Everything, has a deep plan to it. A meaningful story behind the story.

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Knowledge is power.    G-dly knowledge is Super Power.

In the books of mysticism, it explains that the souls of Cain who killed his bother Abel where reincarnated in the bodies of Jethro and Moses.

The reason why Cain killed Abel is because two girls were born with Abel and only one with Cain. As the older brother, Cain felt he was entitled to this extra girl, and so he killed his brother Abel to keep her to himself as a wife.

Jethro’s daughter Zipporah was the reincarnation of this extra sister who was now returned to Moses, the soul of Abel. It’s all been planned out……

The second book of the Torah is called in Hebrew Shemot = names. The book immediately begins with a tremendous anomaly. On the one hand it delineates clearly the names of all the tribes who descended to Egypt. NAMES. On the other hand, the book continues with a series of stories without mentioning any names at all.

The King tells the nurses who are given nicknames, to kill the Jewish boys, and we are told these nurses were Yocheved and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moses. The Torah however doesn’t tell us their names.
There was a man from the house of Levi who took a wife from the house of Levi. No name.

The child is born, the daughter of the king hears a child crying, the sister is standing by, the child is given to the mother of the child to nurse for 24 months, no names.

Although we know Moses was given many names by his relatives, it’s only the name given by the daughter of Pharaoh three months after he is born that remains with Moses.

Moses goes out at the age of 20 to see the travails of his brothers and sees an Egyptian smiting one of his brothers and kills him. The next day, he sees two of his own brothers fighting. When Moses tries to break the fight, they start yelling at Moses for what he had done the day before. Moses is forced to escape Egypt for Midian.

It is only when Moses is Eighty years old, we hear from Moses at the burning Bush!! G-d asks Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt and Moses refuses saying. I have an older brother, and it is not possible anything good could transpire if I accept this position over my older brothers’ honor.

All of this demands some explanation….

Before Joseph passed away he made his brothers swear they would take his bones to Israel. The one who actually took it upon himself to bring Joseph’s tomb to Israel was Moses.

The reason why Moses took more responsibility than the others is because Moses was a descendant of Levi, who was the most involved with his brother Shimon, in the sale of Joseph to the Egyptians.

Moses was placed on a mission to cleanse and rectify the sin of his great grandfather which was still in him as a descendant, and only then he would be worthy of bringing down the commandments from heaven to this world.

Joseph was the youngest in his family when he was torn away and sold to the Egyptians, so was Moses. Because of the decrees in Egypt, Moses the youngest, was taken from his family and raised in the palace of Pharaoh until he escaped to Midian.

Although Jacob called him Joseph, after he ended up in Egypt, Pharaoh gave Joseph an Arabic name, the same was with Moses. It was his Arabic name given to him by the daughter of Pharaoh that stuck with him.

When Joseph was sold by his brothers, he ended up in jail for ten years, it was the Midianites who sold him to Egypt. Therefore, Moses was placed in Jail when he came to Jethro the Midianite, for ten years. Measure for measure to clean the prior stains.

Joseph became a Ruler in Egypt after coming out of his dungeon. Moses was a ruler for 30 years in a foreign land to him, after he was freed from his dungeon in Midian.

Moses final act of cleansing was his refusal not to become G-ds spokesperson at the expense of his brother’s honor. Only after G-d assured Moses, Aaron would be okay with this arrangement, after so many years of self-effacement and cleansing, Moses was ready to be G-ds spokesperson.

Had the Torah told us all the names of the characters above, it would have all sounded as a natural course of events, and only related to the characters named. By keeping it all under wrap, the Torah is alluding to a/THE hidden agenda connected to all those occurrences.

We all go through all types of trial and tribulation. When Moshiach comes we will merit to see the rhythm and the rhyme, that is was all necessary, for our own good.

Don't Bother Me.

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In the field of addictions there is this great debate. Can a person turn their lives around before THE rock bottom fall? Some people, don’t change even after the GREAT fall, until unfortunately it’s all over. Jail, or much worse…….

The thing hopefully gained by the rock bottom fall, is with any luck (G-ds blessing), the realization of the circumstances one is in, which “hopefully” again, leads to the committed resolve and resolution to take control and change their life around.

“Nothing stands in the way of desire/will”. Will, has the energy and strength to steer and control everything in one’s life, but the will must be genuine and total. So if someone is lucky enough and “wills” before the rock bottom fall, they avoid a nasty ride.

The best thing of course is not to get into the bad habit to begin with. That is why we stress the importance of a good upbringing and education, so that the child is shielded and protected from the negative influences and they are set on a course of good routines and habits that will bring happy and accomplished results.

The problem with many who pursue unhealthy and unwholesome practices is that they are not only unaware of its destructive results, many actually believe they are higher and stronger than the force of the negative influence and can manage both the bad and the good together, like one happy mélange of a chocolate vanilla ice-cream cone.

The problem with this example is that both chocolate and vanilla aren’t as harmful as chocolate ice cream and a very toxic tasty cream mixed together. In this combination, the negative is sure to leave its mark in the person ingesting this substance.

Try talking to some seriously overweight person about the harms of eating so much. Or talking to someone on a spending binge, where this will lead them. “Don’t worry I have it all under control.” Or other justifications for habits that are beyond dispute harmful.

Life is real, and the choices we make every day bring serious and very real consequences, good and/or the opposite.

Some people say, “I live for today.”

How about the statement of our sages, “a wise person considers the future”, the ramifications of their choices today, on the tomorrow? Well I don’t care to be a wise guy. Or, I am smarter than all that! Or worse yet, “I don’t believe in any of that!!”. The Ostrich syndrome.

In the same way some people don’t think or consider the consequences of their choices on the future, some people THINK, they are happy now and the suffering they will inevitably receive, when there, they think, is just part of everything, part of the package we call life.

Our Torah, its’ rules and its wisdom, is the ONLY explanation for the super natural existence of the Jewish people. Many, have not followed its practices, and eventually disappear from the scenery. They are absorbed in the greater numbers of the world.

If not for our Torah, our unique practices and our covenant with G-d, we are like everyone else, and should, and would, fall in to the “world” statistics, but we don’t.

Whether it’s the inordinate amount of noble prize winners, or the mere survival of our people, whether it’s the irrational anti-Semitism or the practices that have stood the test of times and afforded the happiest and most fulfilled of lifestyles.

And yet, some people just don’t want to be bothered. They would rather live in the actual or relative superficial shallow consumerism way of living, that is undoubtedly one of the strong roots for divorce rates going through the roof and the lowest SAT scores in schools ever, than to consider the thousands of years of wisdom.

It has been said, the only people who not growing up orthodox, become in their later on years, practicing their faith, are the ones who have “problems” in life. They were not happy about something.

Who doesn’t have “problems”. Who doesn’t have existential questions, like, who am I? what is the purpose? Where does this all lead to?

These people either hit rock bottom or to their CREDIT, realized the emptiness of their lifestyles. These people, decided to turn away from the meaningless lifestyle of more golf, another party, a bigger house and car, and another sitcom to pursue a greater interest in their own identity and the people they are very much a part of.

It’s all about having the good fortune to realize and see where one stands, and appreciate where we must and where we can still reach and experience, in this lifetime.

Are Women, Are Men really all that different???

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I’m listening to this professor of biology and director of a very prestigious genome institute. The discussion was all about men and women. Are they alike or are they not?

Science is always in the process of discovery. Nothing in science can be absolute. As the machines change and people discover new things, different conclusions are reached. The word in the Bible, on the other hand, is the product of an infinite G-d, who foresaw all that would happen, and included in His wisdom, everything that will forever be necessary for mankind. G-ds signature is truth and everything in the Bible is truth. Truth doesn’t change.

That is why Maimonides writes, “this Torah – Bible, will never change.” Anybody who thinks the Bible is antiquated and lacking, denies what the words inside the Bible say, and that which has been transmitted throughout the generations, “And G-d spoke to the Israelites… before each single one of the nation.”

There are over 10 trillion cells in a person’s body. The nucleus of each cell carries 23 pairs of chromosomes which carry the DNA, hereditary info, and execute all the necessary functions. All 22 pairs of the chromosomes in both men and women are identical except for one chromosome pair in the male which is an XY pair and in the female it is an XX pair.

Most scientists and biologists believe that this one difference between men and women is restricted to the reproductive tract and apart from this area in the body everything else is equivalent. Men are identical to each other 99.9%, in their genome, and the equivalence between men and women is 98.5 %.

The question is. If men and women are so similar to each other, how come for every man with rheumatoid arthritis 2 to 3 women will be affected? How come for every girl with autism spectrum disorder, 5 boys will be affected? How come for every man with lupus, 6 women will have the same disorder?

Another example. Men will die younger than women with dilated cardiomyopathy.

This one professor asked his colleagues for an explanation and most gave him the answer, “I don’t know.” When pushed further they would say, perhaps it’s the fault of the XY chromosome or hormones.

His “theory”, is that the difference between men and women is not just limited to the reproduction tract, but on a fundamental level within each cell and all over the body, Men are different than women. ……..

Hello??

Thousands of years ago the Bible already describes to us the difference between men and women. Man serves one purpose, and the creation of a woman serves a complete total other purpose. There are unique strengths and weaknesses in a male and unique strengths and weaknesses in a woman. That is why they serve different roles and have different rules and laws for each gender.

For a man to live by the rules of a woman or vice versa not only misses the potential of each one, it confuses and corrupts their own and each other’s specific destinies.

“G-d did not create even one small creation for naught.” Although there appears to be so many similarities between men and women, mysticism tell us they are fundamentally different. Men think differently than women, and women experience life emotionally, very different than men.

Men are designed to be more of a thinker and aloof, and women are designed to be more nurturing and supportive of each other. Men are physically stronger and naturally attracted to the beauty of women, and women are physically weaker and attracted to the ability of the man to provide.

When a man lives like a man should live, and a woman follows the rules designed specifically according to her nature, each one lives more satisfied and accomplished, and both together enjoy the benefits of each other to its fullest.

Why Chanukah? What's Chanukah?

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Knowledge is Power.  G-dly Knowledge is Super Power.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740–1809) was asked. “Why did the sages institute the holiday of Chanukah to commemorate the miracle of the Hasmonean (Maccabees) victory over the Seleucid Army, and a Holiday of Purim to commemorate the victory of Mordechai and Esther over Haman and the Persians, while no holiday has been established to remember and celebrate the victories that happened long before these two, with the prophetess Deborah and Barak over Sisera, or the miraculous victory of Yechezkel the King over Sancheriv?

The Rabbi answered. There are miracles which blast away the rules of nature through a greater involvement of G-d in those events, but they are temporary and fleeting. Then, there are shines of G-dliness that are so powerful, they penetrate into the actual fiber and character of the day forever, and remain embedded in the day, to connect, and draw from this power every year, and such is the miracle of Chanukah and Purim.”

Just like there are foods that are worn out on us in a few hours, and then there are vaccines we introduce into our bodies that can last a lifetime. Certain influences of G-d are onetime events, and other participations of G-d are eternal.

This is the deeper meaning of the blessing we make when lighting the Chanukah Menorah every night for eight nights, “who performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.” The miracle of Chanukah that happened at that time, is available and is shining again at this time!!”

Some people may be walking around with “paper” in their pocket not realizing each and every paper is a hundred-dollar bill. As a result, they may misuse this paper not using the “paper bills” to its full potential. Some people may see shiny rocks and stones on the ground not realizing the value in those stones. The same is also with certain days, and time.

Like objects, certain days and certain times of the day are more inclined to certain opportunities. The seventh day of the week, Shabbat, when observed properly has the strength and qualities to literally become a retreat in time, a vacation without the bills and traveling headaches. Unlike any other day of the week, Shabbat i.e. the seventh day of the week has in its DNA the possibility to give one observing this G-dly day, a true deep soul rest, tranquility and peacefulness.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810) once said. “Through the lighting of the Chanukah lights” (at the proper times, and making the suitable blessings etc.) one draws into their life, into their soul, and into their world the infinite light of G-d. The kind of light that we pray for, “the Lord make His countenance shine upon you, and be gracious to you.”

When the lights shine, and there is less darkness, we are able to see where to go and what to avoid. We can see in clarity what is good and what is not so good. The negative forces thrive in darkness and run away from light. The holy Baal Shem Tov had a very strong affinity for light and would say. “In Hebrew the word for “secret” is the same numerical value as “light”. Whoever has “light” (as in, the candle is a Mitzvah, and Torah is light), knows the secret.” Life has less secrets, and more of truth and reality is uncovered.

The miracle of Chanukah was and is, all about the few and the holy who would not buckle in to the many and the impure. Today, we aren’t remembering the ones who in weakness blended in and assimilated. The story and the holiday of Chanukah is a commemoration and tribute to those who believed and dedicated their lives for the purpose of their faith. It is in their merit; we today can still identify ourselves with our faith. It is in their merit, G-d made the miracle of Chanukah and we light our candles.

Miracles in our Day with the Rambam. The immense power of thought, to change reality.

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This is our regular Maimonides – Rambam coaching column, the great wisdom and inspiration we draw for our own lives, from this great spiritual giant, from his actual words, from the Rambam’s own book of laws.

Since, we are coming up to the holiday of Chanukah when we commemorate and celebrate the miracle of the little jar of pure olive oil that lasted eight days, I will share with you a miracle (an event that takes an unexpected turn for the good) connected with Maimonides, the Rambam. We will see the great guidance and power there is, in and through, the words of this giant, in a totally different light.

Rabbi Menachem Shmuel David Raichik (1918-1998) personal emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe(s) for Los Angeles and the West Coast in the USA was greatly regarded by his acquaintances and students as a person who had great piety and someone who had unusual strength to his blessings.

One day a young man who was having difficulty finding his partner in life, a wife, came up to him and asked him for a blessing, for greater success in his efforts.

Rabbi Raichik asked him, if he studied from the book of the Rambam/Maimonides every day. The young man said, he did not. Rabbi Raichik said to him. “Resolve and start to study the laws from the Rambam, every day, and things will improve in your life. And, so it was.

In not too much time afterwards, the young man found his partner for life, a nice young woman, to start his family.

People who heard this story came over to Rabbi Raichik and asked him to explain himself. Did he become a miracle worker? When did he become so G-dly, like a Rebbe, to make this type of promises?

Rabbi Raichik explained. “Some time ago a woman came to me, that it was many years since she was married and was not blessed with a child. I suggested she go to see Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson the Lubavitcher Rebbe, for a blessing and advice. We came to the Rebbe, and when she went by the Rebbe for the well-known Sunday dollars, she asked the Rebbe for his blessings.

The Rebbe asked her if she studied the Rambam on a regular basis, and she answered she did not. The Rebbe suggested she should start doing so on a regular basis, and she would see improved results. Not long afterwards she was blessed with a child.

The next time I went into the Rebbe for a private audience, I asked the Rebbe, if I could publicize this story. The Rebbe said certainly. Isn’t the Rambam the healer of all people? (Not just this lady)”

I hope this will inspire more people to take even more seriously the hidden strengths one can draw for this column in particular, and more importantly, from the laws of the Rambam/Maimonides in general.

    Your thoughts are real, noticed by G-d, and carry legal weight.

If a person takes a cup of beer in his hand and begins reciting a blessing with the intention of saying (the proper blessing over beer) shehakol..., and instead erred and says borey pri hagafen, (the blessing for wine) he is not compelled to repeat [the blessing]. …..

Similarly, if fruits that grow from the earth were placed before him, and he began reciting a blessing with the intention of saying (the correct and proper blessing) borey pri hadamah, and instead erred and said borey pri hatetz, he is not compelled to repeat [the blessing]. … and he fulfilled his obligation, to make a blessing before eating and drinking.

[These decisions were rendered] because, at the time when he mentioned G-d's name and His sovereignty, which are the essence of a blessing, he had the intention of reciting the appropriate blessing for his food. Therefore, since the essence of the blessing was not recited in error, he is considered to have fulfilled his obligation and need not repeat it, although he erred at its conclusion.

          The power of thought,  to actually and legally determine
                                   the status of physical objects!!

All vessels can become susceptible to impurity through thought, but do not lose that susceptibility unless a deed is performed to change their function. A deed, negates the influence of a previous deed or thought, but thought does not negate the influence of a previous thought or deed. (WOW, that’s really powerful. You may want to read this last sentence again.)

What is implied? A vessel one thought to use as a ring for a person, that thought itself, causes a change in the ring's status and makes it subject to ritual impurity, as if originally it was made with the intent of being used for a human.

If, afterwards, one reconsidered and thought to leave it as a ring for an animal as it was, it remains susceptible to impurity, even though a person never used it as an ornament. For one thought does not negate the effect of another thought unless one performs a deed in the actual physical substance of the entity, for example, to polish it or to adjust it as is done for an animal.