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I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa so I hadn't even heard of jury duty until I became a U.S. citizen. Then I was told that part of my civic obligation would be to serve on a jury if called upon. Well, It took 10 years but I finally received my first court summons this week.

My first reaction was, "How do I get out of this? What a burden!" The last thing I wanted to do was get on a subway and head downtown in this freezing cold weather, spend a few days in court listening to a case and then having to give my opinion that could change a person's life."

Interestingly, this past week's Torah portion lists the criteria for being a judge. They must be, "Men of substance, G-d fearers and men of truth." Men of substance” refers to wealth. A judge must be wealthy so he cannot be bribed. “Men of truth” refers to those who keep their promises and can therefore be relied on.

I said to myself, if Moses were picking the jury today, I surely would not have qualified. So, if I'm not good enough for Moses, it must be ok for me to avoid jury duty. And I began thinking of excuses not to go.

But then I remembered that the name of this week's Torah portion is Mishpatim, which means "laws." In fact, the seventh Noahide law lists the requirement to maintain courts to provide legal recourse. And as Jews we must follow the law of the land - "Dina d'malchuta dina." This includes no cheating on taxes, no lying, no swindling - obeying the law of the land in its entirety.

So off I went, in the massive snowstorm to fulfill my mitzvah of jury duty. I arrived at the courthouse to find hundreds of other potential jurors also waiting.

Now, unlike the way Moses chose his judges, jury members are picked at random and the goal is for each jury to represent a true cross-section of society. And that's exactly what I found. There were doctors, lawyers, nurses, cab drivers, security personnel, cashiers and unemployed individuals. People from assorted races, religions and nationalities. A true representation of NYC. If only Moses could see this room..

We were reminded not to view jury duty as a burden, but as an honor and service to our country, and the procedure was outlined for us: We would be called to a specific case and if we had any bias against anybody in the court, or a personal objection to anything else in the case, we would be disqualified from serving. Likewise, if any of our friends or relatives had been involved in similar cases we were told to disqualify ourselves. If we were selected, we would not be allowed to research the case online, watch the news or read the paper, or even text our friends!  

All this and more to ensure the defendant be given a fair and unbiased trial.

The Torah, too, requires, "They must judge righteously. They may not pervert justice by taking bribes and they may not show deference to one party over another. They must pursue righteous justice."

Although the selection method may be different, the end goal is the same.

In Torah a judge has to be totally and utterly impartial, as do the jurors in our court system.

Ultimately, the case was going to take a good few days, and I was excused because we have a newborn at home, but asked to return in July.

I look forward to having a second opportunity to fulfill this important mitzvah.

As I drove my daughter to her bus stop on the Upper East Side one morning this week, I found myself stuck behind a garbage truck. 

Normally, before I turn onto any street in the mornings, I check to see if there's a garbage truck. I hate getting stuck behind them as they slowly plod along. But on this particular morning, despite my quick check, the garbage truck outsmarted me, and what do you know - there I am inching along behind it. I tried to reverse but there were already a number of cars behind me. 

It was 8:09, one minute before she needed to be at her bus, and there was no way we would make it in time. As we crept along behind the truck, I tried calling the bus driver, but after the tenth try I realized he must have his phone off. 

I was frustrated. Very frustrated. I was in a big rush to get back to the office. I had a busy day planned without any leeway for unexpected fumbles. I had lots of important meetings scheduled, dozens of phone calls to return, emails to catch up on and people to help. But as I sat there behind the giant lumbering garbage truck, there was absolutely nothing I could do about any of it. 

So I got to thinking. 

It's at moments like these that we realize we are not in control. We may think we run our lives, we may think we're in control, but then along come these moments to show us that it's G-d in the driver's seat. 

We think we run our businesses, make successful deals and pay our employees on time. We think we're in full control of our lives - our successes and our failures - until something comes along to remind us that G-d is running the show, not us. 

In this week's Torah portion we read the first of the 10 commandments, "I am the L-rd, your G-d." According to Chassidic teaching, it specifically says "your G-d" to teach us that He is with us every step of the way, wherever we go, whichever path we take. This empowers us to search for G-d everywhere we go and in everything we do. Even as we go through our day-to-day activities, we are on the lookout for Him. 

In the end, we did miss the bus, it was long gone. But, I learned an invaluable lesson. I'd say it was worth it.

I turned on my phone in the morning only to see multiple messages reading "Nu, any news?" and "Anything happen overnight?" In fact, for the past two weeks I've been getting daily messages, emails and phone calls like these from friends and family in anticipation of the big day. 

My wife and I were expecting our 4th child, and her due date had come and gone. For some reason, this pregnancy was lasting longer than expected, and our friends and family were waiting on the good news. "Is there a mazal tov, yet?" they wanted to know. 

But the message that took the cake was from my dear sister-in-law in Israel. She had been WhatsApping me every day for two weeks straight, at which point she wrote in capital letters, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!"

Thank G-d, our beautiful, healthy princess was born in good time, when she was ready to come out, and not a minute sooner. We named her Shterna Sara.

In this week's Torah portion , the Jewish people's period of exile finally comes to an end, culminating at the splitting of the sea where their Egyptian oppressors drown. 

The Chassidic masters compare exile to pregnancy and redemption to birth. The suffering and persecution we experience in exile is called the "birth pangs of Moshiach," and is likened to the pain and discomfort a mother feels during pregnancy and labor. 

In the Talmud we read about Yosef, the son of Rabbi Yehoshua, who fell ill, lost consciousness and came very near to death. Today, we would call it a near death experience. 

When he regained consciousness, his father asked him, "What did you see 'on the other side'?"

He responded, "I saw an upside down world. Those who are prestigious and superior and honored in this world are looked down upon the in the true world. But those appear lowly in this world are honored and respected in the true world."

His father acknowledged, "You have seen a clear world." 

Exile is the upside down world. Pregnancy is likened to exile, which is why the fetus lies upside down in the mother's womb. 

We are the ones who see an upside down world. In our world, all you need to do is check out Facebook, Twitter or any magazine to see which people are glorified and why. In the true world, these people are not the honored and admired role models; not at all! And the reasons we look up to them are completely meaningless. 

We worship and glorify the dollar bill, we idolize celebrities, we respect the wrong things. Things that are worthless in the world to come.  

In truth, we have to ask ourselves every day, "Nu, when it is happening? What's going on? Has anything changed?" We need to experience that same anticipation that my wife and I, and all our friends and family, felt about our upcoming birth. This is how we should feel about Moshiach and the redemption!  

Like my sister-in-law texted me, "THIS IS NOT NORMAL!" Our state of exile is not normal. When will we finally give birth? When will the redemption come? When will everything be right side up instead of upside down? 

The Jews in Egypt waited 210 years for their redemption. We have been waiting close to 2,000 years and we want it to end now. 

So, nu, when will it happen? And what can you do to hasten it?