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Re: AISH
Admin Sun 23 Feb 2014, 11:18 pm
Inside the Mind of a Suicide Bomber
Dr. Anat Berko, a world-renowned terrorism expert, knows suicide bombers like nobody else.
by Shalom Tzvi Shore
“The fundamental difference between male and female suicide bombers is in their level of fundamentalism,” explains Dr. Anat Berko.
She would know. For the past 20 years, Berko has devoted her life to understanding the mindset of both suicide bombers and their dispatchers through first hand research, by interviewing captured terrorist in their jail cells.
Anat BerkoPhoto credit: Noa Melamed
She explains: Whereas many male suicide bombers are motivated primarily by an ideology of hate, the female suicide bomber often has an additional motivating factor of emotional and physical abuse within her own family. They are often women who have culturally “shamed” their family and are “redeeming” themselves of this disgrace. These women are sometimes given the opportunity to die as terrorists instead of being killed in an honor killing.
That does not make them any less dangerous. Dr. Berko, who holds a PhD in criminology from Bar-Ilan University, points out that they are often able to exploit the lack of suspicion to sneak in beneath Israel’s defense systems and attack civilians. Moreover, they have been known to deliberately target other women and children, out of envy of Israeli women and children’s lifestyle and higher standard of living, or frustration with an inability to have children of their own.
“I use empathy as a tool to conduct my research. It doesn't mean I identify with the prisoners,”
However, a fascinating twist to their cynical abuse of society’s trust is the fact that their attacks are often less successful. Their lack of experience and terrorist training results in a higher rate of unsuccessful attempts, or attacks that don’t inflict as much harm as initially hoped. Additionally, they pay a higher price socially for being in prison: they are considered “used goods” in the Muslim world, partially because they interact with men to prepare to carry out their attack, and their biological clock continues to tick while in prison. The result is that women are a lot less likely to return to terror once they are released from prison, a very common phenomenon amongst their male counterparts.
As a criminologist, Dr. Berko attempts as much as possible to enter the mind of suicide bombers, to understand them and their world view. “Whereas others focus on tactics and diplomacy, my approach attempts to understand them a psychological, sociological perspective by getting inside their mind.”
To this end, she has spent countless hours interviewing terrorists in their cells. Her first interviewee, in 1996, was arc terrorist Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas who was responsible for multiple suicide bombings and deaths of many Israeli civilians and who was ultimately assassinated by Israel in 2004.
One of the insights Berko discovered is the fact that "The suicide bomber does not act out of suffering or inferior economic status, but rather out of a desire to win social recognition." Contrary to popular belief, suicide bombers are not motivated by poverty or lower socioeconomic status, but rather, to quote a dispatcher she interviewed in prison, they are “sad people” whose personal weaknesses are exploited by the terrorist organizations.
Although Berko’s entire career is built around “winning the hearts” of terrorists and trying as much as she can to “get into their headspace,” she stresses the difference between empathizing with a terrorist and sympathizing with one. “I use empathy as a tool to conduct my research. It doesn't mean I identify with the prisoners,” she explains.
Particularly fascinated by the mindset of the female terrorist, Dr. Berko realized that there were fundamental differences in their motivations and consequently devoted five years to study the subject. She discovered conflicted and challenging personal lives, which usually involve maltreatment and exploitation.
Today she’s hugging me and crying to me that she misses her mother. Yesterday she tried killing my children.
The complexity of the situation is not lost on Dr. Berko. “More than once the thought has crossed my mind: ‘Wow. Today she’s hugging me and crying to me that she misses her mother. Yesterday she tried killing my children’.” How does she cope with this? “It requires a certain mental distance, where you are aware of your feelings but you still carry on doing your job.”
While speaking to her, I couldn’t help but picture the dynamic between Hannibal lechter and Clarice in Silence of the Lambs. I was surprised when Dr. Berko made the same comparison herself, adding, “I do think that as a woman, I am less threatening to terrorists, which allows me to more readily access their deeper thoughts and feelings.”
Berko began her research while still serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. By the time she was discharged, she had completed 25 years of service in a variety of leadership roles, risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and had earned herself a PhD in criminology. What attracted her to the field? “In the mid 90’s there was a wave of suicide bombing attacks in Israel. I was consumed by a fascination to understand the mindset of these attackers, and I devoted night and day to the study.”
Dr. Berko’s unique expertise means she is continuously consulting for a wide array of governmental bodies and defensive institutions. A research fellow the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, she has presented her research to the state department, congress, the United Nations, NATO, the FBI, the marines, and the New York Police department.
Her research has resulted in policy changes and interrogation techniques. For example, during the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, Dr. Berko advised Israel to make a gesture with emotional significance. Her suggestion contributed to Israel’s decision to release 21female terrorists from prison; in exchange Shalit’s captors released a video of him that proved he was alive. This was in pivotal step in the negotiation process that ultimately led to Shalit’s freedom.
She has also written two books on the subject, The Path to Paradise and The Smarter Bomb. Interestingly enough, these have been adapted into an off-Broadway play entitled Paradise.
To prevent these attacks in the future, Dr. Berko believes, one needs to understand the mindset of these terrorists. What is the root cause behind the growing wave of female terrorism worldwide, whether in the form of Chechen black widows or amongst the ranks of the Kurdish PKK, the Sri Lankan Tamil or Palestinian terror groups? What is the force that is making this terrible phenomenon more and more common? “Few people have the patience to focus for 20 years on this area of research,” she says, “and it is my mission to share this knowledge with whoever can benefit from it.”
Berko regularly tours campuses throughout the United States, presenting her findings. At the University of Florida a group of anti-Israel students heckled her while she attempted to talk, bothered by the fact that she was “a researcher who is Jewish, who is Israeli, who is not embarrassed of the fact that she is a Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF reserves.”
There is no country better for us than Israel.
“They brought up the issue of Palestinian refugees. I showed them pictures of my Iraqi Jewish family and said, ‘they are also refugees. We are all refugees.’”
When the students continued to disrupt her lecture, and ignore Berko’s request to save their questions for the end of lecture, she shocked them by asking them to leave. The Jewish students at the event were impressed, and wanted to know why she wasn’t afraid. Dr. Berko said it was easy. “When you’re used to sitting a cell with terrorists and murderers, you think I’m going to be scared by a bunch of American college students? That’s my motto: don’t be scared, and don’t be embarrassed.
“Israel is my country, I was born here. And the more we see what’s going on in the world, and we look at our history, the more we realize that there is no country that is better for us than Israel. I have devoted a better part of my life to serve the country, and my children are serving the army as well. I am very proud of my identity.”
Dr. Anat Berko, a world-renowned terrorism expert, knows suicide bombers like nobody else.
by Shalom Tzvi Shore
“The fundamental difference between male and female suicide bombers is in their level of fundamentalism,” explains Dr. Anat Berko.
She would know. For the past 20 years, Berko has devoted her life to understanding the mindset of both suicide bombers and their dispatchers through first hand research, by interviewing captured terrorist in their jail cells.
Anat BerkoPhoto credit: Noa Melamed
She explains: Whereas many male suicide bombers are motivated primarily by an ideology of hate, the female suicide bomber often has an additional motivating factor of emotional and physical abuse within her own family. They are often women who have culturally “shamed” their family and are “redeeming” themselves of this disgrace. These women are sometimes given the opportunity to die as terrorists instead of being killed in an honor killing.
That does not make them any less dangerous. Dr. Berko, who holds a PhD in criminology from Bar-Ilan University, points out that they are often able to exploit the lack of suspicion to sneak in beneath Israel’s defense systems and attack civilians. Moreover, they have been known to deliberately target other women and children, out of envy of Israeli women and children’s lifestyle and higher standard of living, or frustration with an inability to have children of their own.
“I use empathy as a tool to conduct my research. It doesn't mean I identify with the prisoners,”
However, a fascinating twist to their cynical abuse of society’s trust is the fact that their attacks are often less successful. Their lack of experience and terrorist training results in a higher rate of unsuccessful attempts, or attacks that don’t inflict as much harm as initially hoped. Additionally, they pay a higher price socially for being in prison: they are considered “used goods” in the Muslim world, partially because they interact with men to prepare to carry out their attack, and their biological clock continues to tick while in prison. The result is that women are a lot less likely to return to terror once they are released from prison, a very common phenomenon amongst their male counterparts.
As a criminologist, Dr. Berko attempts as much as possible to enter the mind of suicide bombers, to understand them and their world view. “Whereas others focus on tactics and diplomacy, my approach attempts to understand them a psychological, sociological perspective by getting inside their mind.”
To this end, she has spent countless hours interviewing terrorists in their cells. Her first interviewee, in 1996, was arc terrorist Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas who was responsible for multiple suicide bombings and deaths of many Israeli civilians and who was ultimately assassinated by Israel in 2004.
One of the insights Berko discovered is the fact that "The suicide bomber does not act out of suffering or inferior economic status, but rather out of a desire to win social recognition." Contrary to popular belief, suicide bombers are not motivated by poverty or lower socioeconomic status, but rather, to quote a dispatcher she interviewed in prison, they are “sad people” whose personal weaknesses are exploited by the terrorist organizations.
Although Berko’s entire career is built around “winning the hearts” of terrorists and trying as much as she can to “get into their headspace,” she stresses the difference between empathizing with a terrorist and sympathizing with one. “I use empathy as a tool to conduct my research. It doesn't mean I identify with the prisoners,” she explains.
Particularly fascinated by the mindset of the female terrorist, Dr. Berko realized that there were fundamental differences in their motivations and consequently devoted five years to study the subject. She discovered conflicted and challenging personal lives, which usually involve maltreatment and exploitation.
Today she’s hugging me and crying to me that she misses her mother. Yesterday she tried killing my children.
The complexity of the situation is not lost on Dr. Berko. “More than once the thought has crossed my mind: ‘Wow. Today she’s hugging me and crying to me that she misses her mother. Yesterday she tried killing my children’.” How does she cope with this? “It requires a certain mental distance, where you are aware of your feelings but you still carry on doing your job.”
While speaking to her, I couldn’t help but picture the dynamic between Hannibal lechter and Clarice in Silence of the Lambs. I was surprised when Dr. Berko made the same comparison herself, adding, “I do think that as a woman, I am less threatening to terrorists, which allows me to more readily access their deeper thoughts and feelings.”
Berko began her research while still serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. By the time she was discharged, she had completed 25 years of service in a variety of leadership roles, risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and had earned herself a PhD in criminology. What attracted her to the field? “In the mid 90’s there was a wave of suicide bombing attacks in Israel. I was consumed by a fascination to understand the mindset of these attackers, and I devoted night and day to the study.”
Dr. Berko’s unique expertise means she is continuously consulting for a wide array of governmental bodies and defensive institutions. A research fellow the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, she has presented her research to the state department, congress, the United Nations, NATO, the FBI, the marines, and the New York Police department.
Her research has resulted in policy changes and interrogation techniques. For example, during the negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, Dr. Berko advised Israel to make a gesture with emotional significance. Her suggestion contributed to Israel’s decision to release 21female terrorists from prison; in exchange Shalit’s captors released a video of him that proved he was alive. This was in pivotal step in the negotiation process that ultimately led to Shalit’s freedom.
She has also written two books on the subject, The Path to Paradise and The Smarter Bomb. Interestingly enough, these have been adapted into an off-Broadway play entitled Paradise.
To prevent these attacks in the future, Dr. Berko believes, one needs to understand the mindset of these terrorists. What is the root cause behind the growing wave of female terrorism worldwide, whether in the form of Chechen black widows or amongst the ranks of the Kurdish PKK, the Sri Lankan Tamil or Palestinian terror groups? What is the force that is making this terrible phenomenon more and more common? “Few people have the patience to focus for 20 years on this area of research,” she says, “and it is my mission to share this knowledge with whoever can benefit from it.”
Berko regularly tours campuses throughout the United States, presenting her findings. At the University of Florida a group of anti-Israel students heckled her while she attempted to talk, bothered by the fact that she was “a researcher who is Jewish, who is Israeli, who is not embarrassed of the fact that she is a Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF reserves.”
There is no country better for us than Israel.
“They brought up the issue of Palestinian refugees. I showed them pictures of my Iraqi Jewish family and said, ‘they are also refugees. We are all refugees.’”
When the students continued to disrupt her lecture, and ignore Berko’s request to save their questions for the end of lecture, she shocked them by asking them to leave. The Jewish students at the event were impressed, and wanted to know why she wasn’t afraid. Dr. Berko said it was easy. “When you’re used to sitting a cell with terrorists and murderers, you think I’m going to be scared by a bunch of American college students? That’s my motto: don’t be scared, and don’t be embarrassed.
“Israel is my country, I was born here. And the more we see what’s going on in the world, and we look at our history, the more we realize that there is no country that is better for us than Israel. I have devoted a better part of my life to serve the country, and my children are serving the army as well. I am very proud of my identity.”
Admin- Admin
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Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
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Re: AISH
Admin Sun 23 Feb 2014, 11:10 pm
20 Favorite Jewish Quotes
From King Solomon to Einstein, exploring the meaning of some of the best Jewish quotes.
1. “In Jewish history there are no coincidences.” – Elie Wiesel
If you would have asked me my favorite Yiddish word, I would have said bashert. It translates into the idea that Wiesel so beautifully captured as aphorism in my favorite quote. The older I get the more I am astonished by its truth, both in a national as well as personal sense. The seemingly haphazard, random, and arbitrary events that comprise the story of our lives begin to form a coherent and purposeful narrative when we view them from a divine perspective. With the wisdom of retrospective insight I have countless times learned to acknowledge that coincidence is but God’s way of choosing to remain anonymous. Rabbi Benjamin Blech
2. "A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." – King Solomon, Proverbs, 24:16.
Life is all about the ability to get up from challenge. Greatness is defined as getting up one more time than what you've fallen down. The Torah defines someone who's righteous not as someone who had succeeded, but someone who has persevered. It creates a paradigm of what righteousness is – trying to do what's right, getting up from failure, and keep moving forward. Charlie Harary
3. "If you don't know what you're living for, you haven't yet lived.” – Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory
Life is the most precious thing we have. Everyone wants to live a life of meaning. But we are so busy 'living' that we don't have a moment to really think about living. One of my father’s priorities was getting people to ask the big questions in life, to get out of the pettiness and focus on living a life of real purpose. Yehuda Weinberg
4. "I do not want followers who are righteous, rather I want followers who are too busy doing good that they won’t have time to do bad." – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
People who focus on being righteous can become self-absorbed and self-righteous. While those pursing good deeds and actions become righteous. Rabbi Ari Kahn
5. “Klieg, Klieg, Klieg-Du bist a Nar. You are smart, smart. smart – but you are not so smart!” – a Yiddish saying
It’s one of my favorite quotes because it is so true! And my mother used to say it quietly about people and whenever she did, she was right. Benjamin Brafman
6. “If I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you. But if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you.” – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
A self-definition that is based on other’s perspective is untrue and deceptive. Rabbi Zev Pomeranz
7. “Gam zu l'tova. This too is for the good.” – Nachum Ish Gamzu, Talmud, Taanit, 21a
When things get "hard" it reminds me that this too is for the best and I need to reorient my thinking to this realization. Rabbi Yitz Greenman
8. "I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent" – Rabbi A.Y. Kook
This quote embodies the depth of love every Jew needs to feel for another. The connection between Jews is instinctive, therefor one has no choice but to speak. Caring for other Jews cuts to the core of who we are as a people and we need to reach a point where that is so deep that it is impossible not to say or do something. Yitzcahk Tendler
9. "People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake. Actually the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes." – Rabbi Noah Weinberg.
I love this quote because it inspires me to keep taking the risks I need in order to grow. I want to be able to keep climbing even after I fall, and Rav Noah's words have always given me the courage to fail and keep trying anyway. Sara Debbie Gutfreund
10. “There are two things that are infinite, the universe and man's stupidity..... And I am not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein
I find it's a clever way of saying people are crazy. Rabbi Stephen Baars
11. “If you want to meet a princess, make yourself into a prince.” – Rabbi Dov Heller, Aish LA
To me that encapsulated everything about finding a wife. Totally practical and also spiritual. Mike Cooper
12. "There are no problems, only opportunities for growth." – Rebbetzin Dena Weinberg:
It gets me through almost everything. It means that God is sending me this so that I can grow. It prevents me from blaming others, including myself. It frames a situation not as something overwhelming that is impossible to solve, but as a puzzle that can be worked out, and the process of working it out is where real growth takes place. Words are powerful; as soon as you reframe from "problem" to "opportunity," you pull down the covers, get out of bed, pull up your boot straps and rise to the occasion. No one wants problems, but who doesn't want opportunities? Lori Palatnik
13. “If I am not for me, who is for me; and if I am (only) for myself, what am I. And if not now, when?” – Hillel, Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14
I find this to be the most inspirational and motivating message. I was created for a specific purpose – there is no other 'me.' Consider that I am here for others – bearing the 'me' in mind, how can I make the difference to the world? Lastly, there's no time like the present. Rabbi Chaim Cohen
14. “Who is wise? One who learns from every man… Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations… Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot… Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows.” – Ben Zoma, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1
This is my favorite quote because it upends our society’s definitions of these things. We tend to think strength, happiness, wisdom and honor are reliant on external circumstances – how much wealth you have, how strong you are, how much you know…. Jewish wisdom shows all four are internal; it's all up to the person himself. Want to be rich? It's about your attitude, not about how much money you have. Want to be smart? You don't need Einstein’s genes, just the ability to open your eyes and watch people around you. Want to be strong as a hero? It's in your heart – just be strong enough to do the right thing. Nir Greenberger
15. "Torah is not education, it's transformation." – Rebbitzen Dena Weinberg
If you are just learning Torah for the education and not growing and transforming yourself, you are not really learning Torah. Bonnie Cohen
16. "Yeshuat Hashem k’heref ayin. The salvation of God is like the blink of an eye.” – Pesikta Zutreta, Esther 4:17.
No matter how bleak something may look, salvation could be just around the corner. God can change everything in the blink of an eye. This quote teaches us to always have hope; redemption can come at any moment. Danielle Haas
Get Aish.com's Free Email Updates.
17. “L’fum tzara agra, according to the effort is the reward.” – Ben Hei Hei, Ethics of the Fathers, 5:26.
This is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter where you have started on the ladder of life; it matters how many rungs you’ve climbed. This is the true measure of man. As President Coolidge said: Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Of course we cannot do anything without God’s help. The choice is in our hands, but the results are in His. Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
18. "If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?" – Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
The purpose of human life is to improve one's character traits, by working on oneself every day. That's why God gives us today – and tomorrow. Sara Yoheved Rigler
19. “L’Chaim!” – a traditional Jewish toast.
Jews appreciate every moment of life. It doesn’t matter if things are going the way you want them, stop and pause, and raise your glass to the delicious opportunity life is giving you right now. You’ll never get that moment back again. Rabbi Jack Kalla
20. Yours!
Submit your favorite Jewish quote in the comment section below.
From King Solomon to Einstein, exploring the meaning of some of the best Jewish quotes.
1. “In Jewish history there are no coincidences.” – Elie Wiesel
If you would have asked me my favorite Yiddish word, I would have said bashert. It translates into the idea that Wiesel so beautifully captured as aphorism in my favorite quote. The older I get the more I am astonished by its truth, both in a national as well as personal sense. The seemingly haphazard, random, and arbitrary events that comprise the story of our lives begin to form a coherent and purposeful narrative when we view them from a divine perspective. With the wisdom of retrospective insight I have countless times learned to acknowledge that coincidence is but God’s way of choosing to remain anonymous. Rabbi Benjamin Blech
2. "A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." – King Solomon, Proverbs, 24:16.
Life is all about the ability to get up from challenge. Greatness is defined as getting up one more time than what you've fallen down. The Torah defines someone who's righteous not as someone who had succeeded, but someone who has persevered. It creates a paradigm of what righteousness is – trying to do what's right, getting up from failure, and keep moving forward. Charlie Harary
3. "If you don't know what you're living for, you haven't yet lived.” – Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory
Life is the most precious thing we have. Everyone wants to live a life of meaning. But we are so busy 'living' that we don't have a moment to really think about living. One of my father’s priorities was getting people to ask the big questions in life, to get out of the pettiness and focus on living a life of real purpose. Yehuda Weinberg
4. "I do not want followers who are righteous, rather I want followers who are too busy doing good that they won’t have time to do bad." – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
People who focus on being righteous can become self-absorbed and self-righteous. While those pursing good deeds and actions become righteous. Rabbi Ari Kahn
5. “Klieg, Klieg, Klieg-Du bist a Nar. You are smart, smart. smart – but you are not so smart!” – a Yiddish saying
It’s one of my favorite quotes because it is so true! And my mother used to say it quietly about people and whenever she did, she was right. Benjamin Brafman
6. “If I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you. But if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you.” – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
A self-definition that is based on other’s perspective is untrue and deceptive. Rabbi Zev Pomeranz
7. “Gam zu l'tova. This too is for the good.” – Nachum Ish Gamzu, Talmud, Taanit, 21a
When things get "hard" it reminds me that this too is for the best and I need to reorient my thinking to this realization. Rabbi Yitz Greenman
8. "I don't speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don't have the power to remain silent" – Rabbi A.Y. Kook
This quote embodies the depth of love every Jew needs to feel for another. The connection between Jews is instinctive, therefor one has no choice but to speak. Caring for other Jews cuts to the core of who we are as a people and we need to reach a point where that is so deep that it is impossible not to say or do something. Yitzcahk Tendler
9. "People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake. Actually the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes." – Rabbi Noah Weinberg.
I love this quote because it inspires me to keep taking the risks I need in order to grow. I want to be able to keep climbing even after I fall, and Rav Noah's words have always given me the courage to fail and keep trying anyway. Sara Debbie Gutfreund
10. “There are two things that are infinite, the universe and man's stupidity..... And I am not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein
I find it's a clever way of saying people are crazy. Rabbi Stephen Baars
11. “If you want to meet a princess, make yourself into a prince.” – Rabbi Dov Heller, Aish LA
To me that encapsulated everything about finding a wife. Totally practical and also spiritual. Mike Cooper
12. "There are no problems, only opportunities for growth." – Rebbetzin Dena Weinberg:
It gets me through almost everything. It means that God is sending me this so that I can grow. It prevents me from blaming others, including myself. It frames a situation not as something overwhelming that is impossible to solve, but as a puzzle that can be worked out, and the process of working it out is where real growth takes place. Words are powerful; as soon as you reframe from "problem" to "opportunity," you pull down the covers, get out of bed, pull up your boot straps and rise to the occasion. No one wants problems, but who doesn't want opportunities? Lori Palatnik
13. “If I am not for me, who is for me; and if I am (only) for myself, what am I. And if not now, when?” – Hillel, Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14
I find this to be the most inspirational and motivating message. I was created for a specific purpose – there is no other 'me.' Consider that I am here for others – bearing the 'me' in mind, how can I make the difference to the world? Lastly, there's no time like the present. Rabbi Chaim Cohen
14. “Who is wise? One who learns from every man… Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations… Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot… Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows.” – Ben Zoma, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1
This is my favorite quote because it upends our society’s definitions of these things. We tend to think strength, happiness, wisdom and honor are reliant on external circumstances – how much wealth you have, how strong you are, how much you know…. Jewish wisdom shows all four are internal; it's all up to the person himself. Want to be rich? It's about your attitude, not about how much money you have. Want to be smart? You don't need Einstein’s genes, just the ability to open your eyes and watch people around you. Want to be strong as a hero? It's in your heart – just be strong enough to do the right thing. Nir Greenberger
15. "Torah is not education, it's transformation." – Rebbitzen Dena Weinberg
If you are just learning Torah for the education and not growing and transforming yourself, you are not really learning Torah. Bonnie Cohen
16. "Yeshuat Hashem k’heref ayin. The salvation of God is like the blink of an eye.” – Pesikta Zutreta, Esther 4:17.
No matter how bleak something may look, salvation could be just around the corner. God can change everything in the blink of an eye. This quote teaches us to always have hope; redemption can come at any moment. Danielle Haas
Get Aish.com's Free Email Updates.
17. “L’fum tzara agra, according to the effort is the reward.” – Ben Hei Hei, Ethics of the Fathers, 5:26.
This is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter where you have started on the ladder of life; it matters how many rungs you’ve climbed. This is the true measure of man. As President Coolidge said: Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Of course we cannot do anything without God’s help. The choice is in our hands, but the results are in His. Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
18. "If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?" – Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
The purpose of human life is to improve one's character traits, by working on oneself every day. That's why God gives us today – and tomorrow. Sara Yoheved Rigler
19. “L’Chaim!” – a traditional Jewish toast.
Jews appreciate every moment of life. It doesn’t matter if things are going the way you want them, stop and pause, and raise your glass to the delicious opportunity life is giving you right now. You’ll never get that moment back again. Rabbi Jack Kalla
20. Yours!
Submit your favorite Jewish quote in the comment section below.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 81737
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
Location : Wales UK -
Re: AISH
Admin Mon 17 Feb 2014, 12:51 pm
Nazi Collaborator or Hero?
Claude Lansmann’s film, The Last of the Unjust, explores the moral ramifications of Benjamin Murmelstein’s pact with devil.
by Claude Lanzmann, the French documentary filmmaker who directed Shoah, the 1985 widely praised nine and a half hour movie on the Holocaust presenting testimonies by selected survivors, witnesses, and German perpetrators, has once again returned to the same theme that continues to fascinate him, but from a totally different perspective.
This time he focuses on one man – and on one profound question relating to the moral ambiguity of evil.
The Last of the Unjust is the product of lengthy conversations Lanzsmann had with a remarkable survivor. Benjamin Murmelstein, a Viennese rabbi, clearly brilliant and extremely capable, was first drafted by Adolf Eichmann to write reports to the Nazi authorities. Later he was put in charge of a program ostensibly to permit Jews to emigrate but primarily intended to financially fill Eichmann’s pockets. Eventually he was made an “Elder of the Jews” at the notorious concentration camp at Thereseinstadt, where he himself was prisoner, following the two Elders preceding him who were both brutally executed with bullets to the backs of their heads.
o follow his story, as the film does – admittedly from Murmelstein’s point of view as there is no one else interviewed to contest him – is to come face-to-face with perplexing challenges to our clearly defined concepts of morality.
Murmelstein helped the Nazis as they ingeniously used Theresienstadt, a cruelly fictional paradise, in propaganda films to the world.
Murmelstein was a collaborator. It is he himself who chose as self-description the words of the film’s title, The Last of the Unjust, an obvious wordplay on the title of André Schwarz-Bart’s powerful award-winning novel The Last of The Just about the 36 righteous souls whose existence justifies the purpose of humankind to God. Murmelstein helped the Nazis as they ingeniously used Theresienstadt, a cruelly fictional paradise, in propaganda films to the world, deceptively depicting it as a Potemkin like village given by Hitler as a gift to the Jews in which they could enjoy all the amenities of a prosperous, fulfilling and beautiful life. Used as a showcase for a visit by the Red Cross, and the site of a film showing happy Jews at work and play, it was in reality a concentration camp where disease and starvation killed nearly 100,000 Jews due to horrible overcrowding and appalling sanitary conditions and for many but the first stop in “relocation to the east” where they would be brutally exterminated.
These facts were enough to have Murmelstein fiercely condemned by many after the war. Though acquitted on the charge of collaborating with the Nazis by a tough Czech court, he never set foot in Israel in order to avoid facing a second trial. Gershom Scholem, the renowned Israeli historian and philosopher, publicly called for him to be punished by hanging – although, as pointedly noted by Murmelstein in the film, Scholem ironically pleaded that Israel spare Eichmann’s life after the court found him guilty of his role in planning and carrying out the Nazi “final solution.”
And yet… Here is where the film forces us to begin the tortuous process of reevaluating moral choices in the face of competing options that offer no satisfactory resolution. How can we find the correct balance between heroism and expediency? How much should the crime of collaboration be mitigated if its purpose is to achieve the better of two nightmarish solutions? Is there room on an ethical balance sheet to vindicate assisting the wicked in order to attain a somewhat more favorable outcome for at least some of the innocent?
In short, can we forgive or perhaps even to some extent approve the choice Murmelstein made to respond to the Nazi regime’s goal of genocide by assuming the persona of “a calculating realist”- making a pact with the devil in order to somewhat diminish his power for evil?
Through his efforts – and his cooperation with Eichmann – he saved the lives of 120,000 Jews.
Slowly but quite effectively we become drawn in by Murmelstein’s justifications for his actions. It is true that through his efforts – and his cooperation with Eichmann – he saved the lives of 120,000 Jews by arranging their emigration to Palestine and other places of haven. He recounts with gusto how he was able to get 2,000 inmates out of the Dachau concentration camp and send them to Portugal and Spain via occupied France. Though he could easily have emigrated to London himself, he stayed behind in Vienna because he felt he “had something to accomplish – a mission.”
Given the impossible task of serving as “King of the Jews” in Theresienstadt, Murmelstein worked to “embellish” its facilities, helping to eradicate typhoid and somewhat improving its structure for the sick and the aged – even though that meant the perpetuation of a lie for the sake of propaganda. Putting glass in windows, he insisted, kept the people inside warmer. As to the propaganda film he cooperated with, Murmelstein says, "If they showed us, they wouldn't kill us. That was my logic, and I hope it was correct."
By the end of the film, it is clear that Lanzsmann has become convinced. The closing scenes show him putting his arm around Murmelstein, telling him he considers him a friend.
But it is we, the viewers, who must make our own judgments.
Jewish Taskmasters
Walking out of the theater I heard a couple, taken by Murmelstein’s powerful charisma and intellect, saying they could not understand why, instead of being condemned, he wasn’t proclaimed a hero. To my mind that was a severe overreaction.
There is a biblical precedent to the Nazi genius of appointing Jews over other Jews to be complicit in their own enslavement. The Torah tells us that when the Egyptians forced the Hebrews to make bricks for their construction projects, they set over them taskmasters and officers. The taskmasters were Egyptians, the officers Hebrews. The ones directly in charge of the Hebrew slaves and tasked with making certain the full quota of work was produced were taken from their own people.
The text goes on to tell us: “And the officers of the children of Israel whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had appointed over them were beaten, saying, 'Why have you not completed your quota to make bricks like the day before yesterday, neither yesterday nor today?'" [Exodus 5:14] The Midrash explains that the Hebrew officers refused to comply with the strict orders of their masters. They would not beat the workers assigned to them to make them fulfill the terrible burden of their quotas. They chose to be beaten themselves rather than to oppress their brethren.
The Sages tell us that a remarkable thing happened years later to reward them: These were the very people who merited to be selected as members of the first Sanhedrin. It was upon them that “some of the spirit that was upon Moses was taken and placed on them – as it is said ‘Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel’[Numbers 11:16] of those about whom you know the good that they did in Egypt, i.e. the officers who preferred to suffer themselves rather than to impose pain upon others.” [Commentary of Rashi, Exodus 5:14]
Murmelstein was the first to admit that he was no saint in administering the harsh edicts imposed by the Nazis.
Jewish heroes cannot persecute fellow Jews, no matter the consequences. That is what earns for them the respect and admiration of our people. And any trade-offs for personal security or special privileges cast their actions into serious question.
In a memorable line in the film he quotes Isaac Bashevis Singer as saying “There were no saints in the Holocaust; only martyrs.” But that is not true. Those who are familiar with Holocaust literature know of many thousands of holy and pious souls whose deeds were saintly beyond any human comprehension. The truly heroic figures could never have complied with the commands of their oppressors, no matter how much could be gained from compromising with evil.
There is no doubt that aiding an evil to subvert a greater evil cannot leave us unstained by the crime committed, no matter how noble our intentions. Murmelstein understood that when he referred to himself as the last of the unjust.
More, we will always be left to wonder whether the murder of six million could have become possible without any cooperation from its victims.
But truth be told the bottom line is that the Holocaust, being unfathomable, makes it impossible for us to offer a fair judgment. In this Murmelstein was correct: “We may condemn but we cannot judge.” And what Claude Landzmann in this unforgettable film has shown us is the profound difficulty of impugning guilt to any survivors – because there is no way we can possibly put ourselves in their place or realistically answer how we might have acted in their stead.
Published: February 15, 2014
Claude Lansmann’s film, The Last of the Unjust, explores the moral ramifications of Benjamin Murmelstein’s pact with devil.
by Claude Lanzmann, the French documentary filmmaker who directed Shoah, the 1985 widely praised nine and a half hour movie on the Holocaust presenting testimonies by selected survivors, witnesses, and German perpetrators, has once again returned to the same theme that continues to fascinate him, but from a totally different perspective.
This time he focuses on one man – and on one profound question relating to the moral ambiguity of evil.
The Last of the Unjust is the product of lengthy conversations Lanzsmann had with a remarkable survivor. Benjamin Murmelstein, a Viennese rabbi, clearly brilliant and extremely capable, was first drafted by Adolf Eichmann to write reports to the Nazi authorities. Later he was put in charge of a program ostensibly to permit Jews to emigrate but primarily intended to financially fill Eichmann’s pockets. Eventually he was made an “Elder of the Jews” at the notorious concentration camp at Thereseinstadt, where he himself was prisoner, following the two Elders preceding him who were both brutally executed with bullets to the backs of their heads.
o follow his story, as the film does – admittedly from Murmelstein’s point of view as there is no one else interviewed to contest him – is to come face-to-face with perplexing challenges to our clearly defined concepts of morality.
Murmelstein helped the Nazis as they ingeniously used Theresienstadt, a cruelly fictional paradise, in propaganda films to the world.
Murmelstein was a collaborator. It is he himself who chose as self-description the words of the film’s title, The Last of the Unjust, an obvious wordplay on the title of André Schwarz-Bart’s powerful award-winning novel The Last of The Just about the 36 righteous souls whose existence justifies the purpose of humankind to God. Murmelstein helped the Nazis as they ingeniously used Theresienstadt, a cruelly fictional paradise, in propaganda films to the world, deceptively depicting it as a Potemkin like village given by Hitler as a gift to the Jews in which they could enjoy all the amenities of a prosperous, fulfilling and beautiful life. Used as a showcase for a visit by the Red Cross, and the site of a film showing happy Jews at work and play, it was in reality a concentration camp where disease and starvation killed nearly 100,000 Jews due to horrible overcrowding and appalling sanitary conditions and for many but the first stop in “relocation to the east” where they would be brutally exterminated.
These facts were enough to have Murmelstein fiercely condemned by many after the war. Though acquitted on the charge of collaborating with the Nazis by a tough Czech court, he never set foot in Israel in order to avoid facing a second trial. Gershom Scholem, the renowned Israeli historian and philosopher, publicly called for him to be punished by hanging – although, as pointedly noted by Murmelstein in the film, Scholem ironically pleaded that Israel spare Eichmann’s life after the court found him guilty of his role in planning and carrying out the Nazi “final solution.”
And yet… Here is where the film forces us to begin the tortuous process of reevaluating moral choices in the face of competing options that offer no satisfactory resolution. How can we find the correct balance between heroism and expediency? How much should the crime of collaboration be mitigated if its purpose is to achieve the better of two nightmarish solutions? Is there room on an ethical balance sheet to vindicate assisting the wicked in order to attain a somewhat more favorable outcome for at least some of the innocent?
In short, can we forgive or perhaps even to some extent approve the choice Murmelstein made to respond to the Nazi regime’s goal of genocide by assuming the persona of “a calculating realist”- making a pact with the devil in order to somewhat diminish his power for evil?
Through his efforts – and his cooperation with Eichmann – he saved the lives of 120,000 Jews.
Slowly but quite effectively we become drawn in by Murmelstein’s justifications for his actions. It is true that through his efforts – and his cooperation with Eichmann – he saved the lives of 120,000 Jews by arranging their emigration to Palestine and other places of haven. He recounts with gusto how he was able to get 2,000 inmates out of the Dachau concentration camp and send them to Portugal and Spain via occupied France. Though he could easily have emigrated to London himself, he stayed behind in Vienna because he felt he “had something to accomplish – a mission.”
Given the impossible task of serving as “King of the Jews” in Theresienstadt, Murmelstein worked to “embellish” its facilities, helping to eradicate typhoid and somewhat improving its structure for the sick and the aged – even though that meant the perpetuation of a lie for the sake of propaganda. Putting glass in windows, he insisted, kept the people inside warmer. As to the propaganda film he cooperated with, Murmelstein says, "If they showed us, they wouldn't kill us. That was my logic, and I hope it was correct."
By the end of the film, it is clear that Lanzsmann has become convinced. The closing scenes show him putting his arm around Murmelstein, telling him he considers him a friend.
But it is we, the viewers, who must make our own judgments.
Jewish Taskmasters
Walking out of the theater I heard a couple, taken by Murmelstein’s powerful charisma and intellect, saying they could not understand why, instead of being condemned, he wasn’t proclaimed a hero. To my mind that was a severe overreaction.
There is a biblical precedent to the Nazi genius of appointing Jews over other Jews to be complicit in their own enslavement. The Torah tells us that when the Egyptians forced the Hebrews to make bricks for their construction projects, they set over them taskmasters and officers. The taskmasters were Egyptians, the officers Hebrews. The ones directly in charge of the Hebrew slaves and tasked with making certain the full quota of work was produced were taken from their own people.
The text goes on to tell us: “And the officers of the children of Israel whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had appointed over them were beaten, saying, 'Why have you not completed your quota to make bricks like the day before yesterday, neither yesterday nor today?'" [Exodus 5:14] The Midrash explains that the Hebrew officers refused to comply with the strict orders of their masters. They would not beat the workers assigned to them to make them fulfill the terrible burden of their quotas. They chose to be beaten themselves rather than to oppress their brethren.
The Sages tell us that a remarkable thing happened years later to reward them: These were the very people who merited to be selected as members of the first Sanhedrin. It was upon them that “some of the spirit that was upon Moses was taken and placed on them – as it is said ‘Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel’[Numbers 11:16] of those about whom you know the good that they did in Egypt, i.e. the officers who preferred to suffer themselves rather than to impose pain upon others.” [Commentary of Rashi, Exodus 5:14]
Murmelstein was the first to admit that he was no saint in administering the harsh edicts imposed by the Nazis.
Jewish heroes cannot persecute fellow Jews, no matter the consequences. That is what earns for them the respect and admiration of our people. And any trade-offs for personal security or special privileges cast their actions into serious question.
In a memorable line in the film he quotes Isaac Bashevis Singer as saying “There were no saints in the Holocaust; only martyrs.” But that is not true. Those who are familiar with Holocaust literature know of many thousands of holy and pious souls whose deeds were saintly beyond any human comprehension. The truly heroic figures could never have complied with the commands of their oppressors, no matter how much could be gained from compromising with evil.
There is no doubt that aiding an evil to subvert a greater evil cannot leave us unstained by the crime committed, no matter how noble our intentions. Murmelstein understood that when he referred to himself as the last of the unjust.
More, we will always be left to wonder whether the murder of six million could have become possible without any cooperation from its victims.
But truth be told the bottom line is that the Holocaust, being unfathomable, makes it impossible for us to offer a fair judgment. In this Murmelstein was correct: “We may condemn but we cannot judge.” And what Claude Landzmann in this unforgettable film has shown us is the profound difficulty of impugning guilt to any survivors – because there is no way we can possibly put ourselves in their place or realistically answer how we might have acted in their stead.
Published: February 15, 2014
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Re: AISH
Admin Thu 13 Feb 2014, 9:45 pm
Skating to Schindler's List
by Yvette Alt Miller
Yulia Lipnitskaya's Olympic performance: breathtaking or bad taste?
Read Article
Video: Israel: A Look Back (Facebook Movie)
by JerusalemU.org
On the milestones you cherished and the memories you loved most - for the State of Israel.
View Video
Shirley Temple Black and Fulfilling our Potential
by Yvette Alt Miller
She was a lot more than a famous actress.
Read Article
Cross-Dressing Kid?
by Lauren Roth
What should I do about my little sister who likes to wear men's clothing?
Read Article
Video: What's Your Dream?
by Mrs. Lori Palatnik
Dreams really can come true. Don't give up.
View Video
Miracles Don't Really Matter
by Rabbi Boruch Leff
Judaism is not based upon the performance of miracles.
Read Article
Way #17: Marriage Power
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Intimacy is a powerful drive, second only to survival itself. Use it wisely.
Read Article
A Jewish Valentines Day
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Love is the ultimate mitzvah.
Read Article
by Yvette Alt Miller
Yulia Lipnitskaya's Olympic performance: breathtaking or bad taste?
Read Article
Video: Israel: A Look Back (Facebook Movie)
by JerusalemU.org
On the milestones you cherished and the memories you loved most - for the State of Israel.
View Video
Shirley Temple Black and Fulfilling our Potential
by Yvette Alt Miller
She was a lot more than a famous actress.
Read Article
Cross-Dressing Kid?
by Lauren Roth
What should I do about my little sister who likes to wear men's clothing?
Read Article
Video: What's Your Dream?
by Mrs. Lori Palatnik
Dreams really can come true. Don't give up.
View Video
Miracles Don't Really Matter
by Rabbi Boruch Leff
Judaism is not based upon the performance of miracles.
Read Article
Way #17: Marriage Power
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Intimacy is a powerful drive, second only to survival itself. Use it wisely.
Read Article
A Jewish Valentines Day
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Love is the ultimate mitzvah.
Read Article
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 81737
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
Location : Wales UK -
Re: AISH
Admin Thu 30 Jan 2014, 6:57 pm
Way #14: Written Instructions For Living
Torah is not an arcane text of the ancient world. It is the essence of Judaism, which is the essence of ourselves.
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
The Jewish people have a set of "written instructions for living" – the Bible, and also "oral instructions for living" – the Talmud. Jewish wisdom is incomprehensible unless both parts are working together.
Way #14 is "b'mikreh," the written instructions. The Bible has three parts, totaling 24 books:
1.Torah – The Five Books of Moses, revealed to the Jewish people by God at Mount Sinai.
2.Prophets – God spoke to various prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) who transmitted messages strengthening the Jewish commitment to Torah.
3.Writings – The Writings (e.g. Proverbs, Psalms, Esther) emphasize God's message in a poetic style.
The Bible is the all-time bestseller and has made an enormous impact on Western civilization. Everyone should study the Bible at least once in a lifetime.
"All men have an inalienable right" – straight from the Bible. "Love your neighbor" – the Bible. Isaiah's vision of peace adorns the United Nations. The biblical sanction to "proclaim freedom throughout the land" is engraved on the Liberty Bell.
You don't need to accept the existence of God to learn these basic lessons. Whether interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, community relations, or environmental concerns – Torah is the ultimate "owner's manual."
On a deeper level, Jewish tradition says that Torah is the "blueprint for creation." Everything in life can be found in Torah... if you ask the right questions, and possess the right set of tools.
Intergalactic Communication
Imagine you received a message from outer space. You might not fully understand its meaning, but you are fascinated. You will study every word and try to decode it.
Torah is the word of God, communicated to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. If a piece of Torah doesn't seem to make sense, don't pass it off as irrelevant. Keep asking, searching, delving.
Look deeper into what each piece of Torah is telling you. All the stories and commandments are really philosophical messages waiting to be revealed by the intellectually active mind. The Flood, the Tower of Babel, the splitting of the Red Sea – all contain the deepest wisdom for living. Even dates, names, numbers, events and lineage all teach us something. The message is often between the lines. And when the message seems obvious, there's more below the surface.
Let's take an example. In Genesis chapter 18, Abraham is in the middle of conversing with God. Then three strangers pass by and Abraham immediately runs to serve them. At this point the alert reader should question: Why would Abraham stop talking to God in order to help strangers? It doesn't make sense. Even an atheist would admit that talking to God is the ultimate experience!
From here we learn a profound spiritual lesson: Even more important than talking to God, is to be like God.
What does it mean to "be like Him"?
God created the world for our pleasure. Everything he placed here – fruit, hands, love – are manifestations of His kindness. This world is one big hospitality inn. So when you take the role of host, of serving your fellow man, you are like God. Abraham was wealthy and famous, yet it was not beneath him to serve strangers. He understood the lesson.
Read the Bible intelligently. It is the guiding force of Jewish achievement, as fresh today as it was 3,500 years ago. Don't discount its value without first making an effort to study it. Respect the Bible. It is a hidden treasure, a special message from God.
The Original
If you want to understand the Bible, you need to learn Hebrew. There's no way to get the full meaning in translation.
For example, the Torah uses 10 different names for God. Each "name" refers to a unique aspect of God's essence: all-knowing, all-powerful, prime mover, merciful, etc. But in English, these names are all translated the same, and much of the depth is lost.
Worse yet, biblical translation promotes misconceptions. For example, you'll read a translation and come across the word "sin." Uh-oh. Sin, evil, punishment. But the Hebrew word Chet does not mean sin at all. Chet appears in the Bible in reference to an arrow which missed the target. There is nothing inherently "bad" about the arrow (or the archer). Rather, a mistake was made – due to a lack of focus, concentration or skill.
From here we learn that human beings are essentially good. Nobody wants to sin. We may occasionally make a mistake, lose focus, and miss the target. But in essence we want to do good. This is a great lesson in self-esteem. Simply adjust your aim and try again!
In translation, the message is lost. In fact, entire religions have arose based on mistranslations. So get it straight. Learn Hebrew.
Preconceived Notions
I once came across a magazine profiling a group of hippies who spent the day reading the biblical "Song of Songs." "Song of Songs" is written in the form of a poem, a love song between a man and a woman, symbolizing the relationship between the Almighty and humanity. The message is so deep and beautiful that the Jewish people call this book the "holy of holies."
On the commune, they had an experience where the men recited the man's lines, and the women recited the woman's lines. The magazine reports that they read through "Song of Songs" and had a fantastic experience.
Afterward, the women proclaimed that they finally found a portion of the Bible written by a woman, because no man could ever understand a woman's feelings so deeply and state them so powerfully. In other words, they concluded that only a hermaphrodite could have edited the Bible. But God? No, that's inconceivable.
Unfortunately, Bible critics usually come from a preconceived position, and when the Bible doesn't fit those parameters, they are forced to make far-fetched conclusions. They don't seriously consider the idea of Torah's divine authorship, of "national revelation."
Yet it is an unbroken Jewish tradition that 3 million men, women and children stood at Mount Sinai and heard the Torah directly from God. And in the 3,300 years since, no other religion has ever made such a claim – because it is impossible to fabricate.
Nature & Miracles
Some critics have trouble accepting the idea of divine intervention. For them, all the biblical phenomenon need to be explained in terms of nature. A book called "World in Collision," for example, explains the splitting of the Red Sea like this:
A tremendous comet approached earth at the time the Egyptians were chasing the Jews. At that precise moment, the comet was in position to tear the Red Sea apart by the force of gravity, leaving dry land between two walls of the sea. The Jews entered the sea, and sure enough, the Egyptians followed. Luckily, the Jews came out the other side just as the comet passed, and the water returned, drowning the Egyptians.
Simple, right? You don't need God.
How does this book explain the manna bread that the Jews collected every morning for 40 years in the desert? After the comet passed, particles of petroleum remained in the higher atmosphere. It eventually burned off and mixed with the dew. The falling dew combined with a particular micro-bacteria that digests petroleum products and converts it into protein.
Thus explains how every morning, for 40 years, a nation of Jews picked up manna bread – "dew containing predigested protein." On Fridays, there was a double portion, but he doesn't explain that...
These explanations are missing the point. Torah isn't a history book, a physics book or a storybook. Rather, it is Torat Chaim – literally "instructions for living." Every word, every phrase contains a message how to maximize pleasure in life. Look for the deeper message – the wisdom within – and you will reap immense rewards.
The Time Is Now
The first sentence a Jewish child is taught is "Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morasha kehilat Yaakov" – "Torah was commanded to us through Moses and is the inheritance of every Jew." Torah was meant for everybody. It is not the exclusive domain of some priestly class. Rather, it is a living, breathing document – the lifeblood of our Jewish nation. We are required at all times to involve ourselves in its study and practice. As it says, "You shall think about it day and night" (Joshua 1:8).
Your academic education may have ended, and there may come a point where you are as good a "professional" as you need to be. But learning Torah starts at a young age and continues for a lifetime. As you mature and your awareness of reality increases, so will your understanding of concepts you thought you once knew well.
Every Jew is supposed to review the weekly Torah portion three times, and then hear it again in the synagogue on Shabbat. We review, ask questions, discuss the topics. "What did you see, what was difficult, what didn't you understand?"
After learning a piece of Torah, organize it so it's at your fingertips. For example, the Five Books of Moses are organized into 54 weekly portions and 674 chapters. After learning one chapter, pause and assign a code word or phrase to the chapter. You'll have a handy device to recall the wisdom it contains.
Some people use the excuse, "I'm too old to begin learning." But the Talmudic scholar Rebbe Akiva didn't even learn the Aleph-Bet until he was age 40. This is the same Rebbe Akiva who became the greatest sage of his generation with 24,000 students!
Some people are hesitant to learn Torah because they can't imagine ever becoming a scholar, so therefore "why even get started?" This is faulty thinking. Every drop of Torah study is precious and eternal.
Tree of Life
There are two ways to acquire wisdom: through life experience, or through learning Torah.
Judaism says it's better to get wisdom through Torah. Why? Because even though you can learn from experience, there's a negative residual effect. True, a woman who goes through a series of failed relationships will eventually learn what's important in a husband. But if she'd first studied wisdom, she'd have saved a lot of needless headache.
We learn this lesson from the Garden of Eden. Here is a story that sounds like a real fairytale: two trees in the middle of the garden, and God instructs Adam that the Tree of Life (symbolizing the attainment of wisdom through Torah) is made to be eaten, whereas the Tree of Knowledge (symbolizing wisdom through experience) is better avoided. Adam's mistake? He eats from the Tree of Knowledge.
We don't have the patience to get to know ourselves and we want to learn from experience. Many people say: "After I make money, when my business is self-sustaining, then I'll take time out to learn Torah. But I need to experience life a little first."
Three divorces later...
Do not say: "When I have free time, I will study," for perhaps you will never have time. Realistically, once you're promoted to VP of the firm, do you expect to have more free time, or less free time?
The Torah is a "tree of life" for those who grasp it. When we study Torah, we are not studying an abstract and arcane text of the ancient world. We are in fact discovering the essence of ourselves.
Why is "Written Instructions" a Way to Wisdom?
Torah is not an arcane text of the ancient world. It is the essence of Judaism, which is the essence of ourselves.
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
The Jewish people have a set of "written instructions for living" – the Bible, and also "oral instructions for living" – the Talmud. Jewish wisdom is incomprehensible unless both parts are working together.
Way #14 is "b'mikreh," the written instructions. The Bible has three parts, totaling 24 books:
1.Torah – The Five Books of Moses, revealed to the Jewish people by God at Mount Sinai.
2.Prophets – God spoke to various prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) who transmitted messages strengthening the Jewish commitment to Torah.
3.Writings – The Writings (e.g. Proverbs, Psalms, Esther) emphasize God's message in a poetic style.
The Bible is the all-time bestseller and has made an enormous impact on Western civilization. Everyone should study the Bible at least once in a lifetime.
"All men have an inalienable right" – straight from the Bible. "Love your neighbor" – the Bible. Isaiah's vision of peace adorns the United Nations. The biblical sanction to "proclaim freedom throughout the land" is engraved on the Liberty Bell.
You don't need to accept the existence of God to learn these basic lessons. Whether interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, community relations, or environmental concerns – Torah is the ultimate "owner's manual."
On a deeper level, Jewish tradition says that Torah is the "blueprint for creation." Everything in life can be found in Torah... if you ask the right questions, and possess the right set of tools.
Intergalactic Communication
Imagine you received a message from outer space. You might not fully understand its meaning, but you are fascinated. You will study every word and try to decode it.
Torah is the word of God, communicated to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. If a piece of Torah doesn't seem to make sense, don't pass it off as irrelevant. Keep asking, searching, delving.
Look deeper into what each piece of Torah is telling you. All the stories and commandments are really philosophical messages waiting to be revealed by the intellectually active mind. The Flood, the Tower of Babel, the splitting of the Red Sea – all contain the deepest wisdom for living. Even dates, names, numbers, events and lineage all teach us something. The message is often between the lines. And when the message seems obvious, there's more below the surface.
Let's take an example. In Genesis chapter 18, Abraham is in the middle of conversing with God. Then three strangers pass by and Abraham immediately runs to serve them. At this point the alert reader should question: Why would Abraham stop talking to God in order to help strangers? It doesn't make sense. Even an atheist would admit that talking to God is the ultimate experience!
From here we learn a profound spiritual lesson: Even more important than talking to God, is to be like God.
What does it mean to "be like Him"?
God created the world for our pleasure. Everything he placed here – fruit, hands, love – are manifestations of His kindness. This world is one big hospitality inn. So when you take the role of host, of serving your fellow man, you are like God. Abraham was wealthy and famous, yet it was not beneath him to serve strangers. He understood the lesson.
Read the Bible intelligently. It is the guiding force of Jewish achievement, as fresh today as it was 3,500 years ago. Don't discount its value without first making an effort to study it. Respect the Bible. It is a hidden treasure, a special message from God.
The Original
If you want to understand the Bible, you need to learn Hebrew. There's no way to get the full meaning in translation.
For example, the Torah uses 10 different names for God. Each "name" refers to a unique aspect of God's essence: all-knowing, all-powerful, prime mover, merciful, etc. But in English, these names are all translated the same, and much of the depth is lost.
Worse yet, biblical translation promotes misconceptions. For example, you'll read a translation and come across the word "sin." Uh-oh. Sin, evil, punishment. But the Hebrew word Chet does not mean sin at all. Chet appears in the Bible in reference to an arrow which missed the target. There is nothing inherently "bad" about the arrow (or the archer). Rather, a mistake was made – due to a lack of focus, concentration or skill.
From here we learn that human beings are essentially good. Nobody wants to sin. We may occasionally make a mistake, lose focus, and miss the target. But in essence we want to do good. This is a great lesson in self-esteem. Simply adjust your aim and try again!
In translation, the message is lost. In fact, entire religions have arose based on mistranslations. So get it straight. Learn Hebrew.
Preconceived Notions
I once came across a magazine profiling a group of hippies who spent the day reading the biblical "Song of Songs." "Song of Songs" is written in the form of a poem, a love song between a man and a woman, symbolizing the relationship between the Almighty and humanity. The message is so deep and beautiful that the Jewish people call this book the "holy of holies."
On the commune, they had an experience where the men recited the man's lines, and the women recited the woman's lines. The magazine reports that they read through "Song of Songs" and had a fantastic experience.
Afterward, the women proclaimed that they finally found a portion of the Bible written by a woman, because no man could ever understand a woman's feelings so deeply and state them so powerfully. In other words, they concluded that only a hermaphrodite could have edited the Bible. But God? No, that's inconceivable.
Unfortunately, Bible critics usually come from a preconceived position, and when the Bible doesn't fit those parameters, they are forced to make far-fetched conclusions. They don't seriously consider the idea of Torah's divine authorship, of "national revelation."
Yet it is an unbroken Jewish tradition that 3 million men, women and children stood at Mount Sinai and heard the Torah directly from God. And in the 3,300 years since, no other religion has ever made such a claim – because it is impossible to fabricate.
Nature & Miracles
Some critics have trouble accepting the idea of divine intervention. For them, all the biblical phenomenon need to be explained in terms of nature. A book called "World in Collision," for example, explains the splitting of the Red Sea like this:
A tremendous comet approached earth at the time the Egyptians were chasing the Jews. At that precise moment, the comet was in position to tear the Red Sea apart by the force of gravity, leaving dry land between two walls of the sea. The Jews entered the sea, and sure enough, the Egyptians followed. Luckily, the Jews came out the other side just as the comet passed, and the water returned, drowning the Egyptians.
Simple, right? You don't need God.
How does this book explain the manna bread that the Jews collected every morning for 40 years in the desert? After the comet passed, particles of petroleum remained in the higher atmosphere. It eventually burned off and mixed with the dew. The falling dew combined with a particular micro-bacteria that digests petroleum products and converts it into protein.
Thus explains how every morning, for 40 years, a nation of Jews picked up manna bread – "dew containing predigested protein." On Fridays, there was a double portion, but he doesn't explain that...
These explanations are missing the point. Torah isn't a history book, a physics book or a storybook. Rather, it is Torat Chaim – literally "instructions for living." Every word, every phrase contains a message how to maximize pleasure in life. Look for the deeper message – the wisdom within – and you will reap immense rewards.
The Time Is Now
The first sentence a Jewish child is taught is "Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morasha kehilat Yaakov" – "Torah was commanded to us through Moses and is the inheritance of every Jew." Torah was meant for everybody. It is not the exclusive domain of some priestly class. Rather, it is a living, breathing document – the lifeblood of our Jewish nation. We are required at all times to involve ourselves in its study and practice. As it says, "You shall think about it day and night" (Joshua 1:8).
Your academic education may have ended, and there may come a point where you are as good a "professional" as you need to be. But learning Torah starts at a young age and continues for a lifetime. As you mature and your awareness of reality increases, so will your understanding of concepts you thought you once knew well.
Every Jew is supposed to review the weekly Torah portion three times, and then hear it again in the synagogue on Shabbat. We review, ask questions, discuss the topics. "What did you see, what was difficult, what didn't you understand?"
After learning a piece of Torah, organize it so it's at your fingertips. For example, the Five Books of Moses are organized into 54 weekly portions and 674 chapters. After learning one chapter, pause and assign a code word or phrase to the chapter. You'll have a handy device to recall the wisdom it contains.
Some people use the excuse, "I'm too old to begin learning." But the Talmudic scholar Rebbe Akiva didn't even learn the Aleph-Bet until he was age 40. This is the same Rebbe Akiva who became the greatest sage of his generation with 24,000 students!
Some people are hesitant to learn Torah because they can't imagine ever becoming a scholar, so therefore "why even get started?" This is faulty thinking. Every drop of Torah study is precious and eternal.
Tree of Life
There are two ways to acquire wisdom: through life experience, or through learning Torah.
Judaism says it's better to get wisdom through Torah. Why? Because even though you can learn from experience, there's a negative residual effect. True, a woman who goes through a series of failed relationships will eventually learn what's important in a husband. But if she'd first studied wisdom, she'd have saved a lot of needless headache.
We learn this lesson from the Garden of Eden. Here is a story that sounds like a real fairytale: two trees in the middle of the garden, and God instructs Adam that the Tree of Life (symbolizing the attainment of wisdom through Torah) is made to be eaten, whereas the Tree of Knowledge (symbolizing wisdom through experience) is better avoided. Adam's mistake? He eats from the Tree of Knowledge.
We don't have the patience to get to know ourselves and we want to learn from experience. Many people say: "After I make money, when my business is self-sustaining, then I'll take time out to learn Torah. But I need to experience life a little first."
Three divorces later...
Do not say: "When I have free time, I will study," for perhaps you will never have time. Realistically, once you're promoted to VP of the firm, do you expect to have more free time, or less free time?
The Torah is a "tree of life" for those who grasp it. When we study Torah, we are not studying an abstract and arcane text of the ancient world. We are in fact discovering the essence of ourselves.
Why is "Written Instructions" a Way to Wisdom?
- Read the Bible from beginning to end. If you haven't yet learned Hebrew, buy an authentic Jewish translation. (Recommended: ArtScroll's "Stone Chumash")
- Learn Torah. Discover God's instructions for living. Don't wait until your life is almost over.
- Understand Torah. It's the book that changed the world. Ask questions until you know the message in detail.
- Correlate any differences and resolve them. There are no "unintentional" discrepancies in Torah. Look in the book and you will find it.
- Organize it. Wisdom is only useful when it's at your fingertips. Torah should be your encyclopedia, almanac and index to living.
- Review Torah, in order to remember. You wouldn't head out on the open road without a map. When going through life, don't leave the Torah behind.
- Integrate Torah. Make the ideas part of your reality. Rebbe Akiva said that a Jew without Torah is like a fish without water.
- Update it. Renew Torah wisdom as your life situation changes. Don't "honor your parents" at age 25 the same way you did at age five.
- Upgrade it. The first paragraph of the "Shema" contains 48 words, corresponding to the 48 Ways. Torah wisdom is infinitely vast. Always delve one level deeper.
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10 Ways to Tackle Your Challenges
How to embrace and overcome your challenges.
by Yaakov Weiland
Throughout our lives we’re always struggling with something. Instead of feeling down over your difficulties, here are 10 strategies to overcome them.
1.Make a game plan. Try to get outside input from those you respect. (If there’s no one you can ask, often a recommended therapist can be very helpful.) Focus especially on the next step you will take to address your issue. Even if you have no idea how you will overcome the challenge, be optimistic things will work out; with God’s help, anything is possible.
Include in your game plan ways you will use the challenge as a catalyst for growth, to become a better and more spiritual person. Periodically review your plan to see if it is working or if you have to make changes. At the same time, accept that your challenges are given to you by a loving God for your benefit and that you will grow from them.
2.Keep your cool. When dealing with difficulties, patience is needed. Frantic and desperate measures are unlikely to help; these drain you physically, emotionally and financially. Success and healing come from God. All you need to do is put in reasonable, persistent efforts and ask God for help; leave the rest to Him.
3.Forgive. We often blame others or ourselves for our problems; this only exacerbates our pain and distracts us from addressing the issue. Since everything in our lives occurs because God wants it to, for our highest good, the question is not, “Who can I blame?” The question is, “How can I grow and overcome this?” (At the same time, when appropriate, we can still hold others accountable for their behavior).
4.Avoid dwelling on your problems. Often what wears us down most is not the actual problem, but the constant thinking about it, spending our days and nights consumed with the issue. Have a set time when you think about and update your game plan. In addition, have a set time when you express your pain, either to God, a friend, family member, therapist or in your journal. The rest of the time, try to keep your mind elsewhere.
5.Live life. You may think, “When will this problem be over with already, so I can get on with my life?” The truth is, right now, this is your life. This isthe best use of your time and how you currently fulfill your life’s purpose.
Don’t put your life on hold just because you’re struggling in one area. Give yourself permission to be happy and enjoy life, as best you can. Throughout the day, look for reasons to smile or laugh. Having a slight smile on your face, even for no reason, can shift your mindset to a more positive one.
6.Help others. Even if your life is full of struggles, see how you can be of service to other people. We’re all in this together; by assisting each other, we will get through our difficulties.
7.Focus on what’s going right. When dealing with an issue, our tendency is to hyper focus on the difficulty, to the exclusion of everything else. Instead, make sure to notice and appreciate your blessings, savoring each one.
8.Realize everyone has difficulties. Often, we compare our lives to others, especially the airbrushed Facebook versions, and wonder, “Why can’t my life be like theirs? Why is my life so full of struggle?” But we are only seeing a small part of the overall picture. If we knew all their issues, psychological problems or family difficulties, we would prefer to keep our own strengths and blessings, even if they come with challenges.
9.Take care of yourself. Don't overextend yourself. Many times, we become so consumed with our difficulties that we neglect our health, which only makes matters worse. Eat nutritious meals and get adequate sleep and exercise.
Set clear boundaries as to what you can and cannot do. For example, if you are caring for a child, spouse or parent who is in the hospital, decide how many days a week you can go, how many hours you can stay and how many nights you can sleep over, before it takes a toll on you. Then elicit the help of others to fill in the gaps.
10.Reach out for support. There are three sources of support. The first is God. Unburden yourself to Him; tell Him about your struggles and fears and ask for His help. If you feel overwhelmed and are having trouble coping, tell Him that and ask Him to strengthen you.
The second is other people. Let them know what you need, whether it is emotional or material support, or both. Don’t be ashamed; everyone needs help at some point.
Depending on the issue, you may want to consult with a social worker to see if there are any social services available to you. In addition, is there an organization that provides support for people in your situation? If not, consider starting one; that’s how many organizations where founded.
The third source of support is ourselves. We need to talk to ourselves with words of compassion and encouragement. Show yourself the same kindness, warmth and care you would show a family member or friend who is going through a tough time.
Living a meaningful life involves struggles. Instead of trying to avoid them, use strategies to meet your challenges head on and triumph.
To read Yaakov’s new, free e-book, Living with God: 30 Days to a Fulfilling Life, click here.
How to embrace and overcome your challenges.
by Yaakov Weiland
Throughout our lives we’re always struggling with something. Instead of feeling down over your difficulties, here are 10 strategies to overcome them.
1.Make a game plan. Try to get outside input from those you respect. (If there’s no one you can ask, often a recommended therapist can be very helpful.) Focus especially on the next step you will take to address your issue. Even if you have no idea how you will overcome the challenge, be optimistic things will work out; with God’s help, anything is possible.
Include in your game plan ways you will use the challenge as a catalyst for growth, to become a better and more spiritual person. Periodically review your plan to see if it is working or if you have to make changes. At the same time, accept that your challenges are given to you by a loving God for your benefit and that you will grow from them.
2.Keep your cool. When dealing with difficulties, patience is needed. Frantic and desperate measures are unlikely to help; these drain you physically, emotionally and financially. Success and healing come from God. All you need to do is put in reasonable, persistent efforts and ask God for help; leave the rest to Him.
3.Forgive. We often blame others or ourselves for our problems; this only exacerbates our pain and distracts us from addressing the issue. Since everything in our lives occurs because God wants it to, for our highest good, the question is not, “Who can I blame?” The question is, “How can I grow and overcome this?” (At the same time, when appropriate, we can still hold others accountable for their behavior).
4.Avoid dwelling on your problems. Often what wears us down most is not the actual problem, but the constant thinking about it, spending our days and nights consumed with the issue. Have a set time when you think about and update your game plan. In addition, have a set time when you express your pain, either to God, a friend, family member, therapist or in your journal. The rest of the time, try to keep your mind elsewhere.
5.Live life. You may think, “When will this problem be over with already, so I can get on with my life?” The truth is, right now, this is your life. This isthe best use of your time and how you currently fulfill your life’s purpose.
Don’t put your life on hold just because you’re struggling in one area. Give yourself permission to be happy and enjoy life, as best you can. Throughout the day, look for reasons to smile or laugh. Having a slight smile on your face, even for no reason, can shift your mindset to a more positive one.
6.Help others. Even if your life is full of struggles, see how you can be of service to other people. We’re all in this together; by assisting each other, we will get through our difficulties.
7.Focus on what’s going right. When dealing with an issue, our tendency is to hyper focus on the difficulty, to the exclusion of everything else. Instead, make sure to notice and appreciate your blessings, savoring each one.
8.Realize everyone has difficulties. Often, we compare our lives to others, especially the airbrushed Facebook versions, and wonder, “Why can’t my life be like theirs? Why is my life so full of struggle?” But we are only seeing a small part of the overall picture. If we knew all their issues, psychological problems or family difficulties, we would prefer to keep our own strengths and blessings, even if they come with challenges.
9.Take care of yourself. Don't overextend yourself. Many times, we become so consumed with our difficulties that we neglect our health, which only makes matters worse. Eat nutritious meals and get adequate sleep and exercise.
Set clear boundaries as to what you can and cannot do. For example, if you are caring for a child, spouse or parent who is in the hospital, decide how many days a week you can go, how many hours you can stay and how many nights you can sleep over, before it takes a toll on you. Then elicit the help of others to fill in the gaps.
10.Reach out for support. There are three sources of support. The first is God. Unburden yourself to Him; tell Him about your struggles and fears and ask for His help. If you feel overwhelmed and are having trouble coping, tell Him that and ask Him to strengthen you.
The second is other people. Let them know what you need, whether it is emotional or material support, or both. Don’t be ashamed; everyone needs help at some point.
Depending on the issue, you may want to consult with a social worker to see if there are any social services available to you. In addition, is there an organization that provides support for people in your situation? If not, consider starting one; that’s how many organizations where founded.
The third source of support is ourselves. We need to talk to ourselves with words of compassion and encouragement. Show yourself the same kindness, warmth and care you would show a family member or friend who is going through a tough time.
Living a meaningful life involves struggles. Instead of trying to avoid them, use strategies to meet your challenges head on and triumph.
To read Yaakov’s new, free e-book, Living with God: 30 Days to a Fulfilling Life, click here.
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My father’s unwavering faith in the shadow of cancer.
by Tzivia Reiter
It all started with a toe. A discoloration on a toenail, actually, that turned out to be melanoma skin cancer. My father, Rabbi Dovid Ross, was a tall, strong, healthy man. It seemed impossible that a little toe could cause him all this trouble. But it did.
We had never heard of melanoma. If we had, perhaps things would have been different. But melanoma was unknown to us. It was simply not on our radar.
The paradox of melanoma is that if it is caught early enough, it can be almost entirely treatable. If it is not, it is one of the most deadly cancers.
But my father was not the type to dwell on what could have been, what should have been. He believed that everything came from God. His cancer was decreed by God and only He could take it away.
During one of his first biopsies, he apologized to the technician for crying out in pain, making his job more difficult.
He approached his situation with complete faith in God and with sunny optimism. He never focused on himself or his discomfort, only on the feelings of others. In fact, when he went in for one of his first biopsies, he apologized to the technician for crying out in pain, making his job more difficult.
The Quest for a Cure
Immunotherapy is the treatment of choice for melanoma, and my father was accepted into a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital that combined two different immunotherapy drugs. This very same treatment cured a well-known journalist, who wrote about it extensively in her online column. My father was considered fortunate to have access to this cutting edge treatment. But God clearly had something different in mind. Not only did the treatment not cure my father’s melanoma, but it damaged some of his vital organs - wreaking havoc and rendering him almost unrecognizable from the healthy man he appeared just weeks before. It also made him ineligible for just about any further meaningful treatment. This was an incredibly traumatic blow for our family.
My father
Yet my father forged on, accepting God’s will while at the same time pursuing every avenue for treatment.
Our next step was finding out if my father’s cancer had any identified genetic mutation, as the newer field of personalized medicine targets the specific cancer mutation. Most of the research and available treatments focus around a few identified mutations, especially the BRAF mutation, which over 50% of melanoma patients have. My father’s test results came back and we learned that he was one of a small percentage of melanoma patients whose tumors had no identified mutation, excluding him from many of the treatment options.
Despite all the disappointments coming our way, my father was not discouraged. In fact, as amazing as this may sound, he did not even view these developments as bad. They were directed by God, and therefore, were exactly as they were supposed to be.
During some of these hard times, I would ask my father, “Daddy, are you okay?” His answer: “I’m the most okay guy in the world.” And he meant it.
Two Requests
My father rarely talked of the unspeakable fear we all had, that he wouldn’t win this battle. In the very beginning of his illness, though, he told me: “There are only two things I want from my children. The first is that you should always be close to one another. The second is that you should never have any complaints against God.” The first request was easy to fulfill, as my parents had always raised their children to be close. As my father’s condition worsened, the second request turned out to be a little harder.
While there weren’t many systemic treatments available for my father’s rare form of cancer, he was able to have several surgeries and treatments which provided some short-term relief. My brother called this the “whack-a-mole” approach– every time a tumor popped up, we nuked it – either through surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. And that worked, for a short while.
During one of his many surgeries, we heard of a Jewish man in the hospital who was alone and without family. My father urged us to go visit him, while he was in surgery. When we protested that we wanted to stay nearby, in case he needed us, he insisted, “There’s no better thing you can do for me.”
Before another one of his surgeries, I was in the room when the anesthesiologist was reciting his required script of risks created by the anesthesia for consent purposes. “There is a risk of stroke, cardiac arrest, etc.” He droned on. “Of course the risk is minimal, but you should be aware that you can have these side effects…” My father interrupted him. “I want you to know, if that happens, it’s not your fault!” The anesthesiologist stopped in his tracks. He looked at my father, stunned. I don’t think in the thousands of times he recited this speech, he ever got that response.
One particularly grueling surgery resulted in a recovery period where my father was not allowed to eat or drink. Not a morsel of food, a chip of ice, nor a sip of water for about 8 days. The day it was finally allowed, he rejoiced: “Do you know what a miracle a sip of water is?” I will always remember that moment, when he transformed what could have made him bitter into a blessing expressed to God with all his heart.
And in the midst of all the darkness, there were indeed glimpses of light. There were treatments that worked for a tantalizing few weeks; there were promises of other treatments that never materialized. At a very low point, we received word that my father may be accepted into a very exciting clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. The treatment offered was considered to be very rigorous, but with a potential outcome of full remission. We sent my father's medical file, and eagerly awaited their decision. Expecting a call from the doctor, I was surprised when my father called me instead.
It seemed the nurse from the Cancer Institute accidentally copied my father in her email response to his doctors, letting them know they would not be accepting him. After breaking the news to me, my father's first words were: "I'm calling you because I know you'll be upset. I want you to know: I’m not upset. Not at all. And I don't want you to be either. It makes no difference to me if I am sitting in Bethesda, Maryland or Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital or in my living room. It all comes from God. Everyone else is playing their part."
Coping with Suffering
I will not even attempt to describe my father’s suffering as his condition worsened. I had never before seen such suffering up close on another human being, and hope to never again. For those who don’t know, may you never know. For those who do, no words are necessary.
Yet my father drew closer to God in those days of suffering than he was in his prior years of comfort and health. He knew that everything that was happening to him was being personally directed by God. He knew that God had an eternal plan, and that he was not privy to the details, but he trusted in it. He accepted the good and the seemingly bad with equal serenity, and boundless faith.
I never heard my father complain, even when treatment after treatment failed him. When every last vestige of comfort was taken away, when his vision started diminishing from new cancer that was cropping up behind his eye, he didn’t complain. The only distress I heard him express about his illness was that it prevented him from taking care of his mother, in the hands-on and completely dedicated way that he used to, and that it made it more difficult for him to learn Torah. This indeed caused him great anguish. I would hear him repeat to himself during the times when he felt most keenly the limitations of his illness: “This is from God, this is what I need to be doing right now, I have to strengthen my faith,” over and over again. Those thoughts strengthened his spirit and carried him through the depths of his pain.
Always To God
It was a particularly hard day. The kind of day where the sheer ringing of a cell phone was enough to make my father flinch. Where the constant battle my father waged, between the excruciating pain vs. the confusion of mind that the painkillers brought, left him no choice at all.
It was later that night, in the stillness of the room, that I finally broached the subject that had been bothering me for so long. For the words of my father were forever before me: "My children should never have any complaints against God." No complaints. My father truly had none. And the last thing I wanted was to disappoint my father.
“You can have complaints. Just turn to God with your questions. Not away. Always to God."
So I unburdened myself to him. And my father, whose love, faith and gratitude toward God was boundless, had the wisdom and generosity to let me work toward those goals at my own pace. I will never forget what he told me. " I didn't mean to put pressure on you. You can have questions. You can have complaints. Just turn to God with your questions. Not away. Always to God."
That was the first night since my father's illness that I had any semblance of peace. And these words carried me through the dark days still to come.
Over the next few weeks, every treatment attempted for my father failed. Even the palliative treatments did not seem to relieve his suffering. By the time he died, his cancer had spread from his toe to every single vital organ in his body. On March 12, 2013, his pure soul was returned to its Maker. The same God that had given me my most precious, extraordinary father, took him away.
I know that my father is finally at peace, that he is looking down on us, guiding us ever still. While we feel the pain of his absence every day, the light that he shone for us throughout his life can never be extinguished. And I know exactly what he would say:
"No complaints."
Melanoma can often be detected early, when it is most likely to be cured. Monthly skin self-exams and awareness of the warning signs of melanomas are the best prevention strategies. To learn more about melanoma, please click here: http://www.melanoma.org
Dedicated to the memory of my beloved father, Avrohom Dovid ben Alter Boruch
Published: January 18, 2014
by Tzivia Reiter
It all started with a toe. A discoloration on a toenail, actually, that turned out to be melanoma skin cancer. My father, Rabbi Dovid Ross, was a tall, strong, healthy man. It seemed impossible that a little toe could cause him all this trouble. But it did.
We had never heard of melanoma. If we had, perhaps things would have been different. But melanoma was unknown to us. It was simply not on our radar.
The paradox of melanoma is that if it is caught early enough, it can be almost entirely treatable. If it is not, it is one of the most deadly cancers.
But my father was not the type to dwell on what could have been, what should have been. He believed that everything came from God. His cancer was decreed by God and only He could take it away.
During one of his first biopsies, he apologized to the technician for crying out in pain, making his job more difficult.
He approached his situation with complete faith in God and with sunny optimism. He never focused on himself or his discomfort, only on the feelings of others. In fact, when he went in for one of his first biopsies, he apologized to the technician for crying out in pain, making his job more difficult.
The Quest for a Cure
Immunotherapy is the treatment of choice for melanoma, and my father was accepted into a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital that combined two different immunotherapy drugs. This very same treatment cured a well-known journalist, who wrote about it extensively in her online column. My father was considered fortunate to have access to this cutting edge treatment. But God clearly had something different in mind. Not only did the treatment not cure my father’s melanoma, but it damaged some of his vital organs - wreaking havoc and rendering him almost unrecognizable from the healthy man he appeared just weeks before. It also made him ineligible for just about any further meaningful treatment. This was an incredibly traumatic blow for our family.
My father
Yet my father forged on, accepting God’s will while at the same time pursuing every avenue for treatment.
Our next step was finding out if my father’s cancer had any identified genetic mutation, as the newer field of personalized medicine targets the specific cancer mutation. Most of the research and available treatments focus around a few identified mutations, especially the BRAF mutation, which over 50% of melanoma patients have. My father’s test results came back and we learned that he was one of a small percentage of melanoma patients whose tumors had no identified mutation, excluding him from many of the treatment options.
Despite all the disappointments coming our way, my father was not discouraged. In fact, as amazing as this may sound, he did not even view these developments as bad. They were directed by God, and therefore, were exactly as they were supposed to be.
During some of these hard times, I would ask my father, “Daddy, are you okay?” His answer: “I’m the most okay guy in the world.” And he meant it.
Two Requests
My father rarely talked of the unspeakable fear we all had, that he wouldn’t win this battle. In the very beginning of his illness, though, he told me: “There are only two things I want from my children. The first is that you should always be close to one another. The second is that you should never have any complaints against God.” The first request was easy to fulfill, as my parents had always raised their children to be close. As my father’s condition worsened, the second request turned out to be a little harder.
While there weren’t many systemic treatments available for my father’s rare form of cancer, he was able to have several surgeries and treatments which provided some short-term relief. My brother called this the “whack-a-mole” approach– every time a tumor popped up, we nuked it – either through surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. And that worked, for a short while.
During one of his many surgeries, we heard of a Jewish man in the hospital who was alone and without family. My father urged us to go visit him, while he was in surgery. When we protested that we wanted to stay nearby, in case he needed us, he insisted, “There’s no better thing you can do for me.”
Before another one of his surgeries, I was in the room when the anesthesiologist was reciting his required script of risks created by the anesthesia for consent purposes. “There is a risk of stroke, cardiac arrest, etc.” He droned on. “Of course the risk is minimal, but you should be aware that you can have these side effects…” My father interrupted him. “I want you to know, if that happens, it’s not your fault!” The anesthesiologist stopped in his tracks. He looked at my father, stunned. I don’t think in the thousands of times he recited this speech, he ever got that response.
One particularly grueling surgery resulted in a recovery period where my father was not allowed to eat or drink. Not a morsel of food, a chip of ice, nor a sip of water for about 8 days. The day it was finally allowed, he rejoiced: “Do you know what a miracle a sip of water is?” I will always remember that moment, when he transformed what could have made him bitter into a blessing expressed to God with all his heart.
And in the midst of all the darkness, there were indeed glimpses of light. There were treatments that worked for a tantalizing few weeks; there were promises of other treatments that never materialized. At a very low point, we received word that my father may be accepted into a very exciting clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. The treatment offered was considered to be very rigorous, but with a potential outcome of full remission. We sent my father's medical file, and eagerly awaited their decision. Expecting a call from the doctor, I was surprised when my father called me instead.
It seemed the nurse from the Cancer Institute accidentally copied my father in her email response to his doctors, letting them know they would not be accepting him. After breaking the news to me, my father's first words were: "I'm calling you because I know you'll be upset. I want you to know: I’m not upset. Not at all. And I don't want you to be either. It makes no difference to me if I am sitting in Bethesda, Maryland or Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital or in my living room. It all comes from God. Everyone else is playing their part."
Coping with Suffering
I will not even attempt to describe my father’s suffering as his condition worsened. I had never before seen such suffering up close on another human being, and hope to never again. For those who don’t know, may you never know. For those who do, no words are necessary.
Yet my father drew closer to God in those days of suffering than he was in his prior years of comfort and health. He knew that everything that was happening to him was being personally directed by God. He knew that God had an eternal plan, and that he was not privy to the details, but he trusted in it. He accepted the good and the seemingly bad with equal serenity, and boundless faith.
I never heard my father complain, even when treatment after treatment failed him. When every last vestige of comfort was taken away, when his vision started diminishing from new cancer that was cropping up behind his eye, he didn’t complain. The only distress I heard him express about his illness was that it prevented him from taking care of his mother, in the hands-on and completely dedicated way that he used to, and that it made it more difficult for him to learn Torah. This indeed caused him great anguish. I would hear him repeat to himself during the times when he felt most keenly the limitations of his illness: “This is from God, this is what I need to be doing right now, I have to strengthen my faith,” over and over again. Those thoughts strengthened his spirit and carried him through the depths of his pain.
Always To God
It was a particularly hard day. The kind of day where the sheer ringing of a cell phone was enough to make my father flinch. Where the constant battle my father waged, between the excruciating pain vs. the confusion of mind that the painkillers brought, left him no choice at all.
It was later that night, in the stillness of the room, that I finally broached the subject that had been bothering me for so long. For the words of my father were forever before me: "My children should never have any complaints against God." No complaints. My father truly had none. And the last thing I wanted was to disappoint my father.
“You can have complaints. Just turn to God with your questions. Not away. Always to God."
So I unburdened myself to him. And my father, whose love, faith and gratitude toward God was boundless, had the wisdom and generosity to let me work toward those goals at my own pace. I will never forget what he told me. " I didn't mean to put pressure on you. You can have questions. You can have complaints. Just turn to God with your questions. Not away. Always to God."
That was the first night since my father's illness that I had any semblance of peace. And these words carried me through the dark days still to come.
Over the next few weeks, every treatment attempted for my father failed. Even the palliative treatments did not seem to relieve his suffering. By the time he died, his cancer had spread from his toe to every single vital organ in his body. On March 12, 2013, his pure soul was returned to its Maker. The same God that had given me my most precious, extraordinary father, took him away.
I know that my father is finally at peace, that he is looking down on us, guiding us ever still. While we feel the pain of his absence every day, the light that he shone for us throughout his life can never be extinguished. And I know exactly what he would say:
"No complaints."
Melanoma can often be detected early, when it is most likely to be cured. Monthly skin self-exams and awareness of the warning signs of melanomas are the best prevention strategies. To learn more about melanoma, please click here: http://www.melanoma.org
Dedicated to the memory of my beloved father, Avrohom Dovid ben Alter Boruch
Published: January 18, 2014
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Ariel Sharon & Me
An incredible encounter with the prime minister is the reason my family and I moved to Israel.
by Hillel Scheinfeld
January 2, 2014
To the Family of PM Ariel Sharon,
I am finally reaching out and putting down on paper what should have been done a long time ago and probably to the Prime Minister himself when he was still well but perhaps this letter will have more meaning now than before.
I am writing to tell you that I have and will always have tremendous gratitude and thanks to PM Ariel Sharon for my decision to make Aliya to Israel in January 2002. You will read in a second why I feel that the PM was my personal messenger from God, and the final and convincing inspiration to uproot my family from America and move to help build this great country of ours.
Here is my story.
The Scheinfeld Family in IsraelThe Scheinfeld Family in Israel
My wife and I are both from the USA and consider ourselves “national religious” Zionists. We lived in Teaneck, New Jersey after we were married. Life there was great. We had three boys and a house a great job and all our friends and family were in the US. We both studied after Yeshiva High School in Israel and although we loved Israel we never thought of ourselves as the ones to make Aliya. It was mostly a hypothetical discussion of something we would do if everything fell into place. At the same time the intifada in Israel was starting up again and every time something happened, we felt guilty that we were living a comfortable life in NJ while our brothers were risking their lives for our collective homeland. But these feeling would then pass and life went on in the wonderful USA.
Around 2001, my job had me traveling to Moscow every other week from NY integrating a company we had purchased there into the parent company. The work was definitely interesting but also taxing on the family with all the travel. I thought about looking into relocating to Israel and commuting from there to Moscow as the travel and jetlag were much easier to deal with and even approached my company in April of that year to do so. Of course, I knew it was a long shot but I felt that after 120 years I would be able to stand in front of God and say “I tried.”
As expected, my company turned down my request and I felt a feeling of mostly relief but also some disappointment. A few months had past and at the end of August 2001 my company came back to me and said that as they see this position extending for a long term they have reconsidered and now would like me to move if I was still interested. However, they needed an answer in the next 10 days and that we would have to move quickly thereafter.
Well, my wife and I were a bit taken aback and suddenly were faced with one of the hardest decision of our life. All our friends and the great majority of our family were in the US and we were not sure we were ready to leave it all behind to move to Israel. We were having trouble making a decision. That week I was scheduled to be in Moscow and I told my wife that we will both think this over and decide when I return from my trip.
I always left for my trips to Moscow on a Sunday afternoon from JFK in NY on the Delta airlines flight and always said the afternoon Mincha service at the airport right before boarding. I can still remember my prayer that day and how in the Amida (silent prayers), in the blessing of Shemah Koleiynu, where one can insert a personal prayer, I stopped and added a small prayer to God to help us make the right decision and to give us some insight in what we should do. I then boarded the plane and began a trip that would change our lives forever.
I landed on schedule in Moscow and as usual my driver picked me up and drove me to my hotel to check in and change. When I arrived at the hotel I immediately saw that there was more security than usual and that the group that was checking in with me were all speaking Hebrew. I asked one of them what was going on and they explained that PM Ariel Sharon had just arrived in Moscow for a summit and that everyone was now checking in as well with me at my hotel. I thought nothing of it and just said to myself that it was a funny coincidence and that security at the hotel will be much better than usual.
After check in, I got into my car and headed towards my office. While driving there I got a call from an American Rabbi that I was working with on a tzedakah project that Ariel Sharon was in town as was speaking that night at the Chabad center in Marina Roscha, and asked me if I would like to attend. I graciously accepted and he told me to be there at 7:30 and that he will save me a seat.
When I arrived there that evening the street outside the center was filled with people and I thought there was no chance I was going to get in to hear the PM speak. I called my friend and he came out to get me and said he had a seat for me in the front row. The event started with the PM and his entourage coming in and sitting on the dais table and right in front of me was the seat for the PM. I still did not think anything beyond that it was one of the most exciting events I have been to. After the playing of Hatikva everyone took their seats and the PM was introduced to speak.
There are moments in life people see Divine Providence and this for me was one of them. PM Sharon got up to speak and he said these exact words (of course in Hebrew). “I have come here today as the first stop on a mission to deliver a message to all Jews around the world. No matter if you are a Jew living in Moscow, Paris, London, New York, South Africa, Australia or anywhere in the world, the life you have today of freedom and prosperity could not exist without the existence of your homeland, the State of Israel. The fact that the State of Israel exists and that we have an army of our own that will always protect every Jew anywhere in the world gives us the freedom and life we have today even outside of Israel. However, this status can and will only continue to exist if we as a nation continue to strengthen the State of Israel and the Land of Israel. I am here to tell you that the best way to do this is to come to Israel and help us build our homeland. I am here to begin a worldwide campaign to get a million Jews to make Aliya today.”
Well, I was in complete awe and shock. I mean, here I am 8,000 miles away from home, in Moscow no less, by chance staying at the same hotel as the PM of Israel, attending a lecture given by the PM. Just 24 hours before, I had asked G-d for help with my decision to make aliyah or not. And now, here is the PM of Israel standing 4 feet from me saying that he came here tonight just to tell me to make Aliya. I had tears in my eyes as I called my wife on the phone and said “you have to listen to this speech.” PM Sharon spoke for about 10 minutes about this one message and at the end I told my wife… “we are going.” I mean what were the chances of all this coming together like this for me to hear that speech. I thought to myself, “Wow, I know I asked God for some help making the decision but he really didn’t need to send me the Prime Minister.” But the truth is maybe he did. Four month later we made aliyah and never looked back.
I always wanted to say thank you to your father directly but never had the opportunity before the PM fell ill. I know it is now too late to do this personally but I wanted to thank you, his family and let you know in this trying time that he had a huge impact on my life. I want to express my sincere appreciation for everything he did for me and the Jewish People. I cannot imagine the ordeal your family has gone through for the last eight years. But please know that I will never forget the Arik Sharon, who served our country with pride and lived for the betterment of the People of Israel, and shaped my life directly.
Yours truly,
Hillel Scheinfeld
An incredible encounter with the prime minister is the reason my family and I moved to Israel.
by Hillel Scheinfeld
January 2, 2014
To the Family of PM Ariel Sharon,
I am finally reaching out and putting down on paper what should have been done a long time ago and probably to the Prime Minister himself when he was still well but perhaps this letter will have more meaning now than before.
I am writing to tell you that I have and will always have tremendous gratitude and thanks to PM Ariel Sharon for my decision to make Aliya to Israel in January 2002. You will read in a second why I feel that the PM was my personal messenger from God, and the final and convincing inspiration to uproot my family from America and move to help build this great country of ours.
Here is my story.
The Scheinfeld Family in IsraelThe Scheinfeld Family in Israel
My wife and I are both from the USA and consider ourselves “national religious” Zionists. We lived in Teaneck, New Jersey after we were married. Life there was great. We had three boys and a house a great job and all our friends and family were in the US. We both studied after Yeshiva High School in Israel and although we loved Israel we never thought of ourselves as the ones to make Aliya. It was mostly a hypothetical discussion of something we would do if everything fell into place. At the same time the intifada in Israel was starting up again and every time something happened, we felt guilty that we were living a comfortable life in NJ while our brothers were risking their lives for our collective homeland. But these feeling would then pass and life went on in the wonderful USA.
Around 2001, my job had me traveling to Moscow every other week from NY integrating a company we had purchased there into the parent company. The work was definitely interesting but also taxing on the family with all the travel. I thought about looking into relocating to Israel and commuting from there to Moscow as the travel and jetlag were much easier to deal with and even approached my company in April of that year to do so. Of course, I knew it was a long shot but I felt that after 120 years I would be able to stand in front of God and say “I tried.”
As expected, my company turned down my request and I felt a feeling of mostly relief but also some disappointment. A few months had past and at the end of August 2001 my company came back to me and said that as they see this position extending for a long term they have reconsidered and now would like me to move if I was still interested. However, they needed an answer in the next 10 days and that we would have to move quickly thereafter.
Well, my wife and I were a bit taken aback and suddenly were faced with one of the hardest decision of our life. All our friends and the great majority of our family were in the US and we were not sure we were ready to leave it all behind to move to Israel. We were having trouble making a decision. That week I was scheduled to be in Moscow and I told my wife that we will both think this over and decide when I return from my trip.
I always left for my trips to Moscow on a Sunday afternoon from JFK in NY on the Delta airlines flight and always said the afternoon Mincha service at the airport right before boarding. I can still remember my prayer that day and how in the Amida (silent prayers), in the blessing of Shemah Koleiynu, where one can insert a personal prayer, I stopped and added a small prayer to God to help us make the right decision and to give us some insight in what we should do. I then boarded the plane and began a trip that would change our lives forever.
I landed on schedule in Moscow and as usual my driver picked me up and drove me to my hotel to check in and change. When I arrived at the hotel I immediately saw that there was more security than usual and that the group that was checking in with me were all speaking Hebrew. I asked one of them what was going on and they explained that PM Ariel Sharon had just arrived in Moscow for a summit and that everyone was now checking in as well with me at my hotel. I thought nothing of it and just said to myself that it was a funny coincidence and that security at the hotel will be much better than usual.
After check in, I got into my car and headed towards my office. While driving there I got a call from an American Rabbi that I was working with on a tzedakah project that Ariel Sharon was in town as was speaking that night at the Chabad center in Marina Roscha, and asked me if I would like to attend. I graciously accepted and he told me to be there at 7:30 and that he will save me a seat.
When I arrived there that evening the street outside the center was filled with people and I thought there was no chance I was going to get in to hear the PM speak. I called my friend and he came out to get me and said he had a seat for me in the front row. The event started with the PM and his entourage coming in and sitting on the dais table and right in front of me was the seat for the PM. I still did not think anything beyond that it was one of the most exciting events I have been to. After the playing of Hatikva everyone took their seats and the PM was introduced to speak.
There are moments in life people see Divine Providence and this for me was one of them. PM Sharon got up to speak and he said these exact words (of course in Hebrew). “I have come here today as the first stop on a mission to deliver a message to all Jews around the world. No matter if you are a Jew living in Moscow, Paris, London, New York, South Africa, Australia or anywhere in the world, the life you have today of freedom and prosperity could not exist without the existence of your homeland, the State of Israel. The fact that the State of Israel exists and that we have an army of our own that will always protect every Jew anywhere in the world gives us the freedom and life we have today even outside of Israel. However, this status can and will only continue to exist if we as a nation continue to strengthen the State of Israel and the Land of Israel. I am here to tell you that the best way to do this is to come to Israel and help us build our homeland. I am here to begin a worldwide campaign to get a million Jews to make Aliya today.”
Well, I was in complete awe and shock. I mean, here I am 8,000 miles away from home, in Moscow no less, by chance staying at the same hotel as the PM of Israel, attending a lecture given by the PM. Just 24 hours before, I had asked G-d for help with my decision to make aliyah or not. And now, here is the PM of Israel standing 4 feet from me saying that he came here tonight just to tell me to make Aliya. I had tears in my eyes as I called my wife on the phone and said “you have to listen to this speech.” PM Sharon spoke for about 10 minutes about this one message and at the end I told my wife… “we are going.” I mean what were the chances of all this coming together like this for me to hear that speech. I thought to myself, “Wow, I know I asked God for some help making the decision but he really didn’t need to send me the Prime Minister.” But the truth is maybe he did. Four month later we made aliyah and never looked back.
I always wanted to say thank you to your father directly but never had the opportunity before the PM fell ill. I know it is now too late to do this personally but I wanted to thank you, his family and let you know in this trying time that he had a huge impact on my life. I want to express my sincere appreciation for everything he did for me and the Jewish People. I cannot imagine the ordeal your family has gone through for the last eight years. But please know that I will never forget the Arik Sharon, who served our country with pride and lived for the betterment of the People of Israel, and shaped my life directly.
Yours truly,
Hillel Scheinfeld
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Re: AISH
Admin Sun 12 Jan 2014, 11:37 pm
5 Things I Learned from Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Insights into fixing oneself and fixing the world.
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
Rabbi Noah Weinberg was a once-in-a-generation giant who deeply impacted thousands of people around the world, teaching what it means to be a human being and a Jew.
Here are five key lessons I learned during 20 years as his student
.
(1) Responsibility
Rabbi Weinberg always said: “When I’m gone, then you’ll grow up.” (He was told this by his own teacher, older brother Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg zt”l.) This message was that we’d been relying too much on him to get the job done; after his passing we would “grow up” – i.e. take responsibility and step up into the role of a leader.
Rabbi Weinberg made the story of Moses a constant refrain: “In the place where there is no man, be a man!” (see Exodus 2:12, Avot 2:5). By accepting responsibility to further the Almighty’s plan, we merit the Divine assistance to get the job done.
(2) Persistence
Rabbi Weinberg always spoke about how, prior to starting Aish HaTorah in 1974, he had many failed attempts to build a successful organization. He would quote the verse, “A tzaddik falls seven times and gets up” (Proverbs 24:16), and say that the key to becoming successful is precisely the act of falling and getting back up.
When Rabbi Weinberg failed, he would always engage in a rigorous process of self-evaluation, then make any readjustment to accord with God’s will. With deep belief, he would say: “The Almighty can do anything. We just need to want it badly enough.”
(3) Empowerment
The Talmud says: “Who is powerful? He who empowers others.” Rabbi Weinberg was enormously influential, not because he clamped down on others, but rather because he empowered them. He found a role for everyone, assisting and encouraging them to achieve their full potential.
In Jerusalem, he formulated the Aish Yeshiva as an incubator for creativity and innovation – producing groundbreaking Jewish initiatives such as the Jerusalem Fellowships, SpeedDating, the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, Hasbara Fellowships, HonestReporting, and Aish.com, to name a few
.
(4) Peace and Unity
In deciding whether or not to do something, Rabbi Weinberg’s only consideration was whether it would constitute a Kiddush Hashem – an infusion of God-consciousness into the world. His sole gauge was whether an action produced more peace and unity as defined by the Torah.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Rabbi Weinberg lived by these principles throughout his personal life, and made them the cornerstone of Aish HaTorah. If an action would contradict the ideals of peace and unity, Rabbi Weinberg was willing to back down.
(5) Objectivity
The Talmud says: “Make God’s will, your will.” Rabbi Weinberg taught that the only way to discern “the Almighty’s will” is through a relentless process of self-evaluation. In order to attain this objectivity – and see where personal self-interest may be creeping in – he taught these principles:
Consistency: We must check ourselves regularly, using the tool of Cheshbon HaNefesh (self-evaluation). Minimally one should set aside 10 minutes a day; Rabbi Weinberg did so constantly.
Trusted advisor: Find someone who knows you very well – a spouse or close friend – and ask them to point out where your sense of objectivity is falling short.
Torah perspective: Whenever confronted with a serious decision – especially one with implications for Kiddush Hashem – we need to use the Torah as our guidebook and consult with Torah scholars. At the same time, Rabbi Weinberg insisted on “thinking for yourself” – by first formulating your own idea of the best option moving forward based on the Torah. Only then would he give feedback.
Perhaps most inspiring of all, Rabbi Weinberg taught that achieving this clarity and pushing toward our goal of peace, unity, and Kiddush Hashem is the greatest pleasure we could have in this world.
Insights into fixing oneself and fixing the world.
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
Rabbi Noah Weinberg was a once-in-a-generation giant who deeply impacted thousands of people around the world, teaching what it means to be a human being and a Jew.
Here are five key lessons I learned during 20 years as his student
.
(1) Responsibility
Rabbi Weinberg always said: “When I’m gone, then you’ll grow up.” (He was told this by his own teacher, older brother Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg zt”l.) This message was that we’d been relying too much on him to get the job done; after his passing we would “grow up” – i.e. take responsibility and step up into the role of a leader.
Rabbi Weinberg made the story of Moses a constant refrain: “In the place where there is no man, be a man!” (see Exodus 2:12, Avot 2:5). By accepting responsibility to further the Almighty’s plan, we merit the Divine assistance to get the job done.
(2) Persistence
Rabbi Weinberg always spoke about how, prior to starting Aish HaTorah in 1974, he had many failed attempts to build a successful organization. He would quote the verse, “A tzaddik falls seven times and gets up” (Proverbs 24:16), and say that the key to becoming successful is precisely the act of falling and getting back up.
When Rabbi Weinberg failed, he would always engage in a rigorous process of self-evaluation, then make any readjustment to accord with God’s will. With deep belief, he would say: “The Almighty can do anything. We just need to want it badly enough.”
(3) Empowerment
The Talmud says: “Who is powerful? He who empowers others.” Rabbi Weinberg was enormously influential, not because he clamped down on others, but rather because he empowered them. He found a role for everyone, assisting and encouraging them to achieve their full potential.
In Jerusalem, he formulated the Aish Yeshiva as an incubator for creativity and innovation – producing groundbreaking Jewish initiatives such as the Jerusalem Fellowships, SpeedDating, the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, Hasbara Fellowships, HonestReporting, and Aish.com, to name a few
.
(4) Peace and Unity
In deciding whether or not to do something, Rabbi Weinberg’s only consideration was whether it would constitute a Kiddush Hashem – an infusion of God-consciousness into the world. His sole gauge was whether an action produced more peace and unity as defined by the Torah.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Rabbi Weinberg lived by these principles throughout his personal life, and made them the cornerstone of Aish HaTorah. If an action would contradict the ideals of peace and unity, Rabbi Weinberg was willing to back down.
(5) Objectivity
The Talmud says: “Make God’s will, your will.” Rabbi Weinberg taught that the only way to discern “the Almighty’s will” is through a relentless process of self-evaluation. In order to attain this objectivity – and see where personal self-interest may be creeping in – he taught these principles:
Consistency: We must check ourselves regularly, using the tool of Cheshbon HaNefesh (self-evaluation). Minimally one should set aside 10 minutes a day; Rabbi Weinberg did so constantly.
Trusted advisor: Find someone who knows you very well – a spouse or close friend – and ask them to point out where your sense of objectivity is falling short.
Torah perspective: Whenever confronted with a serious decision – especially one with implications for Kiddush Hashem – we need to use the Torah as our guidebook and consult with Torah scholars. At the same time, Rabbi Weinberg insisted on “thinking for yourself” – by first formulating your own idea of the best option moving forward based on the Torah. Only then would he give feedback.
Perhaps most inspiring of all, Rabbi Weinberg taught that achieving this clarity and pushing toward our goal of peace, unity, and Kiddush Hashem is the greatest pleasure we could have in this world.
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Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
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Re: AISH
Admin Sun 12 Jan 2014, 11:14 pm
The Death of Ariel Sharon
I didn’t know how deep Sharon’s love was for Israel and the Jewish people.
by Sara Debbie Gutfreund
When Ariel Sharon first went into a coma in 2006, I remember thinking how eerie it was that it was just months after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza. Could Sharon see what was happening now somehow in his coma? Would he wake up and recognize it as a mistake? I kept waiting for him to wake up one day, transform back into a war hero, and say: I don’t know, let’s rebuild all those homes.
Every now and then there would be a news item that there had been some brain activity in response to his sons’ voices, and I would wonder about his coma. Where exactly was Sharon? Was he here, seeing everything going on around him but locked within himself? Or was he maybe halfway to the next world, seeing this world from a distance? Either way, eight years is a long time to be in a coma. So I was surprised when I felt a wave of sadness wash over me when I heard of his death yesterday - because for many of us, he had really been gone since 2006.
Sharon was a powerful, committed leader for the Jewish people for so many years (though he left many of us disappointed in his last years). From his early years working in the Haganah to protect Kibbutzim, to his leading an elite commando group for the first time in 1953, Sharon risked his life to protect our people.
In 1967, he was the major general of the army during the Six Day War, and commanded troops on the Egyptian front. When Israel won the Six Day War, Sharon went straight to the Kotel and called out the Shema, thanking God for the miraculous victory.
In 1973, Sharon served as a reservist-general, commanding troops that helped rout Egyptian forces in the Yom Kippur War. A photo of Sharon in the desert, dressed in his army uniform with his head bandaged, became the most famous picture of the war.
Eventually Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001. Soon after, he ordered strikes against Palestinian security installations to fight against the rising terrorism. Sharon did not back down during the terrifying intifada, defending Israel’s right to protect its citizens.
These quotes reveal the depth of Sharon’s love for Israel and the Jewish people during his years of leadership:
“I am the last person who would divide Jerusalem. I have said this many times. I don’t plan to discuss any division of Jerusalem.”
“Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly, no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.”
“For me, peace should provide security for the Jewish people.”
“As long as I’m needed. I’ll be ready to serve. I look forward with optimism. We need the Jews here. Move to Israel! Move to Israel!”
“I was born on a farm. My strength has nothing to do with political apparatus. I get my strength from nature, from flowers.”
“There is no bulletproof vest in my size.”
I didn’t know how deep Sharon’s love was for Israel and the Jewish people. And I didn’t know about his personal suffering: his only sibling, a sister who moved to New York and hardly ever spoke to Sharon again. How Sharon married his childhood sweetheart, Margalit, and lost her in a tragic car accident when their son was just five years old. And how six years after his first wife’s death, their son Gur was accidentally shot by a friend who was playing with a rifle in their yard. (His son died in his arms on the way to the hospital.) And I didn’t know that he lost his second wife to cancer in 2000. So much pain. So much I just didn’t know when I thought about Ariel Sharon.
But what I do know is that Sharon was a hero and a fighter for our nation. He was a proud Jew who shouted the Shema at the Kotel after the Six Day War. He lost close friends in battle and suffered many personal losses throughout his life. And he never gave up. He may have made mistakes. But he never gave up on the Jewish people. He wanted to serve for as long as he was needed. And he did. And so we thank you, Ariel Sharon, for your dedication and your courage. We thank you for your willingness to fight back against terrorism and for your strong stance on Jerusalem.
I didn’t know how deep Sharon’s love was for Israel and the Jewish people.
by Sara Debbie Gutfreund
When Ariel Sharon first went into a coma in 2006, I remember thinking how eerie it was that it was just months after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza. Could Sharon see what was happening now somehow in his coma? Would he wake up and recognize it as a mistake? I kept waiting for him to wake up one day, transform back into a war hero, and say: I don’t know, let’s rebuild all those homes.
Every now and then there would be a news item that there had been some brain activity in response to his sons’ voices, and I would wonder about his coma. Where exactly was Sharon? Was he here, seeing everything going on around him but locked within himself? Or was he maybe halfway to the next world, seeing this world from a distance? Either way, eight years is a long time to be in a coma. So I was surprised when I felt a wave of sadness wash over me when I heard of his death yesterday - because for many of us, he had really been gone since 2006.
Sharon was a powerful, committed leader for the Jewish people for so many years (though he left many of us disappointed in his last years). From his early years working in the Haganah to protect Kibbutzim, to his leading an elite commando group for the first time in 1953, Sharon risked his life to protect our people.
In 1967, he was the major general of the army during the Six Day War, and commanded troops on the Egyptian front. When Israel won the Six Day War, Sharon went straight to the Kotel and called out the Shema, thanking God for the miraculous victory.
In 1973, Sharon served as a reservist-general, commanding troops that helped rout Egyptian forces in the Yom Kippur War. A photo of Sharon in the desert, dressed in his army uniform with his head bandaged, became the most famous picture of the war.
Eventually Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001. Soon after, he ordered strikes against Palestinian security installations to fight against the rising terrorism. Sharon did not back down during the terrifying intifada, defending Israel’s right to protect its citizens.
These quotes reveal the depth of Sharon’s love for Israel and the Jewish people during his years of leadership:
“I am the last person who would divide Jerusalem. I have said this many times. I don’t plan to discuss any division of Jerusalem.”
“Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly, no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.”
“For me, peace should provide security for the Jewish people.”
“As long as I’m needed. I’ll be ready to serve. I look forward with optimism. We need the Jews here. Move to Israel! Move to Israel!”
“I was born on a farm. My strength has nothing to do with political apparatus. I get my strength from nature, from flowers.”
“There is no bulletproof vest in my size.”
I didn’t know how deep Sharon’s love was for Israel and the Jewish people. And I didn’t know about his personal suffering: his only sibling, a sister who moved to New York and hardly ever spoke to Sharon again. How Sharon married his childhood sweetheart, Margalit, and lost her in a tragic car accident when their son was just five years old. And how six years after his first wife’s death, their son Gur was accidentally shot by a friend who was playing with a rifle in their yard. (His son died in his arms on the way to the hospital.) And I didn’t know that he lost his second wife to cancer in 2000. So much pain. So much I just didn’t know when I thought about Ariel Sharon.
But what I do know is that Sharon was a hero and a fighter for our nation. He was a proud Jew who shouted the Shema at the Kotel after the Six Day War. He lost close friends in battle and suffered many personal losses throughout his life. And he never gave up. He may have made mistakes. But he never gave up on the Jewish people. He wanted to serve for as long as he was needed. And he did. And so we thank you, Ariel Sharon, for your dedication and your courage. We thank you for your willingness to fight back against terrorism and for your strong stance on Jerusalem.
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Re: AISH
Admin Sun 05 Jan 2014, 4:45 pm
Good Riddance Day
A new custom for removing trash from your life echoes the burning of chametz before Passover. The similarity is no accident.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
There’s a fairly new tradition in New York for the transition from one year to the next. It’s called Good Riddance Day, and we just witnessed its seventh annual observance.
Tim Tompkins, head of the Times Square Alliance, explained “It’s a great idea for all of those who treasure an opportunity to physically destroy reminders of negative events of the past year and to symbolically move forward to better days ahead.” And sure enough, New Yorkers turned out in droves to Midtown Manhattan just before New Year’s with their own individual and highly unique ways of commemorating a day dedicated to removing the trash from their lives and for expressing their contempt for the most harmful items of the past.
Good riddance to those aspects of our lives we want to discard.
Some used the moment to burn the letters from unfaithful spouses. There were the parents who shredded the-year-old medical diagnosis of their son’s kidney cancer which has now thankfully gone into total remission. Then there were those who brought documents they wanted to destroy, like medical bills, and objects they wanted to smash with a mallet, as a way to vengefully say goodbye to the troubles of the past year. What all of them shared was a cry of good riddance to those aspects of their lives they visibly wanted to discard, a commitment to keeping bad memories from interfering with the future.
Something like this has been part of Jewish tradition for thousands of years.
Jews are doubly blessed when it comes to New Years. We observe one in the fall, on Rosh Hashanah, commemorating the birth of mankind. We have another in the spring, when the calendar marks the month of Nissan, which the Torah refers to as the first month, because of its association with the Exodus from Egypt and the birth of the Jewish people. Passover is the holiday that commemorates this beginning, and it is preceded on the morning of the night of the Seder with a symbolic burning that resonates powerfully with the theme of Good Riddance Day.
On Passover Jews are commanded to eat matzah and are forbidden not only to eat leavened bread but to have the smallest crumb in their home or possession as well. Bread is something that needs to be totally renounced. Whatever is left over before Passover begins must be ceremoniously burned and verbally negated. Jews recite: “All leavened bread that is in my possession which I have seen or not seen, may it be nullified and rendered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
What is this sudden aversion to bread all about? What does the food we normally consider the staff of life suddenly represent that is so reprehensible? Traditional commentators have offered various symbolic suggestions, comparing yeast to the evil inclination and bread that “has risen” to the sin of excessive pride.
Allow me to offer another possible, novel interpretation.
Historians tell us sourdough is the oldest and most original form of leavened bread and the oldest recorded use of sourdough is from the Ancient Egyptian civilizations1. Archaeological evidence confirms that yeast – both as a leavening agent and for brewing ale – was initially used in Egypt. Food historians generally agree that the land of the Nile, biblically known for its enslavement of the Hebrews, must be credited with the remarkable technological achievement that was to play such a crucial role in the progress of civilization.
Egypt’s expertise brought the world a great gift of nourishment and sustenance. Yet its “scientific breakthrough” was not matched by moral progress. The inventors of bread remained barbaric masters of slaves. The very people who discovered the staff of life didn’t hesitate to serve as the agents of death for the Hebrew children they drowned in the Nile.
It was a profound lesson about the disconnect between science and ethics that mankind learned millennia ago – and not much has changed to this day. In our own times, Albert Einstein famously warned us that “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” And he wisely cautioned us that “Our entire much-praised technological progress and civilization generally could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.”
Martin Luther King put it beautifully when he said, “We have reached a time when we have advanced enough to have guided missiles, yet we still remain primitive enough to have misguided men.” Technology has blessed us with smart phones but left us with stupid people in terms of ethical and honorable values.
Perhaps the burning of chametz is meant to publicize this great dichotomy between mankind’s achievements and its propensity to continue to embrace acts of evil. As the Hebrews were about to be freed from slavery they were to symbolically rid themselves of Egypt’s great technological innovation of bread to demonstrate that scientific progress divorced from a moral code needs condemnation, rather than unqualified praise and acceptance.
A world of nuclear giants is a dangerous place when filled with ethical infants.
Every year on the eve of Passover Jews have a Good Riddance Day. The “villain” isn’t bread but what it came to represent to the Jews in ancient Egypt - a powerful symbol of intellectual progress by their oppressors, devoid of any humanitarian concern for those they oppressed. The pioneering Egyptians ate bread; their slaves, never granted the dignity of human beings created in the divine image, were forced to eat matzah, the bread of affliction.
It is a message that bears repetition more frequently than in the context of the pre-Passover ritual.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Those who came to the New Year’s Eve ceremony in Manhattan who didn’t bring items to destroy were encouraged to write down the things they wished could be eliminated from our future. Entries ranged from pop culture references – “Miley Cyrus’s fame” – to the serious: “cancer,” “war,” “human trafficking,” “poverty.”
All of these surely deserve inclusion. Allow me to add one more: “Technology without values, progress without prudence.” Because a world of nuclear giants is a dangerous place when filled with ethical infants.
1. Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas, Vol. 1 [Cambridge University Press] 2000 (p 619-620)
A new custom for removing trash from your life echoes the burning of chametz before Passover. The similarity is no accident.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
There’s a fairly new tradition in New York for the transition from one year to the next. It’s called Good Riddance Day, and we just witnessed its seventh annual observance.
Tim Tompkins, head of the Times Square Alliance, explained “It’s a great idea for all of those who treasure an opportunity to physically destroy reminders of negative events of the past year and to symbolically move forward to better days ahead.” And sure enough, New Yorkers turned out in droves to Midtown Manhattan just before New Year’s with their own individual and highly unique ways of commemorating a day dedicated to removing the trash from their lives and for expressing their contempt for the most harmful items of the past.
Good riddance to those aspects of our lives we want to discard.
Some used the moment to burn the letters from unfaithful spouses. There were the parents who shredded the-year-old medical diagnosis of their son’s kidney cancer which has now thankfully gone into total remission. Then there were those who brought documents they wanted to destroy, like medical bills, and objects they wanted to smash with a mallet, as a way to vengefully say goodbye to the troubles of the past year. What all of them shared was a cry of good riddance to those aspects of their lives they visibly wanted to discard, a commitment to keeping bad memories from interfering with the future.
Something like this has been part of Jewish tradition for thousands of years.
Jews are doubly blessed when it comes to New Years. We observe one in the fall, on Rosh Hashanah, commemorating the birth of mankind. We have another in the spring, when the calendar marks the month of Nissan, which the Torah refers to as the first month, because of its association with the Exodus from Egypt and the birth of the Jewish people. Passover is the holiday that commemorates this beginning, and it is preceded on the morning of the night of the Seder with a symbolic burning that resonates powerfully with the theme of Good Riddance Day.
On Passover Jews are commanded to eat matzah and are forbidden not only to eat leavened bread but to have the smallest crumb in their home or possession as well. Bread is something that needs to be totally renounced. Whatever is left over before Passover begins must be ceremoniously burned and verbally negated. Jews recite: “All leavened bread that is in my possession which I have seen or not seen, may it be nullified and rendered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
What is this sudden aversion to bread all about? What does the food we normally consider the staff of life suddenly represent that is so reprehensible? Traditional commentators have offered various symbolic suggestions, comparing yeast to the evil inclination and bread that “has risen” to the sin of excessive pride.
Allow me to offer another possible, novel interpretation.
Historians tell us sourdough is the oldest and most original form of leavened bread and the oldest recorded use of sourdough is from the Ancient Egyptian civilizations1. Archaeological evidence confirms that yeast – both as a leavening agent and for brewing ale – was initially used in Egypt. Food historians generally agree that the land of the Nile, biblically known for its enslavement of the Hebrews, must be credited with the remarkable technological achievement that was to play such a crucial role in the progress of civilization.
Egypt’s expertise brought the world a great gift of nourishment and sustenance. Yet its “scientific breakthrough” was not matched by moral progress. The inventors of bread remained barbaric masters of slaves. The very people who discovered the staff of life didn’t hesitate to serve as the agents of death for the Hebrew children they drowned in the Nile.
It was a profound lesson about the disconnect between science and ethics that mankind learned millennia ago – and not much has changed to this day. In our own times, Albert Einstein famously warned us that “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” And he wisely cautioned us that “Our entire much-praised technological progress and civilization generally could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.”
Martin Luther King put it beautifully when he said, “We have reached a time when we have advanced enough to have guided missiles, yet we still remain primitive enough to have misguided men.” Technology has blessed us with smart phones but left us with stupid people in terms of ethical and honorable values.
Perhaps the burning of chametz is meant to publicize this great dichotomy between mankind’s achievements and its propensity to continue to embrace acts of evil. As the Hebrews were about to be freed from slavery they were to symbolically rid themselves of Egypt’s great technological innovation of bread to demonstrate that scientific progress divorced from a moral code needs condemnation, rather than unqualified praise and acceptance.
A world of nuclear giants is a dangerous place when filled with ethical infants.
Every year on the eve of Passover Jews have a Good Riddance Day. The “villain” isn’t bread but what it came to represent to the Jews in ancient Egypt - a powerful symbol of intellectual progress by their oppressors, devoid of any humanitarian concern for those they oppressed. The pioneering Egyptians ate bread; their slaves, never granted the dignity of human beings created in the divine image, were forced to eat matzah, the bread of affliction.
It is a message that bears repetition more frequently than in the context of the pre-Passover ritual.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Those who came to the New Year’s Eve ceremony in Manhattan who didn’t bring items to destroy were encouraged to write down the things they wished could be eliminated from our future. Entries ranged from pop culture references – “Miley Cyrus’s fame” – to the serious: “cancer,” “war,” “human trafficking,” “poverty.”
All of these surely deserve inclusion. Allow me to add one more: “Technology without values, progress without prudence.” Because a world of nuclear giants is a dangerous place when filled with ethical infants.
1. Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas, Vol. 1 [Cambridge University Press] 2000 (p 619-620)
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Re: AISH
Admin Thu 02 Jan 2014, 3:46 pm
Gratitude Leads to Happiness
How to bring the gratitude attitude into our homes and daily lives.
by Emuna Braverman
“It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.”
A friend of mine posted this anonymous quote on Facebook the other day. It dovetailed neatly with the recent Wall Street Journal piece “Raising Children with an Attitude of Gratitude” by Diana Kapp (12/23/2013).
Gratitude leads to happiness. According to a study of teens that is cited in the article, it also leads to stronger GPA’s, less depression, less envy and a more positive outlook. To get our adolescents to behave like that, most of us would do just about anything.
But we don’t have to. It turns out that all we need to do is model gratitude ourselves (which will lead to the benefit of greater personal happiness regardless of how it impacts our teens!).
However “all we have to do” may be more difficult than it sounds. May of us may not be in the habit of expressing gratitude. In fact, we may actually be in the habit of expressing frustration, complaints, and a sense of entitlement (where do you think our kids got it from?).
So of course we are the ones that need to change first. We are the ones who need to make gratitude and appreciation a regular part of our lives. We are the ones who must develop the “gratitude attitude.”
It is not enough to think it or feel it. To make it real, even just for ourselves, we need to say it out loud. Likewise, if we want to model it for our children.
“Thank you for making such a delicious dinner tonight” (to the designated cook in the home).
“Thank you for going to the store for me.”
“I really appreciate that you folded my laundry.”
“Thanks for taking us on that vacation. It was really special.”
“Wow. What an awesome sunset the Almighty made for us.”
“We are so lucky to live in this house in this neighborhood.”
“It was really the Almighty’s kindness that brought us to this community.”
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (to quote one of my favorite musicals).
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Yes, some of this sounds awkward. Some of it sounds artificial. You need to find your own words. And it takes practice – lots of it.
Changing behavior isn’t easy. Enlist your family in the effort. Ask them to help identify what to be grateful for, who to thank, what to notice and appreciate. It will impact all of you.
Sometimes gratitude is difficult because we don’t like to acknowledge our debts; we like to feel we did it on our own. But we can’t do anything without the help of others (that proverbial “village”) and certainly not without the Almighty’s help. He deserves the biggest thanks of all. And once we’re grateful to our Creator, we will also be grateful to His creations.
How to bring the gratitude attitude into our homes and daily lives.
by Emuna Braverman
“It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.”
A friend of mine posted this anonymous quote on Facebook the other day. It dovetailed neatly with the recent Wall Street Journal piece “Raising Children with an Attitude of Gratitude” by Diana Kapp (12/23/2013).
Gratitude leads to happiness. According to a study of teens that is cited in the article, it also leads to stronger GPA’s, less depression, less envy and a more positive outlook. To get our adolescents to behave like that, most of us would do just about anything.
But we don’t have to. It turns out that all we need to do is model gratitude ourselves (which will lead to the benefit of greater personal happiness regardless of how it impacts our teens!).
However “all we have to do” may be more difficult than it sounds. May of us may not be in the habit of expressing gratitude. In fact, we may actually be in the habit of expressing frustration, complaints, and a sense of entitlement (where do you think our kids got it from?).
So of course we are the ones that need to change first. We are the ones who need to make gratitude and appreciation a regular part of our lives. We are the ones who must develop the “gratitude attitude.”
It is not enough to think it or feel it. To make it real, even just for ourselves, we need to say it out loud. Likewise, if we want to model it for our children.
“Thank you for making such a delicious dinner tonight” (to the designated cook in the home).
“Thank you for going to the store for me.”
“I really appreciate that you folded my laundry.”
“Thanks for taking us on that vacation. It was really special.”
“Wow. What an awesome sunset the Almighty made for us.”
“We are so lucky to live in this house in this neighborhood.”
“It was really the Almighty’s kindness that brought us to this community.”
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (to quote one of my favorite musicals).
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Yes, some of this sounds awkward. Some of it sounds artificial. You need to find your own words. And it takes practice – lots of it.
Changing behavior isn’t easy. Enlist your family in the effort. Ask them to help identify what to be grateful for, who to thank, what to notice and appreciate. It will impact all of you.
Sometimes gratitude is difficult because we don’t like to acknowledge our debts; we like to feel we did it on our own. But we can’t do anything without the help of others (that proverbial “village”) and certainly not without the Almighty’s help. He deserves the biggest thanks of all. And once we’re grateful to our Creator, we will also be grateful to His creations.
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Re: AISH
Admin Thu 02 Jan 2014, 3:36 pm
AFFLUENZA
SHOCKING!
Have money, avoid prison – and responsibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nsUTXofomc
SHOCKING!
Have money, avoid prison – and responsibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nsUTXofomc
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Re: AISH
Admin Thu 02 Jan 2014, 3:24 pm
Michelangelo & the Meaning of the New Year
5774 or 2014? The theological debate behind the artist’s masterpiece.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Of all the masterpieces created by Michelangelo surely none is more universally acclaimed than his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel depicting the creation of Adam.
What most people don’t know, however, is the fascinating story behind Michelangelo’s choice of subject matter – a decision motivated by the artist’s disagreement with the Pope of his time that has relevance to this day as we welcome a new year on what is commonly called the secular calendar.
Together with most of the Western world, we will start dating our checks and our schedules with the indication that we have moved on from 2013 to 2014. As part of a much larger society’s way of noting the passage of time, I too simply have no choice, even though it doesn’t agree with my reckoning. For me it is now 5774 on the Hebrew calendar. And this discrepancy points to a profound difference of perspective about God and about the meaning of history.
Jews and Judaism are the ones who brought the concept of monotheism to the world. One God created the entire world and all those who inhabit it. The first human being was created in His image and all those who came after carry within them this mark of divinity.
The concept of universalism is intrinsic to the biblical story of creation.
Why did God begin the story of mankind by creating only one person? The Talmud answers so that no man should be able ever to say to his fellow man, “my father is greater than your father” (Sanhedrin 37a). We are all related. One father for all people on earth makes everyone brothers and sisters in the truest sense of the word. Adam was not just one man – he was every man. Christian and Jew, black and white, American and Asian – we are all created by God “in his image.”
The concept of universalism is intrinsic to the biblical story of creation. And that is why Judaism maintains that the record of history must mark the beginning of time from the creation of Adam. It is humanity that gives meaning to creation.
Our calendar does not start counting years from the birth of Abraham, no matter how significant his life might be as our first patriarch. Nor do we claim that the past only becomes worthy of recognition from the time we became a people or even from the moment we received the Torah at Sinai. The year is now 5774. It is the number of years that frame the shared years of the human family.
But that is not the message of the calendar year 2014, whose meaning is steeped in a theological concept. 2014 chooses the birth of Jesus as the moment which offers all subsequent history meaning. By beginning the count of years with this event, there is a clear statement made: What happened before is insignificant.
Christianity replaced a Judaic calendar rooted in a universalistic vision with a particularistic view. Christianity for the longest time taught that salvation can only be achieved through acceptance of Jesus.
Michelangelo’s Defiance of the Church
And that’s where Michelangelo came into the picture.
It was in the early part of the 16th century that Pope Julius the second, wanting to leave an everlasting legacy of his papacy, commissioned Michelangelo to beautify the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His instructions were clear. He told the prominent artist he wanted frescoes painted that would illustrate the illustrious lives of Jesus and Mary.
Michelangelo had other plans. To achieve them he had to employ a daring ruse. He accepted the task only on condition that no one be allowed to interfere with his work while it was still in progress. To ensure that no one was able to view what he was doing during the 4 ½ years it took to complete the entire project, he had a canvas placed underneath him as he worked on a 60-foot high scaffolding, ostensibly to prevent any dripping of paint to the floor.
Michelangelo completely disregarded the Pope’s orders. 95% of its themes were taken from the Jewish Bible.
When the time came for unveiling his masterpiece, the Pope was dismayed to see that Michelangelo had completely disregarded his orders.The Sistine Chapel ceiling has no Jesus or Mary, nor for that matter any New Testament figures. 95% of its themes are taken from the Jewish Bible, and 5% are pagan!
How Michelangelo was able to get away with his life in the aftermath of his open disobedience to a papal mandate is a fascinating story in its own right, which I develop at great length in the book I co-authored with Roy Doliner, The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo’s Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican. What I want to clarify here is Michelangelo’s motivation.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
As a young boy, Michelangelo was adopted by Lorenzo de Medici, probably the wealthiest man in the world at the time. Because of his obvious brilliance, Michelangelo was granted the same tutors as those who taught Lorenzo’s own sons. The most prominent of these tutors was Pico della Mirandola, recognized not only for his genius but for his commitment to universalistic ideas and ideals that were far from commonly accepted in his time. Pico acknowledged that many of his views were shaped by his study of Torah and Jewish texts, and these - as well as his great interest in Kabbalah - he passed on to Michelangelo.
Michelangelo’s commission had been to have the Sistine Chapel ceiling convey the same concept as the Christian calendar: history begins with Jesus. But Michelangelo could not allow the reality of mankind’s common beginning, the spirit of universalism that infuses the first chapter of Genesis, to be rendered mute in the most famous of the church’s chapels. And so Michelangelo dared to feature most prominently in his frescoes the stories of the opening chapters of the Bible, beginning with the creation of Adam.
That is how perhaps the most famous painting of Western art came into being. If Michelangelo had to choose the date for this year he would likely agree that 5774 is preferable to 2014.
Give Tzedakah! Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.
5774 or 2014? The theological debate behind the artist’s masterpiece.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Of all the masterpieces created by Michelangelo surely none is more universally acclaimed than his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel depicting the creation of Adam.
What most people don’t know, however, is the fascinating story behind Michelangelo’s choice of subject matter – a decision motivated by the artist’s disagreement with the Pope of his time that has relevance to this day as we welcome a new year on what is commonly called the secular calendar.
Together with most of the Western world, we will start dating our checks and our schedules with the indication that we have moved on from 2013 to 2014. As part of a much larger society’s way of noting the passage of time, I too simply have no choice, even though it doesn’t agree with my reckoning. For me it is now 5774 on the Hebrew calendar. And this discrepancy points to a profound difference of perspective about God and about the meaning of history.
Jews and Judaism are the ones who brought the concept of monotheism to the world. One God created the entire world and all those who inhabit it. The first human being was created in His image and all those who came after carry within them this mark of divinity.
The concept of universalism is intrinsic to the biblical story of creation.
Why did God begin the story of mankind by creating only one person? The Talmud answers so that no man should be able ever to say to his fellow man, “my father is greater than your father” (Sanhedrin 37a). We are all related. One father for all people on earth makes everyone brothers and sisters in the truest sense of the word. Adam was not just one man – he was every man. Christian and Jew, black and white, American and Asian – we are all created by God “in his image.”
The concept of universalism is intrinsic to the biblical story of creation. And that is why Judaism maintains that the record of history must mark the beginning of time from the creation of Adam. It is humanity that gives meaning to creation.
Our calendar does not start counting years from the birth of Abraham, no matter how significant his life might be as our first patriarch. Nor do we claim that the past only becomes worthy of recognition from the time we became a people or even from the moment we received the Torah at Sinai. The year is now 5774. It is the number of years that frame the shared years of the human family.
But that is not the message of the calendar year 2014, whose meaning is steeped in a theological concept. 2014 chooses the birth of Jesus as the moment which offers all subsequent history meaning. By beginning the count of years with this event, there is a clear statement made: What happened before is insignificant.
Christianity replaced a Judaic calendar rooted in a universalistic vision with a particularistic view. Christianity for the longest time taught that salvation can only be achieved through acceptance of Jesus.
Michelangelo’s Defiance of the Church
And that’s where Michelangelo came into the picture.
It was in the early part of the 16th century that Pope Julius the second, wanting to leave an everlasting legacy of his papacy, commissioned Michelangelo to beautify the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His instructions were clear. He told the prominent artist he wanted frescoes painted that would illustrate the illustrious lives of Jesus and Mary.
Michelangelo had other plans. To achieve them he had to employ a daring ruse. He accepted the task only on condition that no one be allowed to interfere with his work while it was still in progress. To ensure that no one was able to view what he was doing during the 4 ½ years it took to complete the entire project, he had a canvas placed underneath him as he worked on a 60-foot high scaffolding, ostensibly to prevent any dripping of paint to the floor.
Michelangelo completely disregarded the Pope’s orders. 95% of its themes were taken from the Jewish Bible.
When the time came for unveiling his masterpiece, the Pope was dismayed to see that Michelangelo had completely disregarded his orders.The Sistine Chapel ceiling has no Jesus or Mary, nor for that matter any New Testament figures. 95% of its themes are taken from the Jewish Bible, and 5% are pagan!
How Michelangelo was able to get away with his life in the aftermath of his open disobedience to a papal mandate is a fascinating story in its own right, which I develop at great length in the book I co-authored with Roy Doliner, The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo’s Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican. What I want to clarify here is Michelangelo’s motivation.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
As a young boy, Michelangelo was adopted by Lorenzo de Medici, probably the wealthiest man in the world at the time. Because of his obvious brilliance, Michelangelo was granted the same tutors as those who taught Lorenzo’s own sons. The most prominent of these tutors was Pico della Mirandola, recognized not only for his genius but for his commitment to universalistic ideas and ideals that were far from commonly accepted in his time. Pico acknowledged that many of his views were shaped by his study of Torah and Jewish texts, and these - as well as his great interest in Kabbalah - he passed on to Michelangelo.
Michelangelo’s commission had been to have the Sistine Chapel ceiling convey the same concept as the Christian calendar: history begins with Jesus. But Michelangelo could not allow the reality of mankind’s common beginning, the spirit of universalism that infuses the first chapter of Genesis, to be rendered mute in the most famous of the church’s chapels. And so Michelangelo dared to feature most prominently in his frescoes the stories of the opening chapters of the Bible, beginning with the creation of Adam.
That is how perhaps the most famous painting of Western art came into being. If Michelangelo had to choose the date for this year he would likely agree that 5774 is preferable to 2014.
Give Tzedakah! Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.
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Re: AISH
Admin Fri 27 Dec 2013, 5:58 pm
Va'eira(Exodus 6:2-9:35)
God? Who is God!?
The story is well-known: The Jews want to leave Egypt, so God sends 10 fierce plagues ... and Pharaoh's opposition is adamant.
How is it possible that Pharaoh could fail to recognize the obvious deeds of God Almighty Himself?!
Pharaoh epitomizes denial of God. This is evident from Exodus 5:1, the first meeting between Moses and Pharaoh, where Moses utters the immortal words: "Let My People Go!" Pharaoh responds with bewilderment: "Who is God that I should listen to him? I don't know this God!"
The purpose of the plagues, therefore, is to announce that God is running the show. Once and for all, loud and clear.
The 10 plagues are actually a progression, a process bringing Pharaoh to a recognition of God. Consider:
The first plague turns the Nile River into blood. Why? Because Pharaoh had been promoting himself as a deity who created the Nile, as he says, "I am the river and I created it" (Ezekiel 29:3). Pharaoh goes to such extents to preserve his godly image that he sneaks down to the river alone to relieve himself; hence God tells Moses to "pay a call on Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water..." (Exodus 7:15)
Moses turns the Nile into blood but Pharaoh is not impressed. His magicians are called in and they do the same. God might be a good magician, thinks Pharaoh, but He's not out of my league!
God of Nature
As the plagues continue, Pharaoh is moved along a process of increasing recognition of who God is. When Moses brings the plague of lice, Pharaoh calls upon his magicians to reproduce the phenomenon, but they can't. "'It is the finger of God,' say the magicians to Pharaoh." (Exodus 8:14)
Why were they unable to make lice? The Talmud (Sanhedrin 67) says because magic has no power over something tiny.
Like modern science today, Pharaoh's magicians can gather and manipulate existing energy, but they can't create the building-blocks of life itself. No matter how small a particle is discovered, there is always a foundation of smaller particles below that.
When Pharaoh's magicians say "It is the finger of God," they refer to God by the name of Elokim, which represents the power of God acting through nature. (Elokim has the numerical value of 86, which is the same as "HaTeva" - nature.) Pharaoh and his men had advanced one huge step along the continuum. They recognized God as the force controlling nature. But this was not sufficient. Pharaoh still refuses to let the Jews go. He wants to play hardball with God.
One Step Closer
The climax of our Parsha is the plague of hail, where Egyptian resources are totally wiped out. Every tree is smashed, and every man and animal caught outdoors is killed (Exodus 9:25). As Pharaoh stands amidst the rubble of a country in ruins, he now declares, "I am wrong and God is right." This time Pharaoh refers to God by the ineffable YKVK - the transcendent aspect of God that we cannot comprehend.
It took a lot of pounding over the head, but Pharaoh has finally matured in his recognition of God.
Yet somehow, miraculously, he still refuses to let the Jews go. How great is the human ego and the power of rationalization!
God's Awesome World
In many respects, Pharaoh's process is our process, too. When we are children, we think we are the center of the universe. Then, through experience and trials, we become increasingly aware of things beyond our control. Whether earthquakes, cancer, the rise and fall of fortunes, even life and death itself... these can only be ascribed to a Higher Power.
In short, life is a series of such recognitions. But sometimes we get confused, we forget, and slip back in the continuum.
Why? Because with each technological advancement, we sense the unlimited potential of man. The 4-minute mile. A robot to Mars. Cell phones and the internet. We are in awe of what is humanly possible.
But where is our awe of that which only God is possible?! Gravity... eyesight... ant farms...
Lessons Today
The commentators say that the 10 plagues were not only for the sake of Pharaoh. They were for the Jews as well. To watch and to absorb the lessons of who God is. That training is a prerequisite to the coming revelation at Sinai.
We've all got to reach that recognition. One way or the other, Pharaoh is going to acknowledge God and let the Jews go. The only question is whether Pharaoh's route to that end will be in cooperation with God, or in opposition.
The Talmud says that "each person must see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt." Our lives are filled with messages from the Almighty, designed to teach us His ways and draw us near. He has a plan, and we have the choice: To fit in, or to be cut out. The choice is clear if we only open our eyes.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shraga Simmons
God? Who is God!?
The story is well-known: The Jews want to leave Egypt, so God sends 10 fierce plagues ... and Pharaoh's opposition is adamant.
How is it possible that Pharaoh could fail to recognize the obvious deeds of God Almighty Himself?!
Pharaoh epitomizes denial of God. This is evident from Exodus 5:1, the first meeting between Moses and Pharaoh, where Moses utters the immortal words: "Let My People Go!" Pharaoh responds with bewilderment: "Who is God that I should listen to him? I don't know this God!"
The purpose of the plagues, therefore, is to announce that God is running the show. Once and for all, loud and clear.
The 10 plagues are actually a progression, a process bringing Pharaoh to a recognition of God. Consider:
The first plague turns the Nile River into blood. Why? Because Pharaoh had been promoting himself as a deity who created the Nile, as he says, "I am the river and I created it" (Ezekiel 29:3). Pharaoh goes to such extents to preserve his godly image that he sneaks down to the river alone to relieve himself; hence God tells Moses to "pay a call on Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water..." (Exodus 7:15)
Moses turns the Nile into blood but Pharaoh is not impressed. His magicians are called in and they do the same. God might be a good magician, thinks Pharaoh, but He's not out of my league!
God of Nature
As the plagues continue, Pharaoh is moved along a process of increasing recognition of who God is. When Moses brings the plague of lice, Pharaoh calls upon his magicians to reproduce the phenomenon, but they can't. "'It is the finger of God,' say the magicians to Pharaoh." (Exodus 8:14)
Why were they unable to make lice? The Talmud (Sanhedrin 67) says because magic has no power over something tiny.
Like modern science today, Pharaoh's magicians can gather and manipulate existing energy, but they can't create the building-blocks of life itself. No matter how small a particle is discovered, there is always a foundation of smaller particles below that.
When Pharaoh's magicians say "It is the finger of God," they refer to God by the name of Elokim, which represents the power of God acting through nature. (Elokim has the numerical value of 86, which is the same as "HaTeva" - nature.) Pharaoh and his men had advanced one huge step along the continuum. They recognized God as the force controlling nature. But this was not sufficient. Pharaoh still refuses to let the Jews go. He wants to play hardball with God.
One Step Closer
The climax of our Parsha is the plague of hail, where Egyptian resources are totally wiped out. Every tree is smashed, and every man and animal caught outdoors is killed (Exodus 9:25). As Pharaoh stands amidst the rubble of a country in ruins, he now declares, "I am wrong and God is right." This time Pharaoh refers to God by the ineffable YKVK - the transcendent aspect of God that we cannot comprehend.
It took a lot of pounding over the head, but Pharaoh has finally matured in his recognition of God.
Yet somehow, miraculously, he still refuses to let the Jews go. How great is the human ego and the power of rationalization!
God's Awesome World
In many respects, Pharaoh's process is our process, too. When we are children, we think we are the center of the universe. Then, through experience and trials, we become increasingly aware of things beyond our control. Whether earthquakes, cancer, the rise and fall of fortunes, even life and death itself... these can only be ascribed to a Higher Power.
In short, life is a series of such recognitions. But sometimes we get confused, we forget, and slip back in the continuum.
Why? Because with each technological advancement, we sense the unlimited potential of man. The 4-minute mile. A robot to Mars. Cell phones and the internet. We are in awe of what is humanly possible.
But where is our awe of that which only God is possible?! Gravity... eyesight... ant farms...
Lessons Today
The commentators say that the 10 plagues were not only for the sake of Pharaoh. They were for the Jews as well. To watch and to absorb the lessons of who God is. That training is a prerequisite to the coming revelation at Sinai.
We've all got to reach that recognition. One way or the other, Pharaoh is going to acknowledge God and let the Jews go. The only question is whether Pharaoh's route to that end will be in cooperation with God, or in opposition.
The Talmud says that "each person must see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt." Our lives are filled with messages from the Almighty, designed to teach us His ways and draw us near. He has a plan, and we have the choice: To fit in, or to be cut out. The choice is clear if we only open our eyes.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shraga Simmons
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True Colors
Like autumn leaves, when times are tough, our true colors come out.
by R. Weiner
Dry leaves crackling under the soles of my shoes remind me of my Grandma’s story from the Holocaust. With the start of autumn, Grandma would retell her story with such passion. Here is her tale.
“I was 14 years old on that autumn morning when the Gestapo came to get my father. Being his firstborn, I always had a special connection with my father. As the Nazis made their way through our tiny apartment, they yanked drawers from chests and tossed its contents on the floor, searching for valuables. Simultaneously, they ordered our family of five to stand against our kitchen wall, lest we run to grab our valuables. Frankly, we had no valuables in the monetary sense. Dad was a meager breadwinner. He did, however, own some Judaica he had inherited from his father. But these were rendered useless by the Nazis.
As we stood by the wall on that fateful morning, we spotted dried autumn leaves on our kitchen floor. The Gestapo officers must have dragged them in on their boots.
“You see that leaf,” Dad said in a hushed whisper. “That’s a leaf in its natural state. It’s only because of chlorophyll that it looks green during spring and summer. And when its chlorophyll is gone, when it begins to fade or die, its true colors come to light. Likewise with human beings. When times are tough, when life does not offer a bed of roses, true colors come out.”
I heard Dad’s words and tried to grasp the meaning of it. At the age of 14, however, I failed to understand the depth of these words which eventually altered my outlook on life.
Dad was taken from us on that autumn day and was never heard of again.
Not much later I found myself in a labor camp with other girls my age. I had been a weak child by nature, always unable to provide physical help around the house. And now I was instructed to assist in building airplanes. I knew I could not confess my physical weakness; I’d be put to death.
Days and weeks passed and I was emaciated and spent from my job and lack of food. Sara, the girl sleeping next to me, was assigned to work that morning and I was given a few hours off from work. Sara was a ‘living corpse’. Her rib cage was visible through her translucent skin. I was convinced that one more day of work would render Sara dead.
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Then I remembered Dad and the autumn leaves – that their true colors shine when fading.
I too felt like a fading autumn leaf. My true colors were becoming visible. I was desperate to spend my break from work in my so-called bed. But recollecting Dad’s words made me equally desperate to shine in those very difficult days. So I summoned the last bit of energy left in me and told Sara that I would pretend to be her and take her place at the factory. I entered the plant that morning and did her job for the day, giving Sara the opportunity to gather the minimal strength she needed to survive. “
Although Grandma is not with us anymore, when I hear the autumn leaves crunching under my shoes, I can hear her telling her story. It altered my outlook on life. When life becomes difficult, I know that I’m provided with a unique opportunity to shine in ways otherwise impossible, like a fading autumn leaf revealing its true colors.
Like autumn leaves, when times are tough, our true colors come out.
by R. Weiner
Dry leaves crackling under the soles of my shoes remind me of my Grandma’s story from the Holocaust. With the start of autumn, Grandma would retell her story with such passion. Here is her tale.
“I was 14 years old on that autumn morning when the Gestapo came to get my father. Being his firstborn, I always had a special connection with my father. As the Nazis made their way through our tiny apartment, they yanked drawers from chests and tossed its contents on the floor, searching for valuables. Simultaneously, they ordered our family of five to stand against our kitchen wall, lest we run to grab our valuables. Frankly, we had no valuables in the monetary sense. Dad was a meager breadwinner. He did, however, own some Judaica he had inherited from his father. But these were rendered useless by the Nazis.
As we stood by the wall on that fateful morning, we spotted dried autumn leaves on our kitchen floor. The Gestapo officers must have dragged them in on their boots.
“You see that leaf,” Dad said in a hushed whisper. “That’s a leaf in its natural state. It’s only because of chlorophyll that it looks green during spring and summer. And when its chlorophyll is gone, when it begins to fade or die, its true colors come to light. Likewise with human beings. When times are tough, when life does not offer a bed of roses, true colors come out.”
I heard Dad’s words and tried to grasp the meaning of it. At the age of 14, however, I failed to understand the depth of these words which eventually altered my outlook on life.
Dad was taken from us on that autumn day and was never heard of again.
Not much later I found myself in a labor camp with other girls my age. I had been a weak child by nature, always unable to provide physical help around the house. And now I was instructed to assist in building airplanes. I knew I could not confess my physical weakness; I’d be put to death.
Days and weeks passed and I was emaciated and spent from my job and lack of food. Sara, the girl sleeping next to me, was assigned to work that morning and I was given a few hours off from work. Sara was a ‘living corpse’. Her rib cage was visible through her translucent skin. I was convinced that one more day of work would render Sara dead.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Then I remembered Dad and the autumn leaves – that their true colors shine when fading.
I too felt like a fading autumn leaf. My true colors were becoming visible. I was desperate to spend my break from work in my so-called bed. But recollecting Dad’s words made me equally desperate to shine in those very difficult days. So I summoned the last bit of energy left in me and told Sara that I would pretend to be her and take her place at the factory. I entered the plant that morning and did her job for the day, giving Sara the opportunity to gather the minimal strength she needed to survive. “
Although Grandma is not with us anymore, when I hear the autumn leaves crunching under my shoes, I can hear her telling her story. It altered my outlook on life. When life becomes difficult, I know that I’m provided with a unique opportunity to shine in ways otherwise impossible, like a fading autumn leaf revealing its true colors.
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http://www.aish.com/sp/so/From-Mountain-Mama-to-Yiddishe-Mama.html
From Mountain Mama to Yiddishe MamaFrom Mountain Mama to Yiddishe Mama
The true story of an Appalachian family of 12 who converted to Judaism.
by Penina Neiman
Sheryl Youngs was born into a devout family of Sabbath-observing Christians, adherents of the Church of God 7th Day. Her father, Brother Victor Youngs, was the pastor of their church, a charismatic leader who conducted many baptismal ceremonies over the years. He had but one little congregant who stubbornly refused to be baptized; his daughter Sheryl.
At the age of 16 she finally succumbed to familial pressure and allowed herself to be baptized. When asked to sign the baptismal certificate that stated a lifelong pledge to serve as a “flowering vine of their Savior,” she refused. She did not want to sell herself out to a religion that she was less than 100% sure was the truth.
A questioning teen
Sheryl was a questioning teen, intuitively searching for knowledge of her Creator.
“When I was 14, I attended a youth camp with a group from our church. One night, everyone sat around a campfire, singing and praying. Somehow, the very beauty of the service did not satisfy me; if anything, it only intensified the relentless yearning within me. I wanted something more.
Chapter 2: The Youngs Family: Left to right,k back row: me, my mother and my fatherChapter 2: The Youngs Family: Left to right,k back row: me, my mother and my father
“I walked up a wooded hill and peered up at the heavens spread out above the towering pine trees. The flickering stars felt so close; I felt deeply connected to God. Deep within, a new thought welled up. God, Creator of the magnificent heavens above me, was surely great enough to hear my prayers. I said to myself, ‘If the God of the universe is so powerful as to make these heavens, then I know that He can listen to my prayer. I need no mediator! From now on, I am only going to pray to God Himself!’”1
Sheryl was a voracious reader, passionately devouring book after book in her quest for knowledge of God and her purpose in the world. It was the following words of Tolstoy that got her thinking, “’These are the great questions of life that everyone has to answer; is there a God? Is there life after death? Is there reward and punishment? What’s the purpose of life?’ These questions fueled my desire for more knowledge. The more I read, the more I realized that there was much more to know. I began to keep a list of books that I was determined to track down and read. My father once joked that I reminded him of an alcoholic pining for a drink, and there was truth to his words. I read like a man possessed, devouring book after book in my search for answers.”
Although she had many questions, Sheryl was afraid to express her concerns. She began to search for answers within the context of different branches of Christianity, but in every church she encountered new practices and beliefs that went against her perception of God.
Her genteel anti-Semitism and mistrust of Jews kept her from taking a serious look at Judaism.
Upon entering college she resolved to study all the religions of the world. The society she’d come from had given her a genteel anti-Semitism and a mistrust of Jews, which kept her from taking a serious look at Judaism. She resolved instead to study the Koran, but was unable to understand it.
Bible College
She decided to continue her education at the Midwest Bible College in Missouri, which proved to be a turning point in her life. It was at Bible College that Sheryl met John Massey, a Bible scholar and the man she would marry.
“As a teenager, I had struggled with doubts and fears about religion, but the… reaction that Christianity exerted upon questioners who thought out of the box kept me from ever verbalizing my troubling thoughts. For years I turned them over and over in my mind as I continued my lonely search for answers. Ironically, it was at missionary college that I came upon the first few holes in my belief system. There, I learned that the New Testament had evolved out of a collection of letters that mere men decided to write – men who had not even claimed to have received prophecy.
“And it was in missionary college, at the age of 19, that I finally found someone I could talk to… One summer night, [my friend and teacher] Jewell and I stood together under the oak trees in front of her home. We were talking about the Bible, and Jewell told me that she was troubled by our religion’s practice of extracting just a few commandments from the Old Testament while ignoring all the rest. Her words struck a chord. I had grappled with this question for years. This was the first time I had ever heard anyone verbalize it.”
It was also Jewell who first suggested that Sheryl date John Massey. Before long the two were engaged and had decided to establish their home in Georgia near John’s parents.
Moving to Appalachia
It was there that Sheryl received the shock of her life. Although she had realized that her in-laws lived a simpler life than what she had been accustomed to back in Southern California, she hadn’t realized the full extent of the difference until after her wedding.
Chapter 4: The boys with their father at the sawmillChapter 4: The boys with their father at the sawmill
She had envisioned living in a pleasant farmhouse with a white picket fence. Instead, home was a little room at the back of her in-laws’ house deep in the Appalachian Mountains. This was the 1970’s, and Sheryl now had to get used to a home with no indoor plumbing, a place where a soothing hot shower was an impossible luxury and outhouses were the norm.
Back in school John presented the perfect picture of a modern man. He cut a smart image in his suit and drove a nice car. Sheryl had every reason to believe that he was used to the same middle class standards that she was. Having grown up in the ’60’s, Sheryl had a bit of an anti-materialistic mentality, and was not all that alarmed by the thought of “roughing it.” Yet the beginning of her married life was challenged by the great cultural differences she now confronted at every turn. The new slow-paced life style she was introduced to as they began their family amongst the mountain folk was light years away from anything Sheryl had ever imagined.
Chapter 9: A family in transitionChapter 9: A family in transition
Sheryl had been trained since childhood not to complain, and had learned that it was best not to feel at all. Her parents believed that children were inherently evil and were firm believers in corporal punishment. Her father’s disciplinary measures would likely be considered quite harsh by today’s standard. She had also been taught that it was her duty to submit to the will of her husband. So although she was bewildered by her new circumstances, she never thought to challenge her husband.
Sheryl worked hard to fit in and accept her new life. In time she learned how to haul water up from the well, build a fire, make Granny’s butter milk biscuits, and butcher the freshly killed deer that her sons brought home for dinner.
A homeschooling pioneer
Walker County, Georgia, where John and Sheryl raised their family, was known for its impoverished and unsuccessful public school system. Sheryl never met anyone in those parts with a college education; the vast majority of adults had never even finished grade school and 40% of the county was illiterate. Sheryl was determined to homeschool her children, a decision she had made in response to her own exposure to the loose moral values in the U.S. public school system. Despite the fact that homeschooling was illegal in Georgia and the truant officers and social service workers even threatened to take their children away, Sheryl held on to her vision. She had always been idealistic, and once she became a mother she channeled her passion into educating her children.
Chapter 8: Samuel and our horse, BuckshotChapter 8: Samuel and our horse, Buckshot
“My lessons included a lot more than the standard curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic… I also made sure to incorporate many life lessons into our classroom discussions. In this way I was able to instill in my children the attitudes and values that their father and I had cultivated over the years. I also read to them from the Old Testament… My personal favorite was dubbed ‘successful men,’ which I developed into a tool to get my sons to think beyond society’s desire for instant gratification. I wanted them to have a chance at a brighter future, to grow to become men of vision who would build a life for themselves beyond the squalor that mired our society of hillbillies.“
Except for a few brief years when they lived near an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, or near her widowed mother in Joplin, Missouri, Sheryl spent most of next 23 years living in the Appalachian Mountains. Materially the family encountered nothing but unremitting poverty, and Sheryl struggled mightily to keep her family warm and fed. But for all their deprivation, the Massey’s were blessed with a beautiful family consisting of ten healthy and well adjusted children.
Breaking away from the Church
Spiritually they had taken their own unique journey. Early on in their marriage John’s in-depth bible study led him to reject Christianity, a realization that left a very devout Sheryl devastated. Although she had been beset by doubts for nearly her entire life, her parents had managed to instill in her the belief that accepting their savior would guarantee eternal salvation. She was too frightened to even contemplate giving up Christianity. It was a risk she wouldn’t dream of taking. For seven years the couple was at odds over their personal views of religion. Sheryl tried everything to bring her husband back to their roots. Finally, after all those years, she was worn down. There was nothing left to try. Broken hearted, she prayed to God to bring her husband back to their roots, and as an afterthought added, “And if he is correct, help me to see the truth.”
The next time she opened a bible she felt as if a light had turned on and her lifelong struggle with her questions on Christianity all came to the fore. Sheryl began to see the validity behind John’s beliefs and decided to go along with her husband.
One of the hardest parts of belonging to this religion was the suffocating feeling that there was nothing else to learn.
“I had fought with myself for decades as I tried to make sense of the contradictions between my religion and my own relationship with the Creator. One of the hardest parts of belonging to this religion was the suffocating feeling that there was nothing else to learn. As a thinking individual, I had formed my own impressions of the world. I looked up to the heavens and saw an endless sky spread out above me. The dark expanse of the evening sky, studded with multitudes of stars, shining pinpricks of light coalescing into giant galaxies, all bore proof of the vastness of the universe and beyond. In contrast to the mind-boggling endlessness of the world, I found the complexity inherent in the DNA of the microscopic cells in even my littlest toe to be just as great proof of an Intelligence so endless and so infinite that I was awed.
“After witnessing firsthand the greatness of the physical world, I had been left wondering how the spiritual world could possibly be so simplistic and narrow. If the physical world is infused with a sense of infinity, why would the spiritual world be so limited, comprising just a few beliefs and practices? Shouldn’t religion be at least as intricate as the physical world?”
John and Sheryl believed in One God Who had created the world and had given mankind the Old Testament. They continued to rest on the Sabbath. They no longer went to church, alienating their community and their family. They were on their own.
They might have stayed on that mountain, observing their own idea of religion until this day, if Sheryl hadn’t come to realize that her growing children needed some sort of community if they were to find fitting mates and establish families of their own.
Searching for God’s People
It was John who first suggested they look into Judaism, since he recognized that Jews also rested on the Sabbath and studied the Old Testament. Their first foray into Judaism brought them to a Conservative Congregation in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sheryl was impressed by the rabbi, a polished Harvard graduate, and was deeply inspired by the Kiddush ceremony. They attended services there for some time, before becoming disenchanted with some of the congregant’s manner of dress and deciding to move on.
Their next step was a Reform temple in Rome, Georgia but nothing about the temple or the service spoke to the Masseys. Then John met Rabbi Michael Katz, an Orthodox rabbi in Chattanooga. The Massey boys remember their father’s ecstatic declaration upon meeting Rabbi Katz. “For the first time in my life, I met a man who could answer my questions!” In keeping with the Torah’s directive to turn away prospective converts Rabbi Katz suggested that they attend a Unitarian Universalist congregation. However the loose moral standards accepted in that congregation discouraged the Masssey’s from taking an interest in that congregation.
For the next year they put their search on hold and spent their time on the mountain following their own religious beliefs. Then John went back to Rabbi Katz and tried again. This time the rabbi tried to discourage him by telling him that services were conducted in Hebrew, a language he wouldn’t be able to understand. John would not be deterred, and so Rabbi Katz invited him and his oldest sons down to the synagogue. In time the Massey family was invited for Shabbos.
Sheryl and her children were taken by the beauty of the Jewish Shabbos. As Sabbath observers the concept was familiar, but she felt it was empty compared to what the Jews had. She loved the way Rabbi Katz interacted with her children, and was thrilled that Rebbetzin Toby Katz was able to answer some of the questions that troubled her. It was Sheryl who first decided that she would like to convert. After some time John began to look into the Noahide movement2.
Chapter 10: Dovid, right after conversionChapter 10: Dovid, right after conversion
The Massey boys were growing up, and the oldest son, Joey, decided to move ahead in his spiritual quest without waiting for his parent’s decision on the matter. He bought himself a pickup truck and began driving out to Atlanta on a daily basis to learn Torah. Joey accepted the Torah as the ultimate truth and realized that all that was required of him was the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws. Joey loved hunting, the woods, the mountain folk, and the entire culture he was raised in. The city felt cold and foreign in comparison. He struggled with the choice that confronted him; to convert and become a Jew or remain a faithful Son of Noah? His greatest fear was that his family would not follow him to Judaism, yet Joey decided to become a Jew. He felt that through Judaism and observing its 613 mitzvot he would forge a close relationship to God. Joey moved to Atlanta and converted, his brother Nate came soon after, as did the rest of the family.
Their four oldest sons converted to Judaism and flew off to Jerusalem to learn in a yeshivah.
In the space of just a few years Sheryl and John’s four oldest sons converted to Judaism and flew off to Jerusalem to learn in a yeshivah. The fifth one followed on their heels. At that same time the Masseys faith was tested once again. After giving birth to ten healthy children, Sheryl bore her 11th child, a little girl whose medical condition was incompatible with life, and who died at the age of one month.
The family was devastated, and Sheryl was overcome with grief. In the wake of this crisis the Massey’s marriage fell apart and John and Sheryl divorced.
Finding peace in the Land of Israel
Two years later Sheryl converted along with her younger children and took the name Tzirel Rus. She moved the rest of her family to Israel were the family was finally reunited. (Their father would follow them and convert a few years later.) It was there that she finally found peace after years of searching and suffering.
“I stood at the world’s holiest site, the Western Wall, the remnant of the glorious Temple that once graced the earth. …I had been praying all my life, turning my heart to the Creator of the heavens and stars and begging Him to help me on my life’s journey. I promised to serve Him, but didn’t know how. Empty and alone, I was ignorant of the truth, clawing at the earth as I slowly, laboriously climbed the rugged terrain of the expedition that had been my life.
“…Now my soul raced to find my place among all the women who seemed to roil with prayer and connection to God. I restrained myself and walked towards the plaza, filled with an intense thanksgiving that I was at last able to connect with my God amidst a crowd of other yearning souls.”
It was in Israel that Tzirel Rus’s dream at last came true, as she sat at her Shabbos table surrounded by her ten Jewish children, serenaded by the melodious singing of her children and their friends. She rented an apartment in a small developing town in the Judean Hills. Her innovative and pioneering spirit urged her to roll up her sleeves and get to work in building up the local English speaking community. She arranged Torah classes and brought in speakers, and before long became a well known and much loved member of her community.
An excerpt from a letter written to her Jewish friends back in the U.S. expresses these sentiments.
“I feel that all of my life’s experiences have been to bring me to this moment. God had always put me in situations where I had no one to follow, compelling me to blaze my own path. Here in this growing town, I feel a sense of destiny. With God’s help I will get to pioneer and blaze new trails, only this time I am building on holy soil amidst a holy nation. This time everything will be forever.”
After seven years of single motherhood, Tzirel Rus married the man of her dreams. A Hassidic Jew, Avrum had grown up in New York, and like her had known the pain of a failed marriage, as well as a lifelong incapacitating illness.
Grandma Grimm was born March 25, 1828, was married at 15 and had 238 descendants at her death at the age of 92. She faithfully lit her candles on Friday night.Grandma Grimm was born March 25, 1828, was married at 15 and had 238 descendants at her death at the age of 92. She faithfully lit her candles on Friday night.
“Our backgrounds couldn’t have been more different. Avrum had grown up in Crown Heights, and had gone to cheder with the Boyaner Rebbe. And me? Southern California and the Appalachian Mountains are a long way from Crown Heights…
“With all that, Avrum and I found much in common. There is something about painful life experiences – no matter what their source – that draws together fellow survivors. Our past histories, in which we had both engaged in backbreaking labor, removing metaphorical stones and battling the parched and hardened earth, had resulted in dark, loamy soil from which our shared future would sprout. The vagaries of our lives forced both of us to rise above our physical limitations and develop a more spiritual perspective on life. This strength became the cornerstone of our relationship, the basis for the deep understanding that developed between us. We became true partners in every way. More, we were each other’s biggest fans.”
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With her marriage to Avrum, Tzirel Rus finally moved beyond her difficult childhood and merited to build a warm and peaceful home where her children and grandchildren feel so loved and welcome.
Tzirel Rus’s unusual journey and charismatic personality have made her a magnet for many searching Jews. Her message to them? “I have looked into the four corners of the world, searching for the recipe of life, and after all my efforts I can honestly tell you that I found it by the Jews.”
You can read the story of the father, mother, and their ten children who all converted to Judaism in the newly-published book, The Mountain Family, by Tzirel Rus Berger and Penina Neiman (Mesorah Publications). Click here to order.
1. All quotes taken from Sheryl’s memoir, “The Mountain Family” Mesorah Publications.
2. After the great flood God commanded Noah and his sons to observe seven commandments. These include the prohibitions of idolatry, theft, immorality, murder, blasphemy, and the taking of a limb from a live animal. The seventh commandment is to set up courts of judgment.
According to the Torah these are the commandments that a non-Jew is required to observe in order to live a righteous life.
From Mountain Mama to Yiddishe MamaFrom Mountain Mama to Yiddishe Mama
The true story of an Appalachian family of 12 who converted to Judaism.
by Penina Neiman
Sheryl Youngs was born into a devout family of Sabbath-observing Christians, adherents of the Church of God 7th Day. Her father, Brother Victor Youngs, was the pastor of their church, a charismatic leader who conducted many baptismal ceremonies over the years. He had but one little congregant who stubbornly refused to be baptized; his daughter Sheryl.
At the age of 16 she finally succumbed to familial pressure and allowed herself to be baptized. When asked to sign the baptismal certificate that stated a lifelong pledge to serve as a “flowering vine of their Savior,” she refused. She did not want to sell herself out to a religion that she was less than 100% sure was the truth.
A questioning teen
Sheryl was a questioning teen, intuitively searching for knowledge of her Creator.
“When I was 14, I attended a youth camp with a group from our church. One night, everyone sat around a campfire, singing and praying. Somehow, the very beauty of the service did not satisfy me; if anything, it only intensified the relentless yearning within me. I wanted something more.
Chapter 2: The Youngs Family: Left to right,k back row: me, my mother and my fatherChapter 2: The Youngs Family: Left to right,k back row: me, my mother and my father
“I walked up a wooded hill and peered up at the heavens spread out above the towering pine trees. The flickering stars felt so close; I felt deeply connected to God. Deep within, a new thought welled up. God, Creator of the magnificent heavens above me, was surely great enough to hear my prayers. I said to myself, ‘If the God of the universe is so powerful as to make these heavens, then I know that He can listen to my prayer. I need no mediator! From now on, I am only going to pray to God Himself!’”1
Sheryl was a voracious reader, passionately devouring book after book in her quest for knowledge of God and her purpose in the world. It was the following words of Tolstoy that got her thinking, “’These are the great questions of life that everyone has to answer; is there a God? Is there life after death? Is there reward and punishment? What’s the purpose of life?’ These questions fueled my desire for more knowledge. The more I read, the more I realized that there was much more to know. I began to keep a list of books that I was determined to track down and read. My father once joked that I reminded him of an alcoholic pining for a drink, and there was truth to his words. I read like a man possessed, devouring book after book in my search for answers.”
Although she had many questions, Sheryl was afraid to express her concerns. She began to search for answers within the context of different branches of Christianity, but in every church she encountered new practices and beliefs that went against her perception of God.
Her genteel anti-Semitism and mistrust of Jews kept her from taking a serious look at Judaism.
Upon entering college she resolved to study all the religions of the world. The society she’d come from had given her a genteel anti-Semitism and a mistrust of Jews, which kept her from taking a serious look at Judaism. She resolved instead to study the Koran, but was unable to understand it.
Bible College
She decided to continue her education at the Midwest Bible College in Missouri, which proved to be a turning point in her life. It was at Bible College that Sheryl met John Massey, a Bible scholar and the man she would marry.
“As a teenager, I had struggled with doubts and fears about religion, but the… reaction that Christianity exerted upon questioners who thought out of the box kept me from ever verbalizing my troubling thoughts. For years I turned them over and over in my mind as I continued my lonely search for answers. Ironically, it was at missionary college that I came upon the first few holes in my belief system. There, I learned that the New Testament had evolved out of a collection of letters that mere men decided to write – men who had not even claimed to have received prophecy.
“And it was in missionary college, at the age of 19, that I finally found someone I could talk to… One summer night, [my friend and teacher] Jewell and I stood together under the oak trees in front of her home. We were talking about the Bible, and Jewell told me that she was troubled by our religion’s practice of extracting just a few commandments from the Old Testament while ignoring all the rest. Her words struck a chord. I had grappled with this question for years. This was the first time I had ever heard anyone verbalize it.”
It was also Jewell who first suggested that Sheryl date John Massey. Before long the two were engaged and had decided to establish their home in Georgia near John’s parents.
Moving to Appalachia
It was there that Sheryl received the shock of her life. Although she had realized that her in-laws lived a simpler life than what she had been accustomed to back in Southern California, she hadn’t realized the full extent of the difference until after her wedding.
Chapter 4: The boys with their father at the sawmillChapter 4: The boys with their father at the sawmill
She had envisioned living in a pleasant farmhouse with a white picket fence. Instead, home was a little room at the back of her in-laws’ house deep in the Appalachian Mountains. This was the 1970’s, and Sheryl now had to get used to a home with no indoor plumbing, a place where a soothing hot shower was an impossible luxury and outhouses were the norm.
Back in school John presented the perfect picture of a modern man. He cut a smart image in his suit and drove a nice car. Sheryl had every reason to believe that he was used to the same middle class standards that she was. Having grown up in the ’60’s, Sheryl had a bit of an anti-materialistic mentality, and was not all that alarmed by the thought of “roughing it.” Yet the beginning of her married life was challenged by the great cultural differences she now confronted at every turn. The new slow-paced life style she was introduced to as they began their family amongst the mountain folk was light years away from anything Sheryl had ever imagined.
Chapter 9: A family in transitionChapter 9: A family in transition
Sheryl had been trained since childhood not to complain, and had learned that it was best not to feel at all. Her parents believed that children were inherently evil and were firm believers in corporal punishment. Her father’s disciplinary measures would likely be considered quite harsh by today’s standard. She had also been taught that it was her duty to submit to the will of her husband. So although she was bewildered by her new circumstances, she never thought to challenge her husband.
Sheryl worked hard to fit in and accept her new life. In time she learned how to haul water up from the well, build a fire, make Granny’s butter milk biscuits, and butcher the freshly killed deer that her sons brought home for dinner.
A homeschooling pioneer
Walker County, Georgia, where John and Sheryl raised their family, was known for its impoverished and unsuccessful public school system. Sheryl never met anyone in those parts with a college education; the vast majority of adults had never even finished grade school and 40% of the county was illiterate. Sheryl was determined to homeschool her children, a decision she had made in response to her own exposure to the loose moral values in the U.S. public school system. Despite the fact that homeschooling was illegal in Georgia and the truant officers and social service workers even threatened to take their children away, Sheryl held on to her vision. She had always been idealistic, and once she became a mother she channeled her passion into educating her children.
Chapter 8: Samuel and our horse, BuckshotChapter 8: Samuel and our horse, Buckshot
“My lessons included a lot more than the standard curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic… I also made sure to incorporate many life lessons into our classroom discussions. In this way I was able to instill in my children the attitudes and values that their father and I had cultivated over the years. I also read to them from the Old Testament… My personal favorite was dubbed ‘successful men,’ which I developed into a tool to get my sons to think beyond society’s desire for instant gratification. I wanted them to have a chance at a brighter future, to grow to become men of vision who would build a life for themselves beyond the squalor that mired our society of hillbillies.“
Except for a few brief years when they lived near an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, or near her widowed mother in Joplin, Missouri, Sheryl spent most of next 23 years living in the Appalachian Mountains. Materially the family encountered nothing but unremitting poverty, and Sheryl struggled mightily to keep her family warm and fed. But for all their deprivation, the Massey’s were blessed with a beautiful family consisting of ten healthy and well adjusted children.
Breaking away from the Church
Spiritually they had taken their own unique journey. Early on in their marriage John’s in-depth bible study led him to reject Christianity, a realization that left a very devout Sheryl devastated. Although she had been beset by doubts for nearly her entire life, her parents had managed to instill in her the belief that accepting their savior would guarantee eternal salvation. She was too frightened to even contemplate giving up Christianity. It was a risk she wouldn’t dream of taking. For seven years the couple was at odds over their personal views of religion. Sheryl tried everything to bring her husband back to their roots. Finally, after all those years, she was worn down. There was nothing left to try. Broken hearted, she prayed to God to bring her husband back to their roots, and as an afterthought added, “And if he is correct, help me to see the truth.”
The next time she opened a bible she felt as if a light had turned on and her lifelong struggle with her questions on Christianity all came to the fore. Sheryl began to see the validity behind John’s beliefs and decided to go along with her husband.
One of the hardest parts of belonging to this religion was the suffocating feeling that there was nothing else to learn.
“I had fought with myself for decades as I tried to make sense of the contradictions between my religion and my own relationship with the Creator. One of the hardest parts of belonging to this religion was the suffocating feeling that there was nothing else to learn. As a thinking individual, I had formed my own impressions of the world. I looked up to the heavens and saw an endless sky spread out above me. The dark expanse of the evening sky, studded with multitudes of stars, shining pinpricks of light coalescing into giant galaxies, all bore proof of the vastness of the universe and beyond. In contrast to the mind-boggling endlessness of the world, I found the complexity inherent in the DNA of the microscopic cells in even my littlest toe to be just as great proof of an Intelligence so endless and so infinite that I was awed.
“After witnessing firsthand the greatness of the physical world, I had been left wondering how the spiritual world could possibly be so simplistic and narrow. If the physical world is infused with a sense of infinity, why would the spiritual world be so limited, comprising just a few beliefs and practices? Shouldn’t religion be at least as intricate as the physical world?”
John and Sheryl believed in One God Who had created the world and had given mankind the Old Testament. They continued to rest on the Sabbath. They no longer went to church, alienating their community and their family. They were on their own.
They might have stayed on that mountain, observing their own idea of religion until this day, if Sheryl hadn’t come to realize that her growing children needed some sort of community if they were to find fitting mates and establish families of their own.
Searching for God’s People
It was John who first suggested they look into Judaism, since he recognized that Jews also rested on the Sabbath and studied the Old Testament. Their first foray into Judaism brought them to a Conservative Congregation in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sheryl was impressed by the rabbi, a polished Harvard graduate, and was deeply inspired by the Kiddush ceremony. They attended services there for some time, before becoming disenchanted with some of the congregant’s manner of dress and deciding to move on.
Their next step was a Reform temple in Rome, Georgia but nothing about the temple or the service spoke to the Masseys. Then John met Rabbi Michael Katz, an Orthodox rabbi in Chattanooga. The Massey boys remember their father’s ecstatic declaration upon meeting Rabbi Katz. “For the first time in my life, I met a man who could answer my questions!” In keeping with the Torah’s directive to turn away prospective converts Rabbi Katz suggested that they attend a Unitarian Universalist congregation. However the loose moral standards accepted in that congregation discouraged the Masssey’s from taking an interest in that congregation.
For the next year they put their search on hold and spent their time on the mountain following their own religious beliefs. Then John went back to Rabbi Katz and tried again. This time the rabbi tried to discourage him by telling him that services were conducted in Hebrew, a language he wouldn’t be able to understand. John would not be deterred, and so Rabbi Katz invited him and his oldest sons down to the synagogue. In time the Massey family was invited for Shabbos.
Sheryl and her children were taken by the beauty of the Jewish Shabbos. As Sabbath observers the concept was familiar, but she felt it was empty compared to what the Jews had. She loved the way Rabbi Katz interacted with her children, and was thrilled that Rebbetzin Toby Katz was able to answer some of the questions that troubled her. It was Sheryl who first decided that she would like to convert. After some time John began to look into the Noahide movement2.
Chapter 10: Dovid, right after conversionChapter 10: Dovid, right after conversion
The Massey boys were growing up, and the oldest son, Joey, decided to move ahead in his spiritual quest without waiting for his parent’s decision on the matter. He bought himself a pickup truck and began driving out to Atlanta on a daily basis to learn Torah. Joey accepted the Torah as the ultimate truth and realized that all that was required of him was the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws. Joey loved hunting, the woods, the mountain folk, and the entire culture he was raised in. The city felt cold and foreign in comparison. He struggled with the choice that confronted him; to convert and become a Jew or remain a faithful Son of Noah? His greatest fear was that his family would not follow him to Judaism, yet Joey decided to become a Jew. He felt that through Judaism and observing its 613 mitzvot he would forge a close relationship to God. Joey moved to Atlanta and converted, his brother Nate came soon after, as did the rest of the family.
Their four oldest sons converted to Judaism and flew off to Jerusalem to learn in a yeshivah.
In the space of just a few years Sheryl and John’s four oldest sons converted to Judaism and flew off to Jerusalem to learn in a yeshivah. The fifth one followed on their heels. At that same time the Masseys faith was tested once again. After giving birth to ten healthy children, Sheryl bore her 11th child, a little girl whose medical condition was incompatible with life, and who died at the age of one month.
The family was devastated, and Sheryl was overcome with grief. In the wake of this crisis the Massey’s marriage fell apart and John and Sheryl divorced.
Finding peace in the Land of Israel
Two years later Sheryl converted along with her younger children and took the name Tzirel Rus. She moved the rest of her family to Israel were the family was finally reunited. (Their father would follow them and convert a few years later.) It was there that she finally found peace after years of searching and suffering.
“I stood at the world’s holiest site, the Western Wall, the remnant of the glorious Temple that once graced the earth. …I had been praying all my life, turning my heart to the Creator of the heavens and stars and begging Him to help me on my life’s journey. I promised to serve Him, but didn’t know how. Empty and alone, I was ignorant of the truth, clawing at the earth as I slowly, laboriously climbed the rugged terrain of the expedition that had been my life.
“…Now my soul raced to find my place among all the women who seemed to roil with prayer and connection to God. I restrained myself and walked towards the plaza, filled with an intense thanksgiving that I was at last able to connect with my God amidst a crowd of other yearning souls.”
It was in Israel that Tzirel Rus’s dream at last came true, as she sat at her Shabbos table surrounded by her ten Jewish children, serenaded by the melodious singing of her children and their friends. She rented an apartment in a small developing town in the Judean Hills. Her innovative and pioneering spirit urged her to roll up her sleeves and get to work in building up the local English speaking community. She arranged Torah classes and brought in speakers, and before long became a well known and much loved member of her community.
An excerpt from a letter written to her Jewish friends back in the U.S. expresses these sentiments.
“I feel that all of my life’s experiences have been to bring me to this moment. God had always put me in situations where I had no one to follow, compelling me to blaze my own path. Here in this growing town, I feel a sense of destiny. With God’s help I will get to pioneer and blaze new trails, only this time I am building on holy soil amidst a holy nation. This time everything will be forever.”
After seven years of single motherhood, Tzirel Rus married the man of her dreams. A Hassidic Jew, Avrum had grown up in New York, and like her had known the pain of a failed marriage, as well as a lifelong incapacitating illness.
Grandma Grimm was born March 25, 1828, was married at 15 and had 238 descendants at her death at the age of 92. She faithfully lit her candles on Friday night.Grandma Grimm was born March 25, 1828, was married at 15 and had 238 descendants at her death at the age of 92. She faithfully lit her candles on Friday night.
“Our backgrounds couldn’t have been more different. Avrum had grown up in Crown Heights, and had gone to cheder with the Boyaner Rebbe. And me? Southern California and the Appalachian Mountains are a long way from Crown Heights…
“With all that, Avrum and I found much in common. There is something about painful life experiences – no matter what their source – that draws together fellow survivors. Our past histories, in which we had both engaged in backbreaking labor, removing metaphorical stones and battling the parched and hardened earth, had resulted in dark, loamy soil from which our shared future would sprout. The vagaries of our lives forced both of us to rise above our physical limitations and develop a more spiritual perspective on life. This strength became the cornerstone of our relationship, the basis for the deep understanding that developed between us. We became true partners in every way. More, we were each other’s biggest fans.”
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With her marriage to Avrum, Tzirel Rus finally moved beyond her difficult childhood and merited to build a warm and peaceful home where her children and grandchildren feel so loved and welcome.
Tzirel Rus’s unusual journey and charismatic personality have made her a magnet for many searching Jews. Her message to them? “I have looked into the four corners of the world, searching for the recipe of life, and after all my efforts I can honestly tell you that I found it by the Jews.”
You can read the story of the father, mother, and their ten children who all converted to Judaism in the newly-published book, The Mountain Family, by Tzirel Rus Berger and Penina Neiman (Mesorah Publications). Click here to order.
1. All quotes taken from Sheryl’s memoir, “The Mountain Family” Mesorah Publications.
2. After the great flood God commanded Noah and his sons to observe seven commandments. These include the prohibitions of idolatry, theft, immorality, murder, blasphemy, and the taking of a limb from a live animal. The seventh commandment is to set up courts of judgment.
According to the Torah these are the commandments that a non-Jew is required to observe in order to live a righteous life.
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Home » Israel » Jewish World
Mandela’s Complex Jewish TiesMandela’s Complex Jewish Ties
South African leader's long relationship with community veered between supportive and hostile.
by Geoff Sifrin
Nelson Mandela’s amazing attitude of reconciliation after his release in 1990 from 27 years in prison reassured very nervous South African Jews – and whites generally – that after living with “packed suitcases under the bed” during apartheid, they had a future here after all.
Most people had always realized that apartheid simply couldn’t go on forever, no matter how brutal the apartheid regime was, and that the whole thing might end in a racial bloodbath. Under Mandela, who died Thursday, Dec. 5, in Johannesburg at 95 after a long illness, there would be no bloodbath. He invited all South Africans to help build a “rainbow nation.”
During the seven decades after the young Mandela, came in 1941 to Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape seeking work, his numerous interactions with Jews ranged between supportive and downright hostile. One of his early encounters was when Jewish attorney Lazar Sidelsky gave him his first job in his law firm. Later, many of the white comrades who fought apartheid with him were Jews with whom he formed close bonds. Of the 17 activists arrested at Liliesleaf, Rivonia, in July 1963, five were whites and all of them were Jews.
Yet, as with other white groups, only a tiny percentage of South African Jews fought apartheid, and Mandela had little contact with them during the years of struggle. The Jewish mainstream was largely apathetic and went along with it, while not actively supporting it – Jews almost always voted for the liberal opposition parties in elections. Mandela’s name, however, was scarcely mentioned in Jewish circles during his imprisonment – the image painted by the regime of him as a brutal “terrorist” best kept locked away always hovered over the conversations.
There is also discomfort among South African Jews at the fact that Percy Yutar, a respected member of an Orthodox shul in Johannesburg, was a government prosecutor in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 at which Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. True to his generous spirit, however, Mandela invited Yutar to lunch just months after being inaugurated as the South African president, and made a point of publicly shaking his hand, thus sending a message that the bitter past must not be allowed to prevent a better future.
Released from prison, Mandela engaged vigorously with mainstream Jewish organizations and leading Jewish philanthropists and businessmen.
During the anti-apartheid struggle, his interaction with Jews was primarily with individual lawyers, journalists and activists. Then, after President F.W. de Klerk announced on Feb. 2, 1990 that the ban on the African National Congress was being lifted and Mandela would be released from prison, a new period began and Mandela engaged vigorously with mainstream Jewish organizations and leading Jewish philanthropists and businessmen.
Among those organizations was the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Jewry’s umbrella representative body) at whose National Conference in 1993 he was the keynote speaker; yet hanging in the background was always the discomforting recollection that during apartheid the SAJBD had adhered to a formal “non-political” policy, saying its job was to look after Jewish interests, not be involved in South African politics. Such a posture amid apartheid’s brutality, with Jews living lives of huge privilege because of the system, had weighty moral implications.
Apartheid posed difficult questions for South African Jewry: What was Judaism’s duty to the oppressed among whom they lived? What had Jews learned from their own history of persecution? And did they have the courage to stand up against apartheid when, in this virtual police state, it would invite retribution from the regime?
Today, the Jewish mainstream points with pride to the Jewish activists who fought bravely with Mandela, many of whom were banned, jailed or forced into exile. This has provoked the retort that Jews who did nothing are basking in their reflected glory.
Mandela’s enthusiastic embrace of the broader contacts with the Jewish community post-apartheid included community development organization MaAfrika Tikkun, of which he became patron-in-chief. Ma’Afrika Tikkun, founded by Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris and businessmen Herby Rosenberg and Bertie Lubner, was a proud example of the Jewish community’s work among the underprivileged.
Right at the outset in the 1940s, Sidelsky, Mandela’s employer, insisted he complete his law studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, where Jewish students became his friends. Some later defended him in the two high-profile trials in which he was an accused – the 1956 Treason Trial and the 1964 Rivonia Trial.
The defense team in the Treason Trial in which 156 people, including Mandela,stood accused, was headed by advocate Isie Maisels, a respected member of the Johannesburg Bar. Another Jewish advocate, Sydney Kentridge, dealt particularly with Mandela as his counsel. Kentridge later recalled: “I could somehow tell from the many talks I had with him that this man was a leader. Of course I couldn’t have guessed he would become the leader he, in fact, became.” By the time the trial ended in 1961, all defendants had been found not guilty.
Central to Mandela’s contacts with Jews in the new South Africa was Glasgow-born Chief Rabbi Harris, who came to the country in 1988 when the apartheid grip on the society was already loosening. The two became close friends – Mandela referred to Harris as “my rabbi.” Their friendship threw into relief the question: Why had so few rabbis – the conveyors of Jewish values – played a role in resisting apartheid?
“We are sorry you are having trouble with your eyes, but we want you to know that there is nothing wrong with your vision.”
Mandela had eye problems from working in lime quarries during his imprisonment, which his Jewish doctor, Percy Amoils, corrected. Rabbi Harris commented at the time: “We are sorry you are having trouble with your eyes, but we want you to know that there is nothing wrong with your vision.”
When Rabbi Harris appeared at the Faith Communities hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 on behalf of the SAJBD, he apologized for the Jewish community’s “inactivity and silence” during apartheid. Other white groups had done no better, but Rabbi Harris’ words caused some soul-searching among South African Jews.
In 1985 a movement called “Jews for Social Justice” was started for social action against apartheid, supported by Rabbis Norman Bernhard and Ady Assabi. Again, as the reconciler, a few months after his release from prison, Mandela attended a Shabbat service at Temple Shalom in Johannesburg at Rabbi Assabi’s invitation. Just prior to that, Mandela had appeared on television warmly embracing PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat at Namibia’s Independence Day celebrations, provoking some enraged members of Assabi’s congregation to hurl insults at him for inviting Mandela.
Another of Mandela’s enduring friendships was with feisty Helen Suzman, the acclaimed Jewish politician who fought the apartheid system endlessly within the Chambers of Parliament. In the days when she was the sole member of the Liberal-Progressive Party in Parliament, she was the first member of Parliament to visit the prisoner Mandela on Robben Island and take an interest in the plight of the political convicts. He called her the voice of the true opposition. After apartheid he remained loyal to their friendship even after she had been almost totally marginalized by the country’s new political leadership. Suzman commented: “I have been airbrushed out of history by the new regime – but Mandela still visits me.”
With South African Jews so passionately Zionist, the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would inevitably come up between them and Mandela. He accepted Israel’s right to exist within the 1967 borders and also promoted a Palestinian state. Instinctively, though, he remained closer to Palestinians than Israelis, particularly given the close links during apartheid between the ANC and the PLO. He saw the Palestinians as similar to South African blacks in their plight.
His proposals were regarded as “simplistic” by both Israelis and Palestinians.
However, he again showed his greatness when in 1995 he attended a ceremony at the Oxford Synagogue in Johannesburg in honor of murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. In October 1999, he visited Israel, accompanied by Jewish community leaders. The trip was intended to repair the political damage caused by Israeli links with apartheid South Africa. Israel, although not involved in apartheid violence, had cooperated in military matters with the government.
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Mandela proposed a plan for Middle East peace, saying the Arabs must recognize the State of Israel within the 1967 borders and Israel must give up territory for peace. His proposals were regarded as “simplistic” by both Israelis and Palestinians. In Gaza, he met with Arafat and, while in Israel, he visited Rabin’s grave and went to Yad Vashem.
Now Mandela is gone. What is his legacy for the country, the world – and for Jews? Certainly in South Africa there is no one in the current leadership who even remotely approaches Mandela’s visionary stature. And in the Middle East? If only a Mandela could emerge from either the Israeli or the Palestinian side to do there what Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela did for South Africa.
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Week.
Mandela’s Complex Jewish TiesMandela’s Complex Jewish Ties
South African leader's long relationship with community veered between supportive and hostile.
by Geoff Sifrin
Nelson Mandela’s amazing attitude of reconciliation after his release in 1990 from 27 years in prison reassured very nervous South African Jews – and whites generally – that after living with “packed suitcases under the bed” during apartheid, they had a future here after all.
Most people had always realized that apartheid simply couldn’t go on forever, no matter how brutal the apartheid regime was, and that the whole thing might end in a racial bloodbath. Under Mandela, who died Thursday, Dec. 5, in Johannesburg at 95 after a long illness, there would be no bloodbath. He invited all South Africans to help build a “rainbow nation.”
During the seven decades after the young Mandela, came in 1941 to Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape seeking work, his numerous interactions with Jews ranged between supportive and downright hostile. One of his early encounters was when Jewish attorney Lazar Sidelsky gave him his first job in his law firm. Later, many of the white comrades who fought apartheid with him were Jews with whom he formed close bonds. Of the 17 activists arrested at Liliesleaf, Rivonia, in July 1963, five were whites and all of them were Jews.
Yet, as with other white groups, only a tiny percentage of South African Jews fought apartheid, and Mandela had little contact with them during the years of struggle. The Jewish mainstream was largely apathetic and went along with it, while not actively supporting it – Jews almost always voted for the liberal opposition parties in elections. Mandela’s name, however, was scarcely mentioned in Jewish circles during his imprisonment – the image painted by the regime of him as a brutal “terrorist” best kept locked away always hovered over the conversations.
There is also discomfort among South African Jews at the fact that Percy Yutar, a respected member of an Orthodox shul in Johannesburg, was a government prosecutor in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 at which Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. True to his generous spirit, however, Mandela invited Yutar to lunch just months after being inaugurated as the South African president, and made a point of publicly shaking his hand, thus sending a message that the bitter past must not be allowed to prevent a better future.
Released from prison, Mandela engaged vigorously with mainstream Jewish organizations and leading Jewish philanthropists and businessmen.
During the anti-apartheid struggle, his interaction with Jews was primarily with individual lawyers, journalists and activists. Then, after President F.W. de Klerk announced on Feb. 2, 1990 that the ban on the African National Congress was being lifted and Mandela would be released from prison, a new period began and Mandela engaged vigorously with mainstream Jewish organizations and leading Jewish philanthropists and businessmen.
Among those organizations was the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Jewry’s umbrella representative body) at whose National Conference in 1993 he was the keynote speaker; yet hanging in the background was always the discomforting recollection that during apartheid the SAJBD had adhered to a formal “non-political” policy, saying its job was to look after Jewish interests, not be involved in South African politics. Such a posture amid apartheid’s brutality, with Jews living lives of huge privilege because of the system, had weighty moral implications.
Apartheid posed difficult questions for South African Jewry: What was Judaism’s duty to the oppressed among whom they lived? What had Jews learned from their own history of persecution? And did they have the courage to stand up against apartheid when, in this virtual police state, it would invite retribution from the regime?
Today, the Jewish mainstream points with pride to the Jewish activists who fought bravely with Mandela, many of whom were banned, jailed or forced into exile. This has provoked the retort that Jews who did nothing are basking in their reflected glory.
Mandela’s enthusiastic embrace of the broader contacts with the Jewish community post-apartheid included community development organization MaAfrika Tikkun, of which he became patron-in-chief. Ma’Afrika Tikkun, founded by Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris and businessmen Herby Rosenberg and Bertie Lubner, was a proud example of the Jewish community’s work among the underprivileged.
Right at the outset in the 1940s, Sidelsky, Mandela’s employer, insisted he complete his law studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, where Jewish students became his friends. Some later defended him in the two high-profile trials in which he was an accused – the 1956 Treason Trial and the 1964 Rivonia Trial.
The defense team in the Treason Trial in which 156 people, including Mandela,stood accused, was headed by advocate Isie Maisels, a respected member of the Johannesburg Bar. Another Jewish advocate, Sydney Kentridge, dealt particularly with Mandela as his counsel. Kentridge later recalled: “I could somehow tell from the many talks I had with him that this man was a leader. Of course I couldn’t have guessed he would become the leader he, in fact, became.” By the time the trial ended in 1961, all defendants had been found not guilty.
Central to Mandela’s contacts with Jews in the new South Africa was Glasgow-born Chief Rabbi Harris, who came to the country in 1988 when the apartheid grip on the society was already loosening. The two became close friends – Mandela referred to Harris as “my rabbi.” Their friendship threw into relief the question: Why had so few rabbis – the conveyors of Jewish values – played a role in resisting apartheid?
“We are sorry you are having trouble with your eyes, but we want you to know that there is nothing wrong with your vision.”
Mandela had eye problems from working in lime quarries during his imprisonment, which his Jewish doctor, Percy Amoils, corrected. Rabbi Harris commented at the time: “We are sorry you are having trouble with your eyes, but we want you to know that there is nothing wrong with your vision.”
When Rabbi Harris appeared at the Faith Communities hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 on behalf of the SAJBD, he apologized for the Jewish community’s “inactivity and silence” during apartheid. Other white groups had done no better, but Rabbi Harris’ words caused some soul-searching among South African Jews.
In 1985 a movement called “Jews for Social Justice” was started for social action against apartheid, supported by Rabbis Norman Bernhard and Ady Assabi. Again, as the reconciler, a few months after his release from prison, Mandela attended a Shabbat service at Temple Shalom in Johannesburg at Rabbi Assabi’s invitation. Just prior to that, Mandela had appeared on television warmly embracing PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat at Namibia’s Independence Day celebrations, provoking some enraged members of Assabi’s congregation to hurl insults at him for inviting Mandela.
Another of Mandela’s enduring friendships was with feisty Helen Suzman, the acclaimed Jewish politician who fought the apartheid system endlessly within the Chambers of Parliament. In the days when she was the sole member of the Liberal-Progressive Party in Parliament, she was the first member of Parliament to visit the prisoner Mandela on Robben Island and take an interest in the plight of the political convicts. He called her the voice of the true opposition. After apartheid he remained loyal to their friendship even after she had been almost totally marginalized by the country’s new political leadership. Suzman commented: “I have been airbrushed out of history by the new regime – but Mandela still visits me.”
With South African Jews so passionately Zionist, the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would inevitably come up between them and Mandela. He accepted Israel’s right to exist within the 1967 borders and also promoted a Palestinian state. Instinctively, though, he remained closer to Palestinians than Israelis, particularly given the close links during apartheid between the ANC and the PLO. He saw the Palestinians as similar to South African blacks in their plight.
His proposals were regarded as “simplistic” by both Israelis and Palestinians.
However, he again showed his greatness when in 1995 he attended a ceremony at the Oxford Synagogue in Johannesburg in honor of murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. In October 1999, he visited Israel, accompanied by Jewish community leaders. The trip was intended to repair the political damage caused by Israeli links with apartheid South Africa. Israel, although not involved in apartheid violence, had cooperated in military matters with the government.
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Mandela proposed a plan for Middle East peace, saying the Arabs must recognize the State of Israel within the 1967 borders and Israel must give up territory for peace. His proposals were regarded as “simplistic” by both Israelis and Palestinians. In Gaza, he met with Arafat and, while in Israel, he visited Rabin’s grave and went to Yad Vashem.
Now Mandela is gone. What is his legacy for the country, the world – and for Jews? Certainly in South Africa there is no one in the current leadership who even remotely approaches Mandela’s visionary stature. And in the Middle East? If only a Mandela could emerge from either the Israeli or the Palestinian side to do there what Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela did for South Africa.
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Week.
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Faith in God: A Jewish Perspective
It starts with the intellect and slowly enters the heart.
by Orit Esther Riter, Author of the Daily Dose of Emuna
Loosely translated as faith in God, emuna is considered the cornerstone of Jewish belief and practice. What does the term emuna mean? How does this affect my life? When are we as Jews required to have or practice this emuna?
Unfortunately, many people assume that emuna refers to blind faith. However, this is not the case. In the Aleinu prayer recited at or near the end of every prayer service, we proclaim: “And you shall know today, and take to heart, that God is the only God…” We are instructed to ‘know’ that God exists. Blind leaps of faith have nothing to do with knowledge; they are expressions of what one wishes to be true, not what is in fact necessarily true.
Emuna begins in the mind as intellectual Emuna, formed after hard rational work and inquiry. Ultimate contemplation of the world and how it could not be created other than by an infinite Being will help us achieve this intellectual faith.
Knowing in our minds that our Creator is there is the first step. However, in time and with repeated practice, emuna can melt into the heart. After we readily acknowledge that God is part of our life and never leaves, we can work on developing loyalty to God with that knowledge and slowly begin to feel it internally. Rather than pure intellectual belief, emuna should be defined as theact of being faithful or loyal. It is the basic requirement of any healthy relationship and demands constant reinforcement.
With time and dedication we can strive toward living a life permeated by emuna. Emuna is developed throughout a lifetime and needs to be repeatedly contemplated. Loyalty to God becomes essential when life throws us a sharp curve ball which may cause us to lose balance and doubt that things truly are for the best.
Yet at these painful times, it is also more difficult to exercise our emuna muscles. It becomes most challenging when reality presents hardships that conflict with our ability to intellectually understand. The loss of harmony between that which we know in our minds to be true – God is taking care of us as part of His nation – yet do not enjoy or cannot see the logic in, is what provides us with our free will.
Through the means of free will, we choose whether to remain loyal to the word of God in spite of the pain, or to shun the word of God because of its seeming illogicality. Emuna is understanding that we cannot understand the totality of God’s knowledge, but recognizing and accepting that everything serves a purpose despite this.
Once we know logically that God is always with us, and we have started practicing this loyalty regularly, we can now engage in everyday life with trust in Him. This feeling of trust gives us a gift of security knowing that we are in perfect hands as we are being individually directed and handled by God Himself. Therefore, we can enjoy the feeling that we are being led through life by means of a personal guide, and that there is meaning and purpose to every event that occurs.
Emuna comes with practice of the mind and action. Utilizing life’s encounters as a prospect to seeing God in my life increases our awareness of His constant presence. We can use challenges as catalysts to come closer to our Creatorsince we extract meaning and grow from the experience.
For example, when traveling by bus to Jerusalem we can sit back, relax and enjoy the view. We can be free from worry, knowing that the driver is professional and knows how and where to drive. If we did not trust the driver’s skill, or we thought we could drive a bus better than him,, we may sit on edge the entire ride, questioning his navigation skills and driving abilities. In contrast, with emuna we can calmly sit on the bus, enjoy the scenery and await our final destination.
Sitting in bumper to bumper car traffic is boot camp for strengthening our emuna muscles. Some thoughts to ponder might include:
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I must be delayed for a good reason;
maybe it is slippery ahead and needed to slow down or possibly;
I need time to recollect my thoughts before continuing to drive.
The bottom line – there is purpose to my slowing down and it is all good for me even if I cannot readily see it.
Having someone cut the line while waiting for a cashier is another opportunity to exercise my emuna muscles. Perhaps this is a chance to refine my personality by allowing the other person to go in front without feeling bitter?
Emuna is looking beyond the limited now and knowing that we may not fully grasp the meaning of what is happening. We think we know what is best for us, but emuna means have faith that only God really knows. Nonetheless, we also have faith that one day we too will know.
It starts with the intellect and slowly enters the heart.
by Orit Esther Riter, Author of the Daily Dose of Emuna
Loosely translated as faith in God, emuna is considered the cornerstone of Jewish belief and practice. What does the term emuna mean? How does this affect my life? When are we as Jews required to have or practice this emuna?
Unfortunately, many people assume that emuna refers to blind faith. However, this is not the case. In the Aleinu prayer recited at or near the end of every prayer service, we proclaim: “And you shall know today, and take to heart, that God is the only God…” We are instructed to ‘know’ that God exists. Blind leaps of faith have nothing to do with knowledge; they are expressions of what one wishes to be true, not what is in fact necessarily true.
Emuna begins in the mind as intellectual Emuna, formed after hard rational work and inquiry. Ultimate contemplation of the world and how it could not be created other than by an infinite Being will help us achieve this intellectual faith.
Knowing in our minds that our Creator is there is the first step. However, in time and with repeated practice, emuna can melt into the heart. After we readily acknowledge that God is part of our life and never leaves, we can work on developing loyalty to God with that knowledge and slowly begin to feel it internally. Rather than pure intellectual belief, emuna should be defined as theact of being faithful or loyal. It is the basic requirement of any healthy relationship and demands constant reinforcement.
With time and dedication we can strive toward living a life permeated by emuna. Emuna is developed throughout a lifetime and needs to be repeatedly contemplated. Loyalty to God becomes essential when life throws us a sharp curve ball which may cause us to lose balance and doubt that things truly are for the best.
Yet at these painful times, it is also more difficult to exercise our emuna muscles. It becomes most challenging when reality presents hardships that conflict with our ability to intellectually understand. The loss of harmony between that which we know in our minds to be true – God is taking care of us as part of His nation – yet do not enjoy or cannot see the logic in, is what provides us with our free will.
Through the means of free will, we choose whether to remain loyal to the word of God in spite of the pain, or to shun the word of God because of its seeming illogicality. Emuna is understanding that we cannot understand the totality of God’s knowledge, but recognizing and accepting that everything serves a purpose despite this.
Once we know logically that God is always with us, and we have started practicing this loyalty regularly, we can now engage in everyday life with trust in Him. This feeling of trust gives us a gift of security knowing that we are in perfect hands as we are being individually directed and handled by God Himself. Therefore, we can enjoy the feeling that we are being led through life by means of a personal guide, and that there is meaning and purpose to every event that occurs.
Emuna comes with practice of the mind and action. Utilizing life’s encounters as a prospect to seeing God in my life increases our awareness of His constant presence. We can use challenges as catalysts to come closer to our Creatorsince we extract meaning and grow from the experience.
For example, when traveling by bus to Jerusalem we can sit back, relax and enjoy the view. We can be free from worry, knowing that the driver is professional and knows how and where to drive. If we did not trust the driver’s skill, or we thought we could drive a bus better than him,, we may sit on edge the entire ride, questioning his navigation skills and driving abilities. In contrast, with emuna we can calmly sit on the bus, enjoy the scenery and await our final destination.
Sitting in bumper to bumper car traffic is boot camp for strengthening our emuna muscles. Some thoughts to ponder might include:
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
I must be delayed for a good reason;
maybe it is slippery ahead and needed to slow down or possibly;
I need time to recollect my thoughts before continuing to drive.
The bottom line – there is purpose to my slowing down and it is all good for me even if I cannot readily see it.
Having someone cut the line while waiting for a cashier is another opportunity to exercise my emuna muscles. Perhaps this is a chance to refine my personality by allowing the other person to go in front without feeling bitter?
Emuna is looking beyond the limited now and knowing that we may not fully grasp the meaning of what is happening. We think we know what is best for us, but emuna means have faith that only God really knows. Nonetheless, we also have faith that one day we too will know.
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Hanukkah: Strength in Unity
How to battle against spiritual annihilation.
by Gary Fagen
The story of Hanukkah took place during the time of the Second Temple when the Greek regime of Antiochus sought to pull Jews away from their religion and heritage. Matityahu led the Jewish army in trying to drive out the enemy, after three years the Maccabees were, against all odds, able to succeed in driving out the foreigners from their land. When the Jews re-entered the Holy Temple they found it in shambles and idols were scattered everywhere. When it came time to re-light and re-dedicate the holy Menorah, they searched the entire Temple, but found only one jar of pure oil bearing the seal of the High Priest. An amazing miracle happened as that small jar of oil burned for eight days until a new supply of oil could be brought, hence the name Hanukkah, meaning 'dedication'.
Many people see Hanukkah and Purim having strong connections; however the aims of the enemies in each story were very different. During the Purim episode, Haman wanted to destroy every single Jew physically. However, on Hanukkah Antiochus wanted to assimilate and subsume the Jews into Greek culture. The Greeks had no intention of murdering the Jews physically; it was a spiritual and ideological campaign of annihilation.
This is why on Hanukkah we celebrate spiritually, via praying and lighting a soulful candle, while on Purim the mode of celebration is bodily focused.
The Three Decrees
Let us take a closer look at what the Greeks were aiming to do...
The Greek culture was one that extolled physical beauty and physical might. A self-aggrandized diet of sport (with little clothing) and war became the essence of Greek culture, which they sought to spread to the entire world. As the Maharal of Prague explains the three sons of Noah represent the foundations of all mankind. Yefes: the third son of Noah, means physical and aesthetic beauty and this was eagerly stressed by the Greeks. Yavan the descendants of Yefes took this concept and used it as the only reality if existence. The three letters of Yavan – yud, vav and nun – look like singular thin lines that have no framework or depth to contain anything, representing a totally external approach to look at the world; physical pleasure disconnected from anything deeper.
The Jewish religion is centered around the concept of spirituality; and that physical beauty can be expressed and reflected by adjoining spiritual beauty. Lasting beauty is one which is connected to truth, depth, wisdom and profundity; the physical features are merely the tip of the iceberg. For example Shabbat is a day focused on the spiritual world; as the Sages say it is like the World to Come. Yet on Shabbat we beautify ourselves, our tables and our family and communal lives as well. The Greeks outlawed the observance of the spiritual day of Shabbat because it represented the inner soul of the physical world.
Rosh Chodesh, sanctifying the New Moon each month, was also outlawed because it represented the inner holiness of the faculty of time. Brit Millah was banned because it represented the inner holiness of the body. It is no irony that Hanukkah contains within it a Shabbat, a Rosh Chodesh and contains the same transcendental number of days as a Brit Milah.
Every Hebrew word has a deep meaning. On the hand there are a total of 14 joints which is the gematria (numerical value) of the Hebrew word “Yad” which means “hand.” When two hands come together there is a unity, and the combination of putting “hand in hand” (yad yad) forms the Hebrew word “yedid,” which means close friends. When two hands come together there is a total of 28 joints. The number 28 written in Hebrew is kaf chet, spelling the Hebrew word “koach” which means “strength.”
The commentaries state that a reason for the destruction of the temple was due to Jews fighting against each other. The rededication of the temple on Hanukkah saw the Jews repair their spiritual breeches and reunite around the temple. When the Jewish people unite they are the strongest, like two hands coming together.
This, too, is a form of beauty; the full spectrum of the grand tapestry of the Jewish people standing together and expressing their inner quality and transcendental eternal natures.
How to battle against spiritual annihilation.
by Gary Fagen
The story of Hanukkah took place during the time of the Second Temple when the Greek regime of Antiochus sought to pull Jews away from their religion and heritage. Matityahu led the Jewish army in trying to drive out the enemy, after three years the Maccabees were, against all odds, able to succeed in driving out the foreigners from their land. When the Jews re-entered the Holy Temple they found it in shambles and idols were scattered everywhere. When it came time to re-light and re-dedicate the holy Menorah, they searched the entire Temple, but found only one jar of pure oil bearing the seal of the High Priest. An amazing miracle happened as that small jar of oil burned for eight days until a new supply of oil could be brought, hence the name Hanukkah, meaning 'dedication'.
Many people see Hanukkah and Purim having strong connections; however the aims of the enemies in each story were very different. During the Purim episode, Haman wanted to destroy every single Jew physically. However, on Hanukkah Antiochus wanted to assimilate and subsume the Jews into Greek culture. The Greeks had no intention of murdering the Jews physically; it was a spiritual and ideological campaign of annihilation.
This is why on Hanukkah we celebrate spiritually, via praying and lighting a soulful candle, while on Purim the mode of celebration is bodily focused.
The Three Decrees
Let us take a closer look at what the Greeks were aiming to do...
The Greek culture was one that extolled physical beauty and physical might. A self-aggrandized diet of sport (with little clothing) and war became the essence of Greek culture, which they sought to spread to the entire world. As the Maharal of Prague explains the three sons of Noah represent the foundations of all mankind. Yefes: the third son of Noah, means physical and aesthetic beauty and this was eagerly stressed by the Greeks. Yavan the descendants of Yefes took this concept and used it as the only reality if existence. The three letters of Yavan – yud, vav and nun – look like singular thin lines that have no framework or depth to contain anything, representing a totally external approach to look at the world; physical pleasure disconnected from anything deeper.
The Jewish religion is centered around the concept of spirituality; and that physical beauty can be expressed and reflected by adjoining spiritual beauty. Lasting beauty is one which is connected to truth, depth, wisdom and profundity; the physical features are merely the tip of the iceberg. For example Shabbat is a day focused on the spiritual world; as the Sages say it is like the World to Come. Yet on Shabbat we beautify ourselves, our tables and our family and communal lives as well. The Greeks outlawed the observance of the spiritual day of Shabbat because it represented the inner soul of the physical world.
Rosh Chodesh, sanctifying the New Moon each month, was also outlawed because it represented the inner holiness of the faculty of time. Brit Millah was banned because it represented the inner holiness of the body. It is no irony that Hanukkah contains within it a Shabbat, a Rosh Chodesh and contains the same transcendental number of days as a Brit Milah.
Every Hebrew word has a deep meaning. On the hand there are a total of 14 joints which is the gematria (numerical value) of the Hebrew word “Yad” which means “hand.” When two hands come together there is a unity, and the combination of putting “hand in hand” (yad yad) forms the Hebrew word “yedid,” which means close friends. When two hands come together there is a total of 28 joints. The number 28 written in Hebrew is kaf chet, spelling the Hebrew word “koach” which means “strength.”
The commentaries state that a reason for the destruction of the temple was due to Jews fighting against each other. The rededication of the temple on Hanukkah saw the Jews repair their spiritual breeches and reunite around the temple. When the Jewish people unite they are the strongest, like two hands coming together.
This, too, is a form of beauty; the full spectrum of the grand tapestry of the Jewish people standing together and expressing their inner quality and transcendental eternal natures.
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Thanksgivukkah & American Jews Colossal Blunder
Has Hanukkah in America become a testament to assimilation?
by Salvador Litvak
Ever since I became a dad I've had mixed feelings about Hanukkah. The holiday itself is inarguably beautiful. We kindle a flame to commemorate a miracle, we gaze at its light, and we are forbidden to use that light for any other purpose. We thus celebrate God's light itself – the first thing God created in our world and, as Einstein taught us, the raw material from which everything else is fashioned. In kindling the Hanukkah light, we commune with the Divine.
The problem is that American Hanukkah has become anything but divine. Conscious of the great fun our friends are having with Christmas, American Jews fill the gap with eight nights of presents, glittering decorations, and in some homes, Christmas trees beside the hanukkiyah as a vehicle for even more presents.
In our house, we'd like to cut out the presents entirely, but we don't want our kids to associate being Jewish with getting ripped off, so we compromise with books. Still, wrapped boxes flow in from well-meaning loved ones, and the increasing commerciality of the season makes it harder every year to maintain the true spirit of Hanukkah.
This year, we Jews have a unique opportunity to restore a proper sense of gratitude to our Festival of Lights. Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving, a "coincidence" that won't recur in our lifetimes. I believe God speaks to us in the language of events, and coincidences are exclamations. If that's true, then Thanksgivukkah, which won't return for another 79,811 years, must be an important message.
I looked into the origin texts of the two holidays, and discovered that Thanksgivukkah can save from us from not one but two colossal blunders.
Worse than commerciality, our American Hanukkah has become a testament to assimilation, and that's a blunder because the holiday is specifically about not assimilating. Unlike most of our enemies throughout history, the Syrian Greeks who ruled the Middle East in 165 B.C.E. did not desire to kill or enslave the Jewish people. Jews were free to live among them so long as we gave up being Jewish. They banned circumcision, Torah study, and prayer services under pain of death, and then desecrated our Holy Temple by slaughtering a pig upon the altar in honor of their gods.
Tragically, many Jews gave in to the pressure and chose to lead a Hellenized life of scintillating symposia and idolatry. A few held fast to our then thousand-year-old religion and its precious link to our Creator. War ensued, and against all odds, a small band of warriors led by Yehudah Maccabee freed the Holy Temple from the Greeks. Though the war would rage on for many more years, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple immediately, and a small cruse of oil that should have lit the menorah for only one day burned for eight.
From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving.
One might have thought that the Sages would institute a holiday like Purim to celebrate the miraculous military victory – a holiday which incidentally includes gift-giving. Instead, the Talmud notes:
A miracle was performed with the oil when they kindled the lights of the menorah. In the following year, the Sages established these eight days of Hanukkah as permanent holidays with the recital of Hallel and Thanksgiving. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)
Imagine that. From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving, in this case, the thanksgiving blessings we add to the Grace After Meals, thus forever linking Thanksgiving with a festive meal.
It is often said that the Talmud addresses every aspect of our lives, but who would have thought it would presage Thanksgivukkah – a once-in-a-lifetime "coincidence" 2,000 years in the future! As always, there are no coincidences. Now let's take a look at our modern Thanksgiving.
The holiday dates back to the first meal shared by Pilgrims and Native-Americans. Did they assimilate in order to eat together? Of course not. They brought their traditions with them, maintained their identities, and broke bread together in a meal that acknowledged the blessings they collectively received from their Creator. Sadly, such scenes have been too rare in American history.
The calendar oddity of Thanksgivukkah is not actually based on that first meal near Plymouth Rock, but rather on the federal holiday created by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. So it is especially appropriate on this, the 150th official Thanksgiving, to take a close look at President Lincoln's authorizing proclamation, also made in the midst of a grueling war:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God ... who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a non-sectarian but clearly religious holiday: a time to thank the Creator for miraculous blessings, which include the opportunity to break bread with our loved ones, just as we do in the Grace After Meals.
If we hold on to this Thanksgivukkah teaching, we can forever avoid the blunder of reducing Hanukkah to a commercialized imitation of Christmas.
The Entire People
The second blunder to be avoided is perhaps even more important, and it is a blunder I made even as I wrote this post.
Lincoln issued his proclamation to the "whole American People," whom he asked to thank God with one heart and one voice. He thus spoke not only to the citizens of the North, but also to the ten million rebels of the South. Lincoln refused to judge them, and considered them his brothers and sisters, even though they waged war against him.
How much more then must we Jews refuse to judge our brothers and sisters, especially when we comprise such a small tribe in America, let alone the world. Rabbi Shalom Arush says that the ugliest form of arrogance is when one Jew feels he's better than another. The fact is, it's good that Jews celebrate Hanukkah no matter why they do it. In fact, the Talmud teaches:
The commandment of Hanukkah is one light for each person and his entire household. And those who are meticulous about pursuing mitzvot (commandments) have one light for each person in the household. And those who are most fervently meticulous about pursuing mitzvot... kindle one light on the first night and thenceforward increase the number of lights each night. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)
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Hanukkah is thus the one holiday on which all Jews are meticulous! We come together as one people to increase the amount of God's light in the world, and that is precisely our mission. If filling a Christmas void spurs more of us to do that work, fantastic! God loves light, and the more of it the better. Above all, we need unity with one another if we are to fulfill our destiny as a "light unto the nations."
My friends, I wish you a festive, warm, loving, blazingly bright, and happy Thanksgivukkah!
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal.
Has Hanukkah in America become a testament to assimilation?
by Salvador Litvak
Ever since I became a dad I've had mixed feelings about Hanukkah. The holiday itself is inarguably beautiful. We kindle a flame to commemorate a miracle, we gaze at its light, and we are forbidden to use that light for any other purpose. We thus celebrate God's light itself – the first thing God created in our world and, as Einstein taught us, the raw material from which everything else is fashioned. In kindling the Hanukkah light, we commune with the Divine.
The problem is that American Hanukkah has become anything but divine. Conscious of the great fun our friends are having with Christmas, American Jews fill the gap with eight nights of presents, glittering decorations, and in some homes, Christmas trees beside the hanukkiyah as a vehicle for even more presents.
In our house, we'd like to cut out the presents entirely, but we don't want our kids to associate being Jewish with getting ripped off, so we compromise with books. Still, wrapped boxes flow in from well-meaning loved ones, and the increasing commerciality of the season makes it harder every year to maintain the true spirit of Hanukkah.
This year, we Jews have a unique opportunity to restore a proper sense of gratitude to our Festival of Lights. Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving, a "coincidence" that won't recur in our lifetimes. I believe God speaks to us in the language of events, and coincidences are exclamations. If that's true, then Thanksgivukkah, which won't return for another 79,811 years, must be an important message.
I looked into the origin texts of the two holidays, and discovered that Thanksgivukkah can save from us from not one but two colossal blunders.
Worse than commerciality, our American Hanukkah has become a testament to assimilation, and that's a blunder because the holiday is specifically about not assimilating. Unlike most of our enemies throughout history, the Syrian Greeks who ruled the Middle East in 165 B.C.E. did not desire to kill or enslave the Jewish people. Jews were free to live among them so long as we gave up being Jewish. They banned circumcision, Torah study, and prayer services under pain of death, and then desecrated our Holy Temple by slaughtering a pig upon the altar in honor of their gods.
Tragically, many Jews gave in to the pressure and chose to lead a Hellenized life of scintillating symposia and idolatry. A few held fast to our then thousand-year-old religion and its precious link to our Creator. War ensued, and against all odds, a small band of warriors led by Yehudah Maccabee freed the Holy Temple from the Greeks. Though the war would rage on for many more years, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple immediately, and a small cruse of oil that should have lit the menorah for only one day burned for eight.
From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving.
One might have thought that the Sages would institute a holiday like Purim to celebrate the miraculous military victory – a holiday which incidentally includes gift-giving. Instead, the Talmud notes:
A miracle was performed with the oil when they kindled the lights of the menorah. In the following year, the Sages established these eight days of Hanukkah as permanent holidays with the recital of Hallel and Thanksgiving. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)
Imagine that. From the very beginning, Hanukkah has been linked to Thanksgiving, in this case, the thanksgiving blessings we add to the Grace After Meals, thus forever linking Thanksgiving with a festive meal.
It is often said that the Talmud addresses every aspect of our lives, but who would have thought it would presage Thanksgivukkah – a once-in-a-lifetime "coincidence" 2,000 years in the future! As always, there are no coincidences. Now let's take a look at our modern Thanksgiving.
The holiday dates back to the first meal shared by Pilgrims and Native-Americans. Did they assimilate in order to eat together? Of course not. They brought their traditions with them, maintained their identities, and broke bread together in a meal that acknowledged the blessings they collectively received from their Creator. Sadly, such scenes have been too rare in American history.
The calendar oddity of Thanksgivukkah is not actually based on that first meal near Plymouth Rock, but rather on the federal holiday created by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. So it is especially appropriate on this, the 150th official Thanksgiving, to take a close look at President Lincoln's authorizing proclamation, also made in the midst of a grueling war:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God ... who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a non-sectarian but clearly religious holiday: a time to thank the Creator for miraculous blessings, which include the opportunity to break bread with our loved ones, just as we do in the Grace After Meals.
If we hold on to this Thanksgivukkah teaching, we can forever avoid the blunder of reducing Hanukkah to a commercialized imitation of Christmas.
The Entire People
The second blunder to be avoided is perhaps even more important, and it is a blunder I made even as I wrote this post.
Lincoln issued his proclamation to the "whole American People," whom he asked to thank God with one heart and one voice. He thus spoke not only to the citizens of the North, but also to the ten million rebels of the South. Lincoln refused to judge them, and considered them his brothers and sisters, even though they waged war against him.
How much more then must we Jews refuse to judge our brothers and sisters, especially when we comprise such a small tribe in America, let alone the world. Rabbi Shalom Arush says that the ugliest form of arrogance is when one Jew feels he's better than another. The fact is, it's good that Jews celebrate Hanukkah no matter why they do it. In fact, the Talmud teaches:
The commandment of Hanukkah is one light for each person and his entire household. And those who are meticulous about pursuing mitzvot (commandments) have one light for each person in the household. And those who are most fervently meticulous about pursuing mitzvot... kindle one light on the first night and thenceforward increase the number of lights each night. (Shabbos 21b, B. Talmud)
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Hanukkah is thus the one holiday on which all Jews are meticulous! We come together as one people to increase the amount of God's light in the world, and that is precisely our mission. If filling a Christmas void spurs more of us to do that work, fantastic! God loves light, and the more of it the better. Above all, we need unity with one another if we are to fulfill our destiny as a "light unto the nations."
My friends, I wish you a festive, warm, loving, blazingly bright, and happy Thanksgivukkah!
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal.
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No More Mask
As we get older, with fewer defenses and inhibitions to provide any filters, our real selves poke through.
by Emuna Braverman
I heard something really frightening today. I hadn’t really given it much thought before. But now I’m really scared. Terrified, in fact.
I participated in a class where the teacher mentioned that she frequently visited old age homes when she was a child. Some of the residents were gracious and welcoming, always smiling and friendly and happy to see her. Others were crotchety, nasty and rude. (We’re not at the scary part yet…)
Without giving it much thought, I just assumed that the more unpleasant older folk were probably lonely and in pain and their behavior reflected this. And I’m sure for some that is true.
But in speaking with staff and relatives, the reality turned out to be much simpler. And much more horrifying. Their personalities reflected exactly who they had been their whole lives – with fewer defenses and inhibitions to provide any filters or masks.
If they had led lives of kindness and caring, that’s who they were. And, unfortunately, if they had led lives of bitterness and selfishness, that’s who they were as well. Their essence was on display. They simply lacked the resources and energy to cover it up.
When we’re younger we can still pretend. We can show one face to the world and another to our families, a smiling, subservient one to our boss and a haughty, arrogant one to our employees. We can cover up all the negative emotions that we are actually feeling.
But if it’s only a cover-up and not an actual change, our real selves will ultimately poke through. We won’t be able to fool everyone forever.
It’s frightening. If we don’t really change who we are – in a deeper, serious, internal way and not just a superficial one – then that person will, at some point, be all we have left.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Luckily we still have time. But we need to act. We need to uproot our negative character traits; we need to change our bad habits. And that’s all easier said than done. So we need to really get to work.
We can always grow. Well, almost always. I think some of those senior citizens alluded to earlier may find it too difficult to uproot the habits of a life time. We don’t want to take our chances. As it says in one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, “The time has come. The time is now.”
I need to act immediately. And I pray that my old age will reflect my good intentions where my actions and character may fall short.
As we get older, with fewer defenses and inhibitions to provide any filters, our real selves poke through.
by Emuna Braverman
I heard something really frightening today. I hadn’t really given it much thought before. But now I’m really scared. Terrified, in fact.
I participated in a class where the teacher mentioned that she frequently visited old age homes when she was a child. Some of the residents were gracious and welcoming, always smiling and friendly and happy to see her. Others were crotchety, nasty and rude. (We’re not at the scary part yet…)
Without giving it much thought, I just assumed that the more unpleasant older folk were probably lonely and in pain and their behavior reflected this. And I’m sure for some that is true.
But in speaking with staff and relatives, the reality turned out to be much simpler. And much more horrifying. Their personalities reflected exactly who they had been their whole lives – with fewer defenses and inhibitions to provide any filters or masks.
If they had led lives of kindness and caring, that’s who they were. And, unfortunately, if they had led lives of bitterness and selfishness, that’s who they were as well. Their essence was on display. They simply lacked the resources and energy to cover it up.
When we’re younger we can still pretend. We can show one face to the world and another to our families, a smiling, subservient one to our boss and a haughty, arrogant one to our employees. We can cover up all the negative emotions that we are actually feeling.
But if it’s only a cover-up and not an actual change, our real selves will ultimately poke through. We won’t be able to fool everyone forever.
It’s frightening. If we don’t really change who we are – in a deeper, serious, internal way and not just a superficial one – then that person will, at some point, be all we have left.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Luckily we still have time. But we need to act. We need to uproot our negative character traits; we need to change our bad habits. And that’s all easier said than done. So we need to really get to work.
We can always grow. Well, almost always. I think some of those senior citizens alluded to earlier may find it too difficult to uproot the habits of a life time. We don’t want to take our chances. As it says in one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, “The time has come. The time is now.”
I need to act immediately. And I pray that my old age will reflect my good intentions where my actions and character may fall short.
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Poland, Women & the Holocaust
Three groundbreaking works reveal disturbing facts about the perpetrators of genocide.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
The horrors of the Holocaust demand of us more than mere remembrance or commemoration.
It is commendable that we have erected monuments for the six million and that we light candles in the memory of those who were so cruelly murdered. But lit candles do not enlighten us nor do they assist us to understand the events of the past in a manner that will help us to prevent a reoccurrence.
More than memorials, what will in the long run prove far more significant is the kind of work based on serious research that permits us insight into the truths – often hidden or buried from public view – that made the Holocaust possible. To reveal them is to pay the victims the greatest tribute of all by making their fate an impossibility for the future.
And that, I believe, is what makes three groundbreaking works of the past few weeks so very important.
The first is a new book, Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied
Poland, published this October. Written by Polish historian Jan Grabowski, the son of a Holocaust survivor, a graduate of Warsaw University and currently a history professor at University of Ottawa, it records the massacres of Jews by their neighbors in his native Poland, until now a little-told chapter of Holocaust history.
Grabowski has suffered death threats but insists he will not give up his struggle to expose the truth.
Boycotted in the Canadian Polish community where he lives today, and no longer welcome in his homeland, Grabowski has suffered death threats but insists he will not give up his struggle to expose the truth.
“The purpose of my research was to discover the condition of the Jews who managed to avoid being sent to death camps and chose to live in hiding. My research brought me to the level of individual cases of people who chose to hide. I tried to understand how only very few of those Jews who decided to hide were able to stay alive until 1945,” says Grabowski.
Grabowski interviewed Holocaust survivors and local residents, primarily inPoland, Israel and Germany. In addition, he studied previously unpublished results of dozens of trials of Polish residents tried by the Communist regime for taking part in the killing of their Jewish neighbors.
To his dismay, Grabowski has found many Poles are still not ready to face the past and the fact that many of their ancestors took an active part in the extermination of the Jews.
Neighbors of Jedwabne
The same theme is the message of the movie Pokłosie (Aftermath), which hit the screens in Poland last November and will open this week in the US. Based on Princeton professor Jan Gross’s explosive 2001 work Neighbors, it examines the massacre of Jews from Jedwabne village in Nazi-occupiedPoland and reveals that it was the Poles, not the Nazis, who were to blame.
“One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east European town murdered the other half – some 1,600 men, women and children."
“One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east European town murdered the other half – some 1,600 men, women and children." This is how historian Jan Gross summarized the massacre that occurred in Jedwabne, in northeastern Poland. Gross described the atrocities in almost unbearable detail: Men and women were hacked to death with knives, iron hooks, and axes. Small children were thrown with pitchforks onto a bonfire. A woman's decapitated head was kicked like a football. Local townsmen-turned-hooligans grabbed clubs studded with nails and other weapons and chased the Jews into the street. Many tried to escape through the surrounding fields, but only seven succeeded. The thugs fatally shot many Jews after forcing them to dig mass graves. They shoved the remaining hundreds of Jews into a barn, doused it with kerosene and set it ablaze. Some on the outside played musical instruments to drown out the victims' cries.
Till now historians blamed the massacre on the Nazis. Gross argues that “a virulent Polish anti-Semitism was liberated by German occupation.” Neighbors sets the record straight as to the identity of the criminals. As Publishers Weekly puts it, “In doing so, Gross has ensured that future histories of the Holocaust, particularly in Poland, will be more honest, because future historians will be answerable to his argument that the evil of the Nazis was not only forced on the Poles. In places such as Jedwabne, it was welcomed by them.”
The new film, Aftermath, brings that message forcefully to the screen. And like Grabowski, the film’s star Maciej Stuhr has already received death threats, and in several online forums there were comments such as “You are not a Pole anymore, you have become a Jew.”
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Women & Genocide
Finally, there is one more addition to most recent Holocaust literature that deserves to be mentioned for its groundbreaking information. Published in October of this year as well, Hitler’s Furies is the exquisitely researched new work by Wendy Lower, already a finalist for the National Book Award.
Lower forces us to knowledge that historians have till now ignored the role of German women in the story of Nazi genocide and Hitler’s plan for the “final solution.” Her book is a deeply disturbing chronicle of women’s participation in the Holocaust, not only as “desk murderers” — secretaries and administrators whose weapon was not a Luger or a gas chamber but a typewriter — but also, as Lower reveals in chilling detail, capable of the same savagery as their male counterparts. This she takes pains to emphasize is a fact often overlooked by Holocaust scholars and historians, a shocking truth whose evidence has been hidden for more than 70 years. “Genocide,” as Lower puts it, “can be women’s business as well.”
It is now more than half a century after the Holocaust. Living witnesses will soon no longer be available to us. All we will be left with is their records, their testimonies, and their stories. Our mission is to make sense of them in a way that will help insure that the insanity of that time never again stain the history of civilization. Research that uncovers the truth needs to be valued as noble and necessary efforts towards that goal.
Three groundbreaking works reveal disturbing facts about the perpetrators of genocide.
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
The horrors of the Holocaust demand of us more than mere remembrance or commemoration.
It is commendable that we have erected monuments for the six million and that we light candles in the memory of those who were so cruelly murdered. But lit candles do not enlighten us nor do they assist us to understand the events of the past in a manner that will help us to prevent a reoccurrence.
More than memorials, what will in the long run prove far more significant is the kind of work based on serious research that permits us insight into the truths – often hidden or buried from public view – that made the Holocaust possible. To reveal them is to pay the victims the greatest tribute of all by making their fate an impossibility for the future.
And that, I believe, is what makes three groundbreaking works of the past few weeks so very important.
The first is a new book, Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied
Poland, published this October. Written by Polish historian Jan Grabowski, the son of a Holocaust survivor, a graduate of Warsaw University and currently a history professor at University of Ottawa, it records the massacres of Jews by their neighbors in his native Poland, until now a little-told chapter of Holocaust history.
Grabowski has suffered death threats but insists he will not give up his struggle to expose the truth.
Boycotted in the Canadian Polish community where he lives today, and no longer welcome in his homeland, Grabowski has suffered death threats but insists he will not give up his struggle to expose the truth.
“The purpose of my research was to discover the condition of the Jews who managed to avoid being sent to death camps and chose to live in hiding. My research brought me to the level of individual cases of people who chose to hide. I tried to understand how only very few of those Jews who decided to hide were able to stay alive until 1945,” says Grabowski.
Grabowski interviewed Holocaust survivors and local residents, primarily inPoland, Israel and Germany. In addition, he studied previously unpublished results of dozens of trials of Polish residents tried by the Communist regime for taking part in the killing of their Jewish neighbors.
To his dismay, Grabowski has found many Poles are still not ready to face the past and the fact that many of their ancestors took an active part in the extermination of the Jews.
Neighbors of Jedwabne
The same theme is the message of the movie Pokłosie (Aftermath), which hit the screens in Poland last November and will open this week in the US. Based on Princeton professor Jan Gross’s explosive 2001 work Neighbors, it examines the massacre of Jews from Jedwabne village in Nazi-occupiedPoland and reveals that it was the Poles, not the Nazis, who were to blame.
“One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east European town murdered the other half – some 1,600 men, women and children."
“One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east European town murdered the other half – some 1,600 men, women and children." This is how historian Jan Gross summarized the massacre that occurred in Jedwabne, in northeastern Poland. Gross described the atrocities in almost unbearable detail: Men and women were hacked to death with knives, iron hooks, and axes. Small children were thrown with pitchforks onto a bonfire. A woman's decapitated head was kicked like a football. Local townsmen-turned-hooligans grabbed clubs studded with nails and other weapons and chased the Jews into the street. Many tried to escape through the surrounding fields, but only seven succeeded. The thugs fatally shot many Jews after forcing them to dig mass graves. They shoved the remaining hundreds of Jews into a barn, doused it with kerosene and set it ablaze. Some on the outside played musical instruments to drown out the victims' cries.
Till now historians blamed the massacre on the Nazis. Gross argues that “a virulent Polish anti-Semitism was liberated by German occupation.” Neighbors sets the record straight as to the identity of the criminals. As Publishers Weekly puts it, “In doing so, Gross has ensured that future histories of the Holocaust, particularly in Poland, will be more honest, because future historians will be answerable to his argument that the evil of the Nazis was not only forced on the Poles. In places such as Jedwabne, it was welcomed by them.”
The new film, Aftermath, brings that message forcefully to the screen. And like Grabowski, the film’s star Maciej Stuhr has already received death threats, and in several online forums there were comments such as “You are not a Pole anymore, you have become a Jew.”
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Women & Genocide
Finally, there is one more addition to most recent Holocaust literature that deserves to be mentioned for its groundbreaking information. Published in October of this year as well, Hitler’s Furies is the exquisitely researched new work by Wendy Lower, already a finalist for the National Book Award.
Lower forces us to knowledge that historians have till now ignored the role of German women in the story of Nazi genocide and Hitler’s plan for the “final solution.” Her book is a deeply disturbing chronicle of women’s participation in the Holocaust, not only as “desk murderers” — secretaries and administrators whose weapon was not a Luger or a gas chamber but a typewriter — but also, as Lower reveals in chilling detail, capable of the same savagery as their male counterparts. This she takes pains to emphasize is a fact often overlooked by Holocaust scholars and historians, a shocking truth whose evidence has been hidden for more than 70 years. “Genocide,” as Lower puts it, “can be women’s business as well.”
It is now more than half a century after the Holocaust. Living witnesses will soon no longer be available to us. All we will be left with is their records, their testimonies, and their stories. Our mission is to make sense of them in a way that will help insure that the insanity of that time never again stain the history of civilization. Research that uncovers the truth needs to be valued as noble and necessary efforts towards that goal.
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Curing Jewish Ignorance
Too many Jews are turning their back on something they don’t even know. I was one of them.
“Whoever does not visit the sick is as if he spilled blood.” – Rabbi Akiva (Nedarim 40a, B. Talmud)
Our fellow Jews are sick. They don’t admit it. They don’t even know it. Yet the malady is grave. “The most destructive, painful, most contagious disease of all,” Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah, said, “is ignorance. Ignorance perverts people and leads to wasted, counterproductive lives. Ignorance causes untold suffering – mistreatment of children, marital strife and suffering in a dead-end job.”
Who are these ignorant Jews? The highly educated, socially conscious, comedy-loving, Holocaust-honoring 1.2 million American Jews who identify themselves as Jews of no religion, according to the Pew survey. This group has been steadily growing for four decades and now includes one-third of all adult Jews born after 1980. Four-fifths of this group marry non-Jews. Only 8 percent raise their kids to be Jewish. The majority of them feel little or no attachment to Israel.
I call them ignorant because they’ve turned their back on something they don’t even know. Many have never been exposed to Judaism at all; others have experienced a diluted, dumbed-down version, and understandably found it uninspiring. I don’t blame them for consequently writing off the whole religion, but it’s like writing off sushi after trying a rubbery tuna roll from 7-Eleven.
I know about this because I was one of them. For years, I was proud to be Jewish, but I thought Judaism had nothing to offer me. I had received two messages from my parents:
1) Be Jewish to preserve the Jewish people.
2) Be Jewish because your grandfather died in the Holocaust. My mother is a child survivor of Theresienstadt, with lifelong health problems occasioned by her treatment there. Her father was murdered at Dachau, and most of her extended family was killed at Auschwitz. My father is a Chilean Jew who had to fight his way out of several scrapes with anti-Semites. We never owned a German car. We rejoiced when Israeli commandos rescued the hostages at Entebbe on July 4, 1976.
I sought spirituality everywhere but my own backyard.
And yet, Judaism was understood to be a chore. Temple was boring but obligatory a few times a year. My bar mitzvah was more of a performance than a meaningful experience. As I grew older, I sought spirituality in Eastern philosophy, meditation, endurance sports, jam bands, transcendental poetry and science fiction — everywhere but my own backyard.
Eventually I found my way back, thanks to a confluence of events. My grandmother died. I stumbled into the right shul. I got a taste of deep Judaism, and a constellation of secular myths exploded around me. I found that our ancient tradition spoke to me in innumerable ways, even while I remained scientifically oriented and modern. More to the point, I became a better husband, father, son, brother, friend and citizen when I became a practicing Jew.
As I learned from Arthur Kurzweil, there is a rope that connects every Jew to God. Sometimes these ropes break. When a broken rope gets retied, however, the distance between the Jew and God becomes shorter. Interestingly, I often feel I have more in common with practitioners of other faiths than I do with devoutly secular Jews who cringe at “God talk.” Among the former, there exist an amazing 1.2 million American non-Jews who identify themselves as people with Jewish affinity. They do so mostly because they share religious values with us, and because Jesus was Jewish. I find this support comforting – evidence of the great freedom we enjoy in America to practice our own religion. Ironically, it may be this very lack of persecution that leads so many of our brothers and sisters to devalue their own religious heritage, and eventually to abandon it altogether.
“Whoever does not visit the sick is as if he spilled blood,” said Rabbi Akiva. He spoke these words after visiting a sick man whom no other Sage would visit. He saw that the man lacked basic necessities, attended to him personally and saved his life. We bear the same obligation toward those who are spiritually sick today.
We who are connected to God through the rope of Judaism have a sacred duty to help the unconnected retie the knot. If they get a taste of quality Judaism, and still leave it behind, OK, they’ve made an informed choice. The vast majority of these folks, however, have no idea what they’re missing.
Our fellow Jews suffer from tragic levels of ignorance. They’ve never experienced a Carlebach service, they’ve never excavated layers of text with a great teacher, and they’ve never seen a relationship improve through mussar work. They simply don’t know that inspiring Judaism exists.
I think it’s fantastic that Jewish institutions are creating fun, welcoming, inspiring events to greet the curious when they show up. The group I’m talking about, however, will not show up. Chocolate fountain Shabbats and comedy club Yom Kippurs will not get them through the door.
The connected have to do the connecting, starting with our closest friends.
So we need to knock on their doors. Call it crowd-sourced outreach. The connected have to do the connecting, starting with our closest friends. We have to invite our secular pals to our Shabbat dinners. When they come, we have to make it warm and festive, modeling the benefits we’ve gained from Torah Judaism. I’d like to give special props to my dear friends Rabbi Shlomo “Schwartzie” Schwartz and his wife, Olivia, who have hosted such Shabbats for 60 people at a time for 30 years.
If you’ve got a special ability to connect the unconnected, please use it. My own plan is ambitious, but God blessed me with a little miracle in 2005 when I became the Accidental Talmudist. As a result of that miracle, I have a huge opportunity to visit the sick, and I am seizing it. I post morsels of Jewish wisdom on Facebook.com/AccidentalTalmudist every day, and the page now has more than 10,000 fans. I share a mission with dedicated organizations like Chabad and Aish, who are putting vast libraries of Judaism online. The problem with the Internet, however, is that people only consume what they’re looking for, sparing little time for material that doesn’t draw them. Even the things they do like can only hold their attention for a few minutes at a time.
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Television, however, is different. People stumble onto shows all the time as they search for something to watch, and if they’re intrigued, they’ll stay for half an hour. That’s a huge opportunity to give Jews and potential Jews a taste of deep Judaism. Currently, there is quite a bit of Jewish culture on TV, but the only Judaism available is Jews for Jesus and Kabbalah Centre. That’s why I’m creating a fast-paced reality show in which I meet the most dynamic, inspiring, humorous teachers of Jewish wisdom, and challenge them to address the thorniest questions in modern life – the kind of show that would’ve caught my attention when I was sick. (If you’d like to join me in this effort, please reach out:salvador@accidentaltalmudist.com.)
The key is to take our Judaism to the Jews who need it most. The reward for this mitzvah is enormous. Every morning we read in our siddur that a person who visits the sick enjoys the fruit of the mitzvah in this world, and the principal remains intact for him in the World to Come (Shabbat 127a, Babylonian Talmud). The reward in the next world is necessarily mysterious. The reward in this world, however, is clear: a healthier community and a stronger tribe.
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal.
Too many Jews are turning their back on something they don’t even know. I was one of them.
“Whoever does not visit the sick is as if he spilled blood.” – Rabbi Akiva (Nedarim 40a, B. Talmud)
Our fellow Jews are sick. They don’t admit it. They don’t even know it. Yet the malady is grave. “The most destructive, painful, most contagious disease of all,” Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah, said, “is ignorance. Ignorance perverts people and leads to wasted, counterproductive lives. Ignorance causes untold suffering – mistreatment of children, marital strife and suffering in a dead-end job.”
Who are these ignorant Jews? The highly educated, socially conscious, comedy-loving, Holocaust-honoring 1.2 million American Jews who identify themselves as Jews of no religion, according to the Pew survey. This group has been steadily growing for four decades and now includes one-third of all adult Jews born after 1980. Four-fifths of this group marry non-Jews. Only 8 percent raise their kids to be Jewish. The majority of them feel little or no attachment to Israel.
I call them ignorant because they’ve turned their back on something they don’t even know. Many have never been exposed to Judaism at all; others have experienced a diluted, dumbed-down version, and understandably found it uninspiring. I don’t blame them for consequently writing off the whole religion, but it’s like writing off sushi after trying a rubbery tuna roll from 7-Eleven.
I know about this because I was one of them. For years, I was proud to be Jewish, but I thought Judaism had nothing to offer me. I had received two messages from my parents:
1) Be Jewish to preserve the Jewish people.
2) Be Jewish because your grandfather died in the Holocaust. My mother is a child survivor of Theresienstadt, with lifelong health problems occasioned by her treatment there. Her father was murdered at Dachau, and most of her extended family was killed at Auschwitz. My father is a Chilean Jew who had to fight his way out of several scrapes with anti-Semites. We never owned a German car. We rejoiced when Israeli commandos rescued the hostages at Entebbe on July 4, 1976.
I sought spirituality everywhere but my own backyard.
And yet, Judaism was understood to be a chore. Temple was boring but obligatory a few times a year. My bar mitzvah was more of a performance than a meaningful experience. As I grew older, I sought spirituality in Eastern philosophy, meditation, endurance sports, jam bands, transcendental poetry and science fiction — everywhere but my own backyard.
Eventually I found my way back, thanks to a confluence of events. My grandmother died. I stumbled into the right shul. I got a taste of deep Judaism, and a constellation of secular myths exploded around me. I found that our ancient tradition spoke to me in innumerable ways, even while I remained scientifically oriented and modern. More to the point, I became a better husband, father, son, brother, friend and citizen when I became a practicing Jew.
As I learned from Arthur Kurzweil, there is a rope that connects every Jew to God. Sometimes these ropes break. When a broken rope gets retied, however, the distance between the Jew and God becomes shorter. Interestingly, I often feel I have more in common with practitioners of other faiths than I do with devoutly secular Jews who cringe at “God talk.” Among the former, there exist an amazing 1.2 million American non-Jews who identify themselves as people with Jewish affinity. They do so mostly because they share religious values with us, and because Jesus was Jewish. I find this support comforting – evidence of the great freedom we enjoy in America to practice our own religion. Ironically, it may be this very lack of persecution that leads so many of our brothers and sisters to devalue their own religious heritage, and eventually to abandon it altogether.
“Whoever does not visit the sick is as if he spilled blood,” said Rabbi Akiva. He spoke these words after visiting a sick man whom no other Sage would visit. He saw that the man lacked basic necessities, attended to him personally and saved his life. We bear the same obligation toward those who are spiritually sick today.
We who are connected to God through the rope of Judaism have a sacred duty to help the unconnected retie the knot. If they get a taste of quality Judaism, and still leave it behind, OK, they’ve made an informed choice. The vast majority of these folks, however, have no idea what they’re missing.
Our fellow Jews suffer from tragic levels of ignorance. They’ve never experienced a Carlebach service, they’ve never excavated layers of text with a great teacher, and they’ve never seen a relationship improve through mussar work. They simply don’t know that inspiring Judaism exists.
I think it’s fantastic that Jewish institutions are creating fun, welcoming, inspiring events to greet the curious when they show up. The group I’m talking about, however, will not show up. Chocolate fountain Shabbats and comedy club Yom Kippurs will not get them through the door.
The connected have to do the connecting, starting with our closest friends.
So we need to knock on their doors. Call it crowd-sourced outreach. The connected have to do the connecting, starting with our closest friends. We have to invite our secular pals to our Shabbat dinners. When they come, we have to make it warm and festive, modeling the benefits we’ve gained from Torah Judaism. I’d like to give special props to my dear friends Rabbi Shlomo “Schwartzie” Schwartz and his wife, Olivia, who have hosted such Shabbats for 60 people at a time for 30 years.
If you’ve got a special ability to connect the unconnected, please use it. My own plan is ambitious, but God blessed me with a little miracle in 2005 when I became the Accidental Talmudist. As a result of that miracle, I have a huge opportunity to visit the sick, and I am seizing it. I post morsels of Jewish wisdom on Facebook.com/AccidentalTalmudist every day, and the page now has more than 10,000 fans. I share a mission with dedicated organizations like Chabad and Aish, who are putting vast libraries of Judaism online. The problem with the Internet, however, is that people only consume what they’re looking for, sparing little time for material that doesn’t draw them. Even the things they do like can only hold their attention for a few minutes at a time.
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Television, however, is different. People stumble onto shows all the time as they search for something to watch, and if they’re intrigued, they’ll stay for half an hour. That’s a huge opportunity to give Jews and potential Jews a taste of deep Judaism. Currently, there is quite a bit of Jewish culture on TV, but the only Judaism available is Jews for Jesus and Kabbalah Centre. That’s why I’m creating a fast-paced reality show in which I meet the most dynamic, inspiring, humorous teachers of Jewish wisdom, and challenge them to address the thorniest questions in modern life – the kind of show that would’ve caught my attention when I was sick. (If you’d like to join me in this effort, please reach out:salvador@accidentaltalmudist.com.)
The key is to take our Judaism to the Jews who need it most. The reward for this mitzvah is enormous. Every morning we read in our siddur that a person who visits the sick enjoys the fruit of the mitzvah in this world, and the principal remains intact for him in the World to Come (Shabbat 127a, Babylonian Talmud). The reward in the next world is necessarily mysterious. The reward in this world, however, is clear: a healthier community and a stronger tribe.
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal.
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Way #4: Introduce Yourself to Yourself
Don't go through life making assumptions about who you are. Take time now before a crisis comes along and forces the issue.
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Did you ever get on a train going somewhere, only to find that you're headed in the wrong direction?
The same thing happens in life. We set goals and make plans – and sometimes discover that we're on "the wrong train."
Bi-vinat ha-lave literally means "understanding the heart." The heart is the seat of emotions. We say: "My heart is heavy, my heart is lifted, my heart is broken," etc. To understand your heart is to understand your true inner self.
Many people go through life making assumptions about who they are. They never take time to "meet" themselves. Don't be afraid of discovering that the "real you" may be different than the "current you."
Often a crisis hits at midlife when people ask: "What's my life about? Is this all worth it?" We've heard stories of people who suddenly change direction, quitting their job and getting divorced. You know, like the successful doctor who decides he never wanted to go into medicine in the first place – so he drops it and becomes an artist.
Knowing yourself is the essence of being alive. If you don't know yourself, you are not living. If you don't know what makes you tick, you're a robot, a puppet, a zombie.
So don't wait for a crisis. Life is too short to take wrong trains.
Getting Started
Think of someone you'd be fascinated to meet, someone you'd really like to find out what makes him tick.
Now realize the most fascinating person you could ever meet is... yourself.
Sit down, say hello, and introduce yourself to yourself. Become familiar with yourself as if you'd just met a long-lost cousin. Interview yourself. Ask questions about your life and the direction you're going. Search out your dreams – both the ones you're fulfilling and the ones you've pushed to the back of your mind.
Get down to basics. You want to be rich. You want to be famous. You want to be good. You want to accomplish. You want meaning. You want to be creative. But why do you want all this? What's driving you? What you really want out of life?
The process of self-discovery involves asking a series of questions, always probing deeper until the underlying truth emerges. Ask yourself 10 questions that you would ask an intimate friend. Then wait for answers. Don't worry, no one is going to poke fun at you.
What is the purpose of life?
What is my goal in life?
Why did I choose this career?
How do I spend my spare time?
What is my motivation for doing what I do?
What really makes me happy?
Am I as happy as I want to be?
Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?
What are my future plans? Why?
What are my secret dreams and ambitions?
Don't be surprised if the answers aren't immediate. This process can take many months. Stick with it and find out what makes you tick. The answers are hiding in there. After all, you have a fascinating partner.
Finally, the most important question to ask is:
"What am I living for?"
It sounds like a simple question, but many are embarrassed to ask it. A voice inside us says, "Nah, why ask such a basic question?" We're resistant because we know this requires a lot of difficult soul-searching. And when you thoroughly know yourself, then you have changed. You've changed your relationship with yourself and the world.
Confidence in Decision-Making
People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake.
Actually, the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes.
Imagine the beggar who receives a letter saying that he's inherited a million dollars. If he doesn't read the letter, is he rich ... or not?
Similarly, God gave us the free will to make choices in life and achieve greatness. But if we're not aware of our free will, then we don't really have it. And then we wind up blaming others when things go wrong – even though we know the decision is really up to us.
If you're not using your potential, it wears away at your confidence. Do you know what your potential is? Have you tried to use it? You have to tackle life. You haven't given up yet, have you? Let's get on with the game, with the business of really living, of not just "going through the motions."
Know the difference between "making decisions" and just floating, falling into place. Did you choose to go to college? Or perhaps you had nothing to do with the decision. Was it something you just did because you graduated high school and everybody else was doing it? Did you think it through and actually make a decision?
Imagine this private conversation of a college student:
Why am I going to college?
To get a degree.
Why?
Because I want to get into a good graduate school.
Why?
So I'll get a good job.
Why?
So I can pay back my college loans!
Through the process of questioning, he reveals a logical fault in his motivation. Really, the primary reason for going to college should be to acquire wisdom, knowledge and information. In other words, to get an education!
Now try the process yourself, using this example:
Why do I want to get married?
Don't accept pat answers. Keep asking "Why, why why?" Be frank. It's yourself. Ask any question you like. Be patient and persistent. Eventually you'll get an answer.
When you thoroughly analyze an issue, then you can make wise decisions with confidence.
Identify where you lack confidence. What makes you nervous? What situations inhibit you from being yourself? Why can't you make decisions? Is it that you don't know how to make decisions? Or that you doubt your decisions after they're made? Or you just don't feel like making decisions?
Enjoy making decisions. Deal with the world you live in. That's loving the dynamics of life.
Isolate Your Blocks
Anytime you find it difficult to achieve a goal, figure out what's holding you back.
Everyone has problems. Being aware of these problems is the key to getting in touch with yourself. Because as long as you don't face problems, they fester and bug you from behind.
Write your "blocks" on a piece of paper. That's a good step in the right direction. By isolating specific obstacles, you turn them into concrete challenges that require solutions.
Ask yourself:
Am I lazy? Why?
Am I disorganized? Why?
Do I get angry? When?
Why do ever I get defensive? About what?
What makes me jealous?
What makes me arrogant?
Do I have trouble making decisions? Why?
Do I lack self-discipline?
Do I lack self-confidence?
Why don't I take more initiative?
Negative character traits are the roots of our problems. Make a list of your negative traits, and identify when they affect you the most. Then analyze what triggers these reactions in you. Finally, formulate an effective counter-approach.
Working through this takes time. But do you have anything better to be doing right now?
Read Your Emotions
Get in touch with your emotional state. Take a reading of how you feel. Happy? Angry? Tense? Sad? Emotions are a measuring stick for what's going on below the surface. It's like taking your temperature. If you're sick, you need to be aware so you can fix the problem.
Find out why you're upset. Who or what is pressuring you? Is it an internal or an external problem? Identify it.
Let's say you are irritated. Why?
Because the boss chewed me out.
So why am I irritated?
Because I resent him.
So what? Why does that bother me?
Because I feel I am no good.
I'm no good? He's nuts!
Get out of yourself and track it down. If you don't, it's just irritation. And the next thing you know, you'll go home and yell at your kids.
Once you've identified what causes negative feelings, adjust yourself to minimize the impact. Either avoid these situations, or prepare yourself to handle them when they arise.
Further, root out negative motivations that corrupt your behavior. Let's say that you give charity. Why? One motivation is to help humanity. Another is the pleasure of being constructive. A third is the desire to do the right thing. These are all positive motivations. A negative motivation for giving charity is: "I want people to admire me." That's corruptive.
The next time you give charity, do so anonymously. Eliminate the wrong reasons. They are destructive.
The same goes with the positive emotions. Be aware of how your emotional state affects decisions. For example, don't buy a new stereo when you're in a euphoric mood. Wait. Think it over. You are susceptible.
Pinpoint what makes you happy. You can have more joy on a daily basis by formulating some practical applications. You got up in the morning, it's a gorgeous day and you feet great. You're energized. Now take that feeling and teach yourself how to get up on the right side – every day!
Another example: You did a good job and got the boss's compliment. Now focus: Do you need the boss to tell you did a good job? No! Create your own pleasure out of doing a good job.
Get In Touch With Your Two Sides
Everyone has an urge for greatness. We want self respect, power, fame. We want to accomplish, to be strong, to do the right thing, to even save the world.
Yet at the same time, we have a counter-urge to run away from responsibility, to get into bed and crawl under the covers.
Someone may say, "Life is beautiful," but he doesn't feel it. His emotions hold him back and he walks around going, "Ugh, life is a burden."
Recognize the volcano of conflict within you: What you truly "want," versus what you "feel" like. This is the conflict between body and soul.
Once you appreciate the dichotomy, you can identify at any moment whether your body or soul is talking. This makes it possible to live with sanity and choose the right thing.
The next step is to make peace between your two sides. The easiest way is to squash your drive to be great. But life is not about taking the easy way out. Just because you feel uncomfortable about an idea doesn't mean it's wrong for you. It's hard to break habits, and growth can be frightening.
For example, would you rather be happy or rich? Okay, you'd rather be happy. Now imagine this exchange:
"Come on, I'll teach you how to be happy. All it requires is effort and change."
"Oh, I'd love to, but I can't right now. It's impossible. I've got a flight to catch."
"Really? I'll pay you $10,000 a week to work on happiness."
"Sure! Where do I sign up?"
"Oh, but I thought you can't right now..."
We conceal our problems with rationalization: "I'll wreck my mind thinking about what life is about! Nobody really knows what life is about. It's not going to work. Nothing can be done about it anyway. I don't really care. It's not worth the time!"
The Sages say that a person only makes a mistake when overcome by a moment of insanity. So realize that you are fighting "insanity." It is not logical. You've got to be on guard. Because if you get off track, you'll pay for it down the road.
So ... do you want to change? What have you got against it? Feel the antipathy of the body. We are so darn lazy. The body just wants to sleep. "Aaaah ... I don't want to change. I'm happy enough. I'm comfortable in my niche of misery." Are you rich enough? No! So are you happy enough?
You see the importance of tracking that down? You have to identify the animal you are fighting. "The dread of change."
If you're alert, you see the enemy. You can fight it. You may lose a struggle with the body, but at least you have your confidence. "I know what I am doing."
Coax the Body
Get in touch with your spiritual core. Know what is driving you. Don't let free will be a subconscious thing. You want greatness. But the body says that's too much effort.
To try to convince the body, try to identify the tangible benefit. "Why is it necessary? What will it do for me?" You have to bring it home to emotional realization. "What do I lose?" What do I gain?" Only then will the idea have power. And you'll get out there and do it.
Here's the secret formula: Identify with your intellect, and coax your heart along. For example, if you're emotionally convinced of the benefit of getting into shape, then even when you break out in a cold sweat and your heart is doing palpitations, you will keep going. Because you have decided, "I want this," you know it is important.
To avoid negative backlash, your emotions have to feel comfortable with the changes you make. Learn to relax and reassure the body. Cajole the body and say, "It won't be so bad. Remember the last time you made an effort, how great you felt!" Be encouraging and reward yourself for success.
Don't say it doesn't work. You haven't made the effort. Don't give up on your intuition and perception. Just realize you haven't yet brought it home to actualization.
Consider how the basic human drives affect you: security, self-respect, honor, passions, social pressure, and possessions. Pay particularly close attention to how you accept responsibility. Let's say that you made a mistake. You want to apologize in a full and forthright manner. Yet you feel like forgetting the whole thing, hiding, running away and saying "it's not my fault."
This is the volcano. We want to be tough, dedicated and powerful – yet we feel like being marshmallows. Choosing the path of the soul doesn't come naturally. It takes a lot of time and hard work.
Know What You Know
Don't think that just because you understand something, you are living with it. It is possible to believe one way, and yet act another. It happens to us all the time. You can believe it's important to eat healthy food, yet gorge yourself on French fries and chocolate cake.
Our actions are determined by our level of clarity. If we understand an idea on just a superficial level, then we'll have difficulty sticking to it when the going gets tough.
Next time you go to a funeral, watch carefully. When they remove the body from the chapel, the mourners start to cry. Are they crying because they want to body to stay there?! No. All of a sudden there is a realization of death, that he won't be coming back. At the cemetery, they lower the casket into the ground and the mourners cry again. It's the emotional realization that death is final now.
Until you align your feelings with reality, you are in dreamland. Growth begins in the mind, but your heart has to buy into everything your mind discovers. Only then will you integrate these ideas into day-to-day life.
A lot of people believe in God. There are very few people who live with God. Does that make sense? You have to assimilate something that you've accepted as true. It has to become part of you.
Five-Finger Clarity
You've got to know yourself cold, just like you know your hand has five fingers. How do you know you are on the right path? How do you know you're not making a mistake right now?
To develop this clarity, articulate the important principles that guide your life. For example, in Judaism we say that love is an obligation. Is this reasonable? Work the issue through with yourself:
"Ridiculous. You can't obligate me to love."
"But if I have children, will I love them?"
"Of course I'm going to love my kids!"
"How do I know? I don't know what kind of kids I'm going to have. Maybe they'll be brats and I won't love them."
"I will. I'm obligated to love my children."
Do you see the contradiction? On an intuitive level, you know that love is an obligation. But the concept is not so clear that you can articulate it.
Take your time. Sort out the basic aspects of living. Ask yourself important questions about life's global and spiritual issues.
What is the meaning of existence?
What's good about living?
How do I feel about humanity?
What is the afterlife?
How do I understand good versus evil?
Do I have free will? How do I activate it?
What makes me sad? Is it okay to be sad?
How do I feel about God?
Am I proud to be a Jew?
How do I understand the Holocaust?
Some of these topics may be unpleasant to think about. If so, why is it unpleasant? Track it down.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
Don't just use slogans to parrot things that you heard. Know why you are doing what you are doing. Otherwise, it's just society talking. You may have adopted part of society without analyzing its validity. Check it out.
Work through all the issues until you have "five-finger clarity." A human being who knows what he wants will get there. By hook or by crook. It's like a homing mechanism on a missile. If you program it right, you will get there.
Why Is "Knowing Yourself" a Way to Wisdom?
You can know truth if you look honestly into yourself.
Emotions are powerful forces of greatness. Know them. Harness them.
Identify your problems. It's the beginning of solving them.
If you don't get it straight now, you're bound to make some bad mistakes.
Don't be afraid of finding out who you really are.
Use your free will as a conscious tool for better living.
If you're angry or upset, track it down. What's the root?
If you're acting illogically, at least acknowledge that to yourself!
The key to sanity is letting truth into the body.
You can't afford to wait too long to get to know yourself. Because you are the most fascinating person you'll ever meet.
Don't go through life making assumptions about who you are. Take time now before a crisis comes along and forces the issue.
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
Did you ever get on a train going somewhere, only to find that you're headed in the wrong direction?
The same thing happens in life. We set goals and make plans – and sometimes discover that we're on "the wrong train."
Bi-vinat ha-lave literally means "understanding the heart." The heart is the seat of emotions. We say: "My heart is heavy, my heart is lifted, my heart is broken," etc. To understand your heart is to understand your true inner self.
Many people go through life making assumptions about who they are. They never take time to "meet" themselves. Don't be afraid of discovering that the "real you" may be different than the "current you."
Often a crisis hits at midlife when people ask: "What's my life about? Is this all worth it?" We've heard stories of people who suddenly change direction, quitting their job and getting divorced. You know, like the successful doctor who decides he never wanted to go into medicine in the first place – so he drops it and becomes an artist.
Knowing yourself is the essence of being alive. If you don't know yourself, you are not living. If you don't know what makes you tick, you're a robot, a puppet, a zombie.
So don't wait for a crisis. Life is too short to take wrong trains.
Getting Started
Think of someone you'd be fascinated to meet, someone you'd really like to find out what makes him tick.
Now realize the most fascinating person you could ever meet is... yourself.
Sit down, say hello, and introduce yourself to yourself. Become familiar with yourself as if you'd just met a long-lost cousin. Interview yourself. Ask questions about your life and the direction you're going. Search out your dreams – both the ones you're fulfilling and the ones you've pushed to the back of your mind.
Get down to basics. You want to be rich. You want to be famous. You want to be good. You want to accomplish. You want meaning. You want to be creative. But why do you want all this? What's driving you? What you really want out of life?
The process of self-discovery involves asking a series of questions, always probing deeper until the underlying truth emerges. Ask yourself 10 questions that you would ask an intimate friend. Then wait for answers. Don't worry, no one is going to poke fun at you.
What is the purpose of life?
What is my goal in life?
Why did I choose this career?
How do I spend my spare time?
What is my motivation for doing what I do?
What really makes me happy?
Am I as happy as I want to be?
Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?
What are my future plans? Why?
What are my secret dreams and ambitions?
Don't be surprised if the answers aren't immediate. This process can take many months. Stick with it and find out what makes you tick. The answers are hiding in there. After all, you have a fascinating partner.
Finally, the most important question to ask is:
"What am I living for?"
It sounds like a simple question, but many are embarrassed to ask it. A voice inside us says, "Nah, why ask such a basic question?" We're resistant because we know this requires a lot of difficult soul-searching. And when you thoroughly know yourself, then you have changed. You've changed your relationship with yourself and the world.
Confidence in Decision-Making
People often avoid making decisions out of fear of making a mistake.
Actually, the failure to make decisions is one of life's biggest mistakes.
Imagine the beggar who receives a letter saying that he's inherited a million dollars. If he doesn't read the letter, is he rich ... or not?
Similarly, God gave us the free will to make choices in life and achieve greatness. But if we're not aware of our free will, then we don't really have it. And then we wind up blaming others when things go wrong – even though we know the decision is really up to us.
If you're not using your potential, it wears away at your confidence. Do you know what your potential is? Have you tried to use it? You have to tackle life. You haven't given up yet, have you? Let's get on with the game, with the business of really living, of not just "going through the motions."
Know the difference between "making decisions" and just floating, falling into place. Did you choose to go to college? Or perhaps you had nothing to do with the decision. Was it something you just did because you graduated high school and everybody else was doing it? Did you think it through and actually make a decision?
Imagine this private conversation of a college student:
Why am I going to college?
To get a degree.
Why?
Because I want to get into a good graduate school.
Why?
So I'll get a good job.
Why?
So I can pay back my college loans!
Through the process of questioning, he reveals a logical fault in his motivation. Really, the primary reason for going to college should be to acquire wisdom, knowledge and information. In other words, to get an education!
Now try the process yourself, using this example:
Why do I want to get married?
Don't accept pat answers. Keep asking "Why, why why?" Be frank. It's yourself. Ask any question you like. Be patient and persistent. Eventually you'll get an answer.
When you thoroughly analyze an issue, then you can make wise decisions with confidence.
Identify where you lack confidence. What makes you nervous? What situations inhibit you from being yourself? Why can't you make decisions? Is it that you don't know how to make decisions? Or that you doubt your decisions after they're made? Or you just don't feel like making decisions?
Enjoy making decisions. Deal with the world you live in. That's loving the dynamics of life.
Isolate Your Blocks
Anytime you find it difficult to achieve a goal, figure out what's holding you back.
Everyone has problems. Being aware of these problems is the key to getting in touch with yourself. Because as long as you don't face problems, they fester and bug you from behind.
Write your "blocks" on a piece of paper. That's a good step in the right direction. By isolating specific obstacles, you turn them into concrete challenges that require solutions.
Ask yourself:
Am I lazy? Why?
Am I disorganized? Why?
Do I get angry? When?
Why do ever I get defensive? About what?
What makes me jealous?
What makes me arrogant?
Do I have trouble making decisions? Why?
Do I lack self-discipline?
Do I lack self-confidence?
Why don't I take more initiative?
Negative character traits are the roots of our problems. Make a list of your negative traits, and identify when they affect you the most. Then analyze what triggers these reactions in you. Finally, formulate an effective counter-approach.
Working through this takes time. But do you have anything better to be doing right now?
Read Your Emotions
Get in touch with your emotional state. Take a reading of how you feel. Happy? Angry? Tense? Sad? Emotions are a measuring stick for what's going on below the surface. It's like taking your temperature. If you're sick, you need to be aware so you can fix the problem.
Find out why you're upset. Who or what is pressuring you? Is it an internal or an external problem? Identify it.
Let's say you are irritated. Why?
Because the boss chewed me out.
So why am I irritated?
Because I resent him.
So what? Why does that bother me?
Because I feel I am no good.
I'm no good? He's nuts!
Get out of yourself and track it down. If you don't, it's just irritation. And the next thing you know, you'll go home and yell at your kids.
Once you've identified what causes negative feelings, adjust yourself to minimize the impact. Either avoid these situations, or prepare yourself to handle them when they arise.
Further, root out negative motivations that corrupt your behavior. Let's say that you give charity. Why? One motivation is to help humanity. Another is the pleasure of being constructive. A third is the desire to do the right thing. These are all positive motivations. A negative motivation for giving charity is: "I want people to admire me." That's corruptive.
The next time you give charity, do so anonymously. Eliminate the wrong reasons. They are destructive.
The same goes with the positive emotions. Be aware of how your emotional state affects decisions. For example, don't buy a new stereo when you're in a euphoric mood. Wait. Think it over. You are susceptible.
Pinpoint what makes you happy. You can have more joy on a daily basis by formulating some practical applications. You got up in the morning, it's a gorgeous day and you feet great. You're energized. Now take that feeling and teach yourself how to get up on the right side – every day!
Another example: You did a good job and got the boss's compliment. Now focus: Do you need the boss to tell you did a good job? No! Create your own pleasure out of doing a good job.
Get In Touch With Your Two Sides
Everyone has an urge for greatness. We want self respect, power, fame. We want to accomplish, to be strong, to do the right thing, to even save the world.
Yet at the same time, we have a counter-urge to run away from responsibility, to get into bed and crawl under the covers.
Someone may say, "Life is beautiful," but he doesn't feel it. His emotions hold him back and he walks around going, "Ugh, life is a burden."
Recognize the volcano of conflict within you: What you truly "want," versus what you "feel" like. This is the conflict between body and soul.
Once you appreciate the dichotomy, you can identify at any moment whether your body or soul is talking. This makes it possible to live with sanity and choose the right thing.
The next step is to make peace between your two sides. The easiest way is to squash your drive to be great. But life is not about taking the easy way out. Just because you feel uncomfortable about an idea doesn't mean it's wrong for you. It's hard to break habits, and growth can be frightening.
For example, would you rather be happy or rich? Okay, you'd rather be happy. Now imagine this exchange:
"Come on, I'll teach you how to be happy. All it requires is effort and change."
"Oh, I'd love to, but I can't right now. It's impossible. I've got a flight to catch."
"Really? I'll pay you $10,000 a week to work on happiness."
"Sure! Where do I sign up?"
"Oh, but I thought you can't right now..."
We conceal our problems with rationalization: "I'll wreck my mind thinking about what life is about! Nobody really knows what life is about. It's not going to work. Nothing can be done about it anyway. I don't really care. It's not worth the time!"
The Sages say that a person only makes a mistake when overcome by a moment of insanity. So realize that you are fighting "insanity." It is not logical. You've got to be on guard. Because if you get off track, you'll pay for it down the road.
So ... do you want to change? What have you got against it? Feel the antipathy of the body. We are so darn lazy. The body just wants to sleep. "Aaaah ... I don't want to change. I'm happy enough. I'm comfortable in my niche of misery." Are you rich enough? No! So are you happy enough?
You see the importance of tracking that down? You have to identify the animal you are fighting. "The dread of change."
If you're alert, you see the enemy. You can fight it. You may lose a struggle with the body, but at least you have your confidence. "I know what I am doing."
Coax the Body
Get in touch with your spiritual core. Know what is driving you. Don't let free will be a subconscious thing. You want greatness. But the body says that's too much effort.
To try to convince the body, try to identify the tangible benefit. "Why is it necessary? What will it do for me?" You have to bring it home to emotional realization. "What do I lose?" What do I gain?" Only then will the idea have power. And you'll get out there and do it.
Here's the secret formula: Identify with your intellect, and coax your heart along. For example, if you're emotionally convinced of the benefit of getting into shape, then even when you break out in a cold sweat and your heart is doing palpitations, you will keep going. Because you have decided, "I want this," you know it is important.
To avoid negative backlash, your emotions have to feel comfortable with the changes you make. Learn to relax and reassure the body. Cajole the body and say, "It won't be so bad. Remember the last time you made an effort, how great you felt!" Be encouraging and reward yourself for success.
Don't say it doesn't work. You haven't made the effort. Don't give up on your intuition and perception. Just realize you haven't yet brought it home to actualization.
Consider how the basic human drives affect you: security, self-respect, honor, passions, social pressure, and possessions. Pay particularly close attention to how you accept responsibility. Let's say that you made a mistake. You want to apologize in a full and forthright manner. Yet you feel like forgetting the whole thing, hiding, running away and saying "it's not my fault."
This is the volcano. We want to be tough, dedicated and powerful – yet we feel like being marshmallows. Choosing the path of the soul doesn't come naturally. It takes a lot of time and hard work.
Know What You Know
Don't think that just because you understand something, you are living with it. It is possible to believe one way, and yet act another. It happens to us all the time. You can believe it's important to eat healthy food, yet gorge yourself on French fries and chocolate cake.
Our actions are determined by our level of clarity. If we understand an idea on just a superficial level, then we'll have difficulty sticking to it when the going gets tough.
Next time you go to a funeral, watch carefully. When they remove the body from the chapel, the mourners start to cry. Are they crying because they want to body to stay there?! No. All of a sudden there is a realization of death, that he won't be coming back. At the cemetery, they lower the casket into the ground and the mourners cry again. It's the emotional realization that death is final now.
Until you align your feelings with reality, you are in dreamland. Growth begins in the mind, but your heart has to buy into everything your mind discovers. Only then will you integrate these ideas into day-to-day life.
A lot of people believe in God. There are very few people who live with God. Does that make sense? You have to assimilate something that you've accepted as true. It has to become part of you.
Five-Finger Clarity
You've got to know yourself cold, just like you know your hand has five fingers. How do you know you are on the right path? How do you know you're not making a mistake right now?
To develop this clarity, articulate the important principles that guide your life. For example, in Judaism we say that love is an obligation. Is this reasonable? Work the issue through with yourself:
"Ridiculous. You can't obligate me to love."
"But if I have children, will I love them?"
"Of course I'm going to love my kids!"
"How do I know? I don't know what kind of kids I'm going to have. Maybe they'll be brats and I won't love them."
"I will. I'm obligated to love my children."
Do you see the contradiction? On an intuitive level, you know that love is an obligation. But the concept is not so clear that you can articulate it.
Take your time. Sort out the basic aspects of living. Ask yourself important questions about life's global and spiritual issues.
What is the meaning of existence?
What's good about living?
How do I feel about humanity?
What is the afterlife?
How do I understand good versus evil?
Do I have free will? How do I activate it?
What makes me sad? Is it okay to be sad?
How do I feel about God?
Am I proud to be a Jew?
How do I understand the Holocaust?
Some of these topics may be unpleasant to think about. If so, why is it unpleasant? Track it down.
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Don't just use slogans to parrot things that you heard. Know why you are doing what you are doing. Otherwise, it's just society talking. You may have adopted part of society without analyzing its validity. Check it out.
Work through all the issues until you have "five-finger clarity." A human being who knows what he wants will get there. By hook or by crook. It's like a homing mechanism on a missile. If you program it right, you will get there.
Why Is "Knowing Yourself" a Way to Wisdom?
You can know truth if you look honestly into yourself.
Emotions are powerful forces of greatness. Know them. Harness them.
Identify your problems. It's the beginning of solving them.
If you don't get it straight now, you're bound to make some bad mistakes.
Don't be afraid of finding out who you really are.
Use your free will as a conscious tool for better living.
If you're angry or upset, track it down. What's the root?
If you're acting illogically, at least acknowledge that to yourself!
The key to sanity is letting truth into the body.
You can't afford to wait too long to get to know yourself. Because you are the most fascinating person you'll ever meet.
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