Simcha's Torah Stories Parshas Toldos 5759 =========================================================================== This publication is available in HTML format at http://www.ohr.edu/youth/simcha/5759/Bereishi/toldos.htm =========================================================================== KEEP PLUGGING AWAY Okay Chaim, let's go over your multiplication tables. Great, Dad. Four times three? Twelve Five times seven? Thirty five. Nine times six? Fifty two. Chaim, try again. Oh, Dad. I'm so frustrated! I'm having such trouble with those nines. I'm never going to master these multiplication tables! Chaim, let me tell you a true story about frustration. You know that in the old days, people did not have water faucets in their homes. Sure, Dad. People used to go to the well to get water. Chaim, people even had to dig their own wells. That was very hard work, digging down deep for water. There were no power tools. Avraham Avinu, our Abraham, dug many water wells. Unfortunately, when he left the land, the Philistines took over and stopped up all of the wells. Yitzchak Avinu, our father Isaac, returned to the land and reopened the wells that Avraham had dug. Then he dug more wells. The local shepherds claimed the water was theirs and began to fight with Yitzchak's shepherds over the wells. Yitzchak left those wells and dug a new well. There was a fight over that well also and Yitzchak again moved on and dug a new well. Finally, this well was not contested. He called this last well Rechovot. Wow, Dad, Yitzchak Avinu sure had to dig a lot of wells. That's correct Chaim. The great sage, Rav Yisrael Meyer Kagan, who is known to us as the Chafetz Chaim, learns an important lesson from this episode. What's that Dad? A person does not always succeed the first time he tries something. He should not get frustrated and give up. We see how many times our father Yitzchak had to dig well after well after well, until he finally dug one that was not contested. He could have given up many times. But he did not. He kept plugging. We have many challenges in our lives. We may not succeed the first time. Nor the second time. Nor the third time. That is no reason to give up. The Chafetz Chaim encourages us to keep plugging. Try, and try again until we succeed. Thanks so much Dad. That was great. Okay, Chaim. How much is nine time six? Fifty four. Right! Chaim, you're a real plugger. ------------- Simcha's Quiz Question of the Week Which year of the twentieth century reads the same if you turn it upside down? Write Simcha with your answer at simcha_b@mail.netvision.net.il =========================================================================== Do you link to us? Let everyone know about the Ohr Somayach Home Page by dropping the following text into the HTML document of YOUR home page: The Ohr Somayach International Home Page =========================================================================== SUBSCRIBE! to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions: yossi - Yossi & Co. comic strip in PDF Format ohrnet - Torah Weekly, Q&A, Ask the Rabbi & Daf Yomi in PDF Format ohrnews - Keep up-to-date with the Ohr Somayach Web Site weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion dafyomi - Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into the Daf Yomi ask - The Rabbi answers YOUR questions on Judaism parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion os-special - All the SPECIAL publications produced by Ohr Somayach os-alum - "B'Yachad" - the Ohr Somayach Electronic Alumni Newsletter judaismo - Spanish-Language newsletter on the Parsha & Judaism judaismo-p - Portuguese-Language newsletter on the Parsha & Judaism month - Seasons of the Moon - The Jewish Year through its months Ohr Somayach NEVER charges for any of the above lists. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe {listname} {your full name} to listproc@virtual.co.il or see the page http://www.ohr.edu/web/sub.htm =========================================================================== "I'm looking for the E-Mail address of a student at Ohr Somayach..." Look no further than: http://www.ohr.edu/web/alumni/email.htm =========================================================================== Dedication opportunities are available for Torah Weekly. Please contact us for details. =========================================================================== Written and Compiled by Simcha Groffman General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman Production Design: Eli Ballon =========================================================================== Prepared by the Jewish Learning Exchange of Ohr Somayach International 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 Jerusalem 91180, Israel Tel: 972-2-581-0315 Fax: 972-2-581-2890 E-Mail: info@ohr.edu Home Page: http://www.ohr.edu =========================================================================== Kinder Torah c Copyright 1998 All rights reserved to the author Simcha Groffman