Cold Soup

There once lived a cerain couple that was greatly in love. Before you knew it, he had proposed! The wedding was amazing, and married life continued from good to better. One evening, the man turned to his wife and asked: "Would you make me something to eat, please? I have to go for a moment, but I'll be right back." She begins preparing a delicious soup. Steaming hot, she places it on the table in front of her husband's favorite chair. The night passes, and there's no sign of her husband! A day, a week, a month, a year passes...and yet nothing. One morning, the man appears. He walks into the house, up to the table, straight to his favorite chair, sits down and tastes the soup that is on the table. The soup is cold.

What will the husband's reaction be? Anger? Disappointment? No way! If he's wise, there is no way he will complain. Rather he will think it incredible that not only is the house still there, his table and favorite chair, still there, but even the soup is there! The soup is cold? Well, yes, when you leave soup out for years, it can get a bit cold.

Now let's put this story into context. 3,324 years ago, G-d asked us if we would marry him. We had an extraordinary wedding ceremony, with great special effects--we were wowed. After the wedding He said, "I have a few things I'd like you to take care of for me so, please... I'll be right back." We haven't heard from Him since. For more than three thousand, three hundred years. He has sent messengers, messages, postcards, but we haven't heard a word from Him in all this time.

Maybe the Jewish people haven't always been as virtuous as we could have been. Yes, if Mashiach comes today, he'll find that "our soup" is cold. We suffer from separation anxiety. We suffer from a loss of connection to our ancestors. The soup is cold, very cold. Today we aren't spiritually excited and in tune like in days of old. But is that really our fault? And who gets the credit for the fact that there is soup altogether? That we're still here! We are a vibrant, passionate, and loyal people. We the Jewish people are a miracle! G-d is proud of each of us and all of our ancestors. And at the time of the final redemption, He will beam openly with pride and thanks for keeping our Jewish identities strong - keeping the soup on the table.

In the meantime, nothing stops us from warming up the soup a little, adding spices and flavor. An extra mitzvah, a prayer said with vitality. But no matter what, we can look at our nation with pride.

Shabbat Shalom!

We Were Like Dreamers

"A Song of Ascents. When G-d brought Zion out of captivity, we were like people in a dream. At the time, our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues with cries of joy. At the time it was said among the nations, "G-d has done great things for them." G-d had done great things for us; we were happy. Let our captivity, G-d, be a thing of the past, like dried-up streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." (King David, Psalm 126)


So goes the 1st paragraph of the "birkat hamazon" - the blessing we say after meals that include bread. Tonight begins what is known in the Jewish calendar as "the 9 days" - the sad period of time that led up to the destruction of the 1st & 2nd temples in Jerusalem on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of "Av". The above words by King David describe the time that will come - may it be very soon - when the Jewish people will be redeemed from exile and returned to the land of Israel in peace. Let's take a look at the exact words King David uses to describe our state of being during exile: "We were like people in a dream." What's the deeper meaning behind this expression of being in a dream like state?

What happens when we dream? One really cool thing about dreams, is that opposites can occur at the very same time! The impossible becomes possible. Not only can you fly and defy physics, but opposites can mesh harmoniously - like a massive elephant going through the eye of a needle. How is that possible? It's possible because, as we know, dreams are (primarily) full of falsehood and imagination, with no substance to them. Our intellect, when sleeping, seizes to wield its logical control over our thoughts and emotions - and they therefore run wild.

This then is what King David is teaching us: In our lives, living during this long exile, we are as if asleep like dreamers! Even while awake, we act in life as if in a dream, where opposites flow together like it's no problem! On Jewish holidays & Shabbat, we engage in holy matters, such as prayers and learning Torah. Many even engage in this every morning! Yet the very next day, or even later that morning, we can act as if G-d isn't running the world at all. We worry over everything, we act towards others and within our own minds as if totally unaware of the feeling of closeness to G-d and recognition of his providence we had just moments ago. Are we schizophrenic (G-d forbid)? Didn't you just leave the western wall a minute ago in tears of inspiration and now you're freaking out because the line at the old city pizza store is going too slowly? How can we be like that?

King David is telling us that it's all right. That's how galus - exile - affects our daily reality and mindset. But if we try, putting effort to really connect with G-d, sometimes we can have that connection actually affect our daily conduct afterward. We become awake, for however short a time it may be. And may these waking moments lead us to the ultimate, true time of reality, when we all be awake to a G-dly reality, speedily in our days. (Based on a Chassidic Discourse by R. Yosef Yitzchak Shneerson, Purim 1940)

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

Speaking Face to Face

{This Mon. Night - Tues. Night marks the 1,940th anniversary of the destruction of our holy temple in Jerusalem known as "Tisha B'av." We fast and implore G-d to once again re-build our temple & Reside among us. To see more, click here}



To touch on the significance of Tisha B'av, I'd like to start off with a simple question:
If We believe that G-d is everywhere, how come we pray every day towards Jerusalem??
Let's just pray in whichever direction we please!
To A: this Q:, let me ask you one more: When speaking to a friend, why do you look at their face? Their soul & inner life force encompasses their entire body. Speak to their toes!

So what's the answer?
The face is the place where a person's soul is revealed most - where it shines.
As the famous saying goes: "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
This can explain also why we Jews aim toward Jerusalem when we pray to G-d: There is where His Presence is most Revealed.

Never was this more apparent then at the time of our temple's existence, known as the "Beit Hamikdash." There G-d's Presence Resided. There heaven & earth kissed. The spiritual melded with the physical, and all, Jew & non-Jew alike, could come to witness G-dliness in this world.
Miracles were commonplace. Not b/c G-d Liked doing miracles there, but rather b/c the area itself was G-dly, and therefore miracles exuded naturally.
"Jerusalem is the light of the world... and who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, blessed be He." -Bereshit Rabbah 59:8.
So how can we get it back?
Well, for one thing, we have to want to see it back.
In 2010, where the average Joe on the street lives a better life materially than a French King did 300 yrs. ago (see showers), why should I want an old temple??
Well, besides for the peace and joy, the ending of disease, strife and suffering that will reign throughout the world when the redemption occurs, there will also be one very special thing:



G-d won't be hidden any more.
Any evil that occurs in this world is rooted in G-d Being Hidden from view,
while only revealed good reigns when G-d Is in view.
As our Sages said, if only the Romans knew the benefit the temple had for them as well, they would have never destroyed it.

The exile we find ourselves in now is called a "doubled darkness."
Why "doubled?" B/C when in darkness, one at least knows he or she is in darkness.
But in the darkness of today's world, we don't even realize we are in darkness - in exile.
For myself, living in Jerusalem, it's a bit easier. Whenever I visit the Western wall, I see a golden dome resting where our glorious temple once stood. I see the tears of elderly ladies at the wall, beseeching G-d for mercy on their families, friends, and on His People worldwide.

May you have an easy fast, and remember the words of Maimonides:
One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil.
One good thought, speech, or deed - can tip the scale and bring the redemption now!

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel