Isralight

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Bo

January 22, 2021January 22, 2021 by admin Comment Closed

It had been a really long day, at the end of a really long week. We were in the middle of Infantry officers’ training course and we had spent the entire week learning and practicing military maneuvers in the field. Physically and emotionally exhausted, at some points it had seemed the week would never end. But time marches on and Thursday had finally come and gone. The sun was setting and as we were getting out for Shabbat we knew the routine by now; soon we would be called to assemble in a large U shaped formation with all our gear on our backs and trucks would come to take us back to the main base camp where we could finally get a hot shower and prepare for the weekend pass in the morning …. I could taste freedom even as the sun set that Thursday night. Sure enough, our commanders told us to assemble and you could feel as...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 14, 2021 by admin Comment Closed

Where is G-d, the Miracle Maker? People often say, “If there is really a G-d, why doesn’t He do outright miracles anymore? I would believe in G-d if I saw the ten plagues in Egypt, the sea split or some other supernatural event.” In the past, G-d did miracles in order to prevent some terrible tragedy from happening. G-d overruled the laws of nature to keep the story going—otherwise, it would have ended. But this type of intervention is not the ideal way that G-d wants to act. G-d prefers not to do miracles. He only does them when there is no other way to teach us about His control of nature. People do not really change by witnessing a miracle. Of course, at first they are strongly moved and seem to change. But the awe quickly wears off, and they return to their old ways. We see this human pattern many times in the stories of the Torah. The Israelites witnessed the...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Vae’ra

January 14, 2021 by admin Comment Closed

Are we here because we have made the right choices, or have all the right choices really been made for us? It was meant to be a routine patrol which, but for this incident, would long have been forgotten. We were on reserve duty during the Intifada (the original Intifada, back in 89’) doing a jeep patrol in a small Arab village called Azun. The three of us represented a standard cross- section of Israeli society: Shimon Kachlon, a bank- teller, Rami, an electrician who worked for Bezek (Israel’s phone company), and me, a teacher. It has always been my custom to say the special prayer for the journey (Tefillat Ha’Derech) before every patrol, and this one was no exception. Though both Rami and Kachlon defined themselves as secular Jews (assuming a person wearing an Israeli army uniform can ever be secular), both instinctively covered their heads with their hands as I intoned the traditional prayer. We had been on...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 7, 2021January 7, 2021 by admin Comment Closed

Identity Crisis is a Gift: Awakening to the Role and Goal of Your Soul Kirk Douglas, z"l, the actor, once told me that when people compliment him on a performance, they often tell him how great he was at losing himself in the part. "You just became Vincent Van Gogh! You were so wonderful." And he answers, "No, you lost yourself in the part. I can't afford to lose myself in the part. I have to pay attention to the director, to the cues. I have to hit the mark just right so the action is in the camera frame. I must stay aware that I am an actor playing a role." A good actor plays his part, but he doesn't get lost in his part. He can't even begin to think he is the character he is playing. On the other hand, he still embraces that role with a tremendous amount of love and gives everything he's got to play...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Shemot

January 7, 2021January 7, 2021 by admin Comment Closed

It is more than twenty years now, and yet it seems like yesterday. There are moments you can taste, even smell, forever. Forty yards, or perhaps it was only thirty? Time has a way of coloring the details. We had come under heavy fire, and we were doing everything right; by the book. The force was split up and the cover position was already in place laying down heavy suppressing fire, while we moved into place to charge their position. Six of us, trained and experienced, we were running in a straight line up the hill. In such moments, you discover whether all the training had really been worth it. In the movies, they always make it seem like the officer is a hero, cool under fire, and wise enough to know exactly what to do. But in reality, the training just takes over. It isn’t bravery, nor is it that the officer is gifted enough to know exactly what...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

December 31, 2020 by admin Comment Closed

To Pray the Jewish Way At first glance prayer seems to be about whining and begging G-d, "Please heal this person ... please bring me my soul-mate ... please help my business, etc." One could mistakenly think that G-d is holding out on us and gets pleasure watching us grovel. When we are faced with some very serious problems, it is customary to ask others to join together in our prayers. What is that all about? It seems as if we hope to move G-d through force: "G-d, if you don't respond to my prayers, then I will recruit through the e-mail thousands of others to pray." Do we think these strategies really work? What are we actually doing here? If G-d is all knowing then why am I telling Him my problems? He already knows them. If G-d is good then why am I asking for Him to change my situation? Obviously whatever happens to me is for my best and I...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Vayechi

December 31, 2020 by admin Comment Closed

Of all the unexpected visitors I have ever received, none even come close to the surprise I got in the summer of 94'. I was teaching a course on Jewish values deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania, at a camp called Moshava, near Indian Orchard. We were in the middle of an intense discussion on Jewish ethics, when I noticed three fellows standing at the entrance to the lodge. Their features were far- eastern; Chinese, it seemed, and they were standing patiently at the door, taking it all in. You must understand, we were really in the middle of nowhere. The group of teenagers sitting before me was part of a very special group of kids who had been chosen to join a Jewish experience away from all the hustle of computers and cell- phones, television and stereos. I couldn't imagine how these three fellows had ended up here, especially as they looked like tourists. "Where are you from?" I asked. "We come from...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

December 24, 2020 by admin Comment Closed

What You See Is What You Get "Daddy, where is G-d?" "Son, wherever you let Him in." — Attributed to Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz How do we open our souls' eyes to let G-d in? The Kabbalah says, "There is no king without a nation." This point requires deep exploration. It may make sense that, in the human world, a king is dependent on having subjects who acknowledge his sovereignty. The last Emperor of China ceased to be emperor when there were no longer people who bowed when he entered the room. Even after the Communist government had exiled him, as long as people recognized him and acknowledged him as their sovereign, he was, in a very real sense, still a king, albeit without the power to rule. But G-d is reality, so how can G-d be dependent on human acknowledgment. The world that you and I live in is a product of our perception of reality. The philosopher Immanuel Kant probed this concept. He...

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Vayigash

December 24, 2020 by admin Comment Closed

There is an oft repeated quote, attributed to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is to perform the same experiment over and over again, expecting different results” In order to achieve different results, one has to at least change a significant component in the experiment. And if we have not yet achieved the results we seek, it means there is still work to be done. David Allen in his book Getting things done defines work as: “Anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is” To change our current reality then, we need a different system; we need to change the experiment or the process. It is interesting to note therefore, that Maimonides, in his Hilchot Teshuva (Laws of Repentance 2:1) suggests that the accomplishment of real change can only be assured when the circumstances are exactly the same! The Rambam (Maimonides) suggests that one can only be certain he or she has succeeded in letting go of past mistakes and negative...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

December 17, 2020 by admin Comment Closed

Funny. You Don't Look Religious Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat I once was hired to organize educational programs for a large Jewish youth group in the United States. To overcome any possible stigmas associated with the word "rabbi" and to encourage the kids to relate to me without preconceived notions, I asked the executives to introduce me as just David Aaron, not as Rabbi David Aaron. They respected my request, but I was dismayed to read in their newsletter the following announcement: "We want to welcome a new member to our staff: David Aaron, our Judaism specialist." This sounded even worse! It made Judaism sound like a rare disease. Don't we go to specialists when we have a problem our general practitioner cannot treat? What do you do with a Judaism specialist? Do you come to him and say, "I've got this problem with Jewish guilt. Do you have a cure, Judaism specialist?" I was in trouble before I even started. I didn't want...

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