A National Collapse--Who's to Blame?

One thing after another, tragedy after tragedy: the ravages of Covid, Hamas rockets in Israel, a fatal stampede in Israel, a bleacher collapse in Israel, a crashing cable car with Israeli casualties, escalating anti-Semitism and now a building implodes in Florida with many Jewish casualties and fatalities inside. I see a string of events that are shaped like a noose, and my fellow Jews, our neck is the guest of dishonor.  (Watch this on YouTube or listen on SoundCloud)

We are all heartsick over the Surfside collapse. Glued to the television, I keep hearing the phrase, “Search and rescue.” With all my heart, I am praying for more miracles than we as a nation deserve. But, before the noose constricts even further, I implore all my fellow Jews to initiate a personal search and rescue right now. Look for the dying Jew inside of you and rescue him before it is too late. Whatever conspiracy theory we are harboring about this current catastrophe, there is one certainty with no shadows around its veracity: the Torah. When we violate it, G-d tells us He will pound us. How much more dust and ashes do we need to witness before we believe Him?

The tripartite scaffold that holds up the entire world, never mind bleachers and buildings, is Torah, prayer, and loving-kindness (with its parameters defined by the Torah). Let’s be raw and real here and let me bridge the stretch you think I’m making. If people would be honest and keep the commandments, then they wouldn’t take bribes, building inspectors wouldn’t close their eyes when codes are violated, and developers wouldn’t take risks for profit that could kill people. And that is just the practical aspect of keeping G-d’s laws. Then there is Divine intervention with which one well-placed nail could keep a house standing—look at Israel. A country surrounded by enemies, the UN, etc., with zero chance of survival by any logical means, yet she thrives and survives. "I'd believe in G-d," you say, "if I saw a miracle." Well look at Israel—there’s your miracle.

We must begin “search and rescue” now and stop waiting for tragedies to ask, “What does God want from us?” He has already told us. He has given us His Book filled with directives. It’s there in black and white. Yet, we are more inclined to believe the print in the National Enquirer than G-d’s own word for He and all His rules are such an inconvenience; there must be a quicker fix to happiness and good fortune than that burdensome Book. Yet all those quick fixes, those golden calves, are destroying us.

As we watch this horror unfold and dread the passing of hours with not enough people being found alive, we call for community prayer. Why? Because we believe that we can help each other in that intangible realm of existence where the Almighty hears us and cares what we say and do. Let’s hold that truth close everyday as we acknowledge that what we do matters to Him and that we are all responsible for one another: Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh La Zeh. If our words and prayers have the power to save lives, how much more so our deeds.

In this week’s Torah reading we see how King Balak sought out Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. But Bilaam was unable to curse them. Why? Because the Jewish nation was behaving properly.  “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel.” The Israelites left no void or crevice for curses to sneak in like an open wound accommodating infection. They were impervious to any harm because they didn’t open the door to Satan with such insipid questions as, “What does G-d want from us?” As such, those who cursed them would be cursed, and the haters would drown in the deep end of their own hate. I will never forget the complaint of a disappointed Hamas member who said, “Their G-d changes the paths of our rockets in mid-air.”

Kabbalists teach that each act we do creates an angel--either one that serves as our advocate or as our prosecutor, depending on our deed or misdeed. And so, the question is:  What kind of army of angels are you building for yourself and our nation, good ones or bad ones? When threat comes your way, will your own army deservingly stab you in the back or will it stand as a loyal protector for you, your family and our nation, and escort us safely from strength to strength? The irony doesn’t escape me that rockets bomb Tel Aviv and a building filled with Jews collapses in Florida. My friends, Torah is the Iron Dome. And as sugary-sweet as we think we all are, until we do what G-d wants, we are not safe anywhere.

                                                                                               Shabbat Shalom! 

Do You Walk Like a Loser?

 

“There is an old adage which says, “Man plans, and God laughs.” Despite our best efforts and sometimes extreme manipulations to direct and control our life’s course, only the Almighty knows all the hurdles and twists and turns our journey will take. For most of us, our life’s destination scarcely resembles the idyllic imaginings we’ve conjured in our youth as if life was a travel brochure and all stops along the way were meant to be pleasurable and to serve us. But then divorce and sickness come, bankruptcy and betrayals, opportunities lost or stolen, anguish, death and deep, deep disappointment. And as we travel this highway through hell, at each of its toll booths we pay a heavy price: We toss away our faith, our kindness, our trust, our mercy, our honesty. After a road long traveled, what is left of who we used to be? Very little if you don’t believe that all of life is a God-given test to refine us and elevate us. There is only one audience in life and it is not your neighbors, your boss, your family, or your Facebook or social networking audience—they perhaps are the provocateurs or the elaborate ways through which the Lord will work His way—but the sole audience is God. Have you walked with grace along your path? Have you walked in faith? Does God like the “show” He is seeing or will your review be a shameful embarrassment?

The space between “what we want” and “what we have” is HOLY ground, and how we walk upon that space tells God who we are. We teach children from day one that they can’t always get what they want, mostly because we know it’s not good for them. And yet as adults we throw the worst of tantrums when things don’t go according to the wills and wants of our self-inflated egos. We resort to cheating, stealing, lying, coveting, slandering, cursing, conniving, stepping on people, hurting people, using people, working on the Sabbath, scoffing beggars and ridiculing the religious all in our efforts to self-pacify but with the result of enraging God. And so we lament saying that we prayed to God, but He  ignored us. You must realize, however, that this waiting time is in fact the incubation period for our character. When we are left languishing, it is not God ignoring us, but God watching us closer than ever.  And sometimes we are just hard of hearing:  God does answer us but we just don’t like the answer, because His answer is “No!”-- What kind of person will you be when God says “No”?

For forty years the desert Jews were tested and punished because they lashed out against God and Moses. All they saw in their mind’s-eye life-destination brochure was a land flowing with milk and honey. But almost every time a hurdle was set before them they cried to return to Egypt. How quickly we forget when God wants to open up seas for us to traverse, He does; when He wants to smite our enemies with plagues He does; when He wants food (manna) to fall from the heavens, it does. After all the trials and tribulations that Job went through and all the strong instigations around him to curse and forsake God for his profound suffering, Job says, “Shall we also accept the good from God, and not accept the evil?" And it is written, “Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips.” 

In this week’s Torah reading, Chukat, we read that God was so angry at Moses for hitting the rock twice to bring forth water, instead of SPEAKING to it as he was instructed to do, that Moses was prevented from entering the Promised Land.  Why was God so mad? Because a man of Moses’ stature and greatness had no right to show anger or lose control (none of us do). The Talmud links anger to conceit and teaches that it shows complete lack of faith and is tantamount to idol worship. But the sad twist is that God doesn’t really laugh, He cries and He goes down into the darkness with us when we spiritually stumble and fall. Unfortunately we recurrently fail to learn that if we won’t fall on our knees in His worship, He will bring us to our knees in other more bruising ways.

Friends, how we behave while we are "waiting" says a lot about us,  even if we wait a lifetime. Let's not behave as small-minded sojourners who look to their feet and the stumbling stones as determinants; but rather  be  a mighty expeditioner who turns to the Heavens for guidance and to the Torah to chart the course. Travel through  hardships and disappointments with faith, dignity, courage and morality. Yes, my friends, the expanse we transverse to get from here to there is holy ground. So remove your muddy squawking shoes from thine feet and henceforth ennoble your gait. Shabbat Shalom!

The Consequences of Jealousy and 5 Steps to Deal with it!

         

" Jealousy, lust and the [pursuit of] honor remove a person from the world.” (Pirkei Avot 4:21)

I would imagine that the best way to know if you are getting an evil eye is to walk around with a big mirror and flash it before everyone you meet. If people start dropping dead like flies around you, there’s a good chance they’d wished you bad. Ah, but if only it were so easy to ward of all those ill-intentioned people who seem to be subverting our good luck. And so, instead, we walk around with red strings, hamsas, little plastic eyeballs and all sorts of idolatrous amulets meant to keep the demons from our door.

But are soft little eyeballs really something to fear? Well, the Talmud teaches that a person can cause damage just by looking at another's property. It also says that 99 out of 100 people die prematurely from the evil eye. Basically, it means the graveyards are filled with those who were victims of envy. But what did the ancient rabbis know? Right? Weren’t they just as susceptible as everyone else to myth and wives’ tales? But then quantum physics came along and taught us that observation affects reality. The mere act of looking at and sizing up a particle changes it.  That certainly offers us something to think about.

Today it’s easier than ever to be jealous and to give evil eyes. All we have to do is spend an hour on Facebook to eat our hearts out reading people’s status updates. But those who cast evil eyes are not immune from backlash themselves; for the sages also teach that the act of giving an evil eye also takes a person out of this world early. The dispenser of poison is not immune to the poison it dishes out. No person is impervious to a daily diet of dioxin. And forgive me for having the temerity to offer up my opinion in the shadow of the great Talmudic rabbis, but I say giving an evil eye also makes one so darn ugly. Jealousy hangs on one’s face like a dreadful accessory that just does not match any decent outfit. 

Jealousy/coveting never ends well. In fact, the Talmud teaches that anyone who places his eyes on that which is not his is not given what he desires and loses what he has, as we can see in this week’s Torah reading. Korach, after whom the parashah is titled, was Moses’ cousin as well as being extremely rich. He had 300 mules just to carry the keys to his treasures. But why should that be enough? He still envied Moses and Aharon and struck up a rebellion. The earth-shattering results from such mutiny were unprecedented: the earth itself opened and swallowed him up along with those who supported him.

It was not the first case of jealousy gone wrong nor the last: The rabbis teach that upon creation, the moon was envious of the sun and questioned why the sky needed two great luminaries, and so G-d diminished the light of the moon; Cain envied Abel’s sacrifice to G-d and as a result he was cursed by G-d; the primordial snake which once talked and walked, envied Adam’s relationship with Eve, with the result that G-d punished him and made him crawl the earth, eat dirt and caused hatred between him and the woman; And make no mistake about it, the moon, Cain, the snake and Korach each had tremendous potential and talents and each had great destinies of their own if they would have been busy being the best versions of themselves instead of trying to be someone else.  

We are so busy with identity theft in the sense that we want to live the lives of others, look like another, walk and talk like them, dress like them, spend like them, that we become impostors, when our real very special selves are being smothered to death. In effect, we are really committing suicide and like aliens assuming others' identities. But make no mistake about it. We will always be the cheap wannabee knock off. All the while we feign living their life, thinking we’re living the “high life,” when in fact we are just a “lowlife”; for coveting is the biggest sin of all the Ten Commandments because it leads to the violation of all the others. If you envy you will eventually lie, cheat, steal, kill, betray, etc.

So, what is the remedy?

🐟Firstly, you can avoid looking like Cruella if you acknowledge and have faith that every person has exactly what G-d wants him to have, not one hair less or more. He knows what’s best for each of us and tests us each in a unique way.

🐟Secondly, try being happy for people when things go well for them. Instead of being like the people of Sodom, a society which begrudged each other the very air they breathed—be magnanimous. The Sodomites were consumed by their burning envy and it is no wonder that they were destroyed by sulfuric fire. In fact, we are instructed to pray for the needs of others before our own needs. Such beneficence toward others inspires Divine benevolence toward us.

🐟Thirdly, be like a fish. In the Talmud it says that fish are resistant of the evil eye because they are under the water—what is hidden is impervious to ill-wishers. What is hidden has a chance to be blessed like a seed that grows beneath the earth. The philosophy of “when you got it, flaunt it” may not be so cost efficient when it all adds up. Drape yourself in modesty and humility so that you don’t have to accoutre yourself with 100 pounds of ridiculous amulets to ward off ill wishes.

🐟Fourthly, as they say, "Be careful what you wish for." Not all things are as they appear. You covet your neighbor because your view is framed by ignorance. Know his full lot, understand his full package and you may soon find yourself pitying your neighbor instead.

🐟And finally, the best counter to all evil is keeping the commandments, doing good deeds, giving charity and studying the Torah.

Just put your ear to YOUR own life and hear your own calling.  Keep in mind that upon judgment day we will not be asked why we weren’t as good others but rather we will be asked, “Why weren’t you as good as YOU could have been?” Enough with jealousy and identity theft! Be the best version of YOU!  It will be pretty sad on Judgement Day when your own life story will be played before your eyes and you are not even in it and are costumed as someone else.

Fearless!

As I’ve written before, there is nothing harder for a writer to face than a blank white page. Its void seems to be more powerful than all the wisdom and words we have inside of us. None of our previous literary accomplishments seem to offer the loving assurance, “Don’t worry we too all started with a blank page.”  But emptiness, my friends, craves to be filled. And so, the Evil One takes advantage and fills us with insecurity and injects us with his toxic words, “You can’t do it, so don’t even try.” Personally, I’ve learned to recognize this enemy and stymie him; instead, I listen to the reassuring sound of my fingers clacking against the keys. Clack, clack, clack but the results are in His hands.

In this week’s Bible reading, Shelach, we learn how the Israelites, prior to their own entry, wanted to send spies ahead to scout out the Promised Land. They too were afraid of the “blank page” and the unknown that lay ahead.  Ten of the 12 spies came back and said the land and its inhabitants were unconquerable; they viewed their enemies as giants and superior warriors and by contrast themselves as grasshoppers believing their foe too viewed them as such. They also reported that the land consumes its inhabitants. However, two of the spies, in contradistinction said of the land, “We shall surely ascend and conquer it, for we surely can do it.” Interestingly, all the spies observed the same reality on the ground; the singular difference between the naysayers and the optimists was self-confidence founded in faith. Time has changed nothing; the lesson remains the same: If you think of yourself as a grasshopper, you will be regarded as one. “I think therefore I am.” If you think the challenges ahead will consume you, they will. The optimists and faithful, Caleb and Joshua, had faith in G-d and believed in the land’s “exceptionalism.” They were the only ones to reach their destination.

An entire generation succumbed to the doom-and-gloom tales of the ten spies and cried to go back to Egypt. As punishment, none of them were allowed to enter G-d’s precious land. And thus, an entire generation wandered for 40 years, corresponding to the 40 days the spies surveyed a land flowing with milk and honey and brought back curdled sour reconnaissance. The fear to forge forward had them desperate to retreat--all the way back to slavery.  Before them lay a blank, but promising, G-d-blessed "page." However, they feared to write a new story for themselves. How many of us in our own lives are terrified of becoming and so instead we choose stagnation and stay put? We think what we are used to is keeping us alive while all the time it is burying us.

But life is not just about keeping a person breathing, it is also about creating and recreating ourselves to be better people and better Jews. If you are the same person you were yesterday, you are dying. It has been asked why from all the Torah’s great men from Abraham to Moses, why the Jewish nation has come to be called “Israel,” the name given to our Patriarch Jacob after wrestling with an angel who ultimately blesses him. The answer is rather simple. The life of a living, breathing Jew is a constant struggle--and it should be. It is that struggle that makes us Israel; it is the struggle that makes us shine. It is that struggle that makes everything we never dreamed we could be or were destined to be, possible.

Both in our spiritual and practical lives we must always keep moving and striving for growth, fearlessly. Like the modern-day Israel that was transformed from a desert and malarial swamp into a blooming, booming and blossoming land by valiant pioneers and their descendants, we too must courageously cultivate the Garden of Eden within us. Don't tolerate the weeds, lest they strangle you. Don’t be a comfort-zone-Jew. The number one reason people bungee jump is because they want to step out of their comfort zones and feel alive. Ironic that people are ready to jump to near death, but not to life. Judaism and Torah offer you a jump up and an eternal life, not a cheap thrill. Like Joshua and Caleb, Have faith Hashem will catch you. Stop getting caught up in the secularism and materialism of this world and forsaking your Jewish identity for it. How sad it would be if your designer shoes will outlive your soul.

Friends, the beautiful thing about the blank page and your life is that they can be whatever you want them to be and read how you want them to read. Every day you have the opportunity to rewrite the story of your life.  Just because you were not brought up religious or you were brought up very religious, don’t believe the GPS, you have not reached your destination. And if you live in faith instead of fear you just might find you have invented the struggle altogether. YOU are Israel! You may struggle with G-d and man—and yourself, but you can prevail--SO PREVAIL!  Shabbat Shalom!

 In memory of my best friend and editor Phil/Pinchas who would have been celebrating a birthday today. G-d bless his soul. May this Torah article help his soul have an aliyah and may all my typos remind him how much he is still needed and missed.