OUR DESTINY

 As I progress in the study of Sefer Braishis, I begin to realize that Judaism prefers creativity rather than  conformity. The meaningfulness of life is realized by our creative abilities and our realization that, in our day and age, there is a great need to become a non conformist in a society that is drowning in a pool of unethical values. 

   I sense that is why the first directive to Avraham in our Parsha is, לך לך , not only to leave his fathers country, but more so to it means to "Go to yourself", to find your true self , to rid yourself of all the bad influences that surrounds you. When one achieves this goal then one is on the road of his unique destiny. 

   We need to begin to realize that every one has a mission in life. Each of us has a calling, and we are put on this earth to unearth that uniqueness and to set forth on our journey to find that calling as Avraham was instructed by G-D in his directive of לך לך. 

   There is an amazing story told of the great Hasidic Rebbe Zusya. When Zusya was dying, his Chasidim, gathered around him and saw that he was crying. They asked their Rebbe why he was crying, for they knew he lived a very pious and influential life. Reb Zusya responded, " I see what will happen to me when I reach heaven. They will not ask me , why was I not like Moshe, for they may not expect me to be as great as Moshe. They will not ask me why was I not as great as Rabbi Akivah, for I was not expected to be as great as Rabbi Akivah. What I do fear is when they ask me, why was I not Zusya? That is my great fear and that is why I am crying. I am asking myself why was I not Zusya?"

    The greatest tragedy of life is not fulfilling our life's mission of not fulfilling our Tafkid, of not searching our true לך לך, to successfully journey the road that  Hashem has planned for us. A road of destiny - a road of fulfillment - a road to be travelled for our own personal growth - a road just like Avraham took as he reached Har Hamoriah, the road that made earth into a heavenly sphere.

      Remember well  that in life the degree of attainment comes with the cultivation of our true abilities. We should be inspired by the great expressions of the human spirit to reject mediocrity and be satisfied only with excellence. 

    I remember I once asked a youngster, "Why do you believe in G-D?" he answered simply, "Well, I guess it just runs in the family." 

     A continuity of faith running through generations is indispensable to establishing a true meaningful fulfillment of achieving our own destiny.

      G-D loans us the impulse to judge ourselves, and if we use this impulse wisely, then we can create an admirable pattern of life. 

     The full development of each individual is not only a right, but a duty to society and a duty to oneself.

    The ideal of man is to be a manifestation of G-D. 

שבת שלום ומבורך.

       

LESSON IN LIFE

   Last week we read Parshat B'reisheet, when Hashem created man and woman and set them forth on their journey of life in a most magnificent way.   

   Then, in a curiously and conflicting manner we are introduced this Shabbat to Noach and his unique personality. With baited breath we wondered, "Who was this person designated by G-D to save humanity."

   We learn from the Parsha how Noach is described,  את האלוקים התהלך נח, "Noach walked with G-D", and Noach was a righteous man, a צדיק. 

   From the Torah's description of Noach, I suggest that he was a non conformist. He remained loyal to Hashem at all times.  In face of all the corruption and evil that existed at that time, Noach remained his own person. He refused to conform to his societies norms and with great effort stood his grounds and remained the righteous person he was. 

   It is truly amazing and praiseworthy that a person can remain loyal to  Hashem's ways and be a non conformist in a world of perversity. It is for these reasons that G-D chose Noach to rebuild a new world for humanity, resulting in the signing of a bris, a covenant, with Hashem, to assure that the people of the world will live on with integrity and with human dignity. 

   Yes, Noach walked with G-D, and maintained his true "self" and never walked alone again. He always walked with G-D. 

   This is our lesson in life. These are times that we must maintain our identity as loyal and obedient Jews to forge a greater alliance with mankind, encouraging others that we need not be like those whose way of life is destructive and often perverse. 

  Noach had the courage and ability to separate himself from those forces that wished to drag him along the road of evil and inhumanity. 

   We must take that lesson to heart and remain steadfast in our Torah oriented way and not permit anyone to encourage us otherwise. 

  Noach was the savior of the world in his time and we must do our share to help humanity see the light of truth, in a world that so often suffers from darkness and falsehood. 

      Noach, the non conformist, builds an ark that saves the world, and provides for the future of the next generation and all generations to come.  The question that we must answer, "Are we doing the same for our families and for Judaism?"

     Noach's charge is our mission.  

שבת שלום ומבורך

ESROG OF LIFE

 

“The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create It’

With this idea in mind, we need to always remember one of my favorite sayings, “We may not be able to control the wind, but we can always adjust the sails.” This is our mantra to forge ahead into the future with optimism and faith.

Louis Pasteur wrote, “When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments, ‘Tenderness for what he is, and Respect for what he may become’.

 “Rabbi”, you may ask, “We are told we must always have confidence in the future.”  My reply is, “Hope is finding meaning to our existence, and when we do so than glory is in our horoscope.”

 These are my thoughts when I take hold of my Esrog and pronounce the blessing and wave it magnificently in all directions with the Lulav.  At these times, I observe the two small appendages of the Esrog; the Pitum on top and the Ukutz on the bottom. The Pitum is like the flower of the fruit. It is the part from which the Esrog continues to grow. At the other end is the Ukutz the part of the fruit which is attached to the tree and receives its nourishment, 

  Now we have Judaism in all its glory. Judaic life needs both parts of the fruit to inspire all Jews in their climb to greatness.  As the Chosen People we need to be attached to our Past, and to use our beautiful and in some ways problematic past; For it is our past that inspires us, instructs us, embellishes us and most of all gives us the direction and the proper path to follow, leading us down the primrose road of life.  However, to truly accomplish all our successes, we need the Pitum of life. For just as the Pitum appears to be pointing to the future we must always possess a Pitum of Judaism in all of its ways. We must always be future oriented, leading us to a more productive and viable future, a future that will see greater observance in our Torah way of life, a future that will see us with open arms welcoming our Jewish brethren, no matter what their observances are.  With our encouragement they will become more observant, reflective of the symbolism of the flowering of the Pitum, continuously growing in Yiddishkeit and basking under the Shade of G-Das they enter our Succah of Life.  

  To quote from the Song of Songs “His left hand is below my head,”  Hashem cradles our head during the Yemay Noraim, and “His right hand hugs me.” G-d hugs us with his love as we enter the Succah, representing the Hug of G-D.

    Just as Hashem hugs us with His love and warmth, so must we open our hearts to all, and use our Ukutz , our past to inspire others. We must, also, use our Pitum to create a future for others and to see for ourselves how bright our future can and will be if we use all of our Spiritual energies to produce that future with Love and Betachon.

 Happy is the person who can live and help others to prosper with the confidence that Klal Yisrael will see the Succah of Moshiach built in our time. 

      

          חג שמח 

TABERNACLE OF PEACE

   With the events that transpired this past week I realize, more and more, that the world is shattered with violence, anger, and a disengagement from the G-Dly world  of humanity. 

  As I was preparing  Divrey Torah on Megillat Kohelet, that is to be read this coming Shabbat Chol Hamoed, the devastating news of the animalistic behavior of some deranged, sick person, shooting indiscriminately at a crowd of innocent men,women and children at a concert in Las Vegas brought anguish and pain to America and the entire world. 

     At that moment Kohelet spoke to me;

    הבל הבלים, vanities of vanities. A thesis that negates life.  He saw that we live  in a world of cruelty, of hatred and instability. He sees life as futile, vain and useless. 

   Then I read a Midrash, that sees this idea of הבל, in a different way. The Midrash does not see, so much, the futility of life, but rather views our modern day world as changing and unstable, resulting from the excessive materialism, that is overpowering our society. 

   This weeks horrific episode and our very own pursuits, are suggesting that we need not deny our materialistic needs to survive in our world. However, this is not the essence of man, סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלוקים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור. The upshot of Kohelet is that he made us aware of the pitfalls of life and we are to take it into our hearts and change our course. 

  As the world changes, in so many different ways, it becomes incumbent upon all of us to walk out of our comfortable homes with roofs that are separating us from the heavens above and enter the spiritual world of the Succah and sit under the open skies of G-D. As we look up we utter the words; 

ופרוש עלינו סוכת  שלומך, coming closer to the שכינה, and placing our entire being under His direction and His G-Dly protection. With this act our world is no longer one of הבל, now it becomes a world of ברכה and אהבה. 

   Then we can say, as we look out at our broken world, הרחמן הוא יקים לנו את סוכת דוד הנופלת, May the Compassionate One restore our fallen world and once again may humanity stand upright under the shade of our Almighty G-D. 

  חג שמח שבת שלום