Hope

So much is going on these days, whether its on a personal level or something we all share.  Years ago a friend of mine used to say where there is life there is hope.  While we need to get through our struggles and burdens and deal with them its nice to know there truly is hope at the end.  I woke up early this morning and started reading.  In the Tanak (The Living Nach series), the book of Jeremiah says (chapter 29 starting in  verse 4):

The Lord of Hosts, G-d of Israel, says to all the people whom He exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live (in them).  Plant gardens and eat their fruit.  Take wives and have sons and daughters, so they may bear sons and daughters and increase there; don't decrease.   Seek the welfare of the city where I have exiled you and pray to G-d on its behalf, for you will prosper when it does. 


Indeed, the Lord of Hosts, G-d of Israel, says:  Don't let the prophets and diviners among you fool you.  Don't listen to the dreams which they dream, for they prophesy falsely to you in My Name, and I did not send them, says G-d.  


G-d says:  Indeed, when Babylon's seventy years are up, I will remember you, and I will fulfill My good promise to return you to this place.  For I am mindful of the plans which I made for you, says G-d-plans for well-being and not for evil, to give you a hopeful future.


If you call on Me and come to pray to Me, I will listen to you, if you seek Me, you will find Me, if you seek Me wholeheartedly.  I will be available to you, says G-d, and I will bring you back from exile.  I will gather you from all the nations and all the places where I exiled you, says G-d, and I will return you to the place from which I exiled you.

During a time when we see billboards telling us the end of the world is near, when the value of the dollar is diminishing, food and gas prices are soaring we know G-d has plans for us for well-being and a hopeful future.  As I like to say, if we do our part, G-d will do His part. 
 

Ok, So Today is Easter

Today millions of Christians celebrate Easter.  The holiday actually starts with Good Friday (J-s-s's death) and ends with his resurrection today.  This is what they believe.  An increasing number also believe he died for them and if you believe this you are saved.  What if you don't believe this?  Born again Christians will say you are doomed for hell for eternity, separated from G-d forever.  If you don't believe now that he is Messiah, say the sinners prayer, and accept him into your heart, before you die, you are in big trouble.  As a teenager I was invited to a Baptist church, to go to the Youth Group and play volleyball.  I went on retreats with them, and learned all of this.  I accepted it out of fear, I figured I had nothing to lose.  I used to feel bad for the poor Jews who keep the law that was done away with and replaced by J-s-s.   We had such freedom and the Jews were in bondage.  This is what I was taught to think.  The point of my blog in general is to share what I have learned and am learning. 

G-d is a great orchestarator,  He made sure I met my bershert, who happens to be Jewish.  The rest was up to us.   He studied Torah and I started to as well.  The more I learned I realized being told 'believe this or else' is the real bondage.  On Rosh Hashana several years ago I denounced this belief.  I have to add in a disclaimer that not all christians are the "you must believe or die without G-d" type.  I have many wonderful christian friends and we respect each other and our different beliefs, this is not an article trashing anyone.  Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.  We have that freedom from G-d, our own free will. 

However, as we bring up children in this christian world we have to be prepared to answer their questions about our differences.  One will be why don't we believe in J-s-s?  Are we prepared to answer this?  Why do we have different holidays?  Why do they see Sunday as Sabbath and we have Saturday?  Why can't we eat pork?  Why can they eat pork? 

So it would seem christians just believe in a certain man as G-d and Messiah and they can do an eat what they like and be happy.  They have accepted this free gift.  You get what you pay for.  How many free gifts have you really enjoyed versus saving up for something and paying for good quality?  Don't take my law (Torah) away, that's like taking discipline from a child.  Children don't feel love when their parents don't care enough to discipline them, to have them do or not do things for their own good.  This goes for the times when the kids don't understand why.  How many times do we not understand G-d?  It happens.

Actually, christianity has a lot of the right ideas, unfortunately they are slightly off and in the end, like a boat with a rudder slightly to the right or left of its mark,  it ends up taking the wrong course.   

When I denounced my beliefs in christianity, and this is totally true, I felt so free.  I didn't have to believe or die.  This also meant I didn't have to worry about friends and family who didn't believe.   What a relief.  I wasn't relying on a man to take my sins away,  I was responsible for myself-the good and the bad-it gives me control over my life, it gives me purpose.  I was taught at a born again christian retreat-and again this is true-that we have no good in us unless we have J-s-s in our heart.  Well, of course a bunch of scared kids are gonna do what is necessary to guarantee their eternity, and our goodness here on earth.   I went home and my christian parents (not born again) were mortified.  lol. 

Life is a journey.  This is true.  And this is what G-d is looking at, our journey.  Where we came from and where we are going.  We are good people, all of us, because we all belong to G-d.  Our souls were here from the beginning and when we were born G-d took the particular soul meant for that particular life and placed it in that body.  The soul and the body work together.  And G-d is part of every soul that is in us. 

So, my conclusion is: 
we don't need a man to die for us, we are responsible for ourselves, we are of value.
we don't need to accept J-s-s later in life because we are sinners and need his goodness in us-we have G-d living in us from the very beginning, we are pure from the beginning. 
we need the Torah, it is our relationship with G-d.
we can never be separated from G-d in eternal damnation, He was with us from the beginning and is part of us.
G-d does not abandon us if we have doubts, He loves us and welcomes our questions.

Are We Listening?

When I was growing up I was very quiet.  I knew how to talk, and did it very well when I wanted to but, overall, I was quiet.  I am still a quiet adult for the most part, meaning I don't feel the need to fill every minute with idle chit chat.  That's just me.  Over time I realized people liked using me as a sounding board.  I would listen but because I didn't offer much advice, I felt useless. 
Now, that I have been involved in this car accident, and 2 weeks later its constantly somewhere on my mind and causing pain in other areas, I realized the value of listening.    I have spoken to several people about our accident and typically, before you can say much of anything to them,  they will say things like this:   just be glad you are ok, cars can be replaced people can't,  oh I had a similar experience and then I have to listen to them; then its over and I'm left standing there feeling, well, just as bad.   Some people truly would listen (thank you!) including our rabbi from the conservative synagogue we belong to and the Chabad rabbi's wife whom we saw right afterwards and spoke to later on in the week---thank you!  They just listened, they offered symapthy and anything else we needed.   It was so nice just to be able to talk, to have someone willing to listen.  I always thought I wasn't doing any good just listening, but this is what people need the most.  My husband says people need to hear themselves talk aloud so the answers will come to them.  He is so right.
In Judasim it is taught that when we make a shiva call we let the mourners talk first, unless they initiate the conversation we just need to be quiet and be there with them.  It is such good advice.   We all just need to know we are not alone.   
I also used to be the one to say "just be glad you're ok", and "cars can be replaced".  These are all true but they are also not what people need to hear, these comments made me feel like I had no reason to be upset, that I should get up and move on.   I'm not upset with anyone who said these things to me, they meant well, and as  I said I used to do this.  What it taught me was that all of these years of being a quiet sounding board and letting people talk was not usesless, but rather an asset. 
I felt the need to pass this on.  Are we listening?

Was the Last Supper really a seder?

I apologize for not posting in a while but my husband and I were involved in a car accident and it has taken me away from my normal daily life for a while.  We are both ok, but it was very scary.  I have some herniated discs in my neck and back and my husband has a dislocated shoulder (at the least).  The insurance companies like to take their time in making sure you get the required tests to see what is really going on.  Anyway.....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Pesach!  We had family and friends over and were very thankful to be able to pull it off after all that has been going on.  We sang a bunch of songs, one of my favorites is The Ballad of the 4 sons (to the tune of Clementine).  It gets the message across and everyone enjoys it.

This time of year, especially when Passover and Easter are so close together, people start talking about how the Last Supper is really a Passover Seder.  Well, its not.  During Temple times a sacrifice was brought to commemorate the Exodus.   It wasn't until after the Temple was destroyed that the seder the way we know it took place.  The egg and the shank bone represent the desecrated Temple.   The Last Supper took place during Temple times, before the seder was in existence.

This is something important to know, and to make sure the next generation is aware of.  I have many Christian friends as well as Jewish friends.  It is natural to try and share our faith and see what we have in common but I think it is equally important not to turn things into what they are not.

Shabbat Shalom!

A Fish in Water

The Mikveh is an immersion into living water, it is a time of cleansing (not soap and water), and getting closer to G-d.  It is done before conversion, it is done by women on a monthly basis for the sake of family purity, it is done by some men before Shabbos and yom tovim (holidays).  In the 60's women's lib was running rampant and the mikveh was seen as archaic.  However, everything being cyclical, it is gaining in acceptance once again.  It is now "in".
 
I don't want to go on about the mikveh, although it is a wonderful topic to discuss as our girls get closer to the age of marriage, but let's look at the water as an analogy.   When a person immerses into the mikveh water nothing can be between them and the water; no band aids, no makeup, no jewelry etc...Just follow me, there is a point to this.  If a person immerses in an ocean or river and they see that a fish has made contact with them, then, when they come up out of the water,  we would think that the immersion would be invalid, however, it is not.  Why?  Because a fish is part of the water, a fish cannot live without the water, it is as though they are one.

It is the same with the Jewish people.  We are one with Torah, the mitzvot that connects us with G-d makes us who we are.  It makes us a light unto the nations.  We have met several people over the years who have asked us about our customs, our laws etc...and when they know we care about it, that we feel the connection with it, they are glad to hear it, they say good for you.  The nations know it is right for us to follow Torah.  It is not do and don't do,  but a way of life, a way to connect to G-d, because the Jewish people and Torah are like a fish in water - inseparable.

Is Passover about Freedom?

Passover is known as the time of our freedom.  However, it goes a little deeper than this.  It is actually about the transition from slavery to freedom.  Can we go from slave to free man overnight?  Is it really that simple?  We are human and need time to transition from one mode of thought to another. 

The street definition of freedom is to do what we want when we want but, is this true freedom?  There is a lot of slavery built into this definition of freedom whether we know it or not.  A new movie comes out so we have to go see it, we get a coupon in the mail so we have to take advantage of it.  The freedom comes in saying no to things, the freedom comes from being in control, from having boundaries.  It sounds bizarre but its the truth.  We have been taught that freedom is to have abundance, to have the big home with an entertainment room that you pay someone else to clean. 

I am still living in the town I grew up in.  Back in the 70's there was not much here and I vowed to leave one day and go where there was more activity.   We had a hardware store, a bank, a food store, Carvel Ice Cream, a card store,  a shoe store, a small post office, a library and a diner (yes a real old fashioned diner which is still here).  We also had a store called Spur n' Spar.  I can still remember the smell of it, the creeking of the floor and the feel of the leather saddles and jackets, the cowboy hats.  If you bought something they gave you a wooden nickle.  We had a train run through town also.  So hickish yet I yearn for it now.  Why?  Because now there are so many choices and so many places to go and things to do that that it can get out of control, it can interfere with our freedom.  We can forget our purpose and let life take over.  We can lose our focus and our happiness, true happiness, the kind that comes from within because we can't connect to it anymore-we're to busy living.  So what does our town offer now?  All of the old farms are torn down or burned down.  Rite Aid and Home Depot, Walmart and Kohls,  5 banks,  6 pizza places at least, strip malls galore, multiple restaurants, etc...etc...you get the point. 

So what does this personal rant have to do with Passover?  Passover is about our transition from slavery to freedom.  Was our liberation without a purpose, a goal, and end result or were we floundering about not knowing what was coming next?  

We had a goal then and we still do now.  Mt. Sinai.  We left Egypt with a purpose, we were going to serve G-d!  How were we going to serve G-d?  By accepting the gift of Torah from Him.   Serving someone, even a diety, does not sound like freedom.  However, we were being offered something we couldn't refuse.  We were being given our purpose, our instructions, our inner joy.  It was exciting, it was exhilarating, it was scary.  But what did we say?  We said we will do it, we didn't even know what "it" was.  After we agreed we listened.  This is a true love for G-d, to say we will do it and then ask what "it" is.  If a dear friend or our spouse, someone very close to us asked us to do them a favor we would say yes before asking what it is.  This is a true bond, a true love. 

Wait a minute.  What about the golden calf?  We weren't such a great people, we complained, we moaned and groaned, even tried to cheat.  This is why we speak of transition.  We can not change over night.  We are human.  G-d knows this. 

All of the items we use to celebrate Passover are actually representations of this transition.  We can use these items to look back to where we came from and forward to where we are going, yes in many areas of our lives we are still working our way to freedom. 

Wine.  It is red and represents the blood we shed when we were beaten in slavery.  When we look at the redemption it still symbolizes blood, but this time it is blood we put on the doorposts that saved us from the angel of death. 

Salt Water.  This represents our tears during slavery.   In freedom it represents the salty sea we crossed (yes, we made the move-we crossed it, G-d didn't cross it or us) to be liberated. 

Matzoh.  In slavery it was the bread of affliction.  However, it now represents our leaving slavery, they pushed us out of Egypt so fast our bread didn't have time to rise. 

Bitter Herbs.  These represent the bitterness of slavery.  We eat it now to show something sweet comes afterwards.  If you use romaine lettuce, it is actually the stalk that is bitter, not the leaf.

Charoset.  represents the mortar made for the bricks, but now the sweetness of it is associated with our freedom afterwards. 

The bone and the egg are actually connected to the Holy Temple representing the sacrifices and the meal.  We have a hope in a future permanent Holy Temple. 

We have freedom in the Torah we accepted at Mt. Sinai, it is a part of us, and a key to our true inner happiness.  However, it is easy for us to still live in a type of bondage today, to still be in "Egypt."  This is why these Passover items are more of a transition food until we can conquer whatever it is that still enslaves us.   Every year we can reevaluate who we are and what we are enslaved to whether it is material things or if it is psychological, pressure to do things we do not want to do or worries over money.   I suppose this is why, as an adult now, I like the simpler life with less distractions.   Less truly is more, it gives us opportunity to reconnect to what is important and get rid of the frivolous things that have a way of taking over.  Passover is about our continuing journey from slavery to freedom!

Torah Study Yesterday

Yesterday I went to Chabad for Torah study.  The Rabbi and his family just moved into a beautiful, new Chabad House this past week.  Its a growing community and they needed space, everyone pitched in and Hashem made the final results happen.  We are all amazed at this beautiful new home we will have classes and services in. 
Anyway, I went for class and when I got there the Rabbi said the class was for next week.  I realized I had my dates mixed up, however, I was not the only one, there were other women there as well.  Since we were there we got the grand tour of the new home they have only been in for about 4 days. 
During this time our rebetzin comes home with 2 of her small children.  She walks through the door and without blinking an eye is thrilled to see us and says we should learn.  Would I feel this way with boxes all around and only 4 days into the new house?  She has to go find a book that is actually unpacked.  We then sit at the dining room table and she gives a Pesach lesson (which she has not prepared for yet) and it was fabulous.  We studied for over an hour.  She had the baby on her lap, as always, and I brought my daughter who played with her daughter.  When it was over she said she won't postpone classes anymore, especially now that the Chabad House has been provided.  We all laughed and said it wouldn't do any good to cancel, because we would just show up anyway! 
I will share some of what I learned in the next post. 
Good Shabbos to everyone!