Wednesday, May 24, 2017

The value of values and a clear perspective!

The holiday of Shavuot, when Jews worldwide celebrate the receiving of the Torah,  is just over a week away and its time for us to ask ourselves a fundamental question?What Role does Torah play in our lives?
Do we view the world and are our values truly shaped by a Torah- Centric lens, or are our views and opinions shaped more by the current trends on facebook, the opinions on NPR or our most recently watched movie? 
We are living in very challenging, confusing and unsettling times... . so many values, beliefs and centuary old institutions have come into question; political ideologies or religious  theologies that just a few years ago seemed solid and dependable are no longer trusted or relied upon and people dont trust  not just used car sales-people or politicians, but we no longer trust
the Media
the Police
Teachers
Rabbis
Schools
Doctors
Hospitals
the Banks
 or the Economy!
Living in a world where so much cannot be trusted or relied upon is very unsettling. NPR itself has a radio show right now called "The United States of Anxiety".

But as Jews we do have something very precious... we do have something that despite all of this uncertainty and dissillutionment is still Rock Solid...
we do have the Torah!
Torah values are not dependent on current trends...Torah values provide light and clarity in an ever increasing muddled reality, but unless we involve ourselves with authentic Torah learning, we cannot take advantage of this great gift. Without Torah learning, even if we have taken on the commitments to be observant,  we remain vulnerable to having our world view shaped by every  social trend or new" ism" out there.
and of course we cannot inspire our kids unless we are truly connected!
 Learning Torah gives us the opportunity to shape our own outlook and perspective into one that is Torah-True....
I encourage you to join me, every  Wednesday evening at 7:45pm as we connect to authentic Torah,
discussing the weekly Parsha or  upcoming holidays with Chassidic insights, some Tanya and of course a great cup of Tea.


Torah Learning Circle: TLC
Chassidic Insights into living your best life!
(Featuring Torah, Tea and Tanya!)
Wednesday evenings at 7:45pm

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

A biblical perspective on "Tweeting".

As this is a period of polishing our character and "personal vessel"  in preparation for receiving the Torah in a few weeks, I  thought I would share this brief food for thought...from Parsha Metzora.
Did you know the Torah  speaks  about tweeting??
A person who was on a sophistiated level spiritually and who spoke badly about others could become afflicted with a type of "disease" called "Tzara'ath" which would manifest, innitially on the walls of the  gossipers home, then on his or her clothing and finally, if the gossiper is still unrepentant, on the skin. 
One of the rituals necessary to get the affected person healed involved an offering that involved two birds, one that would be sacrificed and one that would be let free.
The first thing that I found  amazing about this ritual  is that two birds are used... to teach us that as dangerous as negative speech is,  speech is very important, and often as bad as it can be to speak negatively, it is also bad not to speak up when the right words need to be said!  There are times when keeping silent can be a grave error.... just as we need to watch ourselves from speeking badly, we must not neglect speeking up for what we believe in or to defend what we believe in when the sitiuation demands;  even offering a comforting word to someone in need might make a critical difference, ...thus the second bird,.....who is set free! 
The second point that I found fascinating is brought by the biblical commentator Rashi who explains why specifically birds are used in the rectification ritual..,"Because lesions of Tzara'ath come as a result of derogatory speech, which is done by chattering. Therefore for his cleansing, this person is required to bring birds, which twitter constantly with chirping sounds."
Such a great cautionary tale about using Twitter without due concideration!!