Playing to Win
The action photos of me playing major league football seem to be missing, so instead I respectfully submit one where I am less likely to end up with a concussion…..
This past his Sunday there was a major game and such an event usually produces a powerful lesson.
As you watched the Super Bowl, or even if you only heard about it, there are different ways to consider the outcome.
A story about the Rebbe speaking with a student before his Bar mitzvah comes to mind. He asked him, if he was a sports fan and when he watched a game and his team was losing, if he left and went home.
The boy admitted he went home, disappointed, before a game ended. The Rebbe pointed out, that’s the difference between fans and players: players continue to play the game no matter what, not having the luxury of walking away until the game ends.
We are all players in the Super Bowl game of every day life as we have to respond to the universal message of continuing to play against all odds. We make a difference to our family, our friends, and to those who witness ‘our game’.
Every game has winners and losers, and that is not always determined by the score, as we know: it’s how we play the game.
As much as you may enjoy the game and enjoy the special family time, do not hesitate to get involved in a game as a player: step up and keep on playing your very best to the end.
The Rebbe’s goal was to reach out and to remind everyone to be a player in life, and that’s why he envisioned this world dotted with Chabad Centers that are led by his students, creating a better brighter place for all.
And this is the message of this week's Torah reading. When the Jews faced the sea in front of them and the mighty Egyptian army behind them, many froze and some wanted to return to Egypt, ready to give up. But G-d said one word: Vayisau….Move on. Keep on moving and journeying. March on, put one foot in front of the other and go forward, and that’s what Nachson did. He went into the water and when it rose up to his nose, that’s when the waters miraculously split.
When we play the game of life and forge ahead, miracles will happen.