ALONG OUR TRAIN RIDE OF LIFE - May 2023

Shalom Dear Readers:

 

“SAVORING MOMENTS OF UNITY, ACHVA, DEVOTION TO HASHEM, WITHIN OUR SYNAGOGUES AND HOMES AND FAMILIES!”

 

We have been living now, in 2023, months of anxiousness, worrying, witnessing horrific scenes of killings, hatred, and yet we, the Jewish people who believe and long for closeness with G.D/Hashem, are so delighted to go to our synagogues of choice, to sit and pray and sing to our G. with thankfulness, whilst we yet worry as to what we see around us happening! How did we ever get to this point? Can we bring sanity to this world around us? Being different in our measures of religiousness can be less than perfect. But to attack one another of our own species and religious beliefs, is barbaric and evil and horrifying to behold!

 

Rabbi Yannai claimed: Do you want to know the secret of a long life? Ora properly lived life of doing good and pursuing peace?

 

First, says Rabbi Yannai, we must guard our tongue from evil. THAT is the secret potion, the healing medicine which will enable us to go on to the next step, moral health.

 

 

In Tehilim, Psalms, we read: “Turn from evil and do good…” Many peddlers peddled  not just trivial commodities, but they gave words and wares of wisdom.

 

Good speech leads us up to living a full and healthy moral life.

 

Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Seek Peace and pursue it.

 

Many of us on this train of life are devastated to see such ravaging of our Jewish brethren, let alone, our enemies from without! Going to pray this last religious holiday brought me to tears of joy at our unity, and to tears, knowing what is happening all around on the streets of our country. It was simply unbelievably horrific! As we continue our ride on the train of life, we don’t know where to turn – to get off the train, to cling to our homes, to run away from this land that G. has given us.

Wasn’t the Shoah enough? To think of all our thousands upon thousands of Jewish brethren smashed to pieces during the holocaust, and now, when finally have our country. Let us work on our attitude in how we behave to others!

 

To witness within ourselves such hatred, is so very very sad, and unmanageable. We need to take great care in how we utilize this powerful G. given gift of speech! Language is G.d’s greatest gift to humankind and it must be guarded if it is to heal, not harm! Let’s stay on the train of life, but use our love of G. in our speech and mannerisms. Let us reach out to others in need, and stand together and cling to our heritage, to our prayer books, to our Torah, to our families that we are so fortunate to have! Losing so many innocent children, adults, families, within our own cities, domains, homes, cars, at bus stops. I pray that you and I can and will find ways to continue to reach out to others, the needy, the trodden, the “other”, in time of need and day by day as needed. Let us strengthen ourselves and our ahavat chinam, and look once again at each other as brothers and sisters.

 

As we have now celebrated Independence Day, let us hopefully celebrate many smachot and good occasions, united in our humanity, no matter how we differ in our practices and customs of living in this planet EARTH, under G.’s guidance!

 

Until we meet again in JUNE, G. willing,

CHW

 

 

 

 

Along Our Train Ride of Life - April 2023

Shalom Dear Readers:

Years ago, in one of my blogs, I highly recommended the book Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. It’s a wonderful read, and it gives us a push and encouragement. Many of us on this train of life are ridden with doubts and fears as we try to cope with our particular issues.

 

Recently, a dear friend of mine who felt my sense of insecurity and fear over my health issues, bought me a book entitled: What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid? by Michal Oshman. Somehow my friend thought it was an appropriate gift to give me. I could not put the book down. Michal Oshman’s tips are so doable, with many resources from our Jewish life and beliefs, as well as Torah sources from 3,000-year-old principles for living life fearlessly. We are encouraged to be models of kindness, caring, and doing, and there are tips for reaching out to others. It is a book to re-read from time to time, in order to get re-encouraged to step out and help others and ourselves!

 

Subsequently, I am devoting time on this blog with suggestions and tips for living and conquering/managing our fears as we ride on our train of life. 

Viktor Frankl said: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Each of us has a personal “mitzrayim”, our own narrow straits that restrict us, stifle us, and trap us. These internal chains of self-slavery, our own limiting thoughts and restrictive beliefs, might be what’s making us afraid, what’s keeping us from moving forward.

 

In Mans’ Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl says that we need to absorb his three components for happiness. Life is primarily a quest for meaning, and that meaning can come about in one of three ways:

1. Work by doing something significant

2. Love by caring for another person(s)

3. Courage during difficult times.

He adds that we cannot control what happens to us in life, but we CAN control what we feel and do about the situation. Here in Israel, many of the Holocaust survivors appreciate where they are; happiness and hope has entered into their lives once again.

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the former Associated Justice of the Supreme Court, claimed that the secret to a meaningful life is to do something outside yourself, something to repair tears in your community, or something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you.

 

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov wrote the song/prayer, Gesher Tzar Me’od.

The whole world is a very narrow bridge.

And the main thing is to have no fear.

Rabbi Nachman’s message is that everyone should always move forward and cross their personal bridges. No looking back! Replace fear with action!  When we choose courage over fear, we choose to live instead of just to exist!

“Doing” instead of “over-thinking” is the only way to move forwards towards joy, fulfilment and meaning. When opportunities come, don’t fear them, take them!

 

We study in Proverbs 14:23 “In every sadness there is benefit.”

Frankl, says that even in the depths of despair, meaning can lead to hope. Frank found internal strength and resilience, not DESPITE his grief, but BECAUSE of it. He decided to “move forward” rather than stay still and grieve.

 

Maya Angelou tells us: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will perhaps forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.

 

The Baal Shem Tov said, “Even a little light can dispel a lot of darkness.”

We know that if we change nothing, nothing will change. Even one little step forward can make a big difference. For each of us, G. has a task: work to perform, kindness to show, a gift to give, love to share, loneliness to ease, pain to heal, or broken lives to help mend.

 

In To Heal a Fractured World, Jonathan Sacks guides us how to live and to be attentive to what G. wants from us. He guides us towards direction and meaning in our lives!

 

I wish all of us, Klal Yisrael, a healthy, meaningful Pesach. I wish for our people to come together as one people, united בע"ה.

Until we meet again, G. willing, in May 2023

CHW