The Weight

On a bitingly cold , snowy Midwest winter night, the two boys braved the storm and moved slowly and steadily towards their final destination.  After so many years on the road alone, the thought of the Boys Orphanage that awaited them, warmed the boys as they progressed.

Reaching their final destination, they were greeted by the kind-hearted director.  He asked, " Boys, how did you get here?"  The older one answered, " We walked."  The director asked the older boy, "How did he (the younger boy) walk the whole way?  The boy answered, "I carried him on my back"  The director wondered, "Isn't he heavy?"  The older boy explained, " Sir, He's not heavy.....He's my brother."

Sometimes we are the ones who have to do the carrying, and sometimes we need to be carried.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Leading us through the Wilderness

Man often has the inability to perceive the source of goodness in life.  As children, we aren't mature enough to appreciate what went on behind the scenes to bring us through life, relatively unscathed and functional.  Only when we are given the opportunity to raise families do we realize how many things occur behind the scenes that children are just unaware of. Nor should they be made aware lest they become burdened with an unhealthy sense of guilt at a young age.  My children don't go to sleep worrying that there will be no sandwich in their backpacks the following morning, they know it will be there.  Parents take care of children.

צדיקי אמת see every jewish person as a child.  They are doing things for us behind the scenes that we aren't even ready to grasp.  Certain צדיקים, such as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, were always packing lunch for their children.  While the history books record the events of history, the story of mankind is being driven by a mechanism much greater and deeper than we can ever understand.
 נשא את ראש בני ישראל . 




Israeli Diplomat's Teary Moment from COLlive.com on Vimeo.

כי קרן אור פניו

ויאמינו בה ובמשה עבדו 

Box of Rain

אם בחקתי תלכו

 We are all seeking the experience that can be best put as "Being in the right moment, in the right place, at the right time."  There is a magical element to time that is manifested when certain cosmic forces collide.
This is the concept of ע"שן .  Olam- space, Shanah- Time, and Nefesh- Lifeforce.  Everything that we do, has a parallel on these three levels.  Shabbos in time is Eretz Yisrael in space which is Torah study in action, as it says that a talmid chacham is the aspect of Shabbos.  So when we connect to the actions of shabbos we are bringing place person and time together.  This is the meaning of ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם , and I will send the rains at their time.  Hashem says that the reward will be that you will end up where you need to be, with what you need, when you need it.  What do we need to do in order to manifest this blessing?

אם בחקתי תלכו. If your life is turning into an existence of חקיקה, where everything is set in stone, and time seems to just be passing you by with all of the things that might have been, God is telling us, "תלכו".  Just start walking again.

אם בחקתי תלכו means to be עמל in torah.  עמל is the word מל and ע .  Eradicate the ע that negative force of the 70 nations that tells you that you have no place in this world.  The voice of the70 nations that makes you give up on your dreams of truly being able to draw out into action, how we really feel about Hashem.  This is what it means to be Amel B'torah. Shabbos=Eretz Yisral=Torah.  Shabbos, Eretz Yisrael, and Torah is the cosmic collision of perfected place, time, and lifeforce.

Becoming a הולך means to embrace יש לי כל whose acronym is ילך .  The klipah of the 70 nations takes us away from realizing what we really have, and leaves us with the emptiness of never being satisfied, and ultimately entering into despair and a state of חקיקה. 

May we all be blessed to walk directly out of any darkness that surrounds us, and recieve the blessing of understanding, and internalizing, that we are always in the right place, at the right time

Twenty Years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things that you didn't do, than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

source

ובכן צדיקים יראו וישמחו

Cold Rain and Snow

אשר קרך בדרך

 

 

The entire goal of Amalek is to turn this world into a gehenom of שלג , a  a cold purgatory where we just move through life without feeling anything or enjoying anything deeply.  Sometimes, the freeze is so deep, we can't even tell it's happening. 

The terrible thing about hell
is that when you're there you can't even tell
as you move through this life you love so
you could be there and not even know

But you say so what I'm doing just fine
the irony is that it's all in your mind
and that's why hell is so vicious and cruel
but you'll just go on an oblivious fool 

source

May we be blessed to experience the warmth of Hashem's benevolence and melt away all of the Ice that has snuffed out our fire

Into the Mystic

 

 

אלה שרקדו נחשבו למשוגעים בעיני אלה שלא לשמוע את המוזיקה

The dancers looked insane in the eyes of those who couldn't hear the music.

 

These words were Graffiti'd on the back of a seat of the number 21 bus in Jerusalem.  Sometimes you get a reminder why you live in Israel.

 

Vayikra is about hearing the voice calling out to you from the small aleph.  The one divine spark within each Jew that calls out to each person.  There are many whose entire pursuit in life is to try to hear the voice calling out.  

To try to hear the sweet music of the soul.  Those who have never heard the sound of the neshama, the music of the mystical, can't understand why certain people are dancing while others are not.

When I would talk to people about Phish shows and jam music, occassionally I would encounter the "haters"who just didn't get what all of the fuss was about.  They stood on the side lines and mocked the dancing that they saw.  It was always clear to me, that they just didn't hear the music.  

If you don't hear the music, the dancing looks like insanity.

All year, I am in pain because I just can't hear the music.  So I tell myself, " Well the music isn't really that good anyway."  Being deep, real and honest, is hard.  We all struggle to become those things.  But we shouldn't fall into the trap of convincing ourselves that those things aren't real.

May we be blessed this Purim, to allow ourselves to be free,משוחרר , to open up and dance to the music our our own small א.  The blessing on the megilla, is to hear the one voice of the megilla being read.  To listen to the megilla, the revelation of our individual אסתר of that which is concealed within us.

Sometimes, We don't have our own words.

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And then things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be as famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't
Because, sometimes they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike,
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never foget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
You're off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Source

Putting it Back Together

With Mount Sinai hovering above, Hashem places the choice before us.  

Accept the Torah, a life of redemption and spirituality, and if not, be buried where you stand.

What does this have to do with today?

שם תהא קבורתכם, You will be buried in that place.  Everyday, we are faced with a choice.  Sometimes it becomes totally clear that Hashem is real, and that there is a definite purpose to creation that we can almost taste.  This can be a terrifying moment for people who come to this realization.  We are all afraid of the unknown, unsure of how to really tranform ourselves, and afraid to fail in the effort to do so.  Yet we are all made aware at times, of the Truth.  It could come from a silent moment of contemplation, a deep niggun, a piece of torah that penetrates our core, a warm breeze.  We carry this God Awareness at all times deep inside, and occasionally, no matter where we are, it manifests itself outwardly.  This is the moment of the mountain hovering above us.  Everything is Clear.

If we retreat in fear and don't cross the line in the sand that faces us, 

שם תהא קבורתכם , a piece of you will be buried at that moment.  We will carry that brokenness around and always be affected by the   שם - where we felt something so real, but couldn't move forward with it.

Rav Nachman teaches that when a person is on a path of spiritual connection and growing closer to Torah and Hashem, they will face many "friendly faces" who seek to undermine that person's newly found conciousness.  These "Friends" (friends, parents, family)  encourage us with comments like "Live in the Real World"  "This isn't who you are"  " This isn't real".  Rav Nachman explains that anyone who does this has been at a point in their own lives where the mountain hovered over and they felt deeply what was real and what was a mirage.  At that point, they walked away.  Every person who has embraced Jewish Spiritual Torah life awakens the old pain in the person who never was able to do so.  They can't tolerate to see someone who " swallowed the blue pill" and entered the matrix.  So, they criticize and try to devalue.

We all have flashes of inspiration and realization.  The moment of acceptance is not a singular moment in time.

Hashem is giving the Torah again every day.  Meaning that each day we have the ability to summon the courage to embrace and accept that which we weren't able to previously.  Mount sinai is an unkown location because it wasn't an isolated moment in time.   Its happening right now.

Redemption can happen to a single person.  Every Jewish life is a microcosm of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, may it be built speedily in our days.  Perhaps this is the meaning of how we end the Silent Amidah every day.  The Silent Amidah is a moment of God Consciousness that we can either bring down into our lives or walk away from.  At it's conclusion we say                ושם נעבדך ביראה. And There we will serve you.  We are recognizing that we can get back to the ושם of שם תהא קבורתכם,  The place where we once walked away from, that we have been silently crying over for all of these year, and we can fix it.

May we be blessed with the courage to embrace our destiny, live according to our inner awareness, and together merit the fulfillment of the prayer

שיבנה בית המקדש במהרה בימינו ותן חלקינו בתורתך ושם נעבדך ביראה.

Surrender to The Flow

Fear is a paralyzing force.  Being uncertain about the future doesn't mean being afraid.  Certainty about future events can't be the recipe for happiness.  שמחת החיים comes from a certainty that although we don't "Know" what will happen, we "Know" that we will be able to deal with it.

In the דרשות הרן it is explained that the sea split with every step that עם ישראל took.  The Sea did not split all at once.  Every step in life that we take forward the next step still remains uncertain.  Crossing through the sea means overcoming Fear.  The walls of the Sea were made of Ice.  Ice is a result of צמצום or constriction.  The properties of Water become constricted and frozen.  Water loses its ability to nourish and give life without heat.' נפשינו חכתה לה has the beggining letters נחל , a stream.  The soul needs to flow.  Fear prevents flow.

May we be blessed with the strength to walk fearlessly through the waters of uncertainty and confusion that we may face.

 

Rav Itche Meir at The Rebbe's Ohel

IS IT PURIM YET?

Z"YA

 

 

 

 

 

כן תהיה לנו

Fixing

There was an error in an earlier post called Brokedown Palaces that needed correction. 
Vhameivin, Yavin.