Search Results

This week's Torah portion: https://youtu.be/pAuXAGTBdP0 Removing vows, harassing the Midianites and Moabites, 38 years of traveling, finishing up the book of Numbers.

Practice "Good" Emotions There are "good" emotions: the capacity to feel, relate, anticipate, react with freedom and appropriateness. They are the warmth and lifeblood of arid intellect. Espirit or elan, with a flair fro sensitivity, are the antennae that reach out and capture the excitement of life. Emotions are destructive when they miss the spirit and emphasize "emotionalism," dramatizing strife, and overreacting to stress. When we are emotionally wise we are enthusiastic but we temper our zeal with balance and consideration. Rational judgment need not lack emotion. Rather, it adds totality and richness to our experience. Feelings are fun when reason is a companion, an equal partner, a co-creator of a balanced attitude. Thought is deeper than all speech, feeling deeper than all thought. Christopher P. Cranch

Regrets in Life There are many stages in life, and each contains its own unique emotional challenges. Erik Erikson was a psychologist who looked at the various challenges of these particular “stages”. He categorized each of these stages as pertaining to the psychosocial development at that stage. For me, I am getting to the point in my life in which I am known as a “senior citizen”. Of course this depends on which business is willing to give a discount at a specific age. Some are a little older, some are a little younger. Either way, I’m at the point where I get an invitation to join AARP just about every other day, it seems. Approaching these “Golden Years”, as a senior citizen, I am at the point of looking back at my life, wondering if I made the right choices and pushed myself as much as I could to accomplish things in life. As one tends to look back on their lives, we wonder if they did the right thing. Anybody have these same feelings? Erikson called this final stage, “Ego Integrity vs. Despair”. Do we see our lives as productive? Or do we feel guilty about our past, dissatisfied with what life threw at us, wondering if somehow we could have done better? To extend this a bit, do we feel that somehow life was unfair, always challenging us yet not letting us reap any rewards for any hard work we put in? It’s a tough call. Now, even though Erikson confined this stage to older people, I’ll bet that there are many younger people, maybe even teenagers, who ask themselves these questions. I submit that most decisions we make in life come with the afterthought, “did I do the right thing, make the right decision?” It’s probably more a part of human nature than we think. Time machines do not exist. We can’t go back in time and change things, or see how this decision would have worked out. I listened to a lecture by a rabbi on “Torah Anytime”, and he made the comment that it’s a good thing that we live finite lives. There’s a sense of urgency to accomplish things since we really never know how much time we have or how we’re going to end up. So we have to confront our challenges in life the same way and know that we made the best decision we could have for that moment. So what if we’re concerned that we made the WRONG decision? Consider that HaShem loves “Teshuva”. HaShem loves it when we feel that we’ve strayed from the path, the “derech” and returned to His commandments. So too, we can always “return” to what may be a better path after making a less-than-efficacious decision. One of the things that people who ruminate on their life’s paths tend to ignore is how much they’ve grown. They say that “hindsight is 20/20”. Looking in the rear-view mirror, we can always see the bigger picture. What people don’t seem to give themselves credit for is the fact that whatever those previous decisions were, they gave us more wisdom, and the insight to evaluate our previous actions in a brighter light. RATHER THAN BEAT OURSELVES UP FOR NOT HAVING THAT KNOWLEDGE THEN, LET’S USE OUR NEW-FOUND WISDOM, THE WISDOM WE ACQUIRED THROUGH THESE PAST DECISIONS, TO DRIVE OUR LIVES WITH MORE MEANING GOING FORWARD! Right? Finally, let’s look at the 10th Commandment: “Thou shalt not covert thy neighbor’s belongings”. In other words, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. How about bringing this closer to home? Don’t covet your own imaginings either, the better life that you think you would have had with a different decision. One of the reasons that stealing is an offense against G-d is because He apportioned everything for everyone according to His wisdom. By stealing, we are really going against His Design. We have what we have because G-d gave us what we needed, what we deserved, and what would motivate us to push ourselves. By coveting another life, we are going against G-d’s plan, questioning His Divine Knowledge. Let this then answer your question. G-d put the challenges in front of you, and you did the best you could with what you had. Sure we may think we could have, would have, wanted something better, but we got the best we could and did the best we could under the circumstances. So if you ever consider that somehow you’ve failed, you probably are selling yourselves short. Imagine how your life would have turned out if you didn’t have the insight to question?

This week's Torah Portion: The lineage of the High Priest (Cohen Gadol) is established; the Daughters of Zelophahad; the Mussaf (Additional) Service for Shabbat and Holy Days. https://youtu.be/CWwBRU7RZW0

Calmness is spiritual and practical wisdom. In serenity lies the key in unraveling challenges. A dam is never released by forcing the water, but by gently opening the flood gates. True wisdom lies in strengthening our faith. Faith releases calm assurance, calm power and perfect solution. Agitation is a bottleneck, a hindrance and a detriment to right action. It never results in love but tension, which creates hostility and failure, setting of a cycle of guilt, anxiety and frustration. Calmness is the viaduct through which Love and Wisdom can flow and generate fulfillment. Serene I fold my hands and wait, nor care for wind or tide nor sea; I rave no more against time or fate, for lo! my own shall come to me. John Burroughs

Confidence in spiritual and psychological insight into the false protective value we place in our insecurity as an excuse for living. It is know that all the same perfection within a Higher Power already exists within us as a gift of love. There is no cause for inferiority if there is an acceptance that my worth exists, awaiting only my recognition. We can act with security, feeling our worthiness, and venture forth with safety, expressing the joy of living. No person or circumstance can defeat us when we understand that the attributes of Wisdom and Love are cosmically endowed within us and will be felt if we open the channels to receive. Confidence is not acquired. You already have it. Lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty; the difficulty comes from lack of confidence. Seneca

Many people who know me, know me to be an ardent supporter of Israel. Israel can do no wrong. Israel does not “occupy” lands, they are disputed. Israel is on them also to protect themselves from Palestinian terrorist attacks. Israel is probably the most humanitarian country in the world. Their leading medical technology has saved many lives, not just of its allies, but also of its enemies. In fact, I had heard that the Palestinian leader of Hamas brought his granddaughter to an Israeli hospital, knowing that not only would they treat her, but also because he knew they would save her life. And they did. Last Sunday, however, Israel crossed the line. Benjamin Netanyahu gave in to political pressure from the Ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset and suspended a plan to enhance an area where non-Orthodox Jewish men and women can pray together at the Western Wall or Kotel. Response was uniform and swift coming from many organizations including AIPAC, the Jewish Agency and Charles Bronfman, the Canadian-American billionaire Jewish philanthropist. This was one of the few things in recent history where the majority of the Jewish community stood united. United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism issued a statement on their website. They claimed that “Conservative Jews Deplore Freeze in Creating Mixed-Area Prayer Space at Western Wall”. They were appalled that after “the government of Israel signed an agreement to create an egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall”…”Only 17 months later, the very same government voted to suspend that compromise plan.” Isabel Kershner, writing for the July 3 issue of the New York Times, states that “Netanyahu’s political maneuvering to selling world Jewry’s birthright for a bowl of lentil soup, an allusion to the biblical deal Jacob made with Esau”. She is referring, of course to religion being sold for political alliances. So who cares, really? How often do the guys go out together to play cards, pool, or like in the Flintstones, bowl together and hang out at the water buffalo lodge? What about the women going out to lunch together or play mah jongg by the pool? What’s wrong with a few minutes apart to pray? First of all, is there any reference in the Torah to separate praying areas? To my knowledge, the only time praying is even mentioned in the Torah was when Isaac was praying the fields when Eliezer brought Rebecca home for him. Otherwise, it was all sacrifices, and they don’t say much about male and female roles besides the Cohenim and Levites officiating, and they were all men. The Orthodox, who are ultimately fundamentalists, love to put fences around things. Talmudically they put fences on their roofs so no one falls off, but then they put it around laws to make sure they’re observed. Prayer should be done with concentration and focus, and nothing wreaks your focus like the love of your life next to you, right guys? The press release from USCJ used the word, “egalitarian”. Conservative Jews believe in that and our liturgy and practices reflect that concept. We took out the phrase, “who has not made me a woman” in the morning blessings and substituted “who has made me in your image” for both genders to recite. Conservative Judaism believes that women can get Bat Mitzvahed, put on tefillin, and even be rabbis and cantors. Yes, egalitarian. Conservative Judaism believes in adapting our principles to the modern world. Yes, we should keep Shabbat, but it’s OK to drive to synagogue to make a minyan. Yes, we should keep kosher, but not so glatt. And yes, we believe in equality of the sexes. Isn’t it interesting that Israel is one of the first modern countries to have a woman prime minister. Everyone remember Golda Meir? Woman occupy positions of government in Israel almost completely equal to men. It should be interesting to see how Mr. Netanyahu handles this affair. Especially since a lot of his female citizens carry Uzi’s.

Harmony comes when resistance is faced with love instead of confronted with opposition. Harmony issues the breeze, the tide, the seasons. Harmony is not attained in agonized submission or hopeless despair to overwhelming forces. Harmony is tasted in quiet waiting while the storm brews, until the sunshine which always follows the rain. We are harmonized to life's tune when we accept the rain as a sister to the sun and use the wake of the storm as a quiet time to mobilize our inner perspective. By harmony our sould are swayed; by harmony the world was. George Granville

https://youtu.be/0fuWbXFG-tM

This is your blog post. Blogs are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them coming back. They can also be a great way to position yourself as an authority in your field. To edit your content, simply click here to open the Blog Manager. From the Blog Manager you can edit posts and also add a brand new post in a breeze. To make it easy for visitors to search your blog according to topic, add 'Tags' to your posts in the Blog Manager. You can showcase the very best posts from your blog by setting a post as a Featured Post. Just click the star icon next to the Post title to define it as a Featured Post. It’s a great, easy way to promote specific content in your blog. #powerofprayer #keepingthefaith #religion

This is your blog post. Blogs are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them coming back. They can also be a great way to position yourself as an authority in your field. To edit your content, simply click here to open the Blog Manager. From the Blog Manager you can edit posts and also add a brand new post in a breeze. Great looking images make your blog posts more visually compelling for your audience, so choose images that really wow. Adding fun and compelling videos is another great way to engage your audience and keep them coming back for more. And to organize your posts according to subject-matter, define a ‘Category’ for each post in the Blog Manager. #keepingthefaith #dealingwithtragedy #faith

This is your blog post. Blogs are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them coming back. They can also be a great way to position yourself as an authority in your field. To edit your content, simply click here to open the Blog Manager. From the Blog Manager you can edit posts and also add a brand new post in a breeze. To really engage your site visitors we suggest you blog about subjects that are related to your site or business. Blogging is also really good for SEO, so we recommend including keywords that relate to your services, products or industry within your posts. It’ll make it easier for people to find you on the web. #helpingothers #keepingthefaith #religiouscommunity