Chukkat 5771 - Covenant & Conversation - Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks speaks on the weekly torah

Chukkim are Judaism's way of training us in emotional intelligence, above all a conditioning in associating holiness with life, and defilement with death. It is fascinating to see how this has been vindicated by modern neuroscience. Rationality, vitally important in its own right, is only half the story of why we are as we are. We will need to shape and control the other half if we are successfully to conquer the instinct to aggression, violence and death that lurks not far beneath the surface of the conscious mind.

The Strongest Power on Earth

See how emuna the pure and complete faith in The Almighty - is the strongest power on earth.

The power of words

The words we say can make an impact either positive or negative. Even if we think a little gossip won't do anything, we don't know what might happen. It could effect people's relationships, or job and so forth. It's like this metephore of a pillow with feathers and the feathers fly away, we can't bring it back. So too, we can't bring the words back once the damage is done. Besides regular gossip, we also need to be careful not use our words as weapon to emotionally hurt others, but instead use our words to positively build people up. If we are careful with this, we can keep relationships strong, and bring blessing to ourselves and all around.
Of course, there are times when one might need to say something, but then you should talk to someone who can take care of it.

blog
http://abitoflight.blogspot.com

Shlomo Carlebach composing a new song part 1/2

http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/ Reb Shlomo Carlebach composing a new song ... ....

http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/

Korach 5771 - Covenant & Conversation - Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks speaks on the weekly torah portion

When we read the story of Korach, our attention tends to be focused on the rebels. We don't give as much reflection as we might to the response of Moses. Was it right? Was it wrong?

It's a complex story. As Ramban explains, it is no accident that the Korach rebellion happened in the aftermath of the story of the spies. So long as the people expected to enter the Promised Land, they stood to lose more than gain by challenging Moses' leadership. He had successfully negotiated all obstacles in the past. He was their best hope. But as a result of the spies, that whole generation was condemned to die in the wilderness. Now they had nothing to lose. When people have nothing to lose, rebellions happen.

Menachem Herman: HaKol LeTova

One of Rebbe Nachman's most important, yet profoundly simple teachings is the key to emuna, to life itself, and to happiness: since everything comes from Hashem, everything is certainly for the best. The original words in Hebrew are: Me'achar vehakol me'Ito Yitbarach, Bevadai Shehakol Letova. A new song by Menachem Herman...

seizing our oppertunities

Each day we have a chance to grow and go forward toward reaching our potential. Lets take this oppertunity
blog
http://abitoflight.blogspot.com

Shlomo Carlebach - Teaching about "Sadness" part 3/4

http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/ reb shlomo carlebach teaching about sadness, teaching of the holy master reb nachman of breslov, ..
שלום לכם חבירי׳ בכל מקום שאתם, אתם יודעים, רבי נחמן אומר כי החטא הגדול ביותר בעולם הוא להיות עצוב, החטא הגדול ביותר בעולם ״שלא להיות מלא שמחה״ בכל רגע.
חבירי׳ וידידי׳, כולנו רוצים כל כך הרבה, ואנחנו צריכים כל כך הרבה. אבל לא מקבלים את זה, בגלל מה? אני אגיד לכם, זה קורה בשביל שכאשר אנו מבקשים משהו משמים. תחשבו, כאשר אתה מבקש משהו מבן אדם, הם לא מתכוונים לשים לך לב, אלא אם כן יש לך לב מלא שמחה. אנשים תמיד שמחים לתת למישהו שהוא מלא שמחה. אז רק לדמיין את זה: אני מבקש מיליוני דברים מן השמים, וכאן המשרת השמימי דופק על הדלת שלי. הוא רוצה לתת לי הכול, אבל כשאני פותח את הדלת ואני עצוב, אני שבור. מי רוצה שום קשר עם אדם עצוב? אז הם זורקים אותי כמה פירורים, ועוזבים מיד. ואפילו יותר מזה, הקב״ה רוצה לתת לך כל כך הרבה אתה צריך המון כוח כדי לשאת את זה, אתה יודע כשאתה מלא שמחה אתה מלא כח, אתה יכול לבצע שום דבר, אתה יכול לשאת את העולם כולו על אצבע האחת, אבל אם אתה עצוב אתה לא יכול לשאת שום דבר, אתה לוקח קצת ואת הדוור השמימי ממריא.
אם תשאלו מישהו לאיזהו טובה ואתה פשוט יושב שם ובוכה, הם לא יכולים להיפטר ממך מהר מספיק. אבל אם אתה מלא שמחה, אם הלב שלך היא רוקדת כל הזמן ואת העיניים שלך נוצצות משמחה, אז אנשים רוצים כל כך הרבה להיות קרוב אליך. אתם יודעים חברים מה שהעולם צריך ביותר, כולם חושבים שאנחנו צריכים שלום, כן, אנחנו צריכים שלום, אבל אתה יודע למה אנחנו לא עושים שלום ״כי אין לנו מספיק שמחה בעולם״ וזה מה שהקדוש רבי נחמן אומר, אנשים שונאים זה את זה, רק בשביל שהם עצובים. זה מה שהוא אומר, לדמיין שיש מישהו בעולם שאני שונא לו המקסימום שאני יכול, אני פשוט שונא אותו אדם, וכל יום אני שונא אותו יותר, ואז לדמיין, נא תברכו אותי, ואני יברך אתכם, שכולנו נזכה בעז״ה להיות אצל החתונה של הילדים שלנו, ולדמיין שהילד שלי מתחתנת, וברום השמחה של החתונה, אני לוקח את יד בני החתן ואנחנו עולים על השולחן ורוקדים ביחד, זה רגע הכי מאושר בחיי, געוואלד, איך אוכל להודות את האחד יחיד ומיוחד הקב״ה, אתה חושב שאני בגן עדן? אהה, הרבה יותר מגן עדן.
ובאותו רגע הדלת נפתחת, והשונא הגדול שלי נכנס, אז אני שואל אתכם אחים ואחיות שלי, מה אתם חושב שיקרה? אתם יודעים מה יקרה? באמצע הריקוד, ואני אמרתי לך שאני מעבר לגן העדן, ומשהו יקרה לי ואני יגיע אפילו גבוה עוד יותר, אני קופץ מהשולחן, ואני רץ אליו ומחבק ומנשק האויב הגדול שלי, ושואלו, תגיד לי ידידי היקר והיפה, איפה היית בסעודת החתונה? ואני לא משקר, כי ברגע הזה יהיה ברור לי, שאנחנו אף פעם לא שנאו זה את זה, אתם מבינים חברים, יש רק דבר אחד שהוא אנטי-שנאה, והוא שמחה!, ואתם ואני אם אנחנו חולמים על יום אחד שכל העולם יהי׳ באחדות, אתם צריכים לדעת, שזה יהיה רק על ידי ״שמחה״.http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/ .. how not to be sad,

Shelach 5771 - Covenant & Conversation - Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks' thoughts on weekly torah portion

Covenant & Conversation - Shelach 5771 - Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks on this week's Torah portion

The Story of King Chizkiyahu

Rabbi Lazer Brody retells the story of Chizkiyahu the King from the Book of Kings II, Chapter 19 (also Isaiah, Chapter 39), to teach us what it means to trust in Hashem

Romemu and Ki Heim

Clips from the song Romemu by the group Menucha and Ki Heim by Dani Kunstler, and a few pics of New York from my trip
http://mostlymusic.com

shlomo carlebach teaching about "sadness" part /2

http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/ reb shlomo carlebach teaching about sadness, teaching of the holy master reb nachman of breslov, how not to be sad,

Shalom to you my beautiful friends, wherever you are, let every minute and every second count, Rebbe Nachman says that "the greatest sin in the world is, to be sad, the greatest sin in the world is, not be filled with joy".
My beautiful friends, all of us want so much, we need so much. We don׳t have it, because of what happens when we ask for something from Heaven. Just think, when you ask for something from another human being, they׳re not going to pay attention to you unless you have a joyous heart. People are always happy to give to someone who׳s happy. So just imagine it: I׳m asking for millions of tons from Heaven, and here the heavenly servant knocks on my door. He wants to give me everything; but when I open the door I׳m sad, I׳m broken-hearted. Who wants to have anything to do with a sad person? So they throw me a few crumbs and take off. And even deeper than that, Hashem wants to give you so much you need a lot of strength to carry it, you know when you are full of joy you are full of strength, you can carry anything, you can carry the whole world on one finger, but if you're sad you cant carry anything, you take a little bit and the heavenly mailman takes off.
If you ask somebody for a favour and then you just sit there and cry, they can׳t get rid of you fast enough. But if you׳re filled with joy, if your heart is dancing all the time and your eyes are shining, then people want so much to be close to you. You know friends what the world needs most, everybody thinks we need peace, yes, we need peace, but you know why we don't peace "because we don't have enough joy in the world" and this is what the holy Reb Nachmen says, People only hate when they׳re sad. This is what he says, imagine there is somebody in the world who I hat e the most I cant stand that person, I just hate that person, and every day I hate that person, then imagine, bless me bless me, and I will bless you we should all be by our children's wedding, imagine my child is getting married, and at the height of the joy of the wedding, I am taking them by the hand and I get on the table and I am dancing, that's the most happy moment in my life, gevalt gevalt, how could I ever thank the one the only one for that moment, you think I am in paradise? Ahh, much higher then paradise.
At that moment the door opens and my arc enemy walk in, so I am asking you my dearest brothers and sisters, what do you think will happen? You know what will happen? In middle of the dancing, and I told you I am beyond paradise, something will happen to me and I will reach even higher and even deeper, I will jump of the table, and I will embrace and kiss my arc enemy and will say my most beautiful, most precious friend, where were you at the wedding? And I wont be lying, because at that moment it will be clear me, we never hated each other, Friends there is only one anti hatred this is joy!, and you and I if we are dreaming of one day the whole world being one, you should know, it will only happen with joy.
We all have certain reflexes. They don׳t come from our head, they come from our insides. You don׳t like to shake hands with somebody that has dirty hands. Even if you have to, because you have good manners, you don׳t want to, and you try to take your hand back as fast as possible. If someone has clean hands, you like to shake hands with him. If you love someone you can hold their hands forever. Our holy rabbis teach us, sadness makes us dirty. It׳s the sprit of uncleanness, unholiness descends upon the person. Believe me; most friendships break up because there is not enough joy in them.
http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/

Shavuot Announcement

Hello, this is Moshe and I'd like to be the first to wish you all a great Shavuot! Shavuot is the day the Jewish people received The Torah which is our constitution. For those of you who don't know Shavuot fallows similar rules to Shabbat and being that I live out in the Diaspora Shavuot is two days and so there will be no more posts until Friday morning I'd also like to apologize for the late arrival of todays post. Also later today would be another musical slideshow from SMB but due to the holyday it will have to wait until next week that's why Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks's class on the weekly Torah Portion was on monday evening. So with that I'd like to wish you all a great Shavuot with lots of joy and good Torah learning and Cheesecake and I'd like to thank you all for viewing us and sticking with us. I look at the growth this blog has seen and it amazes me that we've seen this in a little less than a year! And I owe it all to you! I owe it all to you for sticking by us and spreading the word about us wherever you may be as well as for those of you who have donated your generous donations. People please I urge you to continue to help us grow as you have in the past year. And to spread the word about us in your communities. People I know that these are hard economic times we faces but we need donations desperately. Donations have been far and few but if you could even space a Dollar even the smallest donation would be greatly appreciated. And if you can't afford to donate anything please I urge you to help us grow in your own way. Spread the word as you have, or even if there's someone who's wealthy and willing to give in your own family or community please tell them about us. As many people as we've helped as many lives as we've saved in this past year theres still many that we haven't reached.
Have a great Shavuot and thanks for loyally sticking by us.

I love each and every one of you,
Moshe

Behaalotecha 5771 - Covenant & Conversation

Behaalotecha 5771 - Covenant & Conversation

shlomo carlebach teaching about "sadness", part 1

http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/ reb shlomo carlebach teaching about sadness, teaching of holy master reb nachman of breslov, how not to be sad,

Shalom to you my beautiful friends, wherever you are, let every minute and every second count, Rebbe Nachman says that "the greatest sin in the world is, to be sad, the greatest sin in the world is, not be filled with joy".
My beautiful friends, all of us want so much, we need so much. We don׳t have it, because of what happens when we ask for something from Heaven. Just think, when you ask for something from another human being, they׳re not going to pay attention to you unless you have a joyous heart. People are always happy to give to someone who׳s happy. So just imagine it: I׳m asking for millions of tons from Heaven, and here the heavenly servant knocks on my door. He wants to give me everything; but when I open the door I׳m sad, I׳m broken-hearted. Who wants to have anything to do with a sad person? So they throw me a few crumbs and take off. And even deeper than that, Hashem wants to give you so much you need a lot of strength to carry it, you know when you are full of joy you are full of strength, you can carry anything, you can carry the whole world on one finger, but if you're sad you cant carry anything, you take a little bit and the heavenly mailman takes off.
If you ask somebody for a favour and then you just sit there and cry, they can׳t get rid of you fast enough. But if you׳re filled with joy, if your heart is dancing all the time and your eyes are shining, then people want so much to be close to you. You know friends what the world needs most, everybody thinks we need peace, yes, we need peace, but you know why we don't peace "because we don't have enough joy in the world" and this is what the holy Reb Nachmen says, People only hate when they׳re sad. This is what he says, imagine there is somebody in the world who I hat e the most I cant stand that person, I just hate that person, and every day I hate that person, then imagine, bless me bless me, and I will bless you we should all be by our children's wedding, imagine my child is getting married, and at the height of the joy of the wedding, I am taking them by the hand and I get on the table and I am dancing, that's the most happy moment in my life, gevalt gevalt, how could I ever thank the one the only one for that moment, you think I am in paradise? Ahh, much higher then paradise.
At that moment the door opens and my arc enemy walk in, so I am asking you my dearest brothers and sisters, what do you think will happen? You know what will happen? In middle of the dancing, and I told you I am beyond paradise, something will happen to me and I will reach even higher and even deeper, I will jump of the table, and I will embrace and kiss my arc enemy and will say my most beautiful, most precious friend, where were you at the wedding? And I wont be lying, because at that moment it will be clear me, we never hated each other, Friends there is only one anti hatred this is joy!, and you and I if we are dreaming of one day the whole world being one, you should know, it will only happen with joy.
We all have certain reflexes. They don׳t come from our head, they come from our insides. You don׳t like to shake hands with somebody that has dirty hands. Even if you have to, because you have good manners, you don׳t want to, and you try to take your hand back as fast as possible. If someone has clean hands, you like to shake hands with him. If you love someone you can hold their hands forever. Our holy rabbis teach us, sadness makes us dirty. It׳s the sprit of uncleanness, unholiness descends upon the person. Believe me; most friendships break up because there is not enough joy in them.

the http://rebshlomocarlebach.blogspot.com/

Naso 5771 - Covenant & Conversation

Habakuk the Prophet

As part of Emuna Outreach's "Land of Israel" series, Rabbi Lazer Brody takes us to the Galilee to visit the holy gravesite of Habakuk the Prophet, who said: "The tzaddik shall live by his emuna."