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Rabbi's Blog

When I Grow Up…

Friday, July 30, 2010 - 2:14 PM

When I Grow Up…

What are you going to be when you grow up? When are you going to grow up? Are you fully grown up?

The Torah tells us that Moses spent the last few weeks of his life communicating with the generation of Jews that would be entering into the land of Israel. He described to them in great detail all that had happened from when they left Egypt through their 40 year stay in the desert. He also ackwoleged that they were better prepared to enter into the land then their parents generation. In a sense they were more grown up.

Grwing up is a process. And as we get older and wiser we realize that there are many areqas of our life that we could use some growing up.

This is the Torah’s view on life, that we should be in a constant state of growth.

We are all at various stages of life and the questions about growing up may seem a bit out of place. However, if we look deeper we can see layers of growing up. You may be grown in some areas and not grown up in other areas.

There are many parts to the human being; there is the physical, the emotions, the intellect, will power and pleasure.

Each area has many parts and we need to grop up in each of them.

If we are open and allow ourselves to a critical look at where we are we will discover thgose parts that need help.

This is one of the reasons why we read the Torah again each year. On the surface it would seem that we should read something else, afterall we have been reading the same book for close to 3500 years, that’s a long time.

But the book is only the same if you stay the same. If you grow each year then it is a new Torah. There is a new dimension that of your life that you are working on and developing and growing in and the Torah has something to say about it and help you grow in that area. The reason you did not see it last time you read it was because you were unaware of that part of your self.

As a people we have grown more then 3500 times we have learned much about ourselves as a people and how we interact with the world. Maybe on an individual basis we maybe at level one but the Torah knowledge available today is on level 3500+, and it is all available to each and everyone of us regardless of what level we are currently on.

The amazing thing is that because we have gone through these steps of growing up as a people, when ever anyone wants to begin growing they can speed through the process on the wings of the many generations that came before. We are truly in spiritual digital age.

So what area of your life is still under developed, your emotional side (if you are a masquline), your intellect (if you are feminine), and the other parts of who we are.

Every day is a day for growing up in some small area of life. hwne you have growing to do you then you are still young and fresh. When you are all grown up, well I don’t need to describe what that looks like.

So lets celebrate the fact that we are not yet fully grown up and continue to work on growing up in the areas that we need to.

Don’t be afraid to acknowlegdge your need to grow up, if you are a fraid that is a big sign that you have plenty of growing up to do.

I have found that although we grow up in many areas we still have many areas that we could use some growing up.

Life Is…

Friday, July 23, 2010 - 2:13 PM

Life Is…

How would you answer this question? A bowl of cherries? Wonderful? Another name for problems?

What does the Torah say?

Life is what you make of it. It is ultimately up to each one of us to decide what kind of a life we are going to have. We determine if life is wonderful or the opposite. We have the choice of feeling like we are victims of life or feeling thrilled and happy that we are alive.

I shared this thought with a group of seniors at Heritage Point and one of the seniors asked, how can you say that to a bunch of seniors when many of us are truly ill and suffering? Tough crowd. Great question. What do you say? What can you say? So what do you do when you’re in a pickle? You respond with a question. So I asked her, when was there a time in your life when you did not have any problems? If being happy is a function of circumstance then you really never have a chance at being happy. When you are young you have to deal with your parents and peers. When you are older you are dealing with adolescents and school. Then you get married and have to deal with those issues, you get a job and have to worry about productivity and job security. Kids? Now you really have something to worry about. Bills, college tuition, retirement, older kids who move back in or need your support, a stock market that can’t keep its head above water, your savings depleted. Not to mention your relationships, moods, and health issues.

If you are waiting until you have no challenges, don’t hold your breath. So how do you deal with life? Our attitude towards our life and what is happening is in our hands. No circumstance or situation has the power to strip us of our inherent happiness. If we allow it then even the smallest thing can upset our happiness or if we choose we can view life in a positive light despite the most difficult of life’s challenges.

There is a famous book that is on my must read list and that is “Man’s Search for Meaning”, by Victor Frankel. In it the author, himself a holocaust survivor, lays out his understanding of human psychology. In short, if you have a why, a purpose for your life, then you can withstand any what or how. That the deepest part of the person is his purpose; if you have a purpose then you view your life through that prism and are able to see even the most difficult situations and not despair of life. But someone without purpose will not be able to handle life at its most difficult times.

The deeper your purpose and the more ubiquitous it is, the better your ability to handle the varying challenges of life.

The Torah gives our life purpose not just a certain times, but at all times. The Torah shows us how every moment can be purposeful on a cosmic, divine level. By studying the Torah and by exploring its depths we are able to perceive purpose in every moment and situation.

The Mezuzah on our door has the Shema prayer in it. It is also said every morning and evening. What does it say? “Shema…Hear Israel, G-d our G-d, G-d is one”. In Hebrew the names of G-d have different meanings. The first name means the divine energy that is above nature, the second name of G-d refers to the divine energy invested in nature. One is natural one is supernatural. Yet we are told they are one. They are both the same one G-d. When we look out at the world, at our life we can see the divine energy invested in nature, and many times that nature is not very kind to us, it represents all the physical and material things in this world as well as the difficulties in life, the things that cause us stress.

But that is only one side of the coin; there is another divine energy that is present as well, the divine name that represents above nature. It is our job to see them as one. To view everything not just through our physical eyes but to see beyond that and to see that there is another name of G-d at work and present as well. That means not focusing on only on our circumstances but on our purpose.

When we focus on our purpose in spite of what is going on in our lives that allows us to rise above what is going on and see through it. It is also somewhat supernatural as it is going against our nature. G-d reciprocates our supernatural actions with His own supernatural powers. He reveals the name of G-d that is above nature and allows it to influence our lives and actually improve our situation.

May G-d bless each one of us by allowing the name of G-d that represents the supernatural to be revealed so that we don’t have to just believe in it but that we will actually be able to see it with our own eyes, making our lives easier with abundance of health, wealth and peace of mind.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Zalman Marcus

What Are You Waiting For?

Friday, July 16, 2010 - 2:12 PM

What Are You Waiting For?
Do you have something you are looking forward to? Does the future look bright to you?
The world we live in currently has no shortage of troubling news. Whether it is economic, political, national, global or Israel, there is plenty of things to worry about.
What does the Torah have to say? We are currently in the "nine days", the nine saddest days on the Jewish calendar. This coming Monday night begins the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av, the day both temples in Jerusalem were destroyed and countless other sad events happened on that day throughout our long and painful exile.
Yet at the same time this is also one of the most uplifting times of the year. On the very day that we mourn the loss of the temples we also reaffirm our hope, faith and trust that the 3rd temple will be rebuilt and the exile will end and the world will become the paradise it was meant to be.
In a sense the destruction of the temples confirms our belief in its ultimate rebuilding. As the Talmud states that on the day the temple was destroyed was the same day that the messiah was born.

The Jewish approach to the painful and sad events that have happened to us has always been that tomorrow will be brighter. Things will get better and ultimately life will be better then ever before.

From a Torah perspective we have a bright future ahead. And we have really good things to look forward to. We know the ultimate outcome, we know the end of the story. So every thing that happens is only getting us closer to that end.

The Tipping Point
What is the tipping point? The tipping point is the point when things change dramatically in a non linear fashion. For example; water acts pretty much the same at 80 degrees as it does at 40 degrees, but at 32 degrees it reaches a tipping point. Water acts in a very different way at 32 degrees, it freezes.
We as individuals and as a collective entity have a tipping point as well.

And just like water as it gets closer to 33 degrees it looks pretty much the same as it did at 80 degrees, yet we know that it is only one degree away from its tipping point. The same is with the collective tipping point when you are one degree away from your tipping point you can still look and feel like you are miles or decades away from it.

According to the Torah each and every good deed contributes to the tipping point. When we reach a critical point the tipping begins. No one knows when that will happen but we are instructed to view every moment of life and every act we do as the potential act that will be the tipping point.

Although we can’t know exactly when this tipping point happens the Torah tells us that there are tell tale signs of its approach and by all accounts we are speeding towards that moment.

But because we have not yet reached that point the world for the most part looks the same. We need to look a bit beyond the surface to see the amazing signs of our rapid approach.

The amazing advances in technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology are just some of the signs of our proximity to the tipping point

I would like to recommend a great series of short online video’s that address these signs. It can be found by clicking here. Rabbi Asher Crispe does a fabulous job and I am sure you will enjoy the 3 part series.

So what are you waiting for? The future is in each and every one of our hands. Do a mitzvah right now. Do a good deed. Become part of the global solution. You are part of the greatest tipping point in history your mitzvah might just be the one the world is waiting for.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Zalman Marcus

The Kabbalah of Bread Part 2

Monday, July 5, 2010 - 7:12 PM

The Kabbalah of Bread II

Is your nature like water? Can making dough be a spiritual and holy act? What is the secret to unity? How to really get along with others?

The first step in mystical bread making is the crushing and grinding of the kernels into to fine flour. Taking our self centeredness and the “me” syndrome and grinding that down until it is selfless is the first step in this cosmic G-dly plan for humanity.

Now that you have crushed the ego now you need to put it back together again. How do you do that?

The thing you need is water. The nature of water is that it finds the lowest spot that it can. Instead of looking for the highest place or the most prominent place it searches and is happiest when it finds that lowest possible spot. The personality of water is a person who is always looking to find someone lower then themselves, i.e. someone that they can help in some way. A water nature means you want to be of service to others. Not for self aggrandizement but simply to help another.

Why do you need to put it back together? Without an ego we would have no drive. With an ego we only think about ourselves. But when you crush the ego and turn it into flour and then you introduce this water personality now you have a selfless person with a drive to help others.

Now you can move to step 3, kneading. Kneading is creating unity with tiny pieces of flour. When people come together for a cause whatever that cause may be the unity is dependant on the cause when the cause goes away so does the unity. But when the unity is created by a genuine desire to help others that is not ego or circumstance driven but rather deep and eternal, then the unity is eternal.

So the third step is not just helping others but actually uniting with others in the same cause, the cause of helping others. When each person goes through this process, then we are able to unite all of humanity into this giant Challah.

And that is why G-d put us here on earth to create this kind of unity ourselves. Man made unity, not a G-d imposed unity like in all other areas of creation, is the kind of unity that only we humans can create. And that is the kabblah of bread. Nature represents the goodness and unity that G-d creates, bread and Challah represent the goodness and unity that we humans create. Easy? not a chance. Worth the effort? Absolutely. Will it ever happen? G-d thinks so.

Now that you know the Kabbalah of bread; making and eating bread takes on a whole new dimension. Challah, bagels or delicious rugaleh’s won’t ever be the same. It will be beckoning us to turn ourselves and the people around us into bread and produce the purpose of our creation.

Shabbat Shalom and a Happy 4th

Rabbi Zalman Marcus

P.s. The world cup has captured the headlines and many world viewers; here is a fun video that will give the game a whole new spin and a new respect for Chabad Rabbi’s. Click here. No rabbis or players were injured in the making of this video.

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