We were praying this Shabbat morning when Raizy sent me a message with one of the kids, “Did you buy the lettuce at BJ’s?” No, I didn’t. It wasn’t on the list. On Friday afternoon Raizy sent me out with some last-minute pre-Shabbat shopping at BJ’s. It wasn’t a long list, and I don’t remember seeing lettuce on that list. Shucks, because she planned to make a portabella mushroom salad and had all the other ingredients prepared but no lettuce. Being Shabbat we can’t go out and buy more, we just have to use what we have at home.

Believe it or not, Raizy found the list in my shirt-pocket, and there it was – lettuce WAS on the list! How did I miss it? Well, she wrote BJ’s (name of the store) on the top of the list, and the list of items below that. Except for the lettuce! She wrote 5 bags of lettuce next to the word BJ’s, and I didn’t realize that was part of the list, too.

What’s the message? I can think of two:

1) In this week’s Torah portion Abraham hesitates to send away his son Yishmael. He struggles with it, it isn’t easy for him. But G-d tells him, “Everything that Sarah tells you, listen to her voice.” Note the word “Kol” or everything. Make sure you do everything on the list, even the lettuce.

2) I missed the lettuce, because it was on top. Sometimes if I have a lot of things to do, I will do the easy stuff first and leave the hardest for last. Unfortunately, sometimes that which is on top of the list gets neglected or pushed off. In life it is so important that we keep these top of lists active on the front-burner. Matters such as family, Jewish identity and success in our studies should not be left for last.

Sorry about the portabella mushroom salad, but hope you enjoyed the message.