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Dear Friends,

While leading a funeral this morning, we all watched in horror as a random electric utility pole suddenly collapsed and landed right atop one of the lined up cars. Mine was the car just behind the one which had actual pole on it! Now no one could near the cars as they were draped with live wires. We waited, some more patiently than others as the mess was cleaned up and we were finally able to approach the vehicles.

Last night as Shabbos preparations were about to begin at home, the fuse blew and we were left in the dark, cold and without any power until this afternoon when the electrician could come fix it. Turns out that we need to choose between the heat and the oven as both seem to overloading our electrical cables and tripping the lines.

Electricity is a fascinating thing. We don’t exactly see it, yet it’s all around us. We know it’s there.

Thomas Edison may have discovered it (debatable, I know) but it certainly existed before it’s discovery.

This Shabbos we will read the Ten Commandments. We are told how G-d himself bellowed the first of the ten, declaring “"I am the Lord your G-d, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Upon hearing this, the people fainted and then revived. G-d continued "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any manner of likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord your G-d am a protective G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

They fainted once more, then pleaded with Moshe to carry on. He should be the one to repeat the rest not G-d himself. It was an electric overload. It was a G-dliness overload.

G-d agreed and Moshe took over with the rest of the Ten Commandments.

As human beings we were placed in this world on a mission. Not simply to journey through it, enjoy our time here and then go. We are here with a purpose and a goal. It is to leave this world a better place than it was upon our entry.

Neither, however, is this the pursuit of pure holiness. Where there is only G-d and nothing else. To sequester in the quest of purity and holiness alone. That is not why G-d planted us in this earthly, worldly planet.

It is about tapping into the electricity wires around us, recognizing how to connect them and yet not to set them on fire. To use them to create just enough light that it gets warmer and brighter around us, without it causing danger. These cables are not always recognizable or crystal clear but there nonetheless.

Some cables are made up of Shabbos candles, teffilin or kosher meat, while others come in the form of charity, a chunk of crunchy Matzah or simply being a shoulder to lean on. The trick is to be a Thomas Edison and discover them.

So, don’t be an angel, be an electrician, be a friend, be a Jew!

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Shira, the Shabbat of Song. The newly freed Israelites sang a beautiful song after crossing the Red Sea thanking God for saving them.

There is a custom to leave food for birds outside our homes on this Shabbat. Why? Chirping of birds is the way that birds praise G-d. On this Shabbat we thank them for teaching us to sing praises to G-d.

The second reason: The Torah says that in the desert the Jews ate manna, a gift that God sent them every day. But on Friday, everyone was to pick up two pieces, so that they would not need to gather it on Shabbat. The first Shabbat in the desert some Jewish rabble rousers got up very early and put manna out on the ground. When everyone would wake up and see the manna, they would distrust what God and Moses had said. But birds came and ate it before everyone woke up and the plan failed. So we repay the birds by giving them food on this Shabbat..