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Showing posts with label spiritual meaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual meaning. Show all posts
B'SD 14 Tishrei, 5779 September is the hardest month of the year, when Jewish college students struggle to help their professors to understand that "I understand that your class is valuable instruction time, but, hey, I need to miss the first three weeks of the new school year..." It's dilemma that Jewish students worldwide must overcome as we commemorate our High Holidays/Jewish New Year season. Now that I'm well into adulthood, I appreciate Sukka-building for the holiday of Sukkot all the more. It's a fun project that heralds the last week of the High Holiday Season while symbolizing so much meaningful spirituality. A sukka, by the way, symbolizes GOD's protection and constant blessings. A miniature mishkan (a portable temple - the first one was built in Shilo) that preceded the REAL temple aka Bet HaMikdash, it makes us long all the more for the THIRD and Final Temple that will serve everyone in the world (as did the first two!). Here I am having fun and out of the sun with a few friends as we put our synagogue's sukka together this morning.
Yocheved GolaniConsidering the deep, mystical symbolism of Yocheved's ceiling decoration... Water drops for Simkhat bet haShoeva (a water celebration festival), a palm frond, a Don't Speak Lashon Hara sticker, symbols for Rosh HaShana, plus a tiny sefer Tehilim. And a mysteriously purple round thingy, too...
Yocheved GolaniIt was an adventure with ankle-piercing tips on palm fronds, sharp scissors snapping in the air, wood splinters in a few thumbs, and ladders taller than the cross beams. But the mighty team won the day and the mitzva of setting up a sukka without killing anyone in the process! 5779 we gotcha covered!
The holiday begins tonight and lasts 8 days (the first and last days are spent in synagogue). I'll probably tap at you again on Tuesday. Enjoy this classic song for Sukkot, "Shlomit Builds a Sukka of Peace."
B'SD 6 Av, 5775 I'm busy finessing the start of new employment, my social life and my thoughts about a very sad day on the calendar, Tisha B'Av, aka the 9th of Av, which begins in a few days. Headlines are enough to give any sensible person nightmares. And summertime heat seems to provoke more bickering than usual about that. So, rather than share medical news or other thoughts, I want to share two thought-provoking and calming posters I've found online:
Spirituality is about becoming a more refined,
better person than you were before;
A person who helps to build the world,
not destroy it.
Please let me know what you think of the ideas above in the comments section below. Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your life with meaning. As the book advises, the alternative to coping is worse.
I'm mentally and emotionally preparing for the holiday of Shavuot, and thought of an interesting slice of life story to share with you. It happened the day before yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening. I was rushing to meet a friend giving me a ride to a distant city so I could run necessary errands there in a short span of time. Somehow I had not thought of taking my street map with me, and lost my way. Eventually I received a message on my cellphone. It indicated that the gentleman doing the driving would be leaving earlier than we'd planned. I needed to arrive to his office faster than I'd thought. I began to feel frustrated with myself, frantic at the thought of missing the ride (it would have led to several disappointed and inconvenienced people depending on me to arrive in a timely manner) and quite foolish. A friend tried to guide me via cellphone to the meeting point I sought, and managed to misdirect me into the opposite direction that I needed. We shared an uncomfortable silence as we realized that. I was unhappy in the 104-degree heat, tired of carrying a heavy bag, and desperate for a quick solution. My friend begged forgiveness for having misguided a very pressed-for-time me and then berated herself. I interrupted her self-flagellation by saying "Stop. I know what's going on I've been through this sort of situation before. Several things are going kerflooey in rapid succession, I have few to zero options and I need to stop what I'm doing to realize that GOD is controlling the situation. I'm not supposed to freak out. "I need to keep things in perspective. GOD is running the show. If I can manage to keep my mood in control, He'll pull some nifty trick out of His heavenly sleeves. Who knows? Maybe I'll win the lottery," I laughed. "I'm going to trust my instincts and head in the direction I believe I need. You did your best and I appreciate that." We ended our cellphone call, I walked a bit, then I hailed a taxi in the hope that I'd quickly meet the guy giving me a ride before he headed out of town. And I wondered "Which blessing is heading my way?" I entered the taxi and calmly told the driver where I needed to be and in a BIG hurry. He turned around and asked "Are you kidding? It's down the street."
We drove to the juncture I needed within a minute, as I realized that an essential street sign had been missing from its designated spot. No wonder I'd felt lost and confused. But as things turned out, I had been right where I needed to be. I laugh to think back to yesterday's mad dash to the meet-up, that I'd used a life lesson well instead of condemning myself or my friend, and realized that "I'm where I need to be, I just didn't know it." Life's full of such situations. They can help us to grow, or to appreciate the growth we've made. Growing past your limits is a spiritual activity. I'm sure that you have "I'm where I need to be, I just didn't know it," life lessons to heed, too. Enjoy the moments when you get things right. They're wonderful. If you wish, let me know the blessings that come your way. Happy Shavuot (it begins Saturday night). I call it the international bar and bat mitzva party of the Jewish People.
Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your life with self-confidence, one step at a time.
B'SD 28 Heshvan, 5775 My mind and heart are weary from recent events. So, I spent time nurturing my soul by reading a fascinating book. It abundantly reminds us mortals that GOD is in control. It's a terrific boost to spiritual health.
Israel's Jews are commanded to let the land lie fallow every seventh year (based on the Jewish calendar). This is how we obey GOD's commandment about the Sabbatical year. It is a time when land rests for a yearlong Sabbath to GOD(Exodus 23:10-11). The commandment makes a significant impact on us while we honor it. An adventure in securing sufficient groceries while observing associated halakhot/Jewish laws, Shmitta (variant spellings exist among English-speakers) year is the result. It makes for an interesting, exciting time of life for farmers, home gardeners, anybody who wants to eat, plus sellers of flowers, produce and trees - even house plants!
The Sabbatical year is very good for inner, outer, plus spiritual health. Fallow land is able to rebuild its strength. That translates into more nutritious foods later on, instead of depleted soil unable to sustain more than weeds. Human minds adjust to the fact that GOD makes the rules, not us. You can learn more about that and some spiritual matters at Aytzim. You can click here to learn about some of the miracles that have resulted due to Shmitta observance.
Confusion about relevant laws for observing shmitta abounds, however, and different books address those topics. I have a favorite among them.
Here's an excerpt from the publisher's page:
Shemita
From the Sources to Practical Halakha
By Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon
Shemita examines the underlying principles and practical observance of the Jewish agricultural sabbatical year, leading readers from the sources in the Torah, Mishna and Gemara to the rulings of leading halakhic authorities, including Rav Kook and the Chazon Ish. The most comprehensive and systematic guidebook on the subject, Shemita considers the laws' numerous challenges and solutions pertaining to topics from tree pruning to fruit buying and soup making. Includes diagrams, illustrations and photographs.
Here's my review of the English-language version of thisground-breaking book, which is updated every seven years, to reflect recent agricultural realities: Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon's masterful Shemita, From the Sources to Practical Halakha provides readers with a comprehensive background into the minutiae of relevant laws, the solutions to relevant controversies and a can-do guide to practical behavior. Readers come away educated, confident that they appreciate, and comply with, the scope of religiously legal issues. The book's awe-inspiring photography is as beautiful as it is educational. Readers are also treated to an array of rabbinic opinions based on various Biblical passages that address Shmitta observance. There is no need to worry about Rabbi Rimon's copious coverage of relevant Jewish laws about Shemita. His colorful charts simplify otherwise confusing details. The at-a-glance information empowers the reader, aka consumer, to dine in completely shmitta-compliant comfort.
There are other riches in this 558-page hardcover. Each chapter addresses specific concerns such as the laws, and their practical applications, in the garden, kitchen market, and wider society. How-to instructions for planting, pruning, weeding, grafting, fumigating, fertilizing and nurturing all kinds of plants during the Sabbatical year are accompanied by easily understood photographs. Page 188 for example, holds a how-to-do-this-correctly pictorial lesson for, among other plant-growing activities, removing stones from a field (considered to be a form of plowing, a somewhat forbidden activity that must be adapted to Shemita time). The array of halakhically compliant though diverse methods in which a person may or may not acquire, use and dispose of shmitta-compliant produce (fruits, vegetables, flowers and saplings) can lend itself to fierce debates. Rabbi Rimon deftly handles the controversial topics with class and simplicity. Without a judgmental word, he explains the methods and rationales for the applications of different, yet halakhically valid, points of view. Information is underscored with chapter summaries, and with appendices for specific chapters. A chapter entitled The Various Solutions begins on page 386. It ties up many loose ends by posing questions, then providing answers (e.g., Is there a way to permit harvesting an entire crop of Shemita produce?) and expounds of specific solutions to multiple Shmitta issues. One example is that pages 359-369 address hothouses and soil beds detached from the ground as alternatives to the prohibition of eating and/or selling foods grown in the ground. Other alternatives are given equal time, too. You'll unknot your brow as the author resolves the tension-filled question of Does the Yerushalmi (Talmud) contradict the Mishna (writings from a different historical period)? by citing distinctions in specific passages of text that neatly resolve the controversy. Readers who are very familiar with Jewish law or beginners wending their way through details upon details for the first time will enjoy the sensibly sorted out thoughts in this section.
While reading Shemita, From the Sources to Practical Halakha, I noticed a profound comparison of the Shmitta year and Shabbat, the Sabbath, on pages 29-31. The sentence that made magic for me is on page 31; "Resting from work during the shemita year connects us to the world of the Garden of Eden... the world of God. The people of Israel who reach their unique sanctity in the land of Israel elevate themselves to an even higher world - a world in which there is no competition or jealousy, a world of mutual assistance and fraternity, a world in which Torah study and connecting with God are natural and expected... Come let us go out to agree that Shabbat queen!"
So much for lofty aspirations and complicated agricultural tasks ruled by Jewish law. Trying to memorize many practical matters and finessing Shmitta-related controversies can tax the highest IQs. And, it is difficult to maintain an ever-serious demeanor even when we should.
The necessity for Jews to render their cared-for farmland ownerless during Shmitta year is a hot topic whenever it is addressed. Maggid Books (a division of Koren Publishers) and Rabbi Rimon, though, break up the monotonous legalese and somber tone of the surrender with visual humor on pages 416-420. Faux parchment missives appear in antique colors, holding the opinions of historical rabbinic figures who permitted the Heter Mechira mechanism of coping with Shmitta. A means of transferring ownership of farmland to non-Jews, so that the foods grown upon it will be completely edible and income-producing during the Sabbath year, it has been a hotly debated topic throughout the ages, what I'd call "The rule of the way out," pun fully intended.
By the time you reach page 436's Practical Guide to Purchasing Fruits and Vegetables in 5775 and 5776 (yes, Shemitta compliance will matter then, too) chart, you might exhale a breath of relief. Further guidance about this matter is followed by calming, cogent commentary until page 448. More marvelous information for minds that must take complicated subjects one at a time appears on page 263. It begins the chapter of The Laws of Produce with Shemita Sanctity: Navigating the Opportunity. The author focuses on upbeat messages such as "opportunity" rather than disheartening vocabulary such as "myriad of details" or some other stultifying word/phrase. There's a heartwarming treat that will bring tears to many eyes at the last page of this section. It's about a naive little boy who ran to the author with a concern about a rainstorm disrupting the land's rest during the previous Shemita season. The purity of that child's devotion to the mitzva of Shemita is too good to summarize here. Read it first-hand, and come away with warmer love for GOD, little ones, and Torah life.
An education about The Release of Debts in terms of Jewish law and Shemitta commences on page 450. More faux parchment missives break down complicated legal matters about Pruzbol documents - legally binding debt release documents in Jewish law - into simple presentations that can be readily understood by the average reader. It clues readers in to the compassionate Torah point of view, as do divergent Shmitta produce-permitting laws.
There are more treasures in this masterfully prepared book. It is a solid investment for years to come, as readers study up on relevant Jewish laws that they can fulfill in future Shmitta years.
Want to nourish your mind and body's ability to cope with the stresses of illness, as well as your soul? Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. Fill your mind with healthy thoughts.
