Isralight Blog – Page 83

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 24, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

The Nourishing Power of Love Is Your Food Missing Vitamin L? When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, G-d fed them with a hitherto unknown substance called “manna.” The people would go out of their tents every morning, and find this strange stuff lying there on the ground. G-d tells the Israelites: “I fed you manna -- something that neither you nor your fathers knew what it was -- so that you should know that not by bread alone does a person live, but by all that comes from the mouth of G-d.” Why did it have to be something unfamiliar? What would have happened if the Israelites would have woken up in the morning and found bagels all over the place? Imagine being in the middle of the Sinai desert, and every morning appear these bagels, sliced in the middle, with two centimeters of cream cheese and lox. Now that would be a Jewish experience! Why did it have to be...

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

January 24, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

One of the saddest stories I ever heard was from a Holocaust survivor many years ago who would say Kaddish on the tenth of Tevet every year, in the shul I grew up in as a boy. He was given the privilege of leading the services on that day and for a long time I thought he just had a Yahrtzeit (the anniversary of the death of a loved one…) on the tenth of Tevet. Until one year when I found out he said Kaddish for his whole family on this day because he never found out the exact day of their deaths; the tenth of Tevet is the day chosen to remember those whose exact date of death is not known. One year he spoke on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) in the Synagogue’s Hebrew School and I went to hear him speak. It transpired that he had escaped the Warsaw ghetto by hiding under a pile of dirty uniforms being...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 18, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

The Miraculous Power of Love The first of the Ten Commandments is: “I am YHVH your G-d Who took you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” The Zohar, the magnum corpus of Jewish mysticism, explains: “This is the foundation and the root of Torah, all the commandments, and the complete faith of Israel”. Thus, the Exodus is the seminal event of the Jewish calendar and of daily Jewish consciousness. Although the obvious theme of the holiday is freedom it is commonly referred to as Passover. Wouldn’t “the Holiday of Freedom” or the “Exodus” be more appropriate? Jewish tradition teaches that it is so named because G-d passed over the houses of the Jews when He caused the death of the first born of the Egyptians during the tenth plague. This disturbing image of G-d, hopping and skipping over the Jews’ homes, is also hinted at in the Song of Songs, which is read on Passover: “Behold the voice of my...

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

January 18, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

In 1925, the American Astronomer Edwin Hubble demonstrated (as an extension of Vesto Slipher’s discovery in 1918) that the Universe was actually not static; it was expanding: every galaxy in the observable proximity of earth (as far as 6 x 1017 miles away) was actually receding at the same rate of speed. This, along with other discoveries, gave rise to the big bang theory: that the entire universe had once been contained in a singularity, a single dot that sat for an eternity in space before it exploded. Many, including Einstein, resisted the idea of a non-static universe as it implied a beginning and a supernatural external force that caused the big bang, but eventually, even Einstein had to admit a static universe was no longer likely. Indeed, the death knell of the static universe theory may have been Penzias and Wilson’s discovery (for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965) of the frequency of sound which was the...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 10, 2018 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 Va’era

January 10, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

I recall an incredible series of coincidences that to me were nothing short of miraculous. A student had been desperate to speak with me, and we finally managed to connect in New York the day before I was scheduled to return to Israel. There was a woman who had been going through a very difficult time for nearly eight years, as her husband had left her, but could not be found, leaving her unable to receive a ‘Get’ (a traditional Jewish divorce document). Such a woman is known in Jewish tradition as an Agunah, literally chained in her terrible set of circumstances, unable to remarry until she manages to gain a proper Jewish divorce. Jewish tradition considers efforts to free a woman of such circumstances a mitzvah of the highest order, so naturally I said would do everything I could, though having no idea how I would be able to make any headway under the circumstances. The husband was living...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

Identity Crisis is a Gift: Awakening to the Role and Goal of Your Soul Kirk Douglas, 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 his...

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

January 4, 2018 by admin Comment Closed

They were on their honeymoon, trekking the Himalayas in Nepal, as far from the stresses and challenges of life at home as one could imagine. He was a battalion commander in the armored corps, and after years serving in the IDF he had finally taken leave to get married and spend some time away, far from the rigors and dangers of the battlefield. A decorated officer who had distinguished himself in the Six Day War (in 1967), crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt, life had finally given him the chance to take a break. Israel was still riding high on the euphoria of the lighting victory of 1967, when in six days Israel stunned the world, overcoming four Arab armies several times the size of the Israeli forces and more than doubling the size of the country. With his battalion left in good hands, his troops well trained, and Israel’s borders secured, Yossi Ben Chanan had earned a respite and...

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

December 28, 2017 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 28, 2017December 28, 2017 by admin Comment Closed

Some time ago I had the privilege of meeting a World War II veteran with a fascinating story to share: Born in Germany, he was lucky enough to be born to parents who saw the writing on the wall, and sent him away for High School to boarding school in England. Visits home, while full of the wonderful memories of family and home cooking, were also filled with tension, as he watched Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, along with the Nazi impositions on Jews and Jewish living. Eventually, his family succeeded in getting out, and he wound up a young Jewish immigrant with a German accent in America. As World War II grew into a worldwide conflagration, and the storm clouds of conflict approached America’s shores, Victor, (we’ll call him), succeeded in enrolling in a prestigious Ivy-League University. He was eventually drafted into the U.S. Army. As a college student he’d succeeded in being part of a special technical program in engineering,...

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