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(click here for print version) Why is life so difficult? Making Peace with Our Battle In this week's portion, Jacob asks for peace and relaxation but G-d had another plan. "Jacob settled (down) in the land of his father's dwellings, in the Land of Caanan" ~~Genesis (37:1) The commentary Rashi explains: "Jacob wanted to settle down in tranquility but then the ordeal of his son Joseph (sale into slavery) fell upon him. The righteous seek to dwell in tranquility but G-d says 'Is it not enough for the righteous what has been prepared for them (reward) in the World to Come that they need to seek tranquillity also in this world!'" Why is life so difficult? Some people turn to G-d and religion, hoping to find refuge from all the turbulence of life, from doubt, from inner conflicts and mental turmoil. They want instant inner peace, spiritual contentment, and tranquillity for their troubled souls. According to Kabbalah, that is not the purpose of life on earth. In fact,...

(click here for print version) A Weekly Byte... from Isralight (Vayeshev) Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality From Rav Binny Compromise: such a challenging word; ranging from the very noble, to the very na...

(click here for print version) Real Love Means Embracing Conflict The Secret of Jacob The Torah (Bible) teaches us that Jacob went to the house Laban, his uncle, and dwelt there for many years. He married Rachel and Leah, Laban's daughters, and had eleven sons there. After years of struggling with Laban constantly deceiving him he finally left to return home and face Esau who hated him. In the middle of the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two handmaids and his eleven sons, and sent them across the Jabbok River shallows. After he had taken them and sent them across, he also sent across his possessions. Jacob alone remained on the other side of the river. It was there that the famous "stranger" appeared and wrestled with him until just before daybreak: When the stranger saw that he could not defeat him, he touched the upper joint of Jacob's thigh. Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with...

(click here for print version) Cold. So cold it cuts through the rags that were once clothes, straight to the bone. There was a time this cold so occupied your very being, that you could concentrate on nothing else. But that was long ago. Darkness. So dark it sometimes seems more than the mere absence of light; it feels almost tangible. You vaguely recall a time when you were obsessed with determining exactly where you were, pacing in the darkness to examine your environs. You figured out you were in some sort of a concrete cell, perhaps six feet square, but not much more than that. You used to wonder what color the walls were, never having been allowed to see them, but that curiosity has long ago been replaced with more basic needs. Something scurries across the stone floor, running across your bare foot. There was a time your screams would then echo into the darkness, but you no longer...

(click here for print version) The Secret to Happiness If you think religion is going to give you a quick fix you are wrong. And if you think that religion will put you on easy street you are deluded. Very often religion is presented as offering the secret to ultimate happiness. I have heard religious leaders try to entice people towards a religious lifestyle promising them that through the synagogue or the church they will find happiness and bliss. This approach is really no different than any other marketing strategies. People want to be happy and are looking for the magic formula. Marketers bombard us daily with promises for a better life. Blondes have more fun, toothpaste gives your mouth sex appeal, lose weight and feel great. It is too easy to point to a million things that we are missing that are the cause of our unhappiness. People think that all they need is the more and the right. If only I...

(click here for print version) When I was in Officer...

(click here for print version) The Torah tells us that one day when Esau came home from being out in the field hunting, he saw his brother Jacob cooking a red potage, and said to him, ...

(click here for print version) Sometimes, if you aren...

(click here for print version) Making Every Day Count The Key to Making Life Worth Living One day as I was waiting for a friend, an old woman sits down next to me. Suddenly she jumps out of her seat, turns to me and yells, "I should have never left Mexico!" I look at her and ask, "When did you leave Mexico?" "Thirty years ago!" she cries. "And I regret it every single day of my life!" You would think that after 30 years a person would finally get used to where they were. But people often live in the past. One of my students, age 28, told me that his father insulted him when he was age 12 and till this day he continues to feel hurt and angry. I explained to him that although his father hurt him when he was twelve he has allowed his father to continue to hurt him for another sixteen years by holding on to the pain and constantly...

(click here for print version) His eyes haunt me; looking out as they do from a picture taken over seventy years ago. Just one drop of one story amongst a sea of pain. His name was Martin Stiebel, and his picture is one of many that hang on display in the museum at Dachau, the Nazi regime...