Here's a thought: have you ever felt very inspired and uplifted by a great spiritual experience only to have real life wipe out any memory of it rather quickly?
A newborn baby, moments after birth, is taken by a midwife and wrapped up in a swaddling cloth. This serves to keep the newborn protected and warm. Having just emerged from the security and nurture of the womb, the baby is particularly vulnerable and sensitive. A good swaddling cloth gives him a sense of protection from the cold and harsh world out here. But swaddling doesn't last long. You rarely see teenagers wrapped up in a cloth with their arms behind their ears. (Though perhaps some should be.) Swaddling is a brief bridging stage between the safety of the womb and the hazards of real life. A well wrapped baby will eventually grow to face life unwrapped. The swaddle cloth just helps him get there. Your soul needs that bridge too. You have emerged from the womb of Yom Kippur a pure and renewed soul. The negative residue from your past has been cleansed. Your soul is now tender and sensitive, and easily susceptible to the coldness of spiritual apathy and other moral germs floating in the air. You need some protection. You need to be swaddled. You need a Sukkah. The Sukkah is the only mitzvah that you do with your whole being. The holy air of the Sukkah completely envelops and surrounds you. It turns everything you do into a holy act. Just eating and drinking and chatting in the Sukkah is a mitzvah, just because it is done in the divine shade of the Sukkah. When you sit in a Sukkah, you are being swaddled by sanctity. Going from the highs of Yom Kippur straight back into the routine of the mundane world is like taking a new born from her mother's womb straight out into the cold night. You just can’t do that. Sit in the Sukkah. Bask in its sacred shade. Be enwrapped in its warm embrace. Before you emerge back into the mundane cold world Sukkos will make your spiritual connection stick. Mendel Bluming and Rabbi A”M
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What is the essence and theme of the day of Yom Kippur? If it is a day to say I'm sorry and repent just say you're sorry and let's move on!
What is Yom Kippur? It is a day to focus on the needs and voice of the soul. Our bodies are vocal and demanding. The desires of the body we feel strongly. The soul is more subtle. So today we put aside the body’s demands of work, leather shoes, food etc and we focus on the voice of our souls. That still soft inner voice yearning for connection and meaning that is so often overlooked by the daily din. If you listen closely to the voice of your soul what does that tell you? Your body needs nutrients and so does your soul. Yom Kippur is the day to focus on that. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming One of the central practices of Rosh Hashanah is to dip an apple in honey to represent that we ask G-d for a sweet and blessed new year.
Aren’t there sweeter fruit to dip in honey than an apple? How about a mango? Peach? So here’s a thought... Our Apple really needs to be dipped in honey to start off the new year, especially this year. Disagreements about how to respond to the pandemic and the political vicissitudes not to mention everyone’s nerves being a little more tense due to the fears of the pandemic that has already taken 4.5 million lives, our Apples have seen a lot of vitriol. Disparaging and hurtful comments seem to be sent much more easily on social media. For the new year let us dip our Apples in honey. Keep our communications kind, giving the other the benefit of the doubt and not pressing send as often... So here’s my blessing to you that the words that you receive and that you send be dipped in honey. May the new year bring us all sweetness and good health! Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming The American army was never meant to stay in Afghanistan long term. They were always there to train the local Afghan army and eventually withdraw. Our US army, likely the most powerful in the world, poured trillions of dollars; blood, sweat and tears into the effort.
Twenty years, countless resources, sophisticated weaponry and strategies, so that when it counted, they would be able to defend themselves. And after 20 years, America finally pulled out. Would all the effort pay off? Would the training work? The world watched in horror as the Taliban overpowered the Afghan army in no time. All that effort, all that training, gone. The current Jewish month of Elul is one of reflection... When the new generation that we have trained will be left to stand up and take on the fight; for our traditions, morality and values, will they? Have we made sure that they are ready? Mendel (Menachem) Bluming A business can never succeed if you are always working IN the business rather than ON the business. If each day we focus on putting out the fires, in getting through our to do lists and managing cash flow; the business may be failing miserably and we will have no idea.
Only if a person steps back and asks the tough questions will the business remain healthy. Am I meeting my goals? What is my long-term strategy? Am I aligned with my mission? Should the business still exist? Is it adapting to changing realities? Etc This Hebrew month of Elul in preparation for Rosh Hashanah is called Chodesh Hacheshbon (the month of honest accounting) and it is meant for us to do just that. To make a true accounting of how we are running our business of life and if it is succeeding in meeting goals and mission. Spend a few minutes on that today... May your business of life thrive with purpose, meaning and happiness! Menachem Mendel Bluming based on Hayom Yom There is a story of a group of Jews in the 1920's who were debating which political philosophy aligns with the Torah? Each was able to quote the Torah as support for their preferred ideology.
One argued for monarchism, as the Torah itself condones rule by a royal family. Another argued for socialism. Doesn't the Torah command us to share our wealth with the poor? A third insisted that the Torah is communist. We don't really own any property, it all belongs to G-d. No one could win the debate, as each side presented strong Torah proofs for their case. So they turned to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to adjudicate. The Rebbe told them: "You are all right. Every political platform, indeed every man-made philosophy in the world, is a mixture of both good and evil. Only the holy Torah, G-d's wisdom, is pure goodness. You can find the positive elements of every other philosophy in the world somewhere in the Torah." Profound foundation. There is no political party that doesn't have some good points. Each one in its own way is trying to save the world. But among those good intentions will always be mixed in some bad ideas (in some, VERY bad ideas). Politics is man-made, and people are a mixture of good and evil. Nobody is perfect, and no political body is perfect. We need a political system so we go with democracy. To quote Winston Churchill in his speech to the House of Commons in 1947, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others." So too, when it comes to voting, we have to choose the worst party, except for all the others. But it would be wrong to say that any one party or platform is completely aligned with Torah. The messy game of politics can't live up to that ideal. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming based on Igros Kodesh Rebbe Rayatz, Volume 4 p200 I asked Google (July 2021) how many covid mutations have been identified and this is what they told me: “scientists have now identified at least 3,981 unique descendants of the first Covid virus that emerged in December 2019. The Delta itself already has at least 637 descendants that have been identified in the lab.” Not a family that I would like to be a member of...
In the deeper teachings of Judaism, we are taught that unless you eradicate the source of a negative trait within yourself it will mutate indefinitely. In fact, the Rebbe Maharash, one of the greatest Jewish sages of all time, teaches that ego can even mutate in the garb of a pious Jew. A person can be outwardly pious and that outward appearance gives them the feeling that they are holy and must no longer be on guard for their inner viruses, a dangerous mistake. In addition there are times when you are needed to do something important and just at that moment a very pious religious calling comes to your mind. It is possible that even that pious deed is a mutation of inner virus rather than a reflection of true piety. Look out for those ubiquitous mutations they sure sneak up on you! Mendel (Menachem) Bluming When someone cares for your child they are embracing you too because you are expressed in your child. If someone likes you but not your child, that is a contradiction to you. So too with G-d for we are each a child of G-d (Deut. Devarim 14). To love G-d but not the other is a rejection of G-d because each person expresses G-dliness in a unique fashion, a child of G-d. This includes the imperative to love ourselves too.
Mendel (Menachem) Bluming paraphrased from Hayom Yom The Torah in Bamidbar chapter 30 speaks about the father's central role in annulling his daughter's vows.
Every law in the Torah has a deeper significance and message for us in our conversation between G-d and each of us studying the Torah. Our children make vows when they encounter disappointment and shame, mistakes and blunders. They promise themselves to not try again, to not be vulnerable again. To not open up to a relationship again after they have been burned. To not speak up in a crowd after they have been ridiculed... It is our job to annul those vows of our children and to teach them that they can reach higher and that they are not limited by their past mistakes or by other’s perceptions of them. Annulling these vows is the central calling of a parent for their children. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming taken from the teachings of the Alter Rebbe There is only one person in the entire Torah whose date of passing is shared with us in the Torah. It is Aaron, Moses’ brother. The Torah teaches us that he passed away on the first of the Hebrew month of Av.
What is significant about the date of his passing because of which he is the only person about whom we are told the exact date of his passing, his Yahrtzeit? The date of Aharon’s passing is the beginning each year of an intense 9 days of Jewish mourning. During these next 9 days we do not purchase clothing or any large purchases, we suspend building, we do not bathe or hear music or dance for pleasure, we do not cut hair and we do not eat meat or drink wine (besides Shabbat and one who is ill etc) The reason for the mourning is to commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temples which according to Jewish teaching was caused by baseless hatred among the Jewish People. Aaron dedicated his life to strengthening bonds of friendship and relationship (as we are taught in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot). By teaching us the date of Aaron’s passing as the date on which we are meant to focus on kindness toward each other, the Torah is intimating the way to observe a Yahzrteit. It is by focusing on furthering the life mission of the departed. How do you commemorate a Yahrtzeit? Those who have passed on have left the world of accomplishment and they miss that opportunity to make a difference. You can extend their life through your deeds. Extend the life of the departed by living their teachings and values. Aaron lived kindness and this is the specific time in which we are supposed to emulate him by doing the same. So Yahrtzeit is not just about remembering, it is about doing and by doing the life of our loved ones endures... Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and Rabbi EG |
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
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