What's your blood type?
In case you are O Type, this week the Red Cross is asking for donors to please come forward.
With the rise of road accidents and decrease of the normal flow of donors due to the holiday season, there is a shortage for this type of blood.
The advantage of O Type blood is that while it can only be the recipient of the same group, it can donate blood to any group which makes it the best type of blood for the National Bank.
So if you are O Type, do your part. Donate blood.
And at the end of the day, on some level, we're all O Type.
No, I'm not suggesting some Noble Prize winning material that we can change any blood type (remember, I am a rabbi - not a doctor or a politician...) but blood has many levels.
There's "body blood," the bodily fluid that carries oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body. It's the energy supply allowing us to function in the life we live.
And then there's "soul blood" which feeds energy and spirit into the type of life we live.
In simple English; Passion.
Passion is what feeds us with inspiration and motivating energy. It fuels our ability to follow the choices we make in directing the type of life we wish to live.
Passion is the blood of the soul.
And we need your 'O Type' donation;
This week we read the all-time favorite Bible story of Moshe's courageous leadership of the enslaved nation of the Hebrews in ancient Egypt of the Pharoahs.
On Pharaoh's refusal to negotiate the release of the Jewish People, Moshe was commanded to instruct Aharon to strike the water, instantly transforming all the water of Egypt into blood.
Why blood?
Well, as the commentaries point out, after centuries of spilling Jewish blood like water, it was only fit that the first punishment be measure for measure - blood.
But there's more to learn from the plagues other than "don't mess with the Hebrews."
When locked in the narrow Egyptian Pharaoh mindset that tomorrow must be like today and today like the day before, we also need a wake up call - like Pharaoh.
Sometimes we are so set in our ways. We just can't change - can we blame Pharaoh? - He's like the rest of us - don't fix it if it's not broken.
To be fair, this placid, rational thinking also offers a tremendous sense of security. It makes sense, it feels good and you sleep well knowing things are going fine.
But it's also very deceiving.
While it offers a temporary security, don't forget our minds and hearts are in constant state of movement and change.
We may wish for everything to remain as is but our emotional instincts and intellectual journeys don't allow for that luxury.
We're in a perpetual state of change, searching and exploring the opportunities that lay ahead.
So instead of allowing our subconscious need for change to lead us in whatever direction it may follow - regardless of its merit and value, or lack thereof - let's ensure that our change is conscious and positive.
Let's leave Egypt.
The cool waters of laid back utopia are wishful thinking.
Apathy, Cynicism, Indifference, and overall ignorance are the cool waters of today's Nile River, threatening our Jewish future.
Ask any successful businessman and they'll tell you that their key to success was their passion. Judaism is no different.
The only way the Jewish people have a future is with passion. A passion that transforms the coolness of our skepticism into the passion of soul - the waters of the Nile into the blood of Moshe.
And we're all O Type.
Your burst of passion won't only feed your own thirst for meaning.
You have the ability to share your passion for Torah and the Divine Mission of the Mitzvot with all of those around you.
We need your spiritual 'O Type' donation!
Wishing you a Passionate Good Shabbos!