Now Yaakov lifted his feet and went to the land of the people of the East (Bereshis 29:1)

In the previous verses Hashem made a promise to Yaakov that He would guard him and give him the Land of Eretz Yisrael. Rashi comments on the verse above that since Yaakov was given good tidings, his heart lifted his feet and it was easy for him to walk. I think we see an amazing lesson from this Rashi – telling someone something good makes him physically better. Sharing joy can change a person’s day… sometimes even his life.

As you probably know, b’ezras Hashem, I will be having a book that I authored published within the next few weeks. I worked very long and very hard on this book and I’m very excited to accomplish this (I’ve wanted to be an author since Middle School). But I almost threw away this book. I had started writing it and after I had completed about a quarter of the book, I began thinking about it. I started thinking it was a bad idea to write the book and I should just give up. Who would want to read a book about Jewish lessons we can learn from Disney attractions?

A few months before I had these thoughts, I had given a few chapters of the book to a Rabbi who I was very close with. Soon after I was thinking of not completing the book, I saw this Rabbi and he told me that he happened to find those chapters I had given him in a file cabinet that day. I told him he should throw them away because I was not going to write the book. It’s not a good idea for me to write it. He responded by saying that he thought it was a great idea and it would be very beneficial if I wrote it. After hearing that, I put in more effort and suddenly, I was able to write the rest of the book easily. I was able to quickly find things to write about. Now the book is almost published and I am very thankful to this Rabbi for these words of encouragement.

A few kind words can change everything. Hashem told Yaakov good tidings; Yaakov was in a good mood. If you tell someone something good, they will be in a good mood.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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