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