Bagels, Coffee, Olives, and The Lubavitcher Rebbe
It has indeed been some amount of time since the last obscure vision of a blog post has been emitted from my fingertips. Nonetheless, I am here to save this dying hidden blog from a deeper fate of the black holes of the internet.
I had a wonderful Sukkot, of which if you would like to hear more about, shoot me a comment, and we'll converse personally. As so many things happened, it would take too much of my procrastinating will to even type one event up here. The month of Tishrei has gone by so fast, it's hard to think that it is nearly over now! Leading into Cheshvan, which has no Holy Days at all. I'll just go ahead and say up front, a lot of what is going into the forthcoming sections of this post will be paraphrased from The Rebbe, so bear with me. As I was reading a wonderful article this morning, about the upcoming parshah, Noach, I noticed a wonderful hidden transitional phrase located in the wonderful essay; The need for Jewish scholars. I was reading said article, completely enthused with its ideas and thoughts, and I noticed this little trickle of humor almost. Without the Jewish people, people like us, have absolutely no fate. Let me explain, the article I was reading was explaining the corresponding idea of The Flood, to today's time, and how it could possibly apply to us. The idea, was that much like Noach's time, where the world was full of such negative influences, G-d wanted to destroy the inhabitants of the earth. However he found favor in the sight of Noach, and he decided that his family would be the carrier of the generations to come. I am sure even those who are not literately involved in the works of The Torah to the letter are at least familiar with the story. But how does this apply to us today? And what does it have to do with our need for the Jewish people? Well some background information on the history of the Jews would be nice, I suppose. The Jewish people, for as long as time could profess, have been the largest commentators (historically) on The Torah. Taking small sentences, and designing a mass of deep inspiration to what applies to them here and now. Commentators like Rashi, Rambam, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, all of these individuals carried the torch of the Torah into their times. And leave a trail for us to glean even today. The Jewish scholars have left us such a vast amount of information to wield, it is almost incomprehensible! They have taken The Torah as we know it, and applied it to everything, built a fence around it, and designed a way for us to cherish it, no matter what type of civilization, culture, or society we live in. Now the question should be, what brought this out in the article I was reading? Surely I had known all of this before, which of course I had, but it just tickled me, to find a hint of it, in an article I read online. The paper continued about the account of The Flood, and how it could apply to us today. Correlating the flood, as our daily lives: work, school, daily activities. And Noach as an embodiment of our time with G-d: prayer, doing mitzvot, studying Torah, this all puts us into a direct connection with G-d. The Flood started as just a regular rain, (just as the descendants started as perfectly fine people), but it grew, to a mass overturning of waters, flooding the entire earth (like Adam-Noach, the descendants became a negative force, designating destruction). This is as our daily lives are, our work, school, and secular activities are perfectly fine, when they are in a right contrast with the more spiritually influenced activities. But when they start to take over, that is when they become "a flood" to us. Another interesting comparison, is that of the moon and the sun. The sun lights the day with it's own radiance. The moon lights the night however, not with it's own light, but reflecting the sun's. The sun can be seen as our spiritual being, our willingness to do the right things, and be closer to G-d. It's spawned from our own body, our own minds. The moon, as our physical inclination to do the normal, should also be influenced by our physical side. Where it is fine to indulge in secular activities, don't let them overdue themselves. Keep everything in context, and allow yourself to be a spiritually minded person. In the book, "To Be a Jew", the Author, introduces the idea that Judaism is not becoming spiritually set apart from the secular, but keeping everything in check, and allowing yourself separation from the perverted, and vain. Not to completely separate yourself from the world, but be a light inside it, that illuminates a Holier purpose. The idea is not to be on the left, or the right, but in the middle. I am sure we would all love to be completely spiritually perfect people, but there is a reason why we aren't. How are we to be an example to other people, when we are on such a different plain? This is a psychological experience I have had to tune myself, with my clothing, and with my character. Let me elaborate a little bit for you. All throughout the feast of Sukkot, I was embraced by a few individuals who seemed to be a little bit new to this walk, people who had the heart, and new what they were doing was right, but couldn't put it into a mathematical form of words. What I mean, is that they had the feeling, but not the idea. They didn't really understand the "why", or "what do I do?". So these people were seeking the answers to their questions, and occasionally, I was there to give them. As you could probably incur, I dress a little bit differently generally, and I don't discuss anything accept for Torah on Holy Days/Shabbat. But I couldn't really level with these people when I was on such a different plain than them. Not a Holier plain, but just a different level. So how am I supposed to be a light to them, and maintain my own individuality in what I do? I think the real question lies with "Should I be a light to ten souls, or a spark to myself?". The answer is pretty clear, I should probably adapt who I am to help others. Not adapting into wrong things, like an evil inclination, but instead, adapt my physicality, and personality. In which case, I dressed more acceptable to the communities standard, with some of my own interest. Slacks, and a nice button up shirt. I didn't look like I was on a different plain, and I could level with people. And as far as my discussing things on Shabbat and Holy Days, I merely decided that I would graph that for the individual I was talking to. I didn't discuss anything like money, politics, or things like that, but more of an important subject, that could grasp people. And the reason why I wanted to do this, was so that people wouldn't look at me and get the wrong idea. For instance "Look at him, he never speaks, and he looks so different! Shall that be me, in 10 years? Surely I do not want that!". Your image, as The Good Book says, is worth more than great riches.
So, does that mean I am any lesser of a person because I can mold my personification into a different being, keeping the same theology? Am I a hypocrite for saying one thing, and molding to another? Surely not in this case I would hope. As I love the way I dress, and I love the way I choose to sanctify Shabbat, sometimes your life needs to revolve around others, not yourself.
I hope anyone who reads this can glean the central ideas in my post, and if not apply them to your own lives, consider your life, and what you really do need to work on. There is always something that can be done, to truly make your daily life, more than just "yours".
I had a wonderful Sukkot, of which if you would like to hear more about, shoot me a comment, and we'll converse personally. As so many things happened, it would take too much of my procrastinating will to even type one event up here. The month of Tishrei has gone by so fast, it's hard to think that it is nearly over now! Leading into Cheshvan, which has no Holy Days at all. I'll just go ahead and say up front, a lot of what is going into the forthcoming sections of this post will be paraphrased from The Rebbe, so bear with me. As I was reading a wonderful article this morning, about the upcoming parshah, Noach, I noticed a wonderful hidden transitional phrase located in the wonderful essay; The need for Jewish scholars. I was reading said article, completely enthused with its ideas and thoughts, and I noticed this little trickle of humor almost. Without the Jewish people, people like us, have absolutely no fate. Let me explain, the article I was reading was explaining the corresponding idea of The Flood, to today's time, and how it could possibly apply to us. The idea, was that much like Noach's time, where the world was full of such negative influences, G-d wanted to destroy the inhabitants of the earth. However he found favor in the sight of Noach, and he decided that his family would be the carrier of the generations to come. I am sure even those who are not literately involved in the works of The Torah to the letter are at least familiar with the story. But how does this apply to us today? And what does it have to do with our need for the Jewish people? Well some background information on the history of the Jews would be nice, I suppose. The Jewish people, for as long as time could profess, have been the largest commentators (historically) on The Torah. Taking small sentences, and designing a mass of deep inspiration to what applies to them here and now. Commentators like Rashi, Rambam, The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, all of these individuals carried the torch of the Torah into their times. And leave a trail for us to glean even today. The Jewish scholars have left us such a vast amount of information to wield, it is almost incomprehensible! They have taken The Torah as we know it, and applied it to everything, built a fence around it, and designed a way for us to cherish it, no matter what type of civilization, culture, or society we live in. Now the question should be, what brought this out in the article I was reading? Surely I had known all of this before, which of course I had, but it just tickled me, to find a hint of it, in an article I read online. The paper continued about the account of The Flood, and how it could apply to us today. Correlating the flood, as our daily lives: work, school, daily activities. And Noach as an embodiment of our time with G-d: prayer, doing mitzvot, studying Torah, this all puts us into a direct connection with G-d. The Flood started as just a regular rain, (just as the descendants started as perfectly fine people), but it grew, to a mass overturning of waters, flooding the entire earth (like Adam-Noach, the descendants became a negative force, designating destruction). This is as our daily lives are, our work, school, and secular activities are perfectly fine, when they are in a right contrast with the more spiritually influenced activities. But when they start to take over, that is when they become "a flood" to us. Another interesting comparison, is that of the moon and the sun. The sun lights the day with it's own radiance. The moon lights the night however, not with it's own light, but reflecting the sun's. The sun can be seen as our spiritual being, our willingness to do the right things, and be closer to G-d. It's spawned from our own body, our own minds. The moon, as our physical inclination to do the normal, should also be influenced by our physical side. Where it is fine to indulge in secular activities, don't let them overdue themselves. Keep everything in context, and allow yourself to be a spiritually minded person. In the book, "To Be a Jew", the Author, introduces the idea that Judaism is not becoming spiritually set apart from the secular, but keeping everything in check, and allowing yourself separation from the perverted, and vain. Not to completely separate yourself from the world, but be a light inside it, that illuminates a Holier purpose. The idea is not to be on the left, or the right, but in the middle. I am sure we would all love to be completely spiritually perfect people, but there is a reason why we aren't. How are we to be an example to other people, when we are on such a different plain? This is a psychological experience I have had to tune myself, with my clothing, and with my character. Let me elaborate a little bit for you. All throughout the feast of Sukkot, I was embraced by a few individuals who seemed to be a little bit new to this walk, people who had the heart, and new what they were doing was right, but couldn't put it into a mathematical form of words. What I mean, is that they had the feeling, but not the idea. They didn't really understand the "why", or "what do I do?". So these people were seeking the answers to their questions, and occasionally, I was there to give them. As you could probably incur, I dress a little bit differently generally, and I don't discuss anything accept for Torah on Holy Days/Shabbat. But I couldn't really level with these people when I was on such a different plain than them. Not a Holier plain, but just a different level. So how am I supposed to be a light to them, and maintain my own individuality in what I do? I think the real question lies with "Should I be a light to ten souls, or a spark to myself?". The answer is pretty clear, I should probably adapt who I am to help others. Not adapting into wrong things, like an evil inclination, but instead, adapt my physicality, and personality. In which case, I dressed more acceptable to the communities standard, with some of my own interest. Slacks, and a nice button up shirt. I didn't look like I was on a different plain, and I could level with people. And as far as my discussing things on Shabbat and Holy Days, I merely decided that I would graph that for the individual I was talking to. I didn't discuss anything like money, politics, or things like that, but more of an important subject, that could grasp people. And the reason why I wanted to do this, was so that people wouldn't look at me and get the wrong idea. For instance "Look at him, he never speaks, and he looks so different! Shall that be me, in 10 years? Surely I do not want that!". Your image, as The Good Book says, is worth more than great riches.
So, does that mean I am any lesser of a person because I can mold my personification into a different being, keeping the same theology? Am I a hypocrite for saying one thing, and molding to another? Surely not in this case I would hope. As I love the way I dress, and I love the way I choose to sanctify Shabbat, sometimes your life needs to revolve around others, not yourself.
I hope anyone who reads this can glean the central ideas in my post, and if not apply them to your own lives, consider your life, and what you really do need to work on. There is always something that can be done, to truly make your daily life, more than just "yours".
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