A fish out of water does not die immediately. In fact, a fish out of water seems quite lively. It flips and flops and dances around, seemingly more active than it was before. An ignorant observer may think that the fish is better off on dry land, free from the confines of the sea. Just look how vibrant and energetic it has become!
But we know the truth. This tragic dance will not last. All that intense movement is not an indication of good health, it is a desperate and hopeless grasp at life. A Jew without Torah is a fish without water (teaching of Rabbi Akiva, Talmud Brochos 61b). We can flip flop for a while, jumping from one ideology to another, this save-the-universe cause or the next, but it won't last. You can only stay Jewish without Torah for a generation, maybe two. Then the flipping and flopping stop altogether. This is not about being orthodox. It's about being immersed in genuine Judaism. And that is open to anyone. In your own way, with your critical mind and passionate heart, engage in the conversation of Torah and bring Jewish observance into your home. That will ensure the Jewish future, just as it has defined the Jewish past. Everything else is just flip flopping. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and many other sources
0 Comments
Mazel tov!
If Jews believe in Divine Providence (fate), why do we always use the word mazel which means luck? Isn't that a contradiction of belief? Actually, mazel is usually mistranslated as luck. The correct meaning of mazel is "a drip from above". Which is probably why people just translate it as luck. It doesn’t quite sound right to say, "Wishing you a good drip from above on the occasion of your bar mitzvah". Your mazel is your pipeline from heaven. In heaven there is abundant blessing waiting to come down to us. But as those blessings descend to earth, they can become corrupted. The freshest water can be polluted if the pipes are dirty. Good mazel means the flow from above reaches us unadulterated, in the form of positive and happy experiences. If the flow is blocked or contaminated, that’s bad mazel, and things don't come out as blessings. When we say Mazel tov on a special occasion, we are wishing that the blessings should flow freely from above. There are ways to unblock your pipes. Do more mitzvahs. Give more charity. Be kind and generous and forgiving. That will keep the pipes clear and the flow smooth. But being stingy and mean, vindictive and petty can clog up the passages and spoil the waters. Luck is random and anonymous. Mazel is targeted and personal. It's not just dripping down from nowhere. It is from G-d. He wants to give you blessings. Open your pipes to receive them. Wishing you lots of mazel, Mendel (Menachem) Bluming Source: Likkutei Torah Ha'azinu 71d and other sources The choice of words the Torah employs to describe the role of the spouse — "a helper against him" — seems contradictory. If a wife is supposed to serve as a helper to her husband, she is obviously not poised "against him?"
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that the woman becomes a "helper" for her husband by sometimes being against him. For a husband to become the maximum he can be, he must profess the courage to welcome the ideas and feelings of his spouse which may be "against" his own. Some men cannot tolerate their wives disagreeing with them, and conversely, some women cannot handle another opinion. They grow angry and frustrated, exploding or imploding. What often transpires, as a result, is that the woman, or the man, in order to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in the home, remain silent. Or, to avoid confrontation, they just drift away from each other emotionally. Conversely, the arguments and fighting never cease. The Torah is teaching us a different option. Each of us needs the help of our partner to be healed from our egos, insecurities, blind spots, and wounds. When a man and woman learn to genuinely embrace the otherness of his/her spouse, they can develop a true bond and reach their own deepest core. This does not mean, of course, that it is a biblical injunction upon every woman and man to disagree with their spouse 100 percent of the time. What it does mean, though, is that we must learn to respect and truly listen to the voice of our second half. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming from many sources In the days of the Holy Temple the entire nation would gather to hear the Jewish king read from the Torah on Sukkot after the Sabbatical shmitah year. It was exactly at this time.
Each mitzvah has continuous application even those that we no longer keep in their original form. By gathering together this year in your home or in your sukkah, in your office or wherever it might be and sharing the values of the Torah together you continue this important tradition and link yourself with the entire Jewish people keeping the Hakhel tradition this year. Covid lockdowns and isolations have taken a toll and the antidote is Hakhel, joining together to rejoice and celebrate, to study and connect. Happy Hakhel’ing! Mendel (Menachem) Bluming The Torah uses numerology, a method of connecting concepts via numbers. Every Hebrew letter has a numerical value. The first letter, Aleph, has the value of one. The second letter, Beit, is two, and so on. When the letters of two words have the same value, it indicates an inner connection between them.
So if “nut” and “sin” add up to the same number, there is something in that. Which is one reason why the Code of Jewish Law (Rema, Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 583:2) discourages eating nuts on Rosh Hashanah. The problem is, they don’t add up. The Hebrew word for nut is Egoz אגוז, whose letters add up to seventeen. The Hebrew word for sin is Chet חטא, which adds up to eighteen. Oops. Well, there is a possible explanation. The last letter of the word Chet is a silent Aleph. It isn’t pronounced as part of the word. So it isn’t counted. Aleph is worth one, so if you take the Aleph out of Chet, you get seventeen, not eighteen. But that itself seems a stretch. Can you delete a letter just because it doesn't fit in with your calculation? Yes, in this case you can. Silent letters are extremely rare in Hebrew. Unlike the English language, where silent letters abound in words like knee, through, tongue etc. In Hebrew, every letter is pronounced. Even the letter Aleph, that has no sound of its own, is almost always read as a vowel sound. One of the very few exceptions is the word Chet, sin. It has a silent Aleph hiding at its end. The fact that the word for sin has a silent Aleph must be significant. Aleph is the first letter of the alphabet, with the value of one, and is unpronounceable on its own. These attributes also apply to G-d - the One, the First, and the Ineffable. A silent Aleph represents G-d. Of all places, where do you find this silent Aleph? At the end of a sin. After we have done something wrong, we have a choice how to react. We can try to ignore it and pretend we didn’t do it. We can beat ourselves up for being so bad. We can make up excuses and justifications for what we did. But all of these options are unhealthy. The right reaction to sin is to see it as an opportunity to go deeper, improve ourselves and learn how to get up again. You can find G-d after you fall, and that discovery takes you to an even deeper place than where you were before the fall. This is the meaning of the silent Aleph in the word for sin. After every mistake we make, there is the silent voice of G-d inviting us back. Every time we stray from the path, even when we think we are far, G-d is near. So we don’t eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah. Because the word nut equals the word sin, but only without the Aleph. And a sin that is not followed by seeking G-d, truth and deep reflection… is just bad. We don’t want anything to do with that attitude. We want to find the Aleph in every fall, the lesson in every mistake, and the closeness that follows distance. View your mistakes as doorways to growth. See your weaknesses as openings to living deeper. Find G-d in sin. How nuts is that? I wish you a sweet, happy and healthy new year, full of joy and many Aleph moments. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and Rabbi A”M and other sources Old age is not so easy to define. For a professional football player, forty is already over the hill. On the other hand, there are budding authors in their eighties publishing their first book. So who is old?
We do need a clear answer. There is a mitzvah to “rise before the aged, and give deference to the old.” (Vayikra 19:32) This means more than just offering old people a seat on the bus. It means listening to what they have to say and taking their words seriously. The mere fact that a person has been around for a while gives a level of credibility and weight to their opinion. Of course there are some very foolish octogenarians, and there are some very wise millennials. But nothing beats life experience. Elders deserve respect just because they have seen a lot. But how old is an elder? The most authoritative opinion in Jewish law (Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 244:1) states that you are an elder and must be accorded honor from the age of 70. But a most delightful definition of old age is found in the Talmud tractate Niddah 9b. It says that if people call you “oldie” and you take it as an insult, then you aren't old. But if you don't mind people calling you old, then you have earned the title of elder. This is brilliant. As long as you are stuck in the cult of trying to stay young, you haven't reached the age of respectability. The sign that you have attained the level of mature wisdom is that you are comfortable being old. It's not an insult, it's an honor. So let's test you, oldie. How did that feel? Why did you just unsubscribe from my blog?!! Mendel (Menacehm) Bluming and R"M etc If a business focuses only on cash flow, it can easily fail. The cash flow may be fine and yet the business falling off a cliff, G-d forbid. We are in the final Jewish month of the year. This month is called the month of accounting.
In Judaism cash flow is your daily actions. Being honest, saying a blessing, Tefillin, mezuzah, kosher food, honoring parents, tzedakah etc. That is making sure that your Jewish cash flow is okay and that is important. Once a year we step back and revisit the mission of the Business, the purpose of our lives. Am I advancing in the type of person I should be? Am I guiding my children toward their G-d-given destiny? Am I serving others as I should? Am I a worthwhile investment for the Almighty? On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we are judged, during this month we review our business and make sure that it is heading in a great direction. May G-d bless you with a sweet and prosperous new year materially and spiritually! Mendel (Menachem) Bluming based on Hayom Yom Are you shocked by the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the world? When Jew-hatred comes from backward extremists and street mobs, it isn't so surprising. But when university educated, well-read westerners, who know history and have access to the facts, are able to demonize Israel and the Jewish people, something is wrong. Has the world gone mad?
In truth however, history has shown that being educated has nothing to do with being moral. Some of the most cultured people have also been the most evil. The Holocaust was committed by men who appreciated classical music and read the works of great philosophers. From the very cradle of modern culture and enlightenment came the most barbarous attack against humanity the world has ever seen. The notion that evil stems from the ignorant masses, and the enlightened class are paragons of goodness is simply a myth. Ideas have consequences. An education that teaches moral relativism, that there is no right and wrong, that there is no absolute truth and there is no G-d, is teaching moral confusion. And in a moral vacuum it is easy for the lowest of human impulses to take root. Civilized hatred is hatred nonetheless. It is worth bearing this in mind when choosing an education for our own children. Academic outcomes do not a mensch make. We need schools that will not just sharpen our children's minds by teaching them to read and write, but will sharpen their moral character by teaching wrong from right. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and many sources As a parent, you need to make many decisions that will impact your child's future. Deciding whether to make a Bris is one of them. Here are the things you need to know before deciding what to do:
- A surgical circumcision is not a Bris. Apart from the missing blessings and prayers, the actual cut may be different. Which means one day when your son realizes that he didn't have a Bris, he may require a rather unpleasant procedure to get it fixed. A Bris is no big deal when you are a baby, but not quite as easy when you're older. - A Mohel is not an amateur. Quite the opposite. An experienced mohel does them almost daily, and has performed hundreds, or possibly thousands, over the years. The mohel who did my sons’ brisses claims to have done over 50,000. - Many Mohels are also medically qualified. Some are themselves surgeons, who will perform a Bris in their surgery rooms if you prefer. - The risks involved with a bris or medical circumcision procedure are minimal, but surgical circumcision could at times be riskier than a traditional Bris, as more complications can arise from giving a baby an anesthetic than from just a clean cut alone. - The Bris is a tradition that stretches back almost four thousand years. It connects us and our child with all past generations of Jews, who gave their children a Bris under all circumstances. Your son will enter the covenant that started with the first Jew, Abraham, and continues to this very day. The spiritual power of a Bris cannot be matched by a surgery that is essentially cosmetic. You don't want your son turning to you years from now and asking, "Why didn't you give me a Bris with a Mohel? Now I have to go and get it done properly!" On the other hand, if you do it the right way now, he will never turn to you and say, "Why didn't you circumcise me in hospital? Now I have to go and get a local anesthetic to make up for it!" Give your son a Bris, and you give him four thousand years of Jewish identity that will stay with him forever. Don't leave it for him to fix later. This is one of those things you only want to do once. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and Rabbi Aaron and many other sources Question from a groom:
I understand the reason we break a glass at a wedding ceremony is to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago. This indeed was a significant event in Jewish history, but it doesn't seem to have any personal relevance to me. What does a destroyed building have to do with my wedding? Here’s a Wedding/ Tisha B’Av thought: The destruction of the Temple has extreme personal relevance. It happened to you. The shattering of the glass commemorates not only the fall of Jerusalem, but also a cataclysmic shattering that happened to your very own temple, your soul. Before you were born, you and your soulmate were one - a single soul. Then, as your time to enter this world approached, G-d shattered that single soul into two parts, one male and one female. These two half souls were then born into the world to try and find each other and reunite. At the time, the split seemed tragic. Half of your soul went missing. What was once a peaceful whole had become fragmented and incomplete. Why would G-d do that to you? If you and your soulmate were meant to be together, why didn't G-d leave you together? Only when standing under the Chuppah do you find the answer to this question. At the wedding, these two halves are becoming whole, reuniting never to part again. And you can look back at the painful experience of being separated, and actually celebrate it. For now you realize that the separation brought you closer. Only by being torn apart, living lives away from each other, were you able to develop as individuals, mature and grow, and then come together in a true relationship, a deeper oneness than you had before, because it is created by your choice. Had you never been separated, you would never appreciate what it means to be together, because it wasn't earned. At the wedding you realize that your soul was only split in order to reunite and become one on a higher and deeper level than before. And so we break a glass under the Chuppah, and we immediately say Mazel Tov. Because now, in retrospect, even the splitting of the souls is reason to be joyous, for it gave your connection depth and real meaning. So you see, your personal story and the story of Jerusalem's destruction are inextricably linked. The shattering that happened to Jerusalem happened to your soul; and the joy you are experiencing now will one day be experienced by Jerusalem too. The Temple was not a mere building, it was the meeting place of heaven and earth, ideal and reality, G-d and creation. When the Temple was lost, with it went the open relationship between G-d and the world. Our souls were ripped away from our Soulmate. The only antidote to fragmentation is unity. And the deepest unity is experienced at a wedding. Every wedding is a healing, a mending of one fragmented soul, a rebuilding of Jerusalem in miniature. Our sages teach us, "Whoever celebrates with a bride and groom it is as if he rebuilt the ruins of Jerusalem." When soulmates reunite in holy marriage, an energy of love and oneness is generated, elevating the world and bringing it one step closer to mending its broken relationship with G-d. And one day soon, when the Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt, our souls will reunite with G-d, our Soulmate, in a true relationship that we built ourselves. We will no longer mourn the destruction, but looking back we will finally understand its purpose, and we will celebrate. Then, even the shattering will deserve a Mazel Tov. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and many other sources |
AuthorRabbi Mendel Bluming also dedicated six years to serving on the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, where he received the Matthew H. Simon Rabbinical Award for exceptional communal leadership. Archives
June 2023
Categories
All
|