We are gathered here to bid farewell to a special soul – Moshe, Jeff ben Avrohom. I will refer to both Jeff and Moshe in my remarks for the comfort of those that knew him as Jeff as we did initially and then as Moshe once he wanted us to call him by that name. When our great ancestor Aaron heard of the passing of his sons Nadav and Avihu, the Torah tells us, “Vayidom Aaron”: Aaron was silent. I’m sure he cried. I’m sure he was in pain. I’m sure he...
Maybe I’m projecting, but I notice people around me that overall seem happy. They seem like easy going people, but, they also seem to be carrying a lot around with them. And I’m not talking about a few extra pounds. There seems to be a package of sorts (or peckel in Yiddish) of troubles, anxiety, a burden, a weight. Come to think of it, there are very few people who don’t carry a package around. It could be someone in their lives today that is their package. It could be something...
This Shabbos is sandwiched between two very important days on the Chabad calendar. The 3rd of Tammuz - the anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe and the 12/13th of Tammuz - the anniversary of the liberation from the sentences of death and exile of the previous Rebbe from Soviet Prison. As mentioned in last week's article (Korach in Time) there are energies associated with the days of the Jewish calendar and the events that transpired on them. The energy of these two days and these two great Jewish leaders is captured...
“I’m listening, I can tell you exactly what you said”, said every husband to wife. In Yeshiva, sometimes when dozing off in shiur (class) or being preoccupied with some other nonsense the Rabbi would say “du herzt” which means do you hear? The answer would be as above, “of course, I can tell you exactly what you said”. The Rabbi would proceed to ask “du herzt tzi du derherzt”, are you listening or are your internalizing. Both words mean to hear but one is to internalize and the other is simply to use...
In this great video on Facebook, this little boy preaches beyond his years about which behaviors do you practice. Whatever you practice you will get good at. So, if you practice complaining you will get good at it and find fault in everything. If you practice anger, you'll get really good at it and you'll find every opportunity to get angry even at the smallest things. See this link. It struck me when reading this week's Torah portion that if you practice faith in G-d you’ll get good at it and find...
I recently heard this nice thought; "listen and silent have the same letters". I'm not sure who is the author of this statement but it surely reflects two approaches in how we relate to others. Some peoples silence is a simple tactic to get the other person to finish talking so they can fully have the stage when it is their turn to respond. For others, they are actually listening, taking in what the other person is saying trying to internalize and relate or at best sympathize. *** In this week's Torah portion, Moses...
As Yom Kippur draws to an end, I find myself changing gears from being a spiritual leader to a coach as the players enter the final inning or the last round. People are tired, it's been a couple of weeks of preparation for the High Holidays and then two days of Rosh Hashanah, a long evening of Kol Nidrai and now after a full day of fasting, everybody (me included) is wiped out. So, as we enter Neilah, the finally prayer of the season, I find myself serving as coach. Instead of...
Talk is cheap, although it seems to come at a big price these days. But really, anyone with an opinion articulates it without fear. That is in part because today everyone feels that speaking your mind is ok no matter the context, language or opinion. How about action? Doing? Society today has accepted pretty much any behavior as acceptable. However, those behaviors are generally behaviors of self expression. In other words, society has accepted that anything you do to express yourself is acceptable. What about doing as it relates to doing the...
You have heard the statement Think Globally Act Locally. The cynic in me says yeah right. I've been thinking globally and acting locally since I was a child but have I changed the world? I like to believe that I am contributing to some level of positive change in the world, but will I ever really change the global picture? And even if my efforts will change the world in three generations time, do I want to be dedicating my life to changing the world for my grandchildren? And finally,...
People have so many layers. Our physical layers are complex enough. For example our skin alone has three layers, epidermis, dermis and hypodermis (I cheated, I googled that). From there we navigate all the other layers until we hit the bone and beyond. When we get into the psychological makeup it becomes even more complex. It's so complex they have a book dedicated to it. It's called the DSM and has 297 entries! Once we venture into the spiritual realm and Jewish spiritual personal development we enter into an infinite realm...