Get to Heaven Keep the Seven

Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).

This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!

Sunday, July 15, 2018

13 Unusual Facts About Females That Are Totally True and Blue whale off the coast of Eilat

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

All Action is in the Present

Everything that you have ever done in the past, you did in a present moment. Everything that you will ever do in the future, you will only be able to do in a present moment.

All your thoughts are thought in a present moment. All your feelings are felt in a present moment. And everything you actually say or do is said or done in a present moment.

Since you live your whole life in the present, moment by moment, it is wise to consider the wise thing to say and do in the present moment, in the here and now of that moment. It is also wise to prepare the wise thing to say or do in the future.

Someone who tends not to have  alacrity might be thinking about how challenging it is to have alacrity. It's actually not difficult to have alacrity. Rather, it might appear difficult when you are not in a alacrity state, or when you are thinking about having future alacrity that you don't now have. But all moments of alacrity are just present moments, and when you are in that present moment of alacrity, it isn't difficult. Someone with a tendency to do things with alacrity  will tend to look at alacrity something he only needs to have one moment at a time

Love Yehuda Lave.

13 Unusual Facts About Females That Are Totally True

All of those books on how to understand women have nothing about the biological and social facts of the fairer side of humanity. Bright Side looked far and wide to find some pretty awesome and controversial facts about ladies — and here is what we got.

Blessed are You, O God, King of the Universe, Who created everything for His glory (The Marriage Ritual).

 

The surging divorce rate in recent years is appalling. While the Torah indeed provides for dissolving a relationship, there has never been in Jewish history anything like the current number of failed marriages.

Perhaps the problem stems from the partners' primary goals as they enter marriage. In Western civilization, what is called "love" has been accepted as the cornerstone of marriage. Unfortunately, this "love" too often refers to an attraction for the partner because of how he or she can gratify the other's physical and emotional needs. If this primary goal is not adequately met, the cement of the relationship disintegrates, and secondary factors alone cannot maintain it.

In the past, the primary focus of a marriage was the establishment of a family. [The first mitzvah found in the Torah is be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28).] While physical and emotional needs were important, they were not primary, but secondary. Hence, when problems of this nature did develop, the relationship was still held together by the primary binding forces, and these secondary problems could be rectified and resolved.


Today I shall ...

try to realize what the true primary goals of my relationship with others should be.

FIRST TIME EVER: BLUE WHALE SPOTTED OFF THE COAST OF EILAT A group of marine biologists caught the 20-meter-long mammal on video underwater. BY JPOST.COM STAFF MAY 31, 2018


A fisherman first spotted the whale Tuesday morning, and later, a group of marine biologists caught the 20-meter-long mammal on video underwater.

Blue whales are usually found in the North Atlantic Ocean and southern hemisphere. It is very rare for them to journey so far from their native habitats, making Tuesday's sighting very surprising to experts.

The world's largest mammal, blue whales can grow up to 30 meters (98 feet) in length. They used to be abundant in the world's oceans but were hunted to near extinction. Now, with conservation efforts, blue whale populations are beginning to grow, although they are still considered endangered.

 

 

 

 

 

And it shall be if you will heed the commandments that I command you (Deuteronomy 11:13).

 

The Talmud teaches that the evil inclination - the insatiable desire within each of us to experiment with the forbidden - is not so foolish as to entice a person to commit a major transgression. It does not tell an honest person to shoplift; that would certainly meet with fierce resistance. Rather, "First the evil inclination tells you, `Do this,' then `Do this,' until it gradually works its way up to the point where you may entirely reject God" (Shabbos 108b).

The usual interpretation is that the first "Do this" is a seduction to commit a minor transgression, and then it gradually works its way up to more serious ones. The armed robber began by stealing a chocolate bar. Rabbi Yosef Schneersohn said that the yetzer hara is even more wily than that. He may begin by recommending "perform this commandment, because it is a perfectly reasonable thing to do," by urging the person to perform commandments because they are logical. "Observe the Sabbath because you need a day of rest after six days of hard work. Give charity because it is only right to help the needy. Keep kosher because kosher foods are healthier." A person thus trains himself to follow the dictates of his reasoning, rather than to do something because it is the will of God. The evil inclination's next step is, "This particular commandment is obsolete. It no longer has any logical validity."

The only way to avoid this trap is to avoid its first piece of advice. We do the right thing because it is right, not because it accords with our personal likes and desires. Therefore, we preface the performance of a commandment with a blessing that states, "I am doing this in order to fulfill the Divine command." While we should try to understand the commandments, to the best of our ability, our understanding of them should not be our main motivation for performing them.


Today I shall ...

observe all commandments because they are the Divine will, rather than only because I understand their purpose.

The Gift of Forgiveness By Yisroel Susskind

"Resentment is an acid that damages its container."

From my perspective as a family therapist, the greatest treasure in our Torah-inheritance is the instruction to free ourselves of anger and resentment, especially in dealing with close relationships. Literally hundreds of sources in Jewish writings over the ages warn us that sustained anger is forbidden, destructive and ultimately irrational. The Biblical injunction is found in Leviticus 19:17-19: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart…You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge."

 

Suddenly, the relative dies, and the man's love, long masked by a veneer of anger, erupts into awareness...The Talmud goes on to note that "anyone who foregoes revenge merits that G-d forgives all of his sins."1 It further advises2 that G‑d loves a person "who does not get angry … and who does not insist on his due measure." Maimonides goes further,3 requiring a person to "wipe the wrong from his heart entirely, without remembering it at all." A contemporary psychologist will paraphrase this as "The challenge of relinquishing anger presents an incredible opportunity for personal growth."

 

Does this mean that we should be passive victims in the face of abuse? Absolutely not! The very same Biblical portion cited above tells us that we must verbally confront someone who has wronged us, in order to avoid hating him in our heart. We must do so directly and emphatically, but without hatred and without destroying the relationship. Similarly, we have an obligation to protect ourselves and not put ourselves in a vulnerable position where the offense may be repeated. At the same time, we need to do so without speaking hostilely or taking an action that goes beyond self-protection, without vengeance, or withdrawing into a cold, judgmental contempt, or prolonged silence.

Many counselors report a recurring tragic family scenario: Over the years, a man has maintained an angry distance from a relative (a parent, child or sibling). Suddenly, the relative dies, and the man's love, long masked by a veneer of anger, erupts into awareness and the man is racked by regret and guilt. "How could I have wasted these years, when I could have….?"

Traditional Jewish philosophy offers us some protection from such tragedy. Torah says: 1) Do not believe that you cannot forgive…it is always your task to achieve forgiveness; 2) understand that anger and resentment are sustained by irrational thoughts…if you deeply examine your anger, you will identify and correct these cognitive distortions; 3) there is a negative force in the world that seeks to destroy closeness…that force is the source of those irrational thoughts; 4) in personal relationships, underneath anger there is hurt, fear and most importantly, a need to love and be loved.

Consider reaching out to someone in a spirit of loving forgiveness. May it be that, in the merit of your doing so, G‑d chooses to reach out to us with the ultimate gift, bringing in the era of Moshiach.

FOOTNOTES 1.

Tractate Yoma 22b-23a.

2.

Tractate Pesachim 113b.

3.

Laws of De'ot 7:7.

See you tomorrow

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

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