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Showing posts from November, 2012

Wake Up!

“You beings on earth who are in deep slumber, waken!   Who among you has worked to turn darkness into light?   Bitterness into sweetness? Stop sleeping.   Wake up!   What are you waiting for?” -Zohar

What We Can Aspire To Reach

“The wisdom of philosophy ends with the physical world.   Beyond the stars, it can only imagine God’s Essence.   There are actually many levels of universes beyond this, but the truth us only found in the Kabbalah.   It is written, “God’s understanding cannot b grasped” (Is 40:28).   One who knows the truth of Kabbalah perceives this well, for there is level above level…” –Nachman of Bratslav

A Working Committee

“We trained hard- but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganized.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation y reorganizing.  And what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” - Gaius Petronius Arbiter, , first century Does anything really change? 

Overcoming Obstacles

Reb Nosson wrote: “It is inevitable that everyone will come up against many problems which are impossible to foresee. We have to accept them all with love and know that everything that happens to us is all for our good. If we do this, it is much easier to pray to God that He remove our illness and suffering. Even though we know that in truth it is all good, we possess neither the strength nor the wisdom to receive such good. For this reason we ask, ‘May the Almighty give you compassion.’ May He hand compassion over to you—that is, what you can understand to be compassion.” - Healing Leaves

A Prayer for Today

Almighty God, You created the world so that we could come close to You. Indeed, this is our greatest good and our true goal. Help me keep away from anything that diverts or distracts me from this goal. During my life I have become so lost that I wonder whether my days can really be called living at all. And so, I beg You, help me turn and direct myself towards You for a truly good life. Please help me achieve my purpose and fulfill what You desire for me. Guide me to do what is good and reject the bad so that my life will be worthwhile. May everything I do lead me along the path towards You.. Rebbe Nachman, Between Me and You  

To Laugh

"As involuntary heirs to a formidable tradition of learning," Jewish comics "were naturally alert to the comic possibilities inherent in their diminished stature." -Stephen Whitfield While we cannot change the present we are always equipped with the ability to change our perception of it.

Real Listening

"There are as many Communists in the Freedom Movement as there are Eskimos in Florida."  -Martin Luther King Why is it that people have the propensity to label anything they do not like as dangerous?  Imagine a world where we listened to different opinions in the interests of learning how other people think.  Maybe God Himself would weep with joy.

A Prayer for Deliverance

May You soon reestablish the throne of King David, and without a moment’s delay bring the Moshiach, who is descended from David, the “sweet singer of Israel.” “Then our mouths will be filled with gladness, and our tongues with joyous song.” We will sing and make music before You, as the prophet has said, “We shall play musical instruments in God’s Temple all the days of our lives.” -Rebbe Nachman, The Gentle Weapon  

Civilization

"There are three centers of what might be called mythological and folkloristic creativity in the Middle Ages.  One is the cathedral and all that is associated with monasteries and hermitages. A second is the castle. The third is the cottage , where the people are. The cathedral, the castle, and the cottage - you go to any of the areas of high civilization, and you will see the same - the temple, the palace, and the town." -Joseph Campbell , The Power of Myth Is this true of America as a whole?  What about your town?  Perhaps the same exists even in your family?   Roles are divided and played out... It is said that the greatest wisdom is in recognizing truth ; the one that lies before us.  

Clever

Two acquaintances were sitting in a restaurant.  The first ate fish while the other consumed a portion of ham.  The s ame one then asked for a drink of liquor and so he called, "The fish wants to swim." The waiter understood immediately and brought him a drink. The other man, thinking how clever that interchange was, called out, "The pig wants to drink." Did this ever happen to you when you wanted to be clever but instead "stepped in it?"  Moral: Don't be clever.  Just be you.

Age

An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is inner."  - Agatha Christie As time unfolds before us remember, the older we become the more learning we possess, the more more learning we possess the wiser we are, the wiser we are the more savvy and dependable is our advice.

Their Rights

"I am inferior to any man whose rights I trample underfoot." -Horace Greeley As timeless as Torah are Horace Greeley's words.  Too bad he is less famous for this statement than for "Go west, young man, go west."

Civility

"Of all the tasks of government the most basic is to protect its citizens against violence." -John Foster Dulles While we may get caught up in arguing about what is most vital in America today, Dulles' statement reminds us of our core value.

What Is Your Address?

Law : A scholar should not reside in a city where the following ten things are not found: A court of justice that imposes penalties; A charity collected by two and distributed by three; A synagogue; A mikveh; A convenience (toilet); A surgeon;* A notary; A shochet; A schoolmaster.  *Rashi adds providing that the physician is a mohel. -Sanhedrin 17b The underlying  question is: W hat are your priorities ? The underlying thought is: We resemble the place where we live.

Why We Strive

My God, I work and I strive, never knowing if I will succeed. You and only You can give hope to my dreams. With Your help I am spared wasted efforts. With Your blessing, all the hardship I endure can bear fruit. You and only You are the key to success in all that I do. Rebbe Nachman,  The Gentle Weapon 

Age of Man

A man sees seven worlds [in his lifetime].   A one-year old is like a king carried in a litter, with everyone hugging and kissing him. A two or three year old is like  a pig, grabbing for everything. A ten-year old prances like a young goat. A twenty- year old neighs like a horse, dresses up and seeks a mate. Once wed, he becomes like a donkey. When he has children he scrabbles shamelessly for bread like a dog. When old he becomes a monkey.  -Kohelet Rabbah 1:3 Let it be said of us that we were a mensch and not giving into our worst instincts.

Circles

  “When we pitch camp, we pitch camp in a circle.  When the eagle builds a nest, the nest is in a circle.  When we look at the horizon, the horizon is in a circle,” once said an Indian chief cited by Bill Moyers in The Power of Myth. In the final analysis, isn't all life circular?

Mastering the Self

Past Israeli cabinet minister, David Levy, gets in a cab.  As the cab drives off, the cabbie asks the man if he has heard the latest David Levy joke. Levi angrily replies, “I am David Levy!” “That’s alright,” the cabbie says, “I’ll tell it slow!” Would you could you, laugh if you were David Levy?  When we can laugh at our own foibles we will have mastered our ego.  That is power!

What is Chutzpah?

Bennett Cerf used to tell the story of a little boy peering over a fence of a wealthy neighbor. “Please Mr. Beecroft, could I have my arrow back?” “Certainly,” said Mr. Beecroft with calmness and genuine caring.  “Where is it?” “I think,” said the boy,” “that it’s stuck in one of your cats.”

Keeping Clean

Once when Hillel left his disciples, they said to him, "Where are you going?"  He replied, "To do a pious deed."  They asked, "What may that be?"  He answered, "To take a bath."  They asked, " That is a pious deed?"  He responded, "Yes, for if the man who is appointed to tend and wash the images of kings which are set up in theatres and circuses, received his pay for so doing, and is even raised up to be regarded as among the great ones of the kingdom, how much more is it obligatory on me to tend and wash my body, since I have been created in the image of God?"  -Leviticus Rabbah, 34:3 Everything we can do can be Godly , especially since we are cast from His image.   This is the path of holiness.

Clean

G.K. Chesterton said the good thing about staying in hot water is that you are always clean. -Louis Jacobs One should always feel as if you were being observed; that no act could be done in total isolation. W i th that mindset, who would do wrong?  Perhaps that is why Pirkay Avot says, "Know what is above you -- an all-seeing eye," and sin will n ot touch you.

Action

An American poet has written: "I have to live with myself, and so I want to be fit for myself to know; I want to be able as days go by.  Always to look myself straight in the eye. I don't want to stand with the setting sun, And hate myself for the things I've done." -Edgar Guest Think then act.