Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayera (וארא). You’ve been given a task to do, maybe we’ll call it Mission Impossible. You are to get the Jewish people out of Egypt, failure is not an option, you may not say no. This message will self destruct in 10 seconds.

The parsha starts with HaShem hearing the cries of The Israelites. Moses says he doesn’t speak well. We have an accounting of the houses of Israel. The accounting can be taking stock of your resources, who’s who and making sure you have a list to not leave anyone behind.

And then we proceed to have the first 7 of the 10 plagues. Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, Pestilence, Boils, and Hail.

I don’t know about where you folks are, but this time of year where I work is planning season. OK, it’s been planning season for at least a month and it’ll continue for some months. And then start over. But there has been a lot of planning both professionally and personally as the Gregorian Year turns over.

Imagine, HaShem is your boss, he’s actually given you the blueprint (or template) for what needs to happen and he’s pushing you, driving you, to accomplish this important goal. And here is the plan, we’re going to pressure Pharo over and over until he gives you what you want. Less Customer Obsessed (depending on who the customer is here, we see the Israelites are delayed in the desert for 40 years, talk about feature creep), but we see that it Delivers Results.

May all of your planning and execution this Gregorian Year go smoothly and be less painful than having the 10 plagues land on you.

Shabbat Shalom