Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Global Jewish Leadership: The 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe and a vision of Redemption


Its coming up to the 20th anniversary of the passing from this physical world of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe. In the past few weeks three biographies of the Rebbe have been published, and of the two that I have already read, by both of the author's own admissions, ( Chaim Miller and Adin Steinsaltz)  and from my own impressions of what has been written, the biographies can only give testimony to a small percentage of the Rebbe's amazing contribution, presence and mystique. Of course I am so very grateful to the authors, and intend to read the third biography  by Joseph Telushkin as soon as possible, but the Rebbe was so very large, it is difficult to capture him in a book. Chaim Miller admits this in his introduction, and cites this as the reason that so many years have past without any biography being written, but never the less I would highly recommend both books to any one interested in catching a glimpse of the very real and very human greatness of the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe.

From my readings it is clear that the Rebbe had an amazing memory, was a real genius, loved learning about almost everything particularly Torah, Mysticism, Chassidus , Mathematics and Astronomy and was passionate in his dedication to  Hashem, the Jewish People and the land of Israel. He also cared deeply for every single human being on the planet! He was deeply intuitive and had some psychic or mystical abilities that neither of the authors elaborate too much upon. He was incredibly focused and clear about what his mission in the world was... to carry out the goal  of the Freddiker (Previous) Rebbe, which was to strengthen Judaism, spread the light and wisdom of Torah and bring Moshiach! The Rebbe extended the Freddiker Rebbe's vision to include spreading the wisdom of the Torah to all of humanity in every corner of the globe. He created programs to engage the elderly, young children, unaffiliated college students, drug addicts, soldiers, wounded soldiers , people with disabilities  and the regular secular and assimilating Jew in the comfortable modern world, and he emphasized the crucial  importance of women in the spiritual reality of the family and the nation! Wow.... thats a lot!

What makes all of the above even more interesting is that the Rebbe was really an introvert by nature and did not want to become  the Rebbe at all ! He stepped up to the plate when it became clear that he needed to do it for the sake of Lubavitch and for the sake of the Chassidim and Chassidus... and then he never wavered! The Rebbe was such an awesome example of unwavering and clear sighted focus... his vision  was razor sharp..  he was crystal clear on the difference between what is truth and what is political expediency, what is halachah and what is a "kop-out", what is the right way for a Jew to behave and what is a sell-out... the Rebbe never supported expedient compromise..and he hated the fact that the government of Israel traded land for empty promises of a fake peace... oh well, so much for that!

The Rebbe outlined a very clear program of how we need to continue the mission in his physical absence, there is so much written  and digital footage recorded explaining exactly what we need to emphasize... we need to stay focused, in our love of the "other" and our fellow and utilize our own unique talents and personalities to illuminate and spread the wisdom of Torah, not just to our fellow Jews, but to our fellow humans... truly be an "Ohr La-Goyim", a light unto the nations, and in so doing, may we be worthy to truly see the light of Redemption and the Revelation of the Moshiach/ the true redeemer in our times!!

And by the way, if you haven't  yet read one of those biographies.... go out and get  hold of at least one... as I said, I haven't yet read all three, but i loved Chaim Miller's
Turning Judaism Outward!...

Have a meaningful Gimmel Tammuz...be inspired and then do something positive!!

Friday, June 20, 2014

The Efficacy of Prayer

Right now the Jewish people are pleading with Hashem, "Let our boys 
Yakov Naftali Ben Rachel Devorah
Gilad Michael Ben Batgalim and
Eyal Ben Iris Tshura, come home.... but can our prayers really make a difference?? Of course we have been taught to pray in situations of struggle and challenge and its not really a real question... of course prayer helps, but looking in this weeks Torah reading we see an amazing thing.

After Korach and company are destroyed for rebelling against Moshe and Aharon, the entire community of Israel (the survivors ) is outraged by their punishment and come to accuse Moshe and Aharon for causing the death of Hashem's people...this rebellion causes Hashem further anger and He declares that "He will wipe them all out in an instant" and indeed a plague is launched that has deadly effect..... it is at this point that Moshe instructs Aharon to take a fire pan with incense on it  and go and make an atonement for the people...

We read how with his burning fire pan, Aharon makes atonement for the people, 'he stood (literally) between the dead and the living and the epidemic was halted .(17:13)
In the Rashi we read that "Aharon seized the angel of death himself and stopped him, despite himself...".. this is amazing...Rashi continues to explain how they argue, the Angel of death  claiming to be carrying out Hashem's instructions,  which should trump the intensions of Aharon who is acting on behalf of Moshe... but when they return together to confront Moshe who is at the entrance to the Ohel Moed, (the special place where Hashem and Moshe would engage) we see that Aharon and Moshe are indeed victorious in convincing the angel of death, because the plague does in fact get stopped!!
Proof indeed of the efficacy of  human initiative, or prayer!!

Its an amazing story....
Thanks to Rabbi David Fohrman, you can watch his video explanation of this on his website:www.alphabeta.org or go direct to the link for this weeks parsha 
http://www.alephbeta.org/course/lecture/korach-can-we-influence-god





Friday, June 13, 2014

a great quote from Carolyn Myss..

Thanks to my dear friend Janet!
“We are living through a cosmic transformation that is directing us to realize that power originates in our thoughts and energy.  While that has always been the truth, becoming conscious of that truth is equal to becoming partners in the dynamics of creation. We now know that our thoughts are active creative agents. Realizing that one truth will redirect the future of humanity.
And one of the laboratories in which this cosmic drama is being played out is our physical body, our mind, our emotions and our soul.  We are each a cosmic laboratory unto ourselves.  That one truth should make you want to know everything you can about yourself - and certainly everything about the nature of your own consciousness. You now have choice about how to handle illnesses because you know how powerful your choices and attitudes are. 
How can I not teach this message?  Whether I present through health or mysticism or archetypes or history - at the end of the day, I am teaching you about the emerging consciousness in human nature.  How can you not want to learn this message?” Carolyn Myss

My feelings and thoughts exactly!


Moving Forward: The power of Positive Imagination

I came across an amazing distinction between  hopefulness and hopelessness in preparing for my parsha class this week. The source was a video on Shlach by Rabbi David Fohrman, which basically suggests that when we use our  creative imagination to create wonderful and exciting scenarios  about our future, we generate hopefulness, but when we use our power of imagination to look backwards, we will probably land up in a state of hopelessness.

The source for this idea concerns the manner in which the Jewish people responded to being told by the majority of the spies who had gone ahead of the community to scout out the land of Israel, that they felt the whole idea of entering the land of Israel  and dealing with the communities already there was a terrible  idea. In fact they even say, "in our eyes we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes"(13:33), referring to the "giants" that inhabited the land . Their self perception was so negative they even projected it upon how they were seen by others. How did they know how they were seen?  Two righteous spies vehemently disagreed with them, but could not persuade the people that trusting in G-d and moving forward was a valid option. Rabbi Fohrman draws our attention to how backward thinking intensified when the Jews thought  about the challenges that awaited  them in the future.The verses illustrate this in three steps.....1) if only we had died in Egypt, 2) Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? 3) Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt! (14:1-4)

Didn't  the Jewish people remember all the suffering they endured back in Egypt? Even if these complaints and suggestions  were spurred on by the "Erav Rav"(the mixed multitude who joined the Jewish people on their  exit) surely they too were aware the Egypt experience was not a bed of roses for the Jewish people? How could they suggest going back?? What faculty of being could get a people who had suffered for over 400 years in a certain situation to possibly think that  returning to the source of their suffering would be a preferable situation than trying out their luck and moving forward? Backward facing imagination!

Rabbi Fohrman suggests this is the epitome of hopelessness... engaging our imagination to glorify the past. When we use our imagination to glorify the past, we can edit out the bad parts, we can recreate reality in our minds to make it seem that everything about the path not taken was in fact perfect... we can airbrush what had led us to reject that option and only focus on all the imaginary benefits that path could have offered, and then collapse into negative and hopeless feelings.  The rejected choice is a past that is no longer ours, a choice not made or a path not taken; it could be a house not bought , a shidduch not pursued or a business opportunity overlooked.... when we look back and use our vivid imaginations to extrapolate  all the positives of what might have been, all the wonderful and marvelous realities that could have been ours, we do ourselves a great disservice...We would do better to utilize our creative imagination and power of visualization, which are powerful tools, in forward and thus positive thinking!

To utilize our imagination and capacity for  positive visualization  in forward and thus "hopeful" thinking, we need to ground ourselves  in the new reality of what is now, be focused on the present and the future and then be creative to explore all the possibilities that still exist beckoning ahead, this will lead to hopefulness and not hopelessness! Forward thinking, with positive scenarios imagined and visualized will enable us to feel empowered to take on even the most daunting tasks, making the most of that new job, new home, new shidduch opportunity or even a victory fighting giants!

Shabat Shalom!