Today we concluded the last day of Camp Gan Israel in Sioux Falls! This is our third year offering the day camp here in town, and the cheers and happy voices of the campers filled the streets throughout an incredible week. They learned more about mitzvahs such as Tzedaka and Shabbat and about Hashem. Most importantly, they made some new friends and developed a stronger Jewish identity and sense of community. 
For some of the children, this experience was particularly meaningful, as they might be the only Jewish child in their class, grade, or even their entire school. 
This reminded me of a story from 1984 on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Eli Groisman was the only Jewish child in his school, and as he retold it, things weren’t always easy; he often felt small and lonely:
“I had a very difficult time at school. Although I was brought up in a non-observant household… non-Jewish students picked fights with me, and I even felt that my teachers and the school's principal were taking their side. When I reached 7th grade… I started skipping school. I spent my days playing golf at the nearby golf club, returning to the school grounds in time to meet my father, who drove me home every day.”
Groisman eventually confided in his parents about his struggles. His father was devastated and spoke to the principal, but nothing seemed to help. He went to the Synagogue, where he broke down in tears, praying that G-d would help his child.
Around that time, the Rebbe dispatched two Chabad rabbis to Curaçao to visit the small Jewish community there. When Groisman met them, he was in shock. It seemed miraculous, he said, that they arrived just when he needed them most. The rabbis uplifted the Groisman family and arranged for the young boy to spend the summer at Camp Gan Israel in New York.
Before the rabbis returned home, Groisman’s father, Chayim, gave them a note to deliver to the Rebbe, thanking him for sending the rabbis and for his concern, even “for a small Jew from Curaçao.”
The Rebbe’s response came shortly thereafter, thanking Groisman for his wishes, before adding:
“I must take exception to your referring to yourself as: “a small Jew from Curaçao.” There is surely no need to emphasize to you at length that every Jew, man or woman, has a Nefesh Elokis which is a “part of G‑dliness above,” as explained in the Tanya, beginning of chapter two. Thus, there is no such thing as “a small Jew,” and a Jew must never underestimate his or her tremendous potential.”
May each of us, and all humanity, recognize our tremendous potential, and be free from all anxiety, material or spiritual worry, and from anything that might distract us from serving G‑d wholeheartedly and with joy.

One of the most common questions I’m asked as a rabbi is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or some variation of that age-old question. It’s something that bothers people because it is often also very personal. But a more interesting question might be: Why is there evil at all? Why did G-d create it? Why would He allow something that makes life difficult for us to exist?
The roots of this might be found in this week’s Torah portion, where the verse says, “See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.” G-d tells us that blessing comes from listening to the Torah and mitzvahs, and the curse from rejecting them.
The reason G-d allows evil to exist is so that we can have free choice. If there were no evil, we would not have the ability to choose to do good. We would simply do good as a function of our existence. There would be no virtue or praise for someone who did something good, nor condemnation of someone who chose otherwise.
But this idea goes deeper. When we realize that evil was not created simply to cause us harm, but to give us the opportunity to choose something greater, then even its existence serves a positive purpose and gives us some perspective on why G-d created it. This also gives us the strength not to be deterred by evil. When we know that its existence gives us the opportunity to reject it and choose good, our struggle with it becomes much easier.
Thinking about this has helped me look for the hidden blessings in things I might otherwise immediately see as bad, and pushed me to try to turn those negative things into catalysts for even greater good. 
But perhaps most important are the opening words of the verse: “See, I set before you today.” When we can achieve the mindset that G-d’s words are not just something ancient from the past, but that we can actually “see” that they are actively “before you today,” we will merit G-d’s full blessings for good health, happiness, and prosperity, when all evil will cease to exist with the coming of Moshiach.