I remember the blossoming of the Computer industry. Hot home computers included the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Commodore PET and 64, and the Apple II plus. Instead of disk drives – they had tape players that would load and save programs and files. My friend had the latest video game player – the Atari ST. “Adventure” was one of his favorite games. The objective was to escape from the dungeon, while avoiding the dragons – that, to me looked more like a ducks, than dragons. My friend was a pro. He knew how to get the keys; Which rooms to enter and avoid. He knew the secret passageways.

In life we encounter dragons – physical and mental opponents. Our Job is to avoid them to find the key to unlock our personal success. What we view as behind the Closed doors – may be an opportunity or a trap. The key to life is to find the secret passageway that will unleash your potential.

Every Day G-d gives us an opportunity to unlock our potential. If Our ears are attuned, we will hear the call of Hash-m / G-d to the secret passageway. It may be an invitation to someone’s home for Shabbat. It may be an opportunity to listen to a Torah lecture online. It may be a chance meeting with a Torah Jew – that you could ask your Jewish questions.

Listening to Torah Lectures regardless of the subject – helps us get in touch with ourselves. The true self is the soul. The Soul wants to do what’s right. The soul is the essence of the person. Satisfy it and you will be satisfied. There are two other components to the person. The Ego – which wants to do what lifts up its ego. And the body – that wants to follow after pleasure (As Dr. Dovid Leiberman explains). When one feeds the soul one attains satisfaction. When one just feeds the body or the ego’s wants – one rarely attains lasting happiness. Thus a Jew can attain happiness through – following after Jewish law / Halacha – because that is what pleases a person and helps him or her to reach their true selves. A gentile would learn their laws – the Torah’s 7 Noahide laws to reach lasting happiness. Two Excellent Lectures I recently heard that talk about reaching ones potential are entitled Maximize Your Potential by Dr. Dovid Leiberman and one by Rabbi Chanan Gordon – called Spiritual Time Management.

I heard G-d gives us each person an opportunity to become closer – daily. If we are attuned – we hear the message. If not – we just rack it up as coincidence.

There is a Joke: Once a guy was looking for a parking spot. He said “Oh, G-d please help me find a parking spot. If you do I will start observing the Shabbat.” He turns the corner – a car right in front of him pulls out of the spot right where he needed to go. He thinks to himself – “Oh great – What a coincidence!” and forgets all about the deal.

Many people are lost. They either feel it – spiritually or are so numbed that they don’t even recognize the lacking. So G-d gives them an opportunity to become closer to him. Me myself – I was cascading in life of swinging from one pleasure to another, one disco to another. G-d had different plans for me. He sent me a stop sign – a difficulty that stopped me in my tracks of following endlessly after purposeless pleasures. I did feel somewhat empty, but I was having a good time. The difficulty – got me to think. “Why Me?!” “G-d why are you doing this to me?” “I am basically a nice guy?!”

That was healthy thinking – Asking “Why G-d is doing this?” But I didn’t stop at that. I Knew G-d is Good and Just. I knew He doesn’t do things randomly. I knew He was in control. I just didn’t know why He was sending me a wake-up call? My advantage was that I figured out that G-d was sending me a message. So I did some introspection and found I had a lot to improve. So I started my investigation of Torah Judaism. In my state of suffering I wanted, pure unadulterated Judaism. Because I knew that that would be the way for me to overcome my suffering.

Thus I tried to assure that all the books and lectures I attended were in accordance with Torah Judaism (“Orthodox” Judaism in the popular vernacular. I don’t like those terms – Orthodox, Reform or Conservative – because there is one Torah – that has one set of laws and we are one Jewish people. Using the popular vernacular seems to imply that there are 3 branches of Judaism – when there is really only one. It seems to divide the Jewish people into groups – when we – the Jewish Nation – should be One Nation Under G-d and Indivisible.)

It took me time to change – but eventually I started eating Kosher. I went to libraries to find Jewish books in English according to Torah perspective. I liked the stories / Aggaddah. They helped me to cope with my difficulties. They put me in a new fascinating world of goodness. I Started observing the Shabbat. Started praying, going to an “Orthodox” Synagogue regularly. Saying the blessings. Eventually I ended up going to a Yeshiva to learn Torah in my mid 20s & got married. Learning Torah and attending Yeshiva taught me to expand my thinking to be able to contribute more good to the world.

Now I look back. If G-d didn’t send me these messages – I would likely be a different person – possibly lonely, single and looking for fulfillment in life.

Today I am satisfied. But am still trying to improve and still trying to capt the messages. G-d sends us the messages. G-d wants us to be closer. Being open-minded to his calling is what he wants. I figure Hash-m gives us life – shouldn’t I at least listen to the faint voice when He calls.