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https://youtu.be/IWhtmnzLC2w

If you get on social media at all, you may have seen posts that ask people to pray for them either in advance of surgery, an important life cycle event, for example. Some, have asked their “prayer warriors” to start praying for them. Many have seen signs and billboards that state that “Prayer changes everything”. Many have pleaded with people to pray for the families and victims of natural and man-made disasters that resulted in tragedy. Sounds good, doesn’t it? With a lot of people putting their desires and intention, the power of prayer may just work. It is interesting that the Chief Rabbi of Israel just told his followers that they can stop praying for rain now that Israel is seeing some massive winter storms. Need better health? Let’s all pray for you to get better. I’m walking into a job interview. Hey, we’ll pray for you to get it. Tragedy? Let’s all pray for the victims. Here’s the concern: what are we looking to do with our prayers? Are we trying to control the outcome and master nature? Torah warns us about this. Pagans believed that forces of nature were in control and therefore gods. They would do sacrifices, many times human, or engage in other practices that would attempt to control the forces and therefore the gods. They were also superstitious, engaging in specific activities that were purported to bring an auspicious outcome. Yet we are encouraged and even obligated to pray three times a day. What is the difference? Why bother praying? Let us illustrate the Jewish concept of praying with a story. A man was sitting on his porch as it started raining. A man drives by in a 4X4 and yells to him that a storm is coming, floods are expected and he’ll drive him to safety. The man yells back that he’s been praying and that God will save him. The rains keep coming and now it’s starting to flood. Another man comes by in a boat and yells to him to get on board and he’ll sail him to safety. Not to worry responds the man, I’ve prayed to God and He’ll save me. Finally, the man is standing on his roof to get to safety from the rising waters. A man comes by in a helicopter and tells the man he’ll drop down a ladder so he can come up and get flown to safety. Again, the man yells back that he’s prayed to God and he has faith that He’ll save him. The waters keep rising and the man drowns. So now he’s in heaven and comes face-to-face with God, who tells him that he sent a truck, a boat and a helicopter, what was he waiting for? Abraham Heschel contended that we pray to get G-d’s attention. Artscroll quotes the sages who describe prayer as “Something that stands at the pinnacle of the world (Berachot 6b)”. (p. XXIII, Artscroll Siddur). Prayer is also the ladder that reaches from earth to heaven. The primary goal of prayer, Artscroll contends, is to achieve the highest possible degree of intimacy with G-d. (p. XXVII). Achieving intimacy with HaShem allows us to act in accordance with G-d’s law, Torah. In acting in accordance with Torah, we are acting correctly. We would expect that acting appropriately with G-d’s will would help us achieve success and fulfillment in life. Prayer, like wearing tzitzi’s, helps us to continue on that path. Prayer empowers us. It gives us the extra push to accomplish things. We approach challenges with a positive mindset, and we know that it’s OK if it doesn’t work out because that wasn’t right and we’ll be guided to that which is. It would also seem that if prayers empower us, it is us who should take action. We can certainly pray for good health and an optimal recovery from surgery, but to that end we would also want to consider our lifestyle and improve our diet and exercise routine. We can pray for the victims of disasters, and we can work towards better laws and conditions that improve the overall environment. Prayer reinforces our resolve. Why are we commanded to perform mitzvot? To carry out Hashem’s Will for Justice. So too would we want to consider praying—for inspiration—and then acting in accord with Torah.

https://youtu.be/s7uh6ICp4mM

Someone with whom I’m friends on Facebook brought up this and I think he has this portion right on. The Children of Israel were at probably our lowest point in our history. We were not in our chosen land but in a foreign land. We were slaves and oppressed. We were downtrodden and there seemed like no hope. Then a redeemer appeared in the person of Moses ben Amram. With his brother Aaron, he confronted Pharaoh and beseeched him to let our people go that they may serve their G-d. Pharaoh was stubborn and did not relent. It seemed an improbably and impossible situation. Egypt was one of the, if not the, mightiest nation in the known world at the time. The Israelites were at the lowest rung of society with absolutely no influence or power. However, HaShem sent 10 plagues, each one worse that the previous. At first, Pharaoh had his magicians and wizards replicate and duplicate each scenario. This caused Pharaoh to harden his heart. However, as the plaques kept coming, the magicians were less able to perform the tasks. After about the fifth plague, they seemed convinced that they were in the hands of something a lot mightier than they and beseeched Pharaoh to relent. Pharaoh persisted. It wasn’t until the tenth and final plague that Pharaoh finally told Moses to take his people and leave. The improbable and impossible had been achieved. Israel was now free to worship Hashem and travel to the promised land, a land filled with milk and honey. Or was it? Just as everyone was full of hope, happy and joyous that they were free and on their way, they run into—the Sea of Reeds. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they turned around and saw in the distance the Egyptians in their chariots, braced for war, quickly approaching. As things looked bleak, Hashem again provided a solution and open up the Sea of Reeds and hardened the bed allowing the Israelites, all 2 ½ million of them, to cross in safety. When the Egyptians tried to cross, He closed up the sea swallowing all the soldiers. Once again, when things seemed bleak, Hashem came through. Consider that we can look at our lives in the same way. How many of us have faced situations where things seemed to be at their worst, a solution either presented itself or it abated. And we had come through it. We had crossed the sea to safety. Three times each day, every day, during our silent standing prayer, the Amidah or Shemonah Esrei, we recite מודים אנחנו לך in which we “gratefully thank You…for Your miracles that are with us every day , and for your wonder and favors in every season”. It is Jewish custom that we don’t expect miracles. When they do come, however, we appreciate them. The wonders for which we are thankful are those things which are wondrous, but of which we’ve grown accustomed and may take for granted, like our health, our ability to walk, breathe, etc. This prayer helps us to remember that Hashem comes through for us when the time is right. Consider that the reason we don’t expect miracles is so we don’t rely on them. If we did, we would never rise to any occasion to overcome challenges.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/01/27/maher_defends_jerusalem_decision_when_you_win_wars_you_take_land_palestine_a_coiled_snake.html

https://youtu.be/5dNrZ3qcsgk

In this week’s Torah portion, “Parshas Vaera/פרשת וארא”, Moshe Rabbeinu confronts Pharaoh, repeating the message from G-d to “Let My people go that they may worship Me.” Pharaoh does not relent and hardens his heart. This repeats for the first five plagues, and then, in response to his willfulness and stubbornness, HaShem hardens his heart for him. The Hebrew word for “heart” is "לב". To show possession, a suffix to the word is added based on the appropriate pronoun. In this case particular case, when the Torah says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, it uses the word, "לבו", "לב" meaning “heart”, and the "ו" for “his”. This is also the case for the beginning of “Pesukei D’Zimra”, “hymns of glory”, the second section of the Shachrit or Morning service. The second or third prayer is a long prayer which was said each morning in the Temple. At the end of that prayer, from Psalms 13:6, it states “…my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.” “My heart” is spelled similarly, "לבי". In the “V’Ahavta”, the first paragraph of the Shema, as well as the second, we are admonished not to follow our hearts in making decisions, but rather only pay attention to the commandments. In these two cases, “your heart” is spelled "לבבך" and "לבבכם", respectively (singular and plural). In this case, the word is spelled with two beits instead of one. The Zohar explains the two beits. Each beit represents our two hearts, the good and the bad. These reflect the yatzer harah and yetzer tov, the evil and good inclinations, respectively. The lesson is that each of us has a choice which inclination to follow. Why, then, only one beit for Pharaoh? Why also only one beit in the prayer from Psalms that states “…my heart will rejoice in Your salvation”? Consider that these two situations address only the evil inclination or heart. Since Pharaoh will willful and stubborn, he only focused on the evil inclination. Likewise, it is thus our evil heart that yearns for the salvation, as HaShem helps us turn the evil into good. The Zohar says that when one pursues evil, the door is opened; when one pursues righteousness, they are led on the way. Our desires and path is thus facilitated in accordance with our desires and actions. Since Pharaoh continued to persecute the Israelites, he only had the evil heart and apparently had no desire to change. We get what we want. According to Rabbinic legend, Pharaoh now stands outside the gates of purgatory and greets newcomers with “did you not learn anything from what happened to me?”. We all have a choice. We can pursue evil or we can pursue righteousness. We pursue righteousness by adhering and treasuring the commandments. We pursue evil by following our “evil heart” or the bad inclination. Pharaoh pursued evil. In doing so, he condemned his country and his army. The path of evil leads to evil consequences. In contrast, the path of good leads to good results. When we pursue righteousness, our lives grow in happiness. Fulfillment is easier and more efficacious.

Enjoy! https://youtu.be/V3OCFZeHofw

We all go through our travails in life. Some of the challenges we face seem so daunting as to be unfixable, and our moods and dispositions inconsolable. What does Judaism offer as comfort to those that face seemingly insurmountable challenges that seem to go on and on? First of all, there are some Psalms—like 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd—that are good for comforting. Some of the Proverbs are inspirational, like 16:23: “Who is strong? One who controls their passions”. There are some healing prayers—Mi Shaberach—that are also useful in times of distress. And of course, one of the many reasons we pray three times each day is to revisit some of the laws and teachings and behaviors that help us go through life successfully. There are things that affirm that when we call out to HaShem, He or She hears our prayers and responds. Perhaps there is a central theme to all this. Many of us, especially in times of distress, feel that G-d is adversarial. We ask, rhetorically of course but often out of frustration, why G-d puts us in these situations or give us these problems because we have, after all, done our best to be good people? It can almost feel like we are being punished for some unknown sin. Let me offer some of my own feelings with you because I’ve had some very trying times in my life and this realization helped my cope and manage a lot better. This is when I changed my idea of G-d being adversarial to HaShem being a coach. Continuing the analogy, if you were training for a sport, your coach would make you exercise, do drills, practice over and over again. At times, you'd hate Her, wanting to just quit. But then when you're competing, and all that training has given you an edge, and you cross the finish line winning the event, you see how it was all worth it for your victory. After all, isn’t this why we pray, for guidance and help? These challenges that we face throughout our lives are challenges. We can speculate why they occur—past lives, our choices—but the fact is that they do. HaShem has made Herself available for support by giving us Torah. On a more general metaphysical frame of reference, these challenges are there to empower us. We go through them, we resolve them, and we become stronger, more confident, and better able to meet the next challenge. These trying times have compelled us to develop new, maybe different skills and points of view to ascend to the next level of evolution. And then life gets better because we’ve developed new tools and skills, and got better with the skills and traits that we do have. Even beyond working out our problems, we can now relate to others in a different, more effective and efficacious manner. The bottom line here is that for whatever reason, we have to deal with these things. Let’s make the most of them and turn lemons into lemonade, right? Sure, it’s easy to say this rationally sometimes, but being in the thick of battle, sometimes our passions and feeling get the better of us. That’s when we can use those psalms and prayers.

Commentary on this week's Torah portion. Hope you enjoy. https://youtu.be/ksP9kRZy0-g

https://youtu.be/M7Uu8y6-DXY

By now, everyone has heard, and weighed in on the President recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This has, as one would imagine, set off a firestorm of reactions across all spectrums of opinion. The reaction, next to the fires in California has dominated social media. First of all, this is not new. The current administration did not institute this decision. Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was a decision during the Clinton Administration in the ‘90’s. It hasn’t been enacted because each succeeding administration has delayed it, effectively kicking the can until presumably peace would reign in the Middle East and the environment would be more congenial. President Trump had discussed this when he first became president and has now followed through. His remarks were that the peace process is stalled and there is no point in waiting anymore. It will come as no surprise that the Arab world expressed their disapproval of this move, as did most of Europe. Some Arab countries—most notably Turkey and Lebanon—and groups—like the Taliban in Afghanistan—have complained that this move would incite violence in the area. Already, Palestinians are acting up in Israel and there was an attack on a Kosher butcher shop in England. It is interesting when people say that the move would “incite violence”. I am reminded of the scene in the movie, “Liar, Liar”. A distraught Jim Carrey walks into his office and his secretary puts down her phone to tell him that a client of his is in jail again for robbing a bank and he wants to know what to do. He takes the phone with both hands, holds it an arm’s length and yells, “Stop robbing banks!”. Inciting violence is precipitated by people inciting violence—which happens anyway for just about anything. Meanwhile, Israeli’s and Jews live in a world where the governing body, the United Nations, holds a monthly meeting where they issue a resolution against Israel for one thing or another. There is another group calling on countries and businesses to economically sanction Israel for alleged atrocities against Palestinians who attack Israeli’s for the slightest provocation. Again, what peace process? People who are “liberal” are decrying this as the wrong move. Yet when pressed, their only answer is that they should sit down and hold peace talks. They ignore reality. In 2005, Israel pulled out and forcibly removed settlers in Gaza as part of a peace plan. That didn’t work. So really, what are we waiting for? The world consistently condemns Israel while atrocities are committed in Syria, and other parts of the area condemn groups like homosexuals. In fact, the only humane place in the Middle East is Israel. In fact, when one of the heads of Hamas had a granddaughter who needed medical care, where did he take her? To a hospital in Israel where she was treated. No other country in the world has this issue where other countries tell them where they can place their capital. No other country has had the condemnations and chastisement that Israel has had. We are in the season of Hanukkah, where after years of subjugation by a foreign, pagan-worshipping entity, the Judeans finally said, “enough” and after 20 years of fighting, drove them out and restored the synagogue. Certainly, we Jews and Israelis don’t want violence; we just want to live our lives in peace and practice our heritage and culture. We have attempted to talk peace but the other parties refuse to sit down. Instead, they refuse to even acknowledge that we have a country and use every effort to demean us. So what do we do? How do you reach out to people who have shown no interest in cooperating? We propose something, not good enough. Groups outside of the area are getting involved now as well. Unfortunately, it’s a lot like being bullied at school. Someone larger than you keeps telling you to give them your lunch money or they’ll beat you up. So you acquiesce to avoid the punishment. But after years of this, you have enough and decide to fight back. Then people tell you you’re the one behaving badly by lashing out. Just this week, Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has stood up to this bullying by other countries. She has vetoed the resolution condemning Israel and has said that by acknowledging Israel’s choice of their capital, the US is respecting the sovereignty of Israel, the same way every other country’s sovereignty is respected. Good for her. Well, you continue to push for peace, as Israel is doing. You reach out as much as you can—and Israel does that. They tried to send a trauma team recently to help victims of an earthquake wrecked disaster on the Iraq-Iran border. We constantly pray for peace in our daily prayers and we do our best to follow through. But of course, we have to live our lives as well. Maybe sooner than later, peace will prevail.