Peering Beyond the Surface

B"H

~Since I'm heading to Northern Israel tomorrow for the weekend festivities of ''Lag B'omer,''
this week's email is coming a bit earlier than usual. Have a happy Lag B'omer this Sunday!~
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In Montreal there lives a distinguished kabbalist & author named Rabbi Zev Wolf Greenglass.
He once recounted a personal event which helped change his life:

"Many years ago, in the early 1940's, I was traveling through a certain town in Russia.
Needing a place to stay over for the night, I found a Chabad Yeshiva (school of Torah learning) and asked a student there if there
was perhaps a room available to sleep in. "No problem," a student told me. "My roommate is away at a wedding. You can take his bed."
Thankfully I was led to his room and proceeded straight to bed.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to use the restroom. As I arose from bed, I saw an amazing sight.
There on the floor was sleeping the boy who had offered me his "roommate's" bed!
I was a complete stranger to him. But knowing I was a fellow Jew who needed a place to sleep, the boy had simply given his bed to me.
When I woke up early the next morning, the boy was gone. He knew I'd have felt bad to have known I'd taken his bed."
"This selfless love," Rabbi Greenglass concluded, "is what drew me to Chassidism."

~~~~~~

Truly caring for a stranger is no easy feat. It is perhaps the hardest character trait to integrate into one's life.
Why? Because of our natural egos, our self centered outlooks. Each of us naturally feels ourselves and our life situation & feelings.
Only after getting to know someone, can one hope to say: "Wow, he has feelings too. There's actually something behind those facial muscles. There's another human being."
There's a soul in that body.

The same holds true in our relationship with G-d.
We don't see the true Him. All we see is His world and the events and creations in it, his outer garments, His "Facial expressions."
The Real Him is Hidden.
But just as one has to work on sensitizing oneself to perceive the inner workings, the soul, of another human being,
one must also work to sensitize oneself to connect to the inner soul of the universe - G-d. And it ain't easy.
Oftentimes we tend to speak at one another, rather than to another. The focus is on me. It's quite an unpleasant feeling for the listener.
How often in prayer, or when performing a mitzvah, am I actually connecting/speaking to G-d? Connecting to the real Him behind it all?
"Baruch atoh Hashem..." Blessed are You Hashem.

The next time we say these words, let's try and say them to G-d, to create that One-on-one bond that's there to be strengthened.
And may we be successful in sensitizing our perspectives; to be able to look beyond the masks of our fellow beings,
and beyond the mask of G-d.

Have a great rest of your week & Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Jerusalem

A Picture Worth MORE than a 1,000 Words

B"H

This week, instead of writing an inspiring or intellectually stimulating email, I came to the realization that a picture can sometimes portray much more. This past Tuesday, some friends of mine & I headed 20 minutes eastward to the Western Wall,

to help wrap Tefillin with visitors from the trip March of the Living.

Around 500 kids & adults, 1st time teenagers and holocaust survivors, came to wrap with us. It was incredible.

To be together helping fellow Jews experience the holiest act (a mitzvah) at the holiest site in the world was awesome.

A man once asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe: "There's no more tzaddikim (truly righteous people) in the world today! They've all been wiped out in the war!" The Rebbe answered: "If you see a man wearing Tefillin and he has numbers tattooed on his arm, you've met a tzaddik."

"The Jewish body may be beaten and exiled, but the soul can never be touched." (5th Lubavitcher Rebbe before imprisonment by the Russians)

What more apparent testament to this quote is there than this above picture?

The Jewish soul is undefinable and untouchable.

Through every mitzvah we do, we show all those who tried to defeat the Jewish soul that they lost.

They never stood a chance.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Jerusalem

P.S. To see more photos, check out:

http://shturem.net/index.php?section=news&id=42526

"I'm Hungry!"

B"H

In the middle of the 18th-century, in the small Eastern European village of Hanipol, there lived a special tzaddik (righteous person) by the name of Reb Zusha.

Every morning, R’ Zusha would awake well before dawn. After learning some Torah, he would head to the local synagogue to recite his morning prayers, which was at length. After he concluded, he would return to his home. Once there, he would open his window, lift his eyes to the heavens, and call out: "Master of the World, Zusha is very hungry and desires to eat something!" His attendant, waiting until he heard R' Zusha's appeal, would then immediately bring in breakfast.

One morning, the attendant thought to himself, "Why doesn't R' Zusha ask me directly for his meal? In fact, who does he think he’s fooling by calling out to G-d like that. He knows full well that I bring him his food everyday!"

So on the spot he decided that the next morning he would not bring R' Zusha's meal when he called out. He would just wait to see what would happen when R' Zusha didn’t receive his meal.
The next morning, R' Zusha awoke as usual, well before the light of day. The night had been a rainy one in Hanipol, and the streets of the town had already turned to rivers of mud. In order to get from one side of the street to another, one had to cross on narrow planks that were laid across the flowing mud. As R' Zusha was crossing in the direction of the synagogue, a man whom he didn't recognize, a guest in town, was coming towards R' Zusha from the other side. When he saw R' Zusha - gaunt, almost emaciated, dressed in rags without a tooth in his mouth, the stranger, with a hearty laugh, jumped up and down on the plank causing R' Zusha to tumble into the mud. But R' Zusha didn't say a word. He calmly picked himself up out of the mud and continued on his way to the synagogue, while the stranger sauntered off into the distance.

Chuckling merrily as he walked, the man arrived at a local pub. What are you so happy about?” The bartender asked curiously. The man couldn't help but brag to the bartender about his amusing prank. But the bartender wasn't laughing so quickly. He asked the guest to describe the “beggar” whom he had catapulted into the mud. Upon hearing his description, he clasped his hands to his head and cried out in anguish, "Oy! Oy vey! Do you know what you’ve done!? That was not just some beggar, that was the Holy Reb Zusha!"

Now it was the turn of the guest to cry out, for R' Zusha was known to all as a holy tzaddik.

Trembling, the guest asked: “What am I going to do now? What am I going to do!"

"Don't worry," exclaimed the bartender, regaining his composure. "Listen to me. I know what you should do. R' Zusha spends many hours every morning in prayer. When he is finished he returns home. There he opens his window, and anybody can see how he thrusts his head out, and calls toward the heavens, 'Master of the World, Zusha is very hungry and desires to eat something!'

So, I'll prepare some cakes and some schnapps for you to take to him. When you hear him call out to the Creator, you go in immediately with this gift, and offer it to him and beg his forgiveness. I'm certain that he will forgive you whole-heartedly."

That morning, like every morning, after the prayers, R' Zusha went into his room, opened the window and called out, "Master of the World, Zusha is very hungry and desires to eat something!"

This time, the attendant, upon hearing R' Zusha, held his ground and folded his arms tightly together, with a smirk on his face."Let the ‘Master of the World’ bring him his cake this morning", he huffed to himself.
Suddenly the door burst open and a man, holding a large plate of cakes and a bottle of schnapps, ran in and made his way to the room of R' Zusha. He went straight in, put the cakes on the table, and then fell to the floor in grief, begging the tzaddik for his forgiveness (which he was certainly granted).

The attendant suddenly came to understand that it really was the Master of the World who brought R' Zusha his breakfast every morning.

~~~~~~~

This story contains a very profound lesson for every one of us. It’s very easy to forget the source of all of the good we receive in our lives; whether we credit our boss for the checks we receive, or Costco for the food we buy, we mustn’t forget that G-d Has many messengers to carry out His Will of giving us something. What we receive ultimately comes from Him – the True Beneficiary. By remembering the true source of our blessings, we remove the false façade of the “independent” world, and we reveal the true nature of our existence. By simply doing what's right and honest, and realizing who our true beneficiary is - while putting our full trust in Him for our success - we make a vessel for all blessings to come forth to us in abundant measure. May all the blessings in everything we need come in abundance for every one of us!

Wishing you and yours a Shabbat Shalom!

Total Immersion in Latvia

B"H

This e-mail is dedicated to the Kot family of Tallinn, Estonia, and the Wolff family of Helsinki, Finland. Thank you for all of your warm hospitality & loving kindness.

May you continue in your inspiring and vital work, & may blessings shine done upon you in abundance; physically, materially, &spiritually.

And may all of Chabad’s emissaries around the world have only success & good in all things.

~~~

As I was winding through the cobblestone streets in the old town of Riga this afternoon, I found myself listening to a Torah class on my Ipod (Perhaps fulfilling part of G-d’s Original intention in creating Steve Jobs?) In it, I heard a beautiful thought that I would like to share:

Sometimes we find ourselves in a skeptical, if not hopeless, spiritual state of affairs.

“How can someone like me, someone so lowly, so busy with ‘worldly’ things (let’s not expound, each of us have our vices ), how can I hope to have any real connection to G-d or anything spiritual? And even if I could a little, what do I matter in the big scheme of things? Why should I even bother learning Torah or doing a mitzvah, celebrate a holiday or go to pray?

It’s a very valid question.

But let’s take a look at an interesting law in Torah, which may help shine some light on these Q’s.

The 11^th century great sage Maimonides, in his “laws of Mikvah” [a spa where a Jew immerses for purity, traditionally a married woman once every month], writes: that when collecting water for this spa, there needs to be 40 ‘seah’ of water (a little bigger than most Jacuzzis).

However, if immersing in a "ma'ayon" - living waters (i.e. a lake or ocean), any amount is fine, as long as the person iscompletely immersed, from the tips of their hair down to their toes.

This law insinuates, that theoretically, if you could take a drop, just 1 drop, of ‘living waters’ and spread it so thinly that it covered the entire person, it would be enough to completely purify them!

Kabbalah teaches us that water is likened to Torah. Many reasons are given, for example: water naturally descends from a high place to a low place (unlike fire which naturally reaches upward), which is like Torah which is a Divine wisdom that descended to this earth. Every law in Torah has deeper levels to it. If 1 drop of living water is capable of purifying, than 1 drop of Torah can do the same. 1 mitzvah can do the same. 1 prayer can do the same.

When one learns a single teaching of Torah, he or she is completely immersed in G-d’s Infinite Wisdom, for “He, His Will, and His Wisdom are all One.” (see Tanya Ch.’s 4 & 5)

So no matter how “impure” we think we are, or how impure of an environment we find ourselves in, we must always remember that at any moment we can immerse our entire being into this 1 “drop.” It may help if we decide to direct our entire beings into the drop; i.e. immerse our mind and heart completely into the teaching being learned or the prayer being uttered. But whatever the case, the moment one decides to immerse in Torah or a Mitzvah, he or she is completely bound up with G-d in a bond that has absolutely no comparison in this world. For even the ultimate bond of 2 human beings in marriage is still 2 separate beings who are cleaving to one another. But when you study Torah, your mind is now 1 with G-d’s Mind.

You are now thinking His Thoughts. There is no separation.

So too in action - when a Jewish male for example puts Tefillin on, there is an opinion in Jewish law that says one is supposed to stand out of respect when he passes by, b/c at this moment he is now completely connected to the Infinite Light of G-d. But what if he just did so and so wrong? No qualifications are mentioned here – it doesn’t matter if he’s an 8o yr. old righteous scholar, 50 yr. old stock broker, or a 13 yr. old comic book lover.

The ultimate connection is there.

As the summer approaches (try telling that to Eastern Europe ) I wish you all safe dipping – both physically and spiritually!

Shabbat Shalom!

Daniel

Riga, Latvia

Finding Freedom in Estonia

B"H

-David from Narva, Estonia

Happy Passover to you and yours!

We are now amidst the 3,323rd anniversary celebration (1313 BCE) of our Exodus from Egypt!

Can you feel the freedom?

Of course I don't just mean physical freedom.

Freedom takes on many forms.

Freedom from addiction. Freedom from our fears. Freedom from sadness.

In general a Spiritual freedom from the shackles of this materialistic world...

As I've been traveling through Estonia ("Esto-what??"); from the capital Tallinn, to the outskirts of Kohle-Jarve and Narva (on the border with Russia),

I've been meeting face to face with the everlasting Jewish spirit that never dies. I've been witnessing true spiritual freedom at its best.

It's cold here about 10 months of the year. Snow & ice cover every inch of terrain. The trees bear no leaves.

The apartment buildings look gross and smell worse. The country's history with the Jews isn't one to fondly remember.

There is one synagogue in the entire country. Most cities (like Kohle-Jarve where we made our Seders ) boast 100 Jews at most (compare that to 100,000 in San Diego alone :)

And yet Jews flocked to our Seders; young and old. We probably met over 60% of the community!

They were interested and excited. My friend and I spoke to them about the exodus from Egypt, both then and what it means today in our lives.

Stories were woven in, along with singing and dancing.

And you had the feeling that you were part of something special.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, far from the comforts of warm, sweet home on the other side of the world;

5 miles from a once major concentration-camp, in the freezing cold, we were joining with our fellow Jews and experiencing the freedom of the Jewish soul.

A soul that is "literally a piece of G-d Above." (Tanya, Ch. 2)

Throughout history the Jewish body was beaten and imprisoned.

But our Jewish soul was always free. That could never be imprisoned by any force.

A few hours before the 1st night of Passover, we met up with David from Narva, one of the city's only Jews. We put up a mezuza on his office door in his auto shop,

and danced together to celebrate. When he saw us praying with Tefillin on, he asked us if he could pray with us, even though he had already prayed that morning.

I gently told him that he needn't pray with Tefillin twice in 1 day, all the while marveling at the fact that I have to beg many to put Tefillin on once a day!

David, it so happens, had his circumcision done earlier that year, at the age of 48, in St. Petersburg. He practically begged the Rabbi to have it done.

He has a prayer booklet in Russian, and listens to the prayers and songs online to learn the tunes of the melodies.

As we enter the last days of Passover, with the spiritual energy of freedom it contains,

let's try and hone in on something we'd like to improve on, to feel more freedom from.

Our physical surroundings and social setting may feel cramping and imprisoning at times.

But our powerful souls inside can transcend any obstacle or situation we find ourselves in.

For as I witnessed here in Estonia, true freedom lays not in location or situation, but in ones mindset.

A Joyful demeanor and more sensitive, spiritual outlook can

be attained by one and all - wherever & however we find ourselves in.

This Passover let's choose freedom.

Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Passover!

Daniel

Tallinn, Estonia