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Showing posts from January, 2020

What Would You Do?

An old man buys a lottery ticket and wins. But his children do not want to tell him because he is so physically frail. So they approach a friend of his, a doctor, to break the news. Gently, he asked the old man, "Do you ever buy lottery tickets?" "Yes I bought one just this week."  "How much could you win?"  "8 million dollars." "What would you do if you won the money?" the doctor asked. "I would give half to my kids and the other half to you, my good friend." The doctor had a heart attack.

Philosophy

" Philosophy is something the rich use to convince the rest of us that it's no disgrace to be poor."  -Sam Levenson "You shall love your neighbor as yourself (i.e. as much as you love yourself)."  Practice it, every day.

Blessed

"May you come to experience the "Me within me."  May you be blessed with eyes to see the oneness your soul has been longing to show you.  Know who you are.  The seal of the Creator is on you.  May you see your World to Come in this world.  May you experience long days full of meaning and may you live to give nachas, deep soul pleasure, to the Creator who dreamed you into being.  And may God smile and sigh a deep sigh of relief and laugh with pure joy upon seeing your soul fulfill its call. Amen .   - Rabbi Naomi Levy

WALK WITH GOD

A man came to his rabbi and said: “Rabbi when I was a child I felt very close to God. Now that I am older, it seems as if God has left me, or perhaps it is I who have left. In either case, I feel far from God. I am not sure what to do. The rabbi answered him, “When you teach your child to walk, at first you stand very close. The child can only take one step, and then you must catch him. But as he grows, you move farther and farther away, so that he can walk to you. God has not abandoned you. Like a good parent, God has moved farther away, it is still close by, waiting for you. Now you must learn to walk to God.” –Rabbi David Wolpe

Fill 'er Up

"A penny will hide the biggest star in the universe if you hold it close enough to your eye." - Sam Levenson What is most valuable to you?  The green grass under your feet?  Your savings account?  The breath you take?  You decide what fills you.

Trees for the Future

There is a story told in the Talmud about a wise man named Honi, the Circle Drawer who one day came upon an elderly man planting a carob tree. Honi asked the man, "How long do you think it take for that tree to bear fruit?" The man replied, "Seventy years." Honi then asked the man, "And do you think you will live another seventy years to eat the fruit of this tree?" And the elder answered, "Perhaps not. However, when I was born, I found many carob trees planted by my father and grandfather. Just as they planted trees for me, I am planting trees for my children and grandchildren."  - Talmud, retold by Rabbi Irwin Huberman

What Use?

Bernard Baruch wrote in his autobiography that when he made his first million he told his father who was unimpressed.   Baruch said, “I am not even thirty and already I made my first million.  Are you not even happy?” “What I want to know,” said his father, “is how you will spend the money you earned.” This is a question we all must answer.  "What did you do with what I gave you?" God will ask us.

Questions Before the One

Rava said, "When a person is led in for the final judgement he is asked, "Were you honest in business?"  Did set aside time to study Torah? Did you help generate new life?  Did you await and anticipate salvation?  Did you engage in study for the sake of truth? Did you understand the importance of real things from frivolity?" -Shabbat 31a The Zohar comments, "Did you turn darkness int light?  Did you turn bitterness into sweetness before arriving here?" 1:4a Matt, Pritztker

Invisible, Indivisible

Three Jews about to be executed were lined up in front of a firing squad. Each Jew was asked whether he wanted a blindfold. The first one said, “Sure”. The second one said he would also take the blindfold. When the third Jew was asked if he wanted a blindfold he emphatically declined it, and said, “No.” At which point, the second Jew leaned over to the third one and said, “Stop making trouble. Take the blindfold.” - Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt These are difficult times we are living  through.  Bigotry manifested as Anti-Semitism is growing.  Yet now is not the time when we should shrink from embracing our identity.  Know who you are, where your destiny lies and immerse yourself in Judaism, your heritage.   Being silent, trying to be invisible, is not an option.

If We Only Knew

There is a midrash on Ruth Rabbah (5:6). Rabbi Yitzhak the son of Merion said: Our text comes to teach us that if a person performs a mitzvah he should perform it with a perfect heart.  If Reuven had known that the Holy One delivered him from their hand he would have carried Joseph on his shoulders to his father.     And if Aaron had known that the Holy One blessed be He was recording of him “Behold he is coming to meet you,” he would have come to meet Moses with drums and with dancing.    If Boaz had known that the Holy One blessed be He  would record of him, “And they reached out to her parched corn and she ate and was satisfied and left thereof,” he would have fed her fatted calves.  In the distant past when a person performed a mitzvah the prophet would record it.   When a person performs a mitzvah nowadays who is there to record it? Elijah records it and the messiah – and the Holy One blessed be He seals it for them.

Be True

A gentleman was enquiring for a room in a boarding house in Poland. "Tell me," he asked the landlady, "are there any fleas in the bed?" "Well," she replied, "where else would they be?"  - Friday Nite Book If you have to ask... Life is demonstrated by actions.  We are what we do, how  we behave. That is why the Torah is so insistent on how we treat ourselves, treat one another and revere God.