Parshas Shemos 1/2/10 I want this shul to be Disney World

‘How I spent my winter vacation’ by Binyomin Friedman. This winter I took my family to Disney World. I like it a lot in Disney World. Disney World is a lot of fun and everybody is so pleasant. I wish my shul was just like Disney World.




Allow me to explain.

Moshe is floating down the river in a basket. Pharaohs’ daughter sees him. The verse says that she sent out "amasah" and she grabbed him. The Talmud in tractate Sotah records a dispute over the word "amasah". One version says the word is based on the Hebrew word for maid which is an ammah. Therefore it means she sent out her maid to grab the boy. Another understanding is the word is based on the measurement an ammah which is the distance from middle finger to elbow commonly known as a cubit. According to this understanding of the word she cast out her forearm which miraculously stretched out to grab the basket. R' Chaim Shmulevitz says this was no miracle. Pharaohs’ daughter was trying to do what she felt was right and Hashem enabled her. That is not a miracle. It is however very praiseworthy because Pharos daughter didn't consider the fact that the basket was out of reach she tried anyway. Most of us size up the situation and realize the solution is beyond our means and give up. What we learn from this episode is that we need to try nonetheless and leave it to Hashem to let our attemps be actualized or not.

Perhaps living a life like Pharaohs’ daughter is beyond us but I think everyone can live Disney World. I was in Disney World and we heard that there is kosher food there but I didn't know where. So what do you do in Disney World when you want to find out where something is? You call Gary Lips. Gary however was unavailable. So I walked over to a fellow dressed as Casey at Bat who was standing in front of a restaurant motioning in people. I said do you have kosher food here? He said no we do not but you stand right here and I will be right back. A few minutes later he returned and said the kosher food is in such and such a restaurant which is located over there. Would you like me to walk you over there? I said no thanks I can find it and thank you very much for your help. We went over to the restaurant. We saw no signs for kosher food. I asked the cashier do you have kosher food. Certainly we do, she replied. Could we see what you have? Of course she replied and pulled out a big loose-leaf folder turned to the kosher tab and showed us the four items that were available. Now a line was forming behind us but she gave us her full attention. We asked if they had a kosher certificate. She turned to the page and showed it to us. The attitude of concern and interest is palpable throughout Disney World. Perhaps they do it because they are going to be fired or perhaps they do it because pleasantness is infectious but the attitude is there and I liked it. Someone walks into shul. They approach you and ask “where can I find a kippah”?. You could say they are outside in a basket on the table or you could say come let me get you one. If you get here and the kippas are there the person feels wanted and cared for. If you get there and the kippas are not there then you can go look for them sparing this person an embarrassing and possibly final experience at Ariel. Really no challenge should be viewed as being beyond us but I can understand if we are not Pharaohs’ daughter and don't attempt the impossible. However there are so many things that are possible that we could attempt and if we would I am sure we would find our arms getting longer than we thought they were and we might even end up living in a magic kingdom.