Like Sheep

you gotta use your brain i'm gonna make this one quick and you'll tell me how you thought it was however i don't know how well i'm gonna be able to give this over so pay more attention than you usually do no i'm not saying that they don't usually pay attention i'm just saying to pay more attention okay so i think the general storyline of this week's torah portion is pretty popular yaakov the third of the three forefathers flees from his brother asaph who is plotting to kill him he runs to a place called haron and becomes an extremely wealthy individual i call him a millionaire you want to call him a billionaire it wasn't exactly cash it was sheep he worked mainly with sheep and he was paid with sheep with his sheep he purchased servant boys servant girls camels he bought whatever he needed with his sheep and he left kharan a wealthy man with an entire empire built up from all of his sheep sheep represent what in hasidic terminology is referred to with the hebrew word bittel a service of god which is not about you it's only about god and such an attitude sounds great but sounds also very impractical for making a living right well yaakov shows us he dealt with sheep to remind him of this selflessness that when we're dealing with the physical world and whatever we have to deal with let's not get caught up in us but let's keep focused on who we're really working for and that doesn't mean to just be high on god and deal with the world absent-mindedly because that's not going to get us far either and that's not what god wants yaki didn't just keep the sheep but he used the sheep to purchase many other things he built himself an empire we also have to apply ourselves in the world we can't just walk around like sheep but when we apply ourselves the base and center of it all is god and like this we make god more comfortable in this physical universe which is exactly where god wants to be living here with us souls and bodies and the revelation of this is mashiach which is imminent so get in mashiach mode even if you feel like a sheep do a mitzvah whether you understand it or not the action itself is so valuable and i mean you wouldn't feel like a sheep doing an act of kindness so that's definitely a place to start i'm sure you already do many but even more and increasing joy in your life even if you don't feel like smiling smile