Sick Minds, Sick Bodies
The power of our beliefs to heal or harm
The Jewish Sages gave a spiritual rather than physiological explanation for the disease tsara'as (generally translated as "leprosy") which affected not only the body but also clothing and the walls of houses. According to one source several sins could possible be the cause:
R. Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of R. Yochanan: Because of seven things the plague of leprosy is incurred, namely, slander, the shedding of blood, a vain oath, incest, arrogance, robbery and envy. (Arakhin 16a)
However, most Sages concur that the main cause for tsara'as was slander and gossip.
HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICAL IMPACT OF OUR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL ACTIONS?
The Kabbalah teaches that the world you and I live in is a product of our perception of reality. The philosopher Immanuel Kant probed this concept. He asked: Do we see reality or do we see our perception of reality? Kant's answer is that we do...
The Klausenberger Rebbe is quoted as suggesting: ‘When you are in a place of darkness, you do not chase away the darkness with a broom. You light a candle.’
May this Torah serve as one more candle to help illuminate the darkness.
Any serious student of history will recognize that there are moments, all too rare, when a door stands open, waiting for a person, a people, or even the entire world to walk through, and change life as we know it, forever. Such a moment came and went in 1967, when the paratroopers, on the wings of eagles, stormed the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
There was a magic in the air that day, an indescribable feeling. It was as if anything was possible, and dreams could really come true. After two thousand years of dreaming and crying, longing, and waiting, a people who had never let go of a dream, were finally coming home.
A friend of mine, who was...
“Nachash Tzefah; Nachash Tzefah.” I remember it like it was yesterday: it was nearly 2AM, and the phone was ringing. I picked it up and was surprised to hear it was my father calling me from America.
“Are you all right?” he asked, and I didn’t understand what on earth he was doing, calling us at 2 o’ clock in the morning; much less what he was concerned with.
“Of course I’m all right, why wouldn’t I be all right?”
And then everything changed, forever. He had heard on CNN that Iraq had launched a scud missile, which had fallen somewhere in Israel. He was more updated than I. As he was explaining what the news had said, the sirens went off, and I dropped the phone to wake up my wife and then one-year old eldest daughter, and rush them into our sealed room, as the code words for an Iraqi missile attack came blaring over the radio.
I can remember the...
SOUL-UTIONS TO PAIN
The archetypical story about pain is recorded in the book of Job, who experiences horrible tribulations. Job's friends try to give him answers to explain his pain, but Job is not satisfied with any of their answers. In the end, G-d Himself speaks to Job and gives him resolve.
Job's friends tell him that there is no such thing as pain without justice. This means that when a person goes through pain it is simply the fulfillment of justice. Pain is not haphazard or accidental. In some way-even if we cannot possibly fathom why-we have deserved our pain. But Job does not accept this answer.
Maimonides, the great Torah sage known as the Rambam, says that this answer is actually the true position of Jewish tradition. In fact, when the Rambam discusses the meaning of "pain" or "suffering," he quotes the verse in the book of Job recording the answer of Job's friend who said that there is no pain...
(reprinted from 2015)
Thirty years; a long time; a generation. Last week we came together from all over the country, to remember.
Thirty years have passed since Dani Moshitz, David (Didi) Cohen and Baruch Stern fell in Lebanon in 1985, and we came together with their families to let them know we had not forgotten. Comforting on the one hand, and yet painful on the other; Dani and Didi will remain 20 years old forever, while we have moved on, with children and some of us even with grandchildren….
Many of the men (were they men then?) who served together at the Milano position where they were based, came in to pay tribute and to share their memories. Some were like old photographs I had seen many times; taken out and shared again. But some were new, things I had never heard. And one caught me by surprise.
It was Erev Pesach (the eve of Passover) and Baruch Stern was supposed to be getting...
Stand Up and Be Counted
How to let your self be loved.
“The LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: "Take a census of the whole community of Israel by their families and households, listing every man by name, one by one.”
~~ Numbers 1:1-2
Because of His [G-d's] love He counts them
~~Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (RASHI) (1040- 1105)
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a Torah Scholar and song composer of the 20th century, would often do concerts in prisons. He would greet all the prisoners in their cells, even the most harden criminals, give them each a big loving hug and invite them to join him for his concert in the prison. One time after a concert, as he was on his way out from the prison, one of the prisoners, a tough looking guy, runs after...
A story is told of a Jewish man who was riding on the subway reading a newspaper of the Klu Klux Klan. A friend of his, who happened to be riding in the same subway car, noticed this strange phenomenon. Very upset, he approached the newspaper reader, "Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading a Klu Klux Klan newspaper?"
Moshe replied: "I used to read the Jewish newspaper, but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Jews living in poverty. So I switched to the Klu Klux Klan newspaper. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, and Jews rule the world. The news is so much better!”
Sometimes, it seems life is all about perspective.
Some time ago, I received the following via e-mail:
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year...
Bonding or Bondage
Why Serve the Divine?
“For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants who I took out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord G- d.” ~~ Leviticus 25:55
There is an Eastern teaching that proclaims, “Be here and now.” Torah however would say, “Serve G-d here and now.” Indeed, this is the fullest experience of life.
The Kabbalah teaches that G-d wants to be present in the here and now, and our job is to serve G-d in that desire. Therefore, to serve G-d means to infuse each moment with the presence of G-d. In other words, I must always ask myself, “How can I serve G- d right now?”
If right now I am with my friend, spouse or child, I should see this moment as an opportunity to show him/her love and thus serve G-d, who is the source of all love. It’s not my love. I didn’t invent love. I didn’t...
Having only recently completed their basic training, they’d been in the army for only eight months, but on the books they were paratroopers, members of the elite 202nd battalion, and this night, finally was their time to be tested.
The youngest of the units sent in to clean out one of the toughest neighborhoods of Beirut, they were supposed to be the back-up unit, there to reinforce the more experienced combat veterans moving in ahead of them.
Sabra and Shatila, as yet two relatively unknown refugee camps in Lebanon, had become infested with units of the PLO, and the mission of the 202nd on this night was to take the battle to the enemy, and root out terrorist enclaves, preventing further infiltrations into Israel against Israeli civilians in the North.
They weren’t supposed to be involved in any heavy fighting, as they were still too new to this deadly game; there were more experienced troops ahead of them who were...
Dating the Divine
Celebrating love
“These are the appointed holidays of G-d, holy convocations, which you are to proclaim in their appointed times.” — Lev. 23.4
Henny Youngman, the comedian, once said, "I tried being an atheist, but I gave it up. There were no holidays."
What is a holiday really about? Is it the same as a vacation?
A vacation is a time to vacate, but a holiday is a time to celebrate.
To vacate means to take off, get away from the everyday and clear yourself out from the tensions and challenges of the daily grind. Perhaps you'll suntan on a beach, play golf or catch a good concert.
A holiday, however, is a holy day. It is not an escape from everyday life to paradise. Rather, it is a time to infuse paradise into the everyday. This is the power of celebration. My guess is that the word celebrate connects to the word celestial. And from a Jewish perspective that would make sense,...
