach. It’s a story that goes way beyond disagreement. We have disagreements all the time. Korach was a machloket that tore Am Yisrael apart.

And when it comes to disagreements, Chazal teach us that “Shalom” is the only vessel Hashem found capable of holding blessing.

Without Shalom, we’re like a vessel filled with holes that can’t hold what is poured into it.

I look around right now, and I see so much goodness. So much sacrifice. So much courage. I also see how quickly we fall back into anger, camps, labels, and suspicion of one another.

So maybe the avodah of this moment is not only asking Hashem to destroy evil.

Maybe it’s being sure that we’re becoming a kli that can actually hold the bracha we’ve been davening for.

So this week, let’s try something that might feel revolutionary – let’s love a little more than feels comfortable.

Call someone.
Forgive someone.
Judge someone a little less.

Go out of your way for another Jew.

Build one more piece of the kli.

Because Hashem wants to give us everything. We just need to be ready to receive it, and hold on to it all.

Have a beautiful Shabbos.”