Taking the Long Way Home
During my Sixth Form summer break, I worked part-time at McDonald’s and once covered a night shift for someone who’d called in sick. Around midnight, the delivery truck arrived, and I helped the team unload.
A week later, my manager called me in. Twenty pies were missing. I tried to deny it, but my expression betrayed me. He sighed, said he’d have to let me go, and added with a grin,
“If you’re going to risk your job, make sure it’s for gold bars.”
At the time, those words felt like gold bars to me—worth far more than the pies I’d taken. For the first time, I understood what it meant to face the consequence of my own action.
Walking home that night, I kept replaying it all. It wasn’t about the pies—it was about honesty. I learned something that still stays with me: when things go wrong, don’t blame others, otherwise you will never grow.
The Responsibility Within
This week’s Beresheet shows the same pattern. From the beginning of time, we humans have struggled to say, “I was wrong.” It’s easier to point the finger than face the mirror. But denial never frees us—it only delays our return.
Rabbi Abraham Twerski taught that denial is the most powerful addiction of all. The moment we stop running and start owning, healing begins.
Taking responsibility isn’t weakness; it’s strength. It shortens the distance between who we are and who we’re meant to be.
As we start Beresheet, let’s start again—with courage to admit, humility to learn, and faith that each honest moment brings us closer to home.
Because life offers two paths: one that blames and wanders, and one that owns and returns. The choice is ours—whether to keep taking the long way home or finally walk straight there.
שבת שלום
שמואל
