At the Maimonides School I work with the students in preparing a weekly newsletter titled “MC – Maimonides Community”. A new feature this year is “High-5” each week students choose 5 key points about a certain subject.

This week was 5 lessons to be learned from a game of basketball. The students came up with some very good ones.

(1) Dribbling to Advance. In basketball you can’t carry the ball down the court as in football. You can either pass to a teammate or keep the ball bouncing as you advance. It’s the ups and downs in life, letting go and catching back on, that keep us moving! Holding on tight doesn’t move you along (at least in this analogy).

(2) Rebounds can make a big difference in a game. You or your teammate may have missed the shot the first time, (or even more misses than that…) but you can get a second (or third, or fourth…) chance to get it in. Like Pesach-Sheini, it celebrates second-chances, and turning around failure into success.

(3) Shooting under Pressure. It is obviously easier to shoot baskets from a fixed position with time to aim & focus. But in a fast-paced action game, you have to move quickly, think on your feet & make your move as soon as you have a good opening. In life, make the most of opportunities; don’t wait around for most opportune, ideal & perfect situations.

(4) Shooting too Hard. You need enough thrust to get the ball up there, but sometimes too much power will miss the hoop altogether or bounce back too hard off the backboard. Force and power doesn’t solve everything, in fact, a lighter hand often does it better. Be gentle!

(5) Pass the Ball! Even the best players do better when they pass the ball to teammates. Don’t think you can go it alone, and do it all by yourself. That’s what the team is for! Give others a chance, keep the ball moving around the court. It makes for more opportunities to get open!

—–

The first lesson (Dribbling to Advance) has a great connection to this week’s Torah portion of Lech-Lecha.

The parsha opens with G-d’s command to Abraham to leave his homeland and birthplace, and travel to “the land I will show you” along with many blessings. But the Parsha isn’t all smooth-sailing (think of Columbus Day Weekend) soon after their arrival there, Abram and Sarai have to go down to Egypt because of a famine. That trip had its own stresses, and then Abraham had issues with his nephew Lot, and they had to part ways. Sarah’s childlessness, issues with Hagar and Yishamel… What started off as a great trip with lots of promise, became a challenging journey.

The Rebbe asks these questions and explains that life is filled with ups and downs, failures and successes, and a truly successful journey is when both the ups and downs are part of it. The goal is to transform the negatives into positives, turn challenges into opportunities…

Like dribbling a basketball. We can only move forward if we keep the ball bouncing, ups and downs, that keeps us moving!