In all of us is the Infinite Light of the Ein Sof. It is the origin of everything. God is formless, so God enables us to reflect whatever form we choose to show Him. If we do our chesbon fearlessly, we begin to connect spiritually. When we are done, a weight is lifted from our shoulders. We celebrate. And God is dancing with us.
The Sages states: "Rav said: Whoever maintains a dispute transgresses a negative commandment, as it is written, '... that he not be like Korach and his assembly ...' (Num. 17:5). Rav Asi said: Such a person is fit to be afflicted with tzaraat [leprosy]." (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 110a). R' Yitzchak said: Which craft should man pursue in this world? He should make himself like a mute (Talmud Bavli Tractate Chullin 89a).
So we learn to live in true shlema, integration, wholeness, shalom and serenity.
In invite you all to get a piece of paper, 8 x 11, and a pen, and read below and start your chesbon. Shake your life and limbs and spirits. Let us awake, and move off the comfortable delusion and denial that we are used to living. Only when there is chaos, tohu v'vohu, can the Spirit of God sweep over us and create a bright light in our hearts and a new world for us to live in. Do you want this today? Do you need this today? It is yours for free. Have fun.
Let us now continue with (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal [also http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc?productId=1&categoryId=1 ] Chapter Four.
from: ''Chapter Four: The Chesbon Ha Nefesh
An Inventory of Your Soul''
First, you must learn to conquer your fears.
We all have fears, some of them so paralyzing that they stop us from enjoying life to its fullest. The first step in overcoming your fears is to realize and understand that you only go around once in life. No do-overs. No second acts. This is not an audition or a dress rehearsal; this is the big show. If you let your fears get the best of you, you're going to bomb, but if you triumph over those fears, you'll bring the house down.
Sadie goes to see her Rabbi and complains of her fears causing her terrible headaches. She whines, cries, and talks about fears of almost everything for hours and hours.
All of a sudden, Sadie shouts, overjoyed, "Rabbi, your holy presence has cured me! My fears are all gone! My headache is gone!"
To which the Rabbi replies, "No Sadie, the headache is not gone. I have it now."
The Mishna Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1 teaches: "Who is wise? He who learns from every person." The sages, explaining the advantage of learning from others and coming up with one's own ideas, compare the bee to the spider. Both produce something; the bee makes honey and the spider, a web. The bee's honey is sweet and delightful to eat. The spider's web? Not so sweet. Why is that?
The difference is that the bee's sweet and delicious product is a result of what it collects from others. On the other hand, the web is produced from the spider's own self and for the selfish purpose of trapping other insects.
Nobody is born with all of the answers. We all have to learn. It should never embarrass you to say, "I do not know, please teach me." In fact it is liberating. It is human. And it is the beginning of knowledge. Rabbi Akiva from circa 100 C.E., one of our greatest rabbis, sets a good example for all of us in this respect. He began his study of the Hebrew Aleph Bait when he was 40 years old.
You will remember from Chapter 3 that, in a way, everyone is your teacher. So it would follow that you are also a teacher to all with whom you come in contact and those who witness your actions. All teachers fall into one of two types: those who teach what to do, and those who teach what not to do.
Okay, let's get started with your chesbon ha nefesh gadol. Just as our chesbon in the restaurant was written down, so must yours be. So get yourself a pad of paper and a pen or pencil. Divide the piece of paper into four columns. In the first column you are going to write down all of the fears that have held you back in one way or another throughout your life.
You will probably have many fears in common with other people, as we are all human. We fear living. We fear dying. Other examples might be fear of failure, or fear of success, fear of not being loved or accepted or fear of not being good enough. Is there anything else you can think of? Write it down. Include all of your fears. Those you have now, and those you have had in the past. Take your time and be rigorously honest.
When you have finished writing down your fears, read the list to yourself. You will probably notice that most of them are irrationally based. Most fears are of issues over which you have no control. Worse yet, many of them, like a fear of not having enough money, will lead to the chet (sin) of coveting. Coveting inevitably leads to resentment and grudges. To hold a grudge is a sin, and resentment may lead you to take action against the ones you envy, leading you to further sin.
This exercise shows that fear is a process of the mind that can have ruinous consequences in your life and drive you to hurt others.
Although many of your fears are irrational, there may be a few that have rational etiology. For example, you might fear becoming poor because your parents, who lived through the Great Depression, were always talking about it. Some people develop a fear of the opposite sex because at some point they were made to feel sexually inadequate. Others fear, in the depths of their hearts, that they are just not good enough, which leads to a fear of other people whom they perceive to be superior. Jealousy ensues, as does the desire to undermine, gossip or otherwise strike out.
The most effective way for Jews to deal with fear, rational or irrational, is to believe in, have trust in, and have faith in God. If you truly do, your fears, covetous thoughts and all other by-products of your fear will be objectionable to you. You will know how to get rid of them. You will know that you can ask God to remove your fear and end the destructive behavior that it causes. He will, but you will be the one doing the work. You will learn the removal step later.
Solomon, while enjoying a hike through the woods, encountered a rather large, rather hungry looking bear. Frightened for his life, he ran as fast as he could to escape and managed to find a cave in which to hide.
Most unfortunately for Solomon, the bear had seen him enter the cave and followed him in. He was trapped.
Fearing that this was the end, Solomon closed his eyes and began reciting "Sh'ma Yisrael" in anticipation of his final moments. When he finished, he opened his eyes and could not believe what he saw. There was the bear, only inches away, with its eyes closed…and praying in Hebrew!
"How lucky am I to be trapped by what must be the only Jewish bear in these woods!" thought Solomon. "We're mishpocheh (family). I'm saved!"
Joyful at his good fortune, Solomon listened closely to hear the bear's prayer, "...HAMOTZI LECHEM MIN HA'ARETZ," the Jewish blessing before meals.
God willing we will continue with chapter four from (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal - Rabbi Arthur Segal or http://www.shop.jewishspiritualrenewal.net/product.sc;jsessionid=1AAD298F635FC0CDB0E40D45B4556F39.qscstrfrnt03?productId=1&categoryId=1 next week.
A d'var Torah for Shabbat 01/02/10 follows:
Shalom uvracha:
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
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Parasha Vayechi: Genesis 48:01-50:26
Rabbi Arthur Segal
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Jewish Renewal
www.JewishRenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
''When I woke up this morning I could've sworn it was the Judgment Day''
This parasha ends the book of Genesis. We find our people in the Land of the Pharaohs. We find that Jacob dies at the conclusion of this Torah portion. Before his death, Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph as well as his own twelve sons.
To
Why are there so many translations? What has been read into this passage by so many over the centuries? What can we derive from this verse for ourselves?
In Talmud Sanhedrin, Chapter 11, the sages argue about the validity of the Messiah in Judaism, who he will be, how he will arrive, if he already arrived, and when he would arrive. One of their proof texts is this very verse. On daf (folio) 98B, Rav Shela's student interprets Shiloh as referring to the Messiah on the basis of the verse from Isaiah 18:7: "a gift (tribute) shall be offered to God," which the Midrash renders into "all nations are destined to bring a gift to Israel and the Messianic king." The word
By the scepter not departing from
Onkelos' Aramaic Translation of the Torah (Targum) renders "until
The lines that follow (Gen. 49:11-12) make allusions to the messiah as a man of peace (the Talmud says one of his names will be the prince of peace) by the symbols of the donkey and the vineyards.
We can see that this verse pushes some hot topical buttons. The Talmudic sages, living under the harsh Roman thumb in the centuries following the destruction of the second
The rabbis in Sanhedrin grappled with these issues. They tried to justify the suffering of our people and of the martyrdom of our great sages by speaking of the world to come and of the bodily resurrection. They also debated the idea of a messianic leader to come and save us. They even agreed upon the idea, that in every generation, a great sage will be martyred and will die for the sins of those in his generation.
These rabbis were not just dealing in the time of a few Jews who were following a cult of Jesus. They were writing the Talmud up to 500 C.E. from 586 B.C.E. The sages had to contend with forces of Christianity combined with the power of
We therefore can see how different people at different times translated this verse to meet their philosophical needs. The Traditionalists via the Art Scroll edition are very Moshiac oriented. Rabbi Plaut, representing the post World War Two Reform movement, set his translation up to completely mirror the Davidic line of flesh and blood kings, but to delete references to a divinely sent messiah- savior.
How does this battle for wording, translate into our lives in this third millennium? Simply put, we as individuals need to pick up the scepter promised to us. We need to lead using honest and ethical values whether we are at home, at work, at play, or in the synagogue boardroom. We cannot stand idly by while we are needed to do justice. We need to be excellent parents and spouses. We also need to be kind and giving adult children to our own elderly. We are all the Children of Jacob, the People of Israel, and we have all taken the name of the tribe of
The royal staff is in our hands no matter what position we find ourselves. Let's all do our best to be the most honest and ethical we can be in what ever we do. This is what God wants from us. We all have sparks of our own savior inside each of us. Let us each vow to hold on to this scepter, and let its golden glow be a light unto others.
Shabbat Shalom:
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
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