“Everything has a time and place,” says King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes. His statement is generally taken to mean that there is an appropriate time for everything, but there is another layer of meaning to his words.

Kabbalah explains that there are three elements, space, time and person, or in Hebrew, olam, shana, nefesh. These three elements intersect constantly meaning that every person is in the exact place they are supposed to be at any given time. Not just that, but the place and time that they are at is intrinsically linked to their person, meaning that they have something to accomplish at that place, at that time, that no one else can accomplish. 

We discussed this concept at the Lunch and Learn this week, while talking about the life of our Matriarch Sarah. Although she had endured challenging times, including being kidnapped twice, her life is described as “all her days were equally good.” The reason she was able to feel this way was because she had refined herself to the degree of being completely accepting of the fact that wherever she was at any given moment, it was because there was something only she could accomplish there.

It is an extremely comforting and calming teaching. I have taught it to prisoners who are in jail serving life sentences – they can still find purpose where they are – and to stay calm during unexpected traffic jams and road closures (although that is more challenging)!

It is taught that those who study and take to heart the teachings of G-d’s Providence and the detailed Divine supervision of every occurrence and every creature merit to see it more in their own lives and in the world around them. Perhaps this is why our Patriarch Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, was so quick to spot the hand of G-d in bringing him to the perfect shidduch for Abraham’s son, Isaac in this week’s parshah.

I’ve always felt that the saying “man plans and G-d laughs” is somewhat cynical. I prefer “man plans, and G-d has better plans.” Certainly, we’ve seen some interesting twists and turns in our role here in Leeds, both from a personal perspective and communal one. We certainly didn’t think eighteen years ago that we would be running a Shabbat Dinner Packproject, supporting fifty people a week, or that I would be the Chair of Governors at Leeds Menorah School, but G-d has a way of making plans for us.

For decades, Chabad Lubavitch Chassidim and others have been studying a daily quote from the Hayom Yom, a diary that the Lubavitcher Rebbe compiled in 1943. This week was one of my favourite quotes:
“Time must be guarded. It is urgent to "accept the yoke of Torah." Every bit of time, every day that passes, is not just a day but a life's concern. Days go by; as the Talmud says, "A day enters and a day departs, a week enters etc., a month etc., a year etc.," My father [the Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe] quoted the Alter Rebbe: A summer day and a winter night are a year.”

While we can’t control what goes on around us and where we may end up, we can control how we respond to circumstances and ensure that we are using every opportunity to the fullest.