Did my father ever tell me that two angels come home with us from the synagogue to bless our home every Friday night? Or was it my teacher? I don’t remember. But I always knew that the angels are here at my shabbos table listing carefully as we sans the “Shalom Aleychem” the welcome to the angels. They always were so quite, so polite, and always brought a pleasant and peaceful feeling to our table.
On Friday night as I was singing the welcome song to the angels I began to think about how to create that same feeling for my daughter? How do I help her feel the angels that come to our home? What happens if she says: “what our you talking about? I don’t see any angels?”
Well, I have to let the angels into my life. On Friday night I must stop and tune in to a realty were there are angels, they come to our home and enhance the dinner just as any guest would. They bless us and show us love and friendship.
If I let them into my mind and heart they will enter my home. And my daughter? She’ll see them.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
From the Depth - MIN HA'MEY'TZAR
When you come to Shul on Rosh Hashanah what do you want to accomplish?
You want the New Year to be more meaningful, more alive, deeper and richer then the previous year.
Speak to G-d from deep within your heart, in a sincere way. G-d will then bestow upon you greater blessings from the greater light that has never yet shone since the beginning of time.
You want the New Year to be more meaningful, more alive, deeper and richer then the previous year.
Speak to G-d from deep within your heart, in a sincere way. G-d will then bestow upon you greater blessings from the greater light that has never yet shone since the beginning of time.
Rosh Hashanah Speech
We're about to blow the shofar.I'm scared. There are too many people I know that are hurting. It seems this Rosh Hashanah is a critical one. I don't recall a Rosh hashana which seems so deciding. So many people are hurting. Here in America everything looks so shaky. The future is so uncertain.
And there is the shofar. The power of the shofar is immense. Napoleon was attacking Russia. It was in 1812. A great Rebbe - Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin was praying for the French. Everything would be so much easier under french rule. Us Jews would be able to breathe easily. The Russians made our lives unbearable. Then there was Rabbi Shneur Zalman the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. He prayed for the Russians. "By the Russians our bodies will suffer, with the French our soul will suffer" he felt under Napoleon Jews would live freely but Judaism would not survive and he couldn't let that happen.
So in heaven they didn't know who to accede to. Two great tzaddikim, who to follow. So up there in heaven they decided that whoever blows the shofar on Rosh Hashana first that side would win. That's the power of the shofar. We can never fathom what and how far reaching the blowing of the shofar is.
Rabbi Shlomo wakes up way before dawn prepares himself for prayer at the crack of dawn he begins racing through the prayers. In no time he's up to the shofar blowing, he raises the shofar to his lips he's about to blow and he says the Litvak the Lithuanian referring to Rabbi Shneur Zalman beat me to it. Rabbi Shneur Zalman at the crack of dawn before prayers or anything took the shofar and blew. He beat Rabbi Shlomo and the Russians won. That's the power of the shofar.
And now we're about to blow the shofar and the future looks so uncertain. What's going to happen with this years Shofar blow? Are we going to make it out okay? And our family, our friends? There seems to be so much more at stake this year. Life isn't as certain anymore as it used to be.
Let us turn to Hashem, let us demand a good year. As we blow the shofar we'll tell G-d there's too much suffering A great Rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, thousands of people would come to him before the High Holidays so that he should pray for them. He was a very righteous man and his prayers where extremely effective. The custom was to give some money to charity and to write your name on a note and hand it to the Rabbi. And every year people would bring anything they could afford. One year Rabbi Levi Yitzchak announces a ruble a head. He's only giving his blessing if you give a ruble to charity, a ruble per person. One woman walks in to the Rabbi's office, she's holding a newborn. She's a widow. Beyond poor. And she says Rabbi I have only one ruble. I asked begged everything. I only could come up with one ruble. Would you please bless us.
I'm sorry says the Rabbi, a ruble per person. You must find another ruble or I can only bless either you or your child.
But Rebbe I searched everywhere, I've asked everyone. Rebbe I can't.
The rabbi replies We'll write you down for a good year. The child he's young innocent, he hasn't sinned he could go without the blessing.
The poor woman she's almost screaming Rebbe No, you don't relate to a mother's heart he's my child you must write him down. Without him I've no reason to live.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak stands up and turns to heaven, Hashem you heard this woman's words. She'll sacrifice everything for her child. Hashem we are your children, have mercy as a mother has mercy on her children.
Maybe this is what we should be saying, as we blow the shofar. G-d we are your children. You must give us a good year. A year of health, of prosperity of all that we need, treat us like your children.
And please you promised us so long ago, a world without suffering a world of peace. It has been so long. Please make this the year. That's the power of the shofar.
And there is the shofar. The power of the shofar is immense. Napoleon was attacking Russia. It was in 1812. A great Rebbe - Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin was praying for the French. Everything would be so much easier under french rule. Us Jews would be able to breathe easily. The Russians made our lives unbearable. Then there was Rabbi Shneur Zalman the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. He prayed for the Russians. "By the Russians our bodies will suffer, with the French our soul will suffer" he felt under Napoleon Jews would live freely but Judaism would not survive and he couldn't let that happen.
So in heaven they didn't know who to accede to. Two great tzaddikim, who to follow. So up there in heaven they decided that whoever blows the shofar on Rosh Hashana first that side would win. That's the power of the shofar. We can never fathom what and how far reaching the blowing of the shofar is.
Rabbi Shlomo wakes up way before dawn prepares himself for prayer at the crack of dawn he begins racing through the prayers. In no time he's up to the shofar blowing, he raises the shofar to his lips he's about to blow and he says the Litvak the Lithuanian referring to Rabbi Shneur Zalman beat me to it. Rabbi Shneur Zalman at the crack of dawn before prayers or anything took the shofar and blew. He beat Rabbi Shlomo and the Russians won. That's the power of the shofar.
And now we're about to blow the shofar and the future looks so uncertain. What's going to happen with this years Shofar blow? Are we going to make it out okay? And our family, our friends? There seems to be so much more at stake this year. Life isn't as certain anymore as it used to be.
Let us turn to Hashem, let us demand a good year. As we blow the shofar we'll tell G-d there's too much suffering A great Rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, thousands of people would come to him before the High Holidays so that he should pray for them. He was a very righteous man and his prayers where extremely effective. The custom was to give some money to charity and to write your name on a note and hand it to the Rabbi. And every year people would bring anything they could afford. One year Rabbi Levi Yitzchak announces a ruble a head. He's only giving his blessing if you give a ruble to charity, a ruble per person. One woman walks in to the Rabbi's office, she's holding a newborn. She's a widow. Beyond poor. And she says Rabbi I have only one ruble. I asked begged everything. I only could come up with one ruble. Would you please bless us.
I'm sorry says the Rabbi, a ruble per person. You must find another ruble or I can only bless either you or your child.
But Rebbe I searched everywhere, I've asked everyone. Rebbe I can't.
The rabbi replies We'll write you down for a good year. The child he's young innocent, he hasn't sinned he could go without the blessing.
The poor woman she's almost screaming Rebbe No, you don't relate to a mother's heart he's my child you must write him down. Without him I've no reason to live.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak stands up and turns to heaven, Hashem you heard this woman's words. She'll sacrifice everything for her child. Hashem we are your children, have mercy as a mother has mercy on her children.
Maybe this is what we should be saying, as we blow the shofar. G-d we are your children. You must give us a good year. A year of health, of prosperity of all that we need, treat us like your children.
And please you promised us so long ago, a world without suffering a world of peace. It has been so long. Please make this the year. That's the power of the shofar.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Royalty
Ok, it's that time of year again. It's the beginning of the year, when we focus all of our attention on crowing Hashem as our king. It is difficult for me to explain and express the meaning of G-d as a king. What is very natural and comforting to me as a student of Chasidus, seems foreign and unattractive to people who are raised in western cloture.
So here goes my annual attempt to find the words to share what is in my heart, to share that which Jewish people have been feeling for thousands of years.
There is beauty in royalty. The word king evokes negative feelings, while royalty evokes beauty. Beauty is overwhelming. When you look at the water poring down the Niagara Falls you can't pull your eyes away. I was never at the Grand Canyon, but I know that when something is awesome you loose yourself; you forget that you exist, you don’t get hungry and you don't need the bathroom, your attention is captured. You can't sleep the following nights the image keeps coming back to you.
On Rosh Hashonah we pray that Hashem be our king, we want to submit ourselves to him. But we ask that he should "Appear with the splendor of your strength onto all the inhabitants of the world" we want him to lure us with his glory. We want to be persuaded by Hashem's beauty as we say time an again in the prayers "reign over the hole world with your glory".
So here goes my annual attempt to find the words to share what is in my heart, to share that which Jewish people have been feeling for thousands of years.
There is beauty in royalty. The word king evokes negative feelings, while royalty evokes beauty. Beauty is overwhelming. When you look at the water poring down the Niagara Falls you can't pull your eyes away. I was never at the Grand Canyon, but I know that when something is awesome you loose yourself; you forget that you exist, you don’t get hungry and you don't need the bathroom, your attention is captured. You can't sleep the following nights the image keeps coming back to you.
On Rosh Hashonah we pray that Hashem be our king, we want to submit ourselves to him. But we ask that he should "Appear with the splendor of your strength onto all the inhabitants of the world" we want him to lure us with his glory. We want to be persuaded by Hashem's beauty as we say time an again in the prayers "reign over the hole world with your glory".
Friday, September 5, 2008
The life of Elul.
Chai Elul adds the life to Elul. Not growth, not elevation, but life. The addition of Chai Elul to the previous days of the month of Elul is like a breath of life to a dead object, it’s a total transformation and renewal.
The birth of a baby is awe inspiring, you look into the eyes of a baby and you know that you are staring at a miracle. You may ask: why is a baby so amazing? Don’t you see people all day? Weren’t these people babies once upon a time? When did their life loose its awesomeness?
Somehow even life itself can looses its ”life” if it is not experienced as a new burst of energy. Being alive yesterday is not enough for today. You must bring life to Elul. Discover something so revolutionary that you never felt before, then and only then are you alive.
The birth of a baby is awe inspiring, you look into the eyes of a baby and you know that you are staring at a miracle. You may ask: why is a baby so amazing? Don’t you see people all day? Weren’t these people babies once upon a time? When did their life loose its awesomeness?
Somehow even life itself can looses its ”life” if it is not experienced as a new burst of energy. Being alive yesterday is not enough for today. You must bring life to Elul. Discover something so revolutionary that you never felt before, then and only then are you alive.
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