After I wrote my weekly article, war has broken out. We trust in Hashem who has promised us that Eretz Yisrael is the place that עיני
השם אלקיך בה מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה Hashem is constantly watching and guarding Israel.
Click here for words of faith, optimism and blessing from the Rebbe for these circumstances.
Click here for practical ideas on how to support our brothers and sisters in Israel, and all over the world.
Weekly Torah:
We were toasting Lechayim to each other, singing melodies, I was sharing Torah thoughts interspersed with Thai flavored Jewish experiences. A classic ‘farbrengen’ gathering.
I was explaining to the eager listeners around the table how special it was to sit together and share words of Torah inspiration.
A young man in his early twenties who I know since he is born, respectfully asked permission to ask me a question.
‘You have explained so nicely about the benefits of this gathering to us who are listening to you. What benefits do you, who are leading the gathering get from the event?’
For a second I was speechless.
Then I realized that he genuinely cared for me and wanted to know if I too was getting a benefit from my participation or was it one sided.
I thought for a few minutes and here is what I answered:
Certainly, I as the speaker am having a lot of benefit for sharing my thoughts with others.
Speaking out about things you believe in, with conviction and passion, help strengthen your own inner resolve to live up to those ideals.
Sometimes our actions, speech and even thought is commandeered by our negative inclination in direct conflict with our inner voice of morality.
Expressing our positive aspirations and ethos is a wonderful way to solidify your behavior to be more positive.
How providential that just two days later I came upon a post by a Jewish inspirational blogger who told this story:
A story is told of a Jew who was praying passionately. His prayers were punctuated with crying out ‘Aba-Tatteh-Father’ as he raised his eyes heavenward.
A passerby asked the local Chassidic rebbe scoffingly, ‘do you really think this person believes that G-d is his father’?
The Rebbe responded, ‘if he keeps saying Tatteh-Father-Aba he will’.
There is a reality that is created by language.
When we know what kind of reality we are aiming for, it is helpful to aim towards it, to speak about it, and to act on it.
When we talk about how much we love someone the love gets intensified.
When we do something loving and caring for someone else, the love grows even stronger.
This is a very good reason why we should eliminate hate speech from our vocabulary unless it’s about hating something diabolically evil.
Certainly we should stay far away from hateful behavior.
In this week’s Parsha some Jews who weren’t able to participate in the Pesach offering voiced their disappointment at being left out.
Their angst was so intense, their message of wanting to be part of Hashem’s mitzvah was so authentic that Hashem granted them the ‘second Pesach (Sheni)’.
Speech has power.
To inspire others.
And to inspire ourselves.
Some great leaders would pray that their words of inspiration should have the intended motivational effect on themselves and on those who hear their words.
The Rebbe taught us that projecting the future with words of optimism and faith in Hashem’s benevolence creates a more positive outcome.
Let us try to be like bubbling springs of positivity.
Inspiring more good deeds in others.
Being inspired ourselves during the process of inspiring others.
When someone tells you they are embarking on a journey. Starting a new business. Entering a new relationship.
Wish them well.
Don’t be that naysayer who says ‘oh, so many people have failed…’.
If you see that there is an obvious danger in the path ahead, by all means share your concern.
But all too often it is simply habitual to be a pessimist.
Let's be consciously POSITIVE.
Hashem loves us. Hashem is protecting us.
May Hashem bring us Mashiach and usher in the world peace we so desperately crave, long and yearn for.
Oseh Shalom Bimromov Hu Yaaseh Shalom Aleinu Ve’al kol Yisrael -
Mashiach NOW -
Veimru, AMEN
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef C. Kantor