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He hasn't changed his tricks
He got my great grandfather with this, don't let him get you!

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The Story of Yechezkali's return to Judaism.

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I'll tell you mine. 

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One of the hallmarks of Judaism is it's holistic perspective. Instead of Judaism focusing on connecting with G-d in a specific location and in a specific way, G-d tells us "in all your ways you should know Him."

Because G-d created and creates the world there's purpose and meaning in every experience and in every nook and cranny of creation. 

There are some items that the Torah tells us that require a deeper Chassidic insight to see how this fits with its holistic theme and world outlook. 

I was fascinated this morning when I read how the Rebbe explains the need for learning the ethics of our fathers in the spring and summer time.

 The simple reason for studying this specifically after Passover until Rosh Hashanah is because at this time there is a renewal of nature, and the enhanced focus on the development of nature and the physical can lead us to being too earthy and stimulated to things which we do better not to pay attention to.
 
To the untrained ear, this sounds like a deterrent: Study the ethics of our fathers and you'll be safe. 

But the Rebbe frames this study in a characteristicly Judaic and holistic perspective:

It's the time when there is an enhanced health in the body. The soul needs to be health too. Don't leave your soul behind. Use this time to enhance the health of your soul, so they are working together in harmony. Study the ethics of our fathers and create an environment that will produce a healthy soul body relationship working synergistically to achieve, G-d willing the holistic goal of creation, the coming of Moshiach, when the presence of G-d will be manifest in everything.

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Two pieces of advice:

A) take responsibility to try to solve this 
B) you're feelings for that person DO make a difference.

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Why can't we own false weights and measures?

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The month of Iyar is not only a month of renewal of the trees, flowers and all growing things, it's also a time of rejuvenation and renewal for animals and man, this is way the acronym of "אייר" is "I am  G-d who heals you."

 G-d's healing is unique, G-d's healing is לא אשים עליך, I will protect you from being unwell in the first place.

 The Talmud says that a doctor functions as a conduit to G-d's healing, and therefore not only heals but prescribes behavior that will ensure good health, so there is no need for healing. 

A doctor is merely a channel for G-d's healing. 

Two things doctors must remember to be that appropriate vessel:

One, a doctor must put all kinds of bias and selfish motives out of the picture and merely focus on the benefit of the patient. This is a standard customary precept that doctors vow to uphold.  A doctor also needs to pray to G-d to have that clarity to perform medicine appropriately.

 The perfect approach to medical care has to be predicated on the following paradigm, "I am only doing a mission for the true healer of all flesh."

 The second thing that doctors must be conscious of is the spiritual welfare of their patients. Although the patient has merely requested for assistance with the body, a doctor must endeavor to heal the soul as well, as this will enhance the health of the body too. 

This is obvious in certain circumstances, like when a doctor prescribes a diet of what a patient should or shouldn't eat, the doctor must empower the patient to overcome the urge of the palate. 

The bottom line is that in medical care, the theme of this month, a Jew must connect to G-d and feel where the healing is coming from. Doctors too must focus on how they're merely an emissary of G-d and that the healing of the body is connected to the enhanced health of the soul.

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Should I look into the stars?

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What's happening Next? 

The name of this week's Torah portion is אחרי, Acharay can be translates as next or afterwards.
They say that hindsight is 20/20 Vision, but how does that help me now when I can only see what's on the table today?

Good morning!

A Russian immigrant to the U
nited States in the 70s had never had a bar mitzvah and had never before put on Tefilin.
There was a piece of advice the Rebbe gave him that I think we all need to pay attention to.
In the back and forth in the conversation, the man was resistant to accepting to commit to put on Tefilin every day. 

The Rebbe told him (more or less), "You can not know now for certain how you will feel in twenty years from now.
If you put on Tefilin every day for the next twenty years and you regret it, you're regretting a loss of time of five minutes per day.
But if you look back at your life in twenty years and say I should have put on Tefilin twenty years ago! You're regretting twenty years of life lost!"

THIS man took this to heart and never missed a day of Tefilin for the rest of his life. 

If we slow down long enough to think about what the impact of a few minutes devoted to prayer Torah and kindness will have in our lives over time, it puts the effort and the commensurate gain into perspective. 

If you slow down long enough to enhance your relationship with your spouse, siblings, parents or your children, and give them five more minutes than you do now, you will gain so many more real years of life.

After Moshiach comes, we will get the real perspective of what we should be doing, let's try to look through the rear view mirror, and remember: objects in the  mirror are a lot closer than they appear.

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Making it real and taking it personally.

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