Just another blah blah post

It's now Erev Shabbat here and we are gearing up for another heatwave. Most of my fellow congregants will be sweating in their jackets and ties. I refuse, and will don a short sleeve shirt and some trousers.

Ive nothing big to say, which is the major reason why I havent been good at blogging constantly. I dont have Rebbe Lazer Brody's gift for bringing anything that is important and readable every day, so I will just drone on until Hashem graces me with a great story.

One thing, I noticed in my city of Baltimore, I was disgusted to see in the free newspaper boxes a paper with a big ugly giro and the words PIG OUT written in big bold red letters.

This is Eisav (Esau) saying Pour that red red thing down my throat! Nevertheless there is a bright side....if the culture is so disgustingly low today, then Moshiach will definitely come to put things right.

Meanwhile, I did some hitbodedut during lunch time and came in to the office dripping with sweat. Looking forward to next week when it should get back into the 80's.

When I get my act together, I hope to get some baby pictures up.

Meanwhile Shabbat Shalom!

After Tisha b'Av

Ah, it's the day after Tisha b'Av. My break-fast last night got rid of my throbbing headache, and I started to feel more like a human being again.

Anyway, we need to reflect on what we went through yesterday. I and all of us need to be more tolerant when relating to our fellow Jews. Sure it sounds nice from the pulpit, however what will happen when it's hot, Im tired from work, and I need to do some last minute Shabbat shopping at the local kosher mart?

People darting around, cars cutting corners, speedy dashes to the exit, Jews blocking my way with their carts, while their little kinderlach dart hither and thither?

Yeah, have to quieten that Nazi inside me that says "Those silly people, dont they know how to shop in a civilized way?"

This is what we fast for, so we can overcome our arrogance and our burning desire to be the king and have everybody get out of the way for me!

May Hashem help me and all of us as we prepare for Ellul and Rosh Hashanah.

Building Emunah

Many times, we wonder why things happen to us. We have no clue what the answer may be. For a massive example, we will never be able to comprehend the Holocaust, no matter what terutzim and "proofs" we come up with. That question will only be answered when Moshiach comes, speedily with our days.

There are also other little questions that we have no answers to. Questions like:

1. Why does Yankel have a skin disease? He learns and is very kind. What has he done to deserve this?

2. I want to visit Sarah at the hospital. I have only 3 hours to do this mitzvah before I have to work. There is a traffic jam, and thus I am unable to visit her.

3. The boss is acting strange to Richard, despite countless hours of dedication to his job, the boss decides to promote Tom, who spends too much time chatting with co-workers and is obnoxious around the office.

WHY?

Hashem has 2 systems in which we need to relate to him: deah(knowledge) and emunah(faith).

In a deah system, we know and understand clearly the reason why Hashem is doing a certain thing. For example we saw Hashem take us out of Egypt thousands of years ago. We know that if I go to work and do what I have to do, I will get my paycheck. If not, then face consequences!

However, we also were put into this world to develop emunah (faith) in Hashem. Emunah only can be developed when the brain kicks out, and says "This does NOT make sense!"

When things dont make sense then our job is to say "This is for the good. I dont know why, and I dont know if I will ever learn it for a while. Therefore, I must stop trying to figure out what's the deal here....and realize that it's for the best."

Stories abound about deah coming out of an emunah situation. The classic one is the guy who misses his plane and thus a key business opportunity where he could make millions of dollars. 2 days later, he finds the plane has crashed in the middle of the ocean leaving no survivors. Before the crash, he had to rely on emunah to see it for the best, and now he has deah post-crash.

Obviously this doesnt answer the horrible question of why the other people had to die and he survive. Or why some people survived the holocaust and a few escaped. That is in the Emunah realm!!!!

Our job is to

1. Use deah when we know the answer.

2. Use emunah in the rest of the 99% situations that Hashem gives to us where we have no solutions.

Use these situations to build emunah, and have faith that Hashem will give us the answer when it's the right time!

Unburied Treasure - Overcoming your natural language!

I just heard a most amazing shiur by Rabbi Michalowicz (the Rav of the Westmount Shul and Learning Centre of Thorn Hill, Toronto) on why it is soooo hard to keep Torah and Judaism. It blew my socks away!

You can find his classes here:http://www.westmountroutes.com/classreview.html

The class this post is based upon is Class 19 (Mother Languages of the Body and the Soul) on this page: http://www.westmountroutes.com/Mesilas%20Yesharim.html. It is based on the Mesilat Yesharim with the Bilvavi's commentary.

I highly recommend you listen to it!

To start, why is Judaism so hard? Why dont I need a Rebbe to teach me how to eat, sleep, and go to work. However I do need one to constantly remind me to learn Talmud, to control my anger, and to watch my diet?

Have you ever tried to learn a new language? I sure have! It's so hard to think, to feel, and to behave using the new language, things that come natural when you talk in your native language.

I vividly remember the frustration and pain of learning Hebrew (and I still cant understand how to listen to Israelis speaking!) I tried listening to tapes, to understand what the morah (ulpan teacher) was trying to say, but I couldnt get it! Nothing penetrated!

When I tried speaking in Hebrew to people, it was very hard to colour in my thoughts to the new language. After about 2-5 mins, the conversation reverted naturally back to English, or I forced it back to English, or else I tried to kill the conversation as quickly and politely as I could.

Well, it's the same with Judaism. Our Mama Loshen (Mother language) is the language of the Physical World. The Spiritual Language is a second language to us!

For example, Shabbat - Rabbi Michalowicz describes it so beautifully. We love the food, the sleeping, and the conversation. We go to a quick minyan close to home as possible, rush through the services (Im guilty!) and go home, run through Shalom Aleichem and Eishet Chayil, and then we eat and eat and eat! Oh yes, we talk about Obama, politics (so much fun) Paul the Octopus, the World Cup, and say/get familiar with the latest loshon hora tidbits about the Rabbi, how he is so extreme, and that the chazzan sings out of tune and is only up there to be the star.

Mama Loshen!

However deep within us is our Neshamah, our soul. What we forget is that this Neshamah has a mother language of it's own. It's mother language is to be kind, think about other people, to learn Torah, to daven with passion and intensity, to think before making a decision. You get the picture.

The mistake that we have been making for the past 2,000 years is that we are trying to keep Judaism by forcing our bodies to give up their mother language! To force them into shul and learn Torah, pray, diet, etc! Naturally a rebellion is staged with the victory of the body!

However all we really need to do is grab a good ol' shovel, and start digging. Enjoy the body, enjoy the food, try to learn Torah, try to be kind....keeping the status quo you have been living for now.....with one addition: Find some time in your day, get the spade and dig for the ultimate treasure.....your Neshamah.

Once you uncover your Neshamah, you suddenly become fluent in the Mama Loshen you knew all along, and all of a sudden, it's much much easier and fun to be in Shul than to be eating!

Im not there yet....however I plan to spend less time worrying and more time digging for the Neshamah!

When many Jews find the Neshamah they had within them all the time, then Moshiach will definitely come!

Hatzlachah!

A new beginning

Hello,

It's been 2 years since I added anything on this blog, so I hope to get things rolling again. In the meantime, I had a new baby girl and hope to add pictures of her to this blog, plus some movies as well.

I also apologize for all the blank pictures out there. I guess things change in 2 years and files get lost as time marches on.

Anyway, I pray that this time, I can fulfill the mitzvah of marbiz HaTorah as best as I can!

Cheers!

Ebay

Recently, I have just started to use ebay to get rid of all stuff I do not need.
You see I have all this stuff that is just taking up room in the flat, and it is too expensive and precious to just chuck into the landfill.

I realize that ebay is a perfect proof that 'one guy's trash is another guy's treasure'.

I also use this as a way to practice how to do business with integrity. It is so hard to resist glancing at the bidding right at the final crucial end of the bid to see if my Tony Robbins CD's have gone up in price.

Things that I thought were not very valuable turned out to be far more valuable than I thought!

Nevertheless, as beautiful a tool ebay is, it has major pitfalls. For starters, you have to say the truth and mention all the scratches, dings, and blemishes in the object you're trying to sell. This can come back to haunt you later if your ebay ratings plummet! More serious is that you fail the crucial test of 'Did you do your business deals with integrity?'

Finally, when all is said and done, the stark fact that our stipends are decreed on Rosh Hashannah hold true even with ebay. That means that all our money, whether it comes from the job paycheck, ebay, multi level marketing (NOT RECOMMENDED), rental property, stocks and other financial instruments - ALL THAT is determined on Rosh Hashanah!

So it's exciting to see how the bids turned out, YET we have to remember that Hashem decreed that money for us anyway, and if we wont get it on ebay, then we'll get it in a birthday present, a tax break, or a holiday bonus - or finding the same amount of money on the street (and there's no return address or clues to return the money to)

Chag sameach!

Im back with a new movie!

wowzers! It's been since Chanukah since I last entered the blogosphere!
Shame on me! Well I need to get back into business - well Pesach is coming and I have a real nice 3 minute clip I got from Aish.com on Pesach. Enjoy it, it's only 3 minutes and well worth the time to view.

Hope to see you soon!
Cheers!
Robert