AMIDA (Berakha 17) Prayers or sacrifices?

This blessing, birkat ha'aboda, inaugurates the third section of the Amida known as hoda-a, 'gratitude'.

Here, we express our gratitude to God for having chosen us and giving us the privilege to serve Him.

 Serving God includes keeping His commandments and worshiping Him. God's worship consists of two elements: prayers (tefila) and sacrifices (qorbanot).

In this blessing we first ask God to accept us and our prayers:

May You, HaShem our God, accept Your people Israel and attend to their prayers Then, we beseech God to restore His House, the Bet haMiqdash, where we will offer our sacrifices the way our ancestors did two thousand years ago.

And restore the Holy service to the Sanctuary of Your houseNow, in the Bet haMiqdash, there were sacrifices and also prayers. As it is written in Yesha'ayahu (56:7) "For My house [the Temple in Jerusalem] will be called a House of Prayer for all nations" , After the destruction of the second Bet haMiqdash, 68 CE,  prayers replaced the sacrifices. This is not to say that during the time of the Bet haMiqdash people did not pray. Actually, it seems that at the individual level very little changed after the Bet haMiqdash.  The main change took place in the public services: the establishment of minyan, public prayers, bet hakeneset, etc.

Accordingly, we convey our aspiration to offer again both, our sacrifices and prayers.

So that You will accept lovingly the sacrifices given by the people of Israel and their prayers,

God chose our ancestors out of unconditional love (see Debarim 7,7). Now, we ask God to consider us too, worthy of that privilege. To love us as He loved our fathers. To accept our prayers as He accepted the prayers of our ancestors. Even though we might not be meritorious as our fathers, who were able to serve God in the Bet haMiqdash. That is the meaning of the next statement:

And You, with Your great mercy, care for us and accept us...

Finally, we express our wish to see in our own days the return of God's presence to Zion and Jerusalem, to embrace us again as the People He has chosen, to serve Him.

and may our eyes see Your return to Zion..... AMEN. 

PIRQE ABOT: Sodom vs. Mi Casa Es Tu Casa

The Mishna describes  four patterns of generosity / selfishness.

When somebody says:
1.What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine. Nonsense.
2.What is yours is mine and what is mine is mine. Evil.
3.What is mine is yours and what is yours is yours. Kindness.
4.What is yours is yours, and what is mine is mine.... some say, that was the trait (=the sin) of Sodom".

According to the Mishna, the ideal attitude in Judaism is to give with kindness, to share with others what God gave us. And all this, without expecting automatic reciprocity ("What is mine is yours and, what is yours is still yours"). This is the epitome of Jewish morality.

Now, what is so wrong about "What is yours is yours, and what is mine is mine". For many, "leave ME alone and I leave YOU alone" is the best possible scenario for living in society! Moreover, why the Mishna compares this seemingly perfect behavior with Sodom, the city of evil?

First, we need to remember that Sodom was a very rich area. No one was allowed into their city (into their "club") unless he was rich, like Lot. To prevent others from sharing in their wealth, the Sodomites legislated laws against helping the needy. Strangers and poor people were not welcomed, on the contrary, they were brutally abused. 

As it is typically the case in any corrupt society, to justify their selfish laws the Sodomites developed a suitable "philosophy"(which I cannot resist to comparing with the Nietzschean notion that helping the poor and the sick delays the evolution of the Ubermensch).  The people of Sodom reasoned: Why should we share what the gods had given us with the needy? That would be a sin! If the gods would have wanted this poor man to have food, they, the gods, would have given him food! Giving food to the poor will be definitely a sin: going against the will of the gods.  This cynical philosophy, which characterized Sodom, precipitated its destruction.

In Judaism, "Mine is yours, and yours is still yours" is the practical application of "You shall love your fellowman, as you love yourself"

PIRQE ABOT, Rabbi Eliezer on character assassination

...המלבין פני חבירו ברבים... אע"פ שיש בידו תורה ומעשים טובים

אין לו חלק לעולם הבא

Rabbi Eliezer from the city of Modi'in says in Pirqe Abot that when a person embarrasses someone else in public, he might loss his share in the world to come, the afterlife. He emphasizes that even thought the perpetrator might be a fully observant Jew and a kind and generous person, if he is abusive, offends or embarrasses  someone else publicly, he looses his part in the next world.  Why such a terrible punishment for something apparently so trivial?   For the rabbis embarrassing, offending or bullying a person in public, is not a small thing. They actually compare this type of abusive behavior with "murdering". 

Like murdering, public embarrassment is a sin beyond repair.   It could happen in our work place or even to our children at school or in the bus. These crimes could go unseen for a long time, because many times the victims of bullying, especially if they suffer from low self esteem, usually do not denounce the perpetrators (and low self-esteem gets lower as an effect of this bullying. Do you see the vicious cycle here?).  Maimonides (Hilkhot Teshuba 3:14) explains that in order to prevent these destructive behaviors, the rabbis warned us that embarrassing or offending someone else, carries the maximum possible penalty: loosing our afterlife.  

 Surprisingly, it seems that today general society has arrived to the same conclusion as the Rabbis of the Talmud in terms of the similarities between verbal offenses and murder. The following is a priceless text quoted directly from Wikipedia ("Character assassination") which captures what the Talmud explained in the 5th Century. "For living individuals targeted by character assassination attempts, this may result in being rejected by their community, family, or members of their living or work environment. Such acts are often difficult to reverse or rectify, and the process is likened to a literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can last a lifetime or, for historical figures, for many centuries after their death."

PIRQE ABOT 1:7, tell me who your friends are...

ניתאי הארבלי אומר הרחק משכן רע ואל תתחבר לרשע 

ואל תתייאש מן הפורענות 

To prepare ourselves for Shabu'ot, the day we received the Tora, it is customary to study Pirqe Abot, the "Chapters of the Fathers" which is a tractate of the Mishna composed around the Second Century. This Mishna does no deal with the details of the observance of specific Mitzvot, as usually the Mishna does, but with practical Jewish wisdom, values and mores.      

There are many excellent English translations and commentaries of Pirqe Abot. My favorite one is the Me'am Loez, written by rabbi Ytzhaq Magriso, 18th century, Turkey. He wrote his commentary originally in Ladino (Judeo- Spanish. The book was published in 1747 and today we have a beautiful English translation of his book done by rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, z'l.   

Let me share with you a few insights from his book

This Mishna (1:7) talks about neighbors and friends. Exhorting us to be careful when choosing our company. 

*Rabbi Magriso explains the dangers of bad influences, via friendship. Influence, positive or negative, is not perceived while taking place. Bad company is like second-hand smoking. The harmful consequences are virtually inevitable, and we might realize those effects on us or on our children when it is already too late. 

* Rabbi Magriso offers his insights on real friendship.  He writes that "a good friend" is defined primarily by his or her character. A good friend is an individual who is able to be happy for your happiness. A person who is not jealous of your success.  A bad neighbor, on the contrary, is the one that somehow suffers or is envious of your blessings.  Find neighbors and be among friends who are not jealous of you, and save yourself from a lot of trouble. This is a big lesson, not just for identifying who is a good friend (which is not a simple task, because jealousy is not always easy to detect) but it is also a very important idea for ourselves, to improve our own character: We must learn to be genuinely happy, and never resentful, for the success of our friends. 

*Rabbi Magriso also wrote: What is the best way to assess someone's character? What is the way to see if our children are in a good path? Look at his or her circle of friends. Who your friends are is the best indicator of who you are, or who you are about to be.

Amida (berakha 16) Please, listen (or ignore) my prayer

This is the sixteenth and last berakha of the section called 'requests' (baqashot).

In this berakha we ask HaShem to listen to our prayers, to accept and fulfill our requests. According to the Rabbis, in this berakha we could also include any particular petition that was not specifically covered in the previous twelve berakhot. For example, since there is no berakha that deals with Shiddukh (=finding a spouse) or having children, etc., we could make those request here. 

We ask God to listen to our prayers, knowing that no matter how much we believe we deserve God's attention, or how noble our cause is, etc., there is no guarantee that we will be granted what we have asked for.  HaShem always listens to our prayers, we assert in this Berakha, but sometimes His answer is "NO".

Why? Basically, for the same reason a good parent will not necessarily fulfill all of his children's request.  Many times, a parent would ignore the petition of his children, sometimes, for his children's own benefit.  Imagine you are going for a job interview, and you are eager to get this job, and you pray and beg God to  help you getting this job, if HaShem knows that this job is not good for you, or that there will be a better job, would you want Him to listen to your prayer?

Rabbenu Bahye ibn Paquda (Zaragoza, Spain, 11th Century) quotes in his famous book, "The duties of the Heart", a superb prayer, which I believe encapsulates beautifully the message that HaShem knows better than us what is better for us.  Paraphrasing it with my own words, this Berakha says:  HaShem when I pray to You, when I request something for me or for my loved ones, if YOU believe that the fulfillment of that request is not the best for us, please, do as YOU see fit, and please, ignore my petition. I trust YOUR judgment over my own judgment. I leave it up to YOU. YOU should choose to accept or ignore my request, and I will readily accept YOUR verdict. " 

This should be our state of mind when we ask haShem to listen to our prayers. At the end of the day, if HaShem decides to ignore my request, I know HE loves me, and I know HE knows better.

THE ORIGINAL PRAYER FROM "HOBOT HALEBABOT"  (heshbon hanefesh, Chapter 3) "My God, I dare to stand in front of You, not by ignorance of my own little stature and my inadequate knowledge of Your greatness and transcendence, for I know that You are High and Exalted and I'm of too little account, too lowly and small to petition You, to praise and sign hymns to You or to sanctify Your name which is sanctified by the voices of the High and Holy angels. Rather, what gave me the courage to address You is that You have commanded me to pray to You, and You have permitted me to praise Your exalted name according to my limited understanding of You and my limited grasp of Your glory, so that I will express my service to You with humility. And You know better than me what is best for me, and the ways in which I should be guided. I am therefore informing You of my needs, not so as to call Your attention to them, but so I will become conscious of my great need of You and of my trust in You. So, If I should ask You , out of my ignorance, for something that is not good for me or of no benefit to me, I accept Your choice rather than my choice. And so I leave the fulfillment of all my interests to Your lasting determination and supreme governance, as David said "God, my heart is not haughty, my eyes are not raised high, I do not presume to grasp things too great and mysterious for me. Thus, I have commended myself to You, like a weaned child, who depends entirely on his mother..."  (Tehillim 131:1-2)

Amida (Berakha 15) Praying for the real Messiah

This berakha ends the section of "National Requests", the six blessings in which we pray God for our  gueula (=redemption) which is actually our desire for normalization as the nation of Israel. Our desire to be established in the land of Israel, following the Law of Israel.

This gueula process will culminate with the coming of the Mashiah. 

The Mashiah will be a King, a political leader, who like King David will be completely committed to serve God.  

But how will we suppose to recognize who the Mashiah is?  

The Rabbis did not give us an explicit list of the Mashiah characteristics.  But Maimonides did (MT, H. Melakhim, Ch.11).  

For Maimonides, everything we should know about the potential Mashiah is learned from Bar Kokhba. How so? Because Rabbi Aqiba believed that Bar Kokhba was the Mashiah, until Bar Kokhba was defeated and killed. Then, Rabbi Aqiba realized that althought Bar Kokhba possessed the necessary requisites to be Mashiah, evidently he was not. Now, Maimonides reasons, whatever rabbi Aqiba saw in Bar Kokhba is what we should expect to find in the potential Mashiah. 

He then mentions the three preconditions for the Mashiah. 

  

1. Like bar Kokhba, the Mashiah needs to be a descendant of King David.  

2. The second condition is that he will be committed to Torah study and meticulous observance (הוגה בתורה ועוסק במצוות), aspiring to establish a Jewish Kingdom where HaShem will be the Supreme King. 

3. The third condition, as per Maimonides, is that the candidate for Mashiah will be a military man, actively fighting the wars of Israel. Not "fighting" in a symbolic army (a sort of a Jewish "Salvation Army") but in the real Jewish Army, like the brave Bar-Kokhba who was a soldier and then the commander of the Jewish army that fought against the enemies of Israel (in 130 ACE, the Romans). 

Maimonides explains that if a Jewish leader possesses these three conditions he could be considered the Mashiah. If he also gathers the remnants of the Jewish people into the land of Israel, and he builds the Bet haMiqdash,  then he should be declared officially as our Mashiah Tsidqenu. (B"H, bimhera beyamenu!) 

Recommended reading on this subject 

'The Real Messiah?' 

by Aryeh Kaplan. 

                                                                           See here

Amida (berakha 14), Yerushalayim, a city and its soul

תשכון בתוך ירושלים עירך 

In this blessing we ask HaShem 1. to restore His Presence in Yerushalayim. and 2. to reestablish the Throne of David. This double request alludes to the spiritual and the political aspects of Jerusalem.  

First of all, Yerushalayim is the city of the Bet haMiqdash .  The Bet haMiqdash was the Holy Temple. The soul of the Jewish people.  We Jews believe in God's Omnipresence (=God is everywhere). However, the Tora asserts that in the Sanctuary there was a special "Divine Manifestation" (Shekhina), a feeling of God's presence which could not be experienced anywhere else. It is impossible to describe with words how this "God's Manifestation" was felt.  However, if upon visiting the Western Wall (one of the outer walls of the Temple) you are overcome by an incomparable sensation of Holiness and closeness to HaShem, the feeling you experience in the Wall, is a tiny reflection of that overwhelming "Divine Manifestation" felt in the Bet HaMiqdash. In this Berakha we first request God to reestablish His Manifestation in Yerushalayim. Restoring His Sanctuary, the Bet HaMiqdash. 

We also pray in this Berakha for the reestablishment of the "Throne of David". Aside from being the spiritual center of the Jewish people, Yerushalayim was also the political capital of the Jewish Nation. All National Institutions were established in Yerushalayim. In this aspect, Yerushalayim was to the Jewish Nation what Washington DC is to the USA. The Jewish King had his palace and residence (=the White House) in Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim was the residing place of the Bet Din haGadol (= the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice) and Yerushalayim was the city of the Sanhedrin (= the U.S. Congress).  When we cry for the destruction of Jerusalem we lament not only the destruction of the Bet HaMiqdash, but also the eradication of all our political and governmental institutions.  Thus, in our Berakha, when we pray to HaShem for the reestablishment of Yerushalayim, we also pray for the restoration of the Jewish Government  (David's Throne). 

Today, Baruch HaShem, we have Yerushalayim again. But we still don't have the Bet HaMiqdash. The Bet HaMiqdash is to Yerushalayim what the soul is to the body. Now, if Yerushalayim is today the most beautiful city in the world, and this is Yerushalayim without her soul, imagine how magnificent Yerushalayim will be, once her soul, the Bet HaMiqdash, is restored!

Amida (berakha 13) Take care of those who take care of us

על הצדיקים ועל החסידים

In this blessing we ask haShem to protect and help the righteous and pious. Those who are committed to pursuing kindness, justice, the knowledge of God and the obedience of His commandments.

We ask for the righteous in this particular section, the section which deals with "National" requests. Because the Tsadiqim are our national heroes, our role model and inspiration.

This berakha begins by mentioning two types of good people: Righteous (tsadiqim) and pious (hasidim). Righteous are those who strictly follow God's commandments. Hasidim -pious -is a level above righteousness. Hasidim are righteous people who outdo their religious duties in one particular category of Mitsvot: Hesed. Hesed means kindness. And it includes the performance of the good deeds we do for other people: visiting the sick, comforting the mourners and helping those in need. While excess in certain ritual areas might be counterproductive, objectionable or a symptom of arrogance, in the area of Hesed doing more than what we are required is unquestionable and noble.

In this berakha we ask HaShem to protect and reward the righteous and all those who put their trust in God. It is important to notice that anyone might belong to the category of righteous or pious. Depending exclusively on one's actions and intentions. Thus, we ask HaShem to inspire us to follow the footsteps of the righteous, so we could also be counted as such: "Place our lot among them, and let us never be shamed for in You we have trusted."

It seems that the Tsadiqim and the Hasidim deserve a special protection. Why? Because the real righteous and pious people live according to standards of altruism which are very different from the rest of us.  The Tsadiqim behave as if they have come to this world to give, not to take; to defend others, not themselves; and to care of other people, not of their own needs.   And while usually people who benefit from the kindness of the Tsadiqim appreciate their unselfishness, many times the noblest Tsadiqim are vulnerable and exposed to ingratitude and even abuse.  We pray to HaShem for an ideal situation in which, while the Tsadiqim take care of other people, HaShem will take special care of the Tsadiqim. 

'amida (Berakha 12) Religious and Political Betrayal

למינים ולמלשינים אל תהי תקווה

The 'amida was composed around the Fifth Century BCE. Originally, the 'amida was known as the shemona 'esre (=eighteen) prayer, because it consisted of eighteen blessings. Around the year 100 ACE, with the advancement of Christianity, Shemuel haQatan composed a new berakha which was introduced to the 'amida by Rabban Gamliel and its Court.  This berakha is known as birkat haminim, the prayer in which we request God's assistance to deal with those who wish to destroy Am Israel physically or spiritually.  Particularly, the traitors among the Jewish people. But who qualifies for this shameful categorization? Is this berakha referring to a Jew who abandons Jewish observance? Absolutely not! Judaism is very understanding of Jews who, for different reasons fail to keeping the Mitsvot (tinoq shenishba ben hagoyim). Actually, we are encouraged to inspire all our brothers and sisters, and bring them closer to HaShem. We are commanded to love them and embrace them, not, God forbid, to ask for their destruction. 

This Berakha is meant for two very specific types of "betrayal". 

1. Religious Treason (minim) which alludes to those Jews who abandon Judaism and now dedicate their efforts to proselyte and actively try to convert other Jews to their new beliefs (i.e., Jews for Jesus, etc.). 

2. National Treason (malshinim) which refers to those Jews who join the political enemies of Israel. Think about Medinat Israel today, the nations who, like Amaleq, seek the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately, there are Jews who actively join these nations, movements or political parties, and align themselves with those seeking to wipe Israel off the map. A Jewish individual who does this, places himself or herself at a point beyond redemption. That is why we do not pray for their return.  Because the damage they have done to Israel is beyond repair.  We ask for God's help to deal with them, because there is little we can do to defend ourselves against "our own brothers".  

Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting in NYC       5:20 pm

Shabbat ends in NYC           6:19 pm

'amida (Berakha 11) All you need is love

השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה 

 

 

Previously, we explained the blessing  teqa' beshofar gadol "Make sound the Shofar... that will announce our redemption... and bring us back to the Land of Israel". 

In this blessing hashiba shofetenu we ask God to provide us with the right political leaders kebarishona "like those we had in the past".  

Our first and greatest leader was Moshe Rabbenu.   

What was so special about Moshe? 

1. When the people of Israel worshipped the golden calf, Moshe Rabbenu (see last week's Parasha) rejected God's offer to get rid of the "stubborn Jews" and make him a leader of a new Nation.  Moshe Rabbenu begged God to forgive the people of Israel. And he told God, "If not, please erase me too from Your Book". For Moshe the whole concept of leadership would not make any sense if it would hurt the people of Israel. A good Jewish leader is the one that loves Am Israel more than he loves himself.  

2. Why Moshe broke the tablets, when he saw the people dancing around the golden calf? According to one opinion, Moshe broke the tablets in an effort to defend the people of Israel. How so? The tablets,("YOU SHALL NOT HAVE OTHER GODS") were the most clear evidence against the people's sin. Moshe choose to cover-up for them, breaking the incriminating document. In a sense, Moshe was willing to bring upon himself a more serious sin (breaking GOD'S tablets!) just to downplay as much as possible the sin of Israel. 

3. Moshe's love for Am Israel made him the best advocate we Jews ever had. God said: "Let me get-rid of this stubborn people". "Stubborn", because I took them out of Egypt, I opened for them the sea, I gave them the Manna, I gave them the Tora, I revealed Myself to them, and now, they abandon Me and worship a calf?!".  Moshe said: You're right, the Jews are stubborn. But once they get it, once they will have You as their God, because of their stubbornness, they will NEVER abandon You. They will be forced to convert, but they will resist. They will embrace You and Your covenant, no matter what. They will be willing to suffer humiliation, persecution, torture and death, and still be loyal to You. They will even go to their deaths saying 'Ani Ma-amin'. This is going to be Your 'stubborn people'."  

  

ahabat Israel, love for the People of Israel, is the prerequisite for the right Jewish Leader. 

amida (berakha 10), Jewish Religion or Jewish people?

תקע בשופר גדול לחרותינו 

The 'amida is divided in three sections. The first section, which includes three blessings, consists in praising God. The third section, also three blessings, is about thanking God. And the middle part, thirteen blessings, deals with our requests to God. This last section is subdivided into two major subjects: 1. Personal requests  (we ask God to grant us: intelligence, protection, good health, livelihood, etc.) and 2. National requests (Coming back to Israel, have our Political leaders back, restore our capital Jerusalem, etc.) . 

Our berakha, "Bring us back to the land of Israel" inaugurates the section dealing with our National aspirations. Indeed, the first thing we ask God as a nation is to gather all of us from the four corners of the earth and to bring us back to our homeland, Israel. 

Incidentally, this berakha clarifies a very relevant point, shedding light on the present debate about Israel's claim to be recognized as a "Jewish State". 

Israel's foes, Palestinians and the Arab League of Nations, etc., justify their rejection of a Jewish State saying that a religion-based country (a Jewish State) is a racist and apartheid state (See for example this).  They'd say that Israel's claim is as if, for example, Japan would declare itself a Buddhist State, and grant citizenship only to people who practice Buddhism, or so.  (Needless to mention that the same logic is not applied against the establishment of the "Islamic republic of Iran" or "Saudi-Arabia", an Islamic theocratic monarchy, which officially prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities).

An important lesson we learn from our berakha, and from the next five "national" requests, is that "religion" is not the only way to describe Judaism.  Judaism--or Jewishness--concerns primarily the legal status of every member of the Jewish NATION. Being Jewish is a virtual "citizenship", maternally inherited, which does not expire even when a Jew lives in exile for centuries.  You cannot conceive Judaism as you conceive any regular religion: a system of faith, without national elements. Religious groups do not have a land of reference. Christians are not "a nation".  If you are a Christian you do not pray to go back to Rome or reestablish the Christian government in the Vatican. You do not have National aspirations. On the contrary, State and Church are deliberately disconnected. The same can be said about Islam (Farrakhan's "Nation of Islam" is the name of his religious movement, not the way Islam views itself, as it can be clearly seen from the name League of Arab "Nations"). 

Judaism, as we learn from this berakha, would not make sense without the Land of Israel, or the aspiration to come back to it. Israel, the Jewish State, is the original Homeland of the Jewish People.   In this sense, "Israel, a Jewish State" is as if Japan would simply declare that "Japan is the Homeland of all Japanese people".

Jews who live outside Israel, are proud, law-abiding and grateful citizens of the countries where we live, but we are still part of the Jewish Nation (Nation=shared history, shared language, shared Law, shared Land). And as we express it in this Berakha, our hope is that one day we will be gathered from the four corners of this planet, and reunited again in our original homeland. Fulfilling thus the ultimate vision of the Jewish Prophets:  The people of Israel, living in the Land of Israel, under the Law of Israel.

MUST SEE VIDEO 

'amida (berakha 9) , "Make us rich... and save us from Affluenza"

The 9th berakha of the Amida, barekhenu or barekh alenu, is the blessing in which we ask haShem to grant our livelihood (parnasa).

This blessing focuses specifically on requesting dew, rain, a good year's crop, and a successful production of vegetables and fruits.  We ask HaShem to provide us material blessings and protect our source of livelihood from weather inclemencies and other natural disasters.

We particularly ask God to send rain. One of the most disastrous scenarios for the economy of Israel, and this is true even today,  is a period of drought.  Rain coming on its due time is God's blessing to the people of Israel, as it is explicitly recorded in the Shema Israel. We also learned in the second part of the Shema that rain in the land of Israel is conditioned to the people of Israel's keeping God's Covenant. The Tora describes a sort of cause/effect dynamics between the People of Israel's behavior and Israel's skies. Heavens of the Holy Land are not governed by the rules of nature but by God's retribution or reward to Israel's loyalty.

Although this berakha refers exclusively to the agricultural aspects of Israel's economy, because it was conceived for the ancient Israel nation, when Jews dedicated mostly to agriculture, it also alludes to our general economic success. This berakha implicitly includes our request to God to bless our sources of livelihood in present times: our businesses, our jobs, our investments, etc. 

Another important thing we learn from this berakha is that we specifically ask God to send rain as 'blessing' (tal umatar librakha). In other words, we expect to receive whatever rain is needed for the land, and not more than that! Rain in excess is the opposite of blessing.  Similarly, in many areas of material life, excess might be counterproductive.  Material excess can turn into a psychological "disorder", which might affect us and our children, known as "Affluenza" 1. The feelings of unfulfillment and frustration that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by tireless pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to consumption.   

We should ask HaShem to bless us, providing us with what we really need.   

More on asking God in excess of
what you really need

"How the Lives of 10 Lottery Millionaires went Disastrously Wrong" (from money.co.uk)

Who wants to be a millionaire? Most people, surely (except billionaires of course). But sadly, winning a truck-load of money on the lottery, any lottery, comes with a heap of baggage. Daydreams of a millionaire lifestyle seem to have a habit of turning sour faster than a sub-prime mortgage, isolation, paranoia, drugs, crime, poverty and prison await those who fail to adjust, as this top ten of 'Lottery Losers' shows:



1. Jack Whittaker won a record $314.9m Powerball Jackpot in 2002. But life since then has been a long list of arrests, lawsuits, broken relationships and even death. In 2007, his then wife, Jewell admitted she wished she had 'torn up the ticket'.

2. William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lotrery in 1988. He later described the experience as a nightmare and wishes it had never happened - who can blame him after he was sued by a former girlfriend eager to get her hands on the cash and his brother hired a hitman in the hope of inheriting the winnings. He invested in ill-fated family businesses and within a year was $1m in debt. Today he gets by on social security payments.

3. Luke Pittard from Wales won a 'measly' £1.3m on the National Lottery. After the novelty worn off and the obligatory lavish holiday, wedding and new home were done and dusted, he got bored and returned to work at MacDonalds.

4. An as-yet-unnamed Sicilian won £79m on the Italian lottery in 2008. Before he or she could even collect the winnings consumer groups were demanding that the windfall be seized by the government. The winner has since gone into hiding, fearing the Mafia will come calling.

5. Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. Her generosity in giving money to a variety of political, educational and community causes was commendable - but just eight years later she filed for bankruptcy.

6. Mark Gardiner from London won $ 11m in 1995. Thirteen miserable years later, he hasn't lost his money, but he has lost all his friends - even the ones he treated to new £100,000 homes - and lost touch with his family.

7. Michael Carroll won a £9.7m National Lottery Jackpot in 2002. Since then he has appeared in court more than 30 times and been jailed for drug related offences. In 2008, he admitted that 'just' £500,000 of his windfall remained.

8. Willie Hurt won 3.1 million in 1989. Two years later the money  was gone and he was on a murder charge. Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.

9. Charles Riddle won $1 million in 1975. The original lottery car crash, he quickly got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was eventually indicted for selling cocaine.

10. Ken Proxmire won $1 million in the Michigan Lottery.He moved to California and invested in a car business with his brothers. Five years later, he was bankrupt and back working as a machinist.

Amida (Berakha 8) The ultimate Healer

רְפָאֵנוּ ה' וְנֵרָפֵא  "Cure us, Oh God, so we will be cured..." In this berakha we acknowledge that God is the ultimate healer.  When we are sick, we assert, our cure ultimately comes from Him. This Berakha, and the subject of being sick/being cured is a great example of the complex dynamics between man's freedom of choice and God's intervention in our lives.  First, in the way a disease is acquired. Many times illness is a consequence of our wrong choices. If we make an habit of eating the wrong foods, or if we don't take care of our health, sickness might be directly or indirectly our own making. The Rabbis expressed this idea in TB Ketubot 30a: הכל בידי שמים חוץ מצינים פחים "Everything is in God's hand, except colds and insolation". In other words, if I willingly expose myself too much to cold or too much to heat, I cannot expect HaShem to protect me from my bad choices.   On the other hand, certain diseases (perhaps most) are not a consequence of our behavior, but an adversity out of our control. And many times it is impossible (and useless) to assess where the blame should be placed.  In any case, we pray to HaShem to help us and to remove from us all illness, pains and wounds.   The second point is that the Tora forbids a person to rely just on God for getting cured. We are obligated to seek a physician's intervention (verapo yerape). We can't just hope that illness will vanish by HaShem's grace.  What this Berakha makes clear is that when we visit the doctor, we believe that it is still HaShem who cures us (harbe shelihim lamaqom). We believe that God acts through the medical advise of the physician, or through the hands of the surgeon in the operation room. It is ultimately Him, by means of myriad of human agents -doctors, researchers, nurses- who brings healing and alleviates the sick. Physicians are HaShem's privileged agents in the art of healing. God, we believe, is behind man's wisdom to develop medications, and behind man's ability to cure sickness. We must do all in our power to avoid being sick. And we must do all in our power to get cured. Nevertheless, we pray and beseech God to protect us from all illness, to heal our pain, to cure our wounds and to prolong our lives.  We recognize Him as the ultimate healer. He has the final say.

amida (Berakha 7), God, our next of kin

ראה נא בענינו וריבה ריבנו  

Please [God] see our suffering and fight our fights, and to grant us a complete salvation, for the sake of Your name, because You are a powerful GO-EL. Blessed are You , God, the GO-EL of Israel.

In this berakha we ask God for His assistance and deliverance.

The key to understand this prayer is the Hebrew word GO-EL. GO-EL means "redeemer".  In some contexts this term refers to the Messiah. The Messianic times are also known as the days of GE-ULA, the redemption of Israel and the return to the Land of Israel. In the next section, when we ask God to fulfill our national requests, we will have two specific berakhot for these subjects. One berakha in which we ask haShem to bring us back to Israel, and the other in which we ask HaShem to bring us the Messiah, a descendent of King David.  

Thus, in the context of this berakha GO-EL should not be connected to the Mashiah or our National GE-ULA. GO-EL in this berakha means: 'next of kin' or 'closest relative'.

According to Jewish Law it is the duty of the GO-EL or 'next of kin' to help his relatives in moments of need. The best example is Boaz and Naomi. Boaz, a relative of Elimelekh,  assists Naomi, Elimelekh's widow, and takes care of her and her daughter in law Ruth.  We need to bear in mind that Elimelekh betrayed his own people leaving to Moab, enemy territory. We could have assumed that Elimelekh's relatives should not deserve anymore the next of kin's assistance. We see, however, that the duties of the GO-EL supersedes considerations of merit.

In this berakha we appeal to God as 'our next of kin', 'our closest relative', asking Him to assist us and deliver us from suffering. We beseech HaShem as our GO-EL, certain that He will assist us, even if we do not have enough merit to deserve His intervention in our behalf.

SHABBAT SHALOM

Candle Lighting:   5:02pm

Shabbat ends:       6:00 pm.

'amida (berakha 6) Father vs King

סלח לנו אבינו כי חטאנו , מחול לנו מלכנו כי פשענו  "Forgive us, our Father, because we have inadvertently sinned; pardon us, our King, because we have rebelled [against You]" In the 6th berakha of the Amida we ask HaShem Almighty for forgiveness. We refer to God with two key words: abinu and malkenu abinu means "Our father". As we have previously explained, we Jews believe that God loves us as we love our children. We appeal to HaShem first as our loving father. Confident that no matter how bad we might have behaved, we know He will always take us back. Same as a loving but responsible parent, all God demands from us to forgive our offenses toward Him, is that we take charge and admit our responsibility.   When we refer to God as "our father" we describe our sins as "hat aim" or inadvertent wrongdoings. We excuse ourselves saying that our general intention is to do good, but sometimes we make mistakes or we fail to control our impulses... But we also know that God is malkenu, our King. The King is the ultimate authority. In ancient monarchies, Israel included, the King was also the supreme Judge, and among other things the King had the power to sentence his subjects to death. Every time we say melekh we are stating that our lives are at His mercy. When addressing God as a King we use the word pasha'nu, we rebelled against You. We disobeyed You. We don't excuse ourselves as before. abinu and malkneu often come together to express that God is the One who granted us the gift of life (abinu), and He is also the One who can take life away from us (malkenu). The tension between these two words is solved at the end of this berakha: "Barukh Ata haShem, hanun hamarbe lisloah" we say that HaShem is merciful, and that He forgives abundantly. At the end of this prayer we assert, and simultaneously wish for, that God as "our father" prevails over God as "the King". As a loving parent He will see our sins as mistakes, not rebellion. And He will be waiting for us to come back to Him. אני שלום וכי אדבר המה למלחמה PLEASE WATCH AND SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS (Jews and non-Jews).  THIS IS MOST YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISRAEL AND ITS CURRENT EFFORTS FOR PEACE  Ambassador Ron Prosor at UN General Assembly Debate

'amida (Berakha 5) The gift of repentance

כי לא תחפוץ במות המת, כי אם בשובו מדרכו וחיה 

In this berakha we ask God to assist us in the process of our teshuba (=repentance). Literally, teshuba  means "coming back", returning to the right path.  

We say in this berakha:

Bring us back, our Father, to Your Tora...

The Rabbis define sinning as temporary insanity en adam ba lide het... 'a person would not sin, unless he is possessed by a [temporary] spirit of foolishness'. When we are seized by ambition, lust, jealousy, etc. our mind is clouded. Once we recover our wisdom, as we have requested in the previous blessing, the first thing we realize is that abandoning the right path, the path of virtue, was not a good idea. Still, the way back is not always simple. Thus, we ask for divine assistance to come back to the path of the Tora. 

And bring us closer, our King, to Your service (la'abodatekha).

'aboda  is God's service. It consists in the application of what we study in the Tora. That is why we assert that first we should get back to study Tora, which would lead us to serve God. 

And make us return to You...

When we say: "bring us" , "make us",  we do not mean literally that we expect God to do these actions for us, while we remain passive.  We are in complete charge of our moral actions.  We, humans, were blessed with freedom of choice. What we are asking God is for His help, assistance and inspiration to come back to Him and His Tora.

Baruch Ata.. haRotse bitshuba.  Blessed are you, God, who desires (our) repentance. 

We assert now that God "wants" us to return to Him.  A very important Jewish principle is that God loves us like a father loves his children. As a loving father, God does not take enjoyment in punishing a bad son. All God wants from His children is for them to coming back to the right path. That is why we dare to ask God to assist us in our return to Him. We know that God "wants" our repentance, because He loves us and He desires our good.

Amida (berakha 4), the miracle of intelligent life

Ata honen la-adam da'at...,  You grant humans wisdom...

This berakha inaugurates the second section of the 'amida, "Request" (baqasha), the blessings in which we ask God for our material needs. In this berakha we ask God to grant us "wisdom" or "intelligence".  But why asking "wisdom" before anything else?

Because without wisdom we will not be able to identify the gifts and blessings that we already have, which is essential for knowing what do we really need. We need wisdom, in addition, to differentiate between what we "need" from what we just "want" or "wish". Moreover, without wisdom we will not even know "what" to ask from God. Or what to do with the blessings that God would eventually grant us. We might think that we need urgently money or success. But without wisdom, money and success might be counterproductive. 

  

Additionally, this blessing teaches us a very important principle. "Ata honen..." means: YOU (=God)' grant humans the gift of wisdom/intelligence.  Intelligence/wisdom is God's gift to the human specie. Our brain is remarkably similar to that of monkeys.  Yet, we humans are endowed with "intelligence" which is not an extension of our biological make-up, and cannot be justified in evolutionary terms.  Intelligence is not a biological natural feature like sight, hearing or a digestive system. Without intelligence we would be able, somehow, to survive as a specie.  But we wouldn't be able to connect with God, to learn or teach His Tora, or to choose between right and wrong.  Intelligence is what make humans unique among all living species. In this berakha we assert that intelligence is a  God-given, miraculous, supernatural gift humans were endowed with. 

"vehonenu me-itekha..."

We ask God, the source of wisdom, to bestow upon us three types of intelligence 

HOKHMA: Hokhma refers to creativity. The capacity a person needs to see or discover something new, when everyone is looking at the same things. The ability to develop a new idea. This is also, we say, a gift from HaShem

BINA: Once a new idea is discovered we need bina, practical wisdom to effectively apply an idea. Some people may be gifted with bina and not with hokhma, or vice-versa. 

DA'AT: Da'at refers to the good "judgment" that we develop by life-experience. Yet, people differ in what or how they learn from experience. Some people are so gifted that they posses the ability to learn from other's experiences. Some have the ability to learn from their own experience, and others have a hard time to learn even from their own experiences.  

In all these intellectual fields, we say, we need HaShem's assistance and inspiration. 

MUST WATCH

Israel Vs. Europe on circumcision 

Israel Knesset-produced film to combat a Parliamentary Assembly of the Congress of Europe resolution seeking to limit ritual circumcision.

'amida (berakha 3), the limits of our understanding

The third blessing of the 'amida is also the shortest one. In this berakha we state that HaShem is "qadosh"; and that so is His name; and so are those who praise Him every day: the people of Israel .

But, what is "qadosh"?

It is impossible to translate this Hebrew term with just one word in English. "Qadosh" means: special, unique, different, consecrated and sometimes: "inaccessible or out of reach".

One example: in Hebrew qiddushin (from the same root as "qadosh" q-d-sh) means marriage. When a man marries a woman, she is consecrated (mequddeshet) to him, becoming for him unique, special and different from the rest of the women. At the same time, by being consecrated to her husband this woman is now "inaccessible" to any other bachelor.

In the context of our berakha, when referring to God as qadosh we hint to our inability to really perceive God, or God's Almighty-ness.

When saying ATA QADOSH we are stating that "God, is beyond our intellectual reach". God remains concealed to us.   Why do we emphasize this message here, at the end of these blessings of "Praise"?

Because in the two previous berakhot we have acknowledged God's intervention in history (Abot), from our ancestors until the future go'el (mashiah); we have said that God is Great, All- Powerful and Magnificent, and we have described and praised God's powers, His blessings, His miracles. By saying ata qadosh we convey a philosophical disclaimer, recognizing that no matter how much we have praised Him or will praise Him, we do not presume to really "know" God or to have praised Him exhaustively. Rather, what we just said about God is the little we grasp of Him from our human perspective.


VESHIMKHA QADOSH, and 'Your name is qadosh'. We are also incapable of grasping His name -the name of four letters- which conveys the idea of infinitude and eternity, concepts that lie beyond our intellectual capacities .

UQDOSHIM BEKHOL YOM. Still, the qedoshim, God's people, those who are consecrated to You (=Israel), praise You every day, as much as we are capable of praising You. An almost identical message constitutes the core of the qaddish (also from the root q-d-sh): le'ela min kol birkhata, etc. Your praise is beyond any praise that could be said of You.

BARUKH ATA HASHEM HA-EL HAKADOSH: Blessed are You, God, Whose power and praise remains 'far beyond our reach'.

Click here to read

PM Stephen Harper's
Speech at the Knesset

Canada supports Israel fundamentally because it is right to do so.

'amida (Berakha 2) God's powers and Evolution theory

The second berakha (=blessing) of the 'amida is called geburot, "God's powers". 

This blessing asserts, in the first place, that God is Omnipotent (Atta gibbor le'olam) , infinitely powerful. Then it tells us that God uses His powers to restore life, to save, to make rain descend, to nurture, to support those who fell, to cure the sick, to deliver captives, etc.

Unlike mythological gods whose powers are shown in their ability to overcome other gods or destroy, HaShem's might is all about Him blessing His creatures,  teaching us, incidentally,  that like HaShem we too should use our powers, resources and abilities to save, cure, help, etc.

The highest expression of God's power, mentioned four times in this berakha,  is tehiat hametim, 'the resurrection of the dead'. Resurrection (do not confuse with reincarnation) is a core belief in Judaism. Resurrection affirms that in messianic times, God will restore life to the dead.

Tehiat hametim, life restoration, is similar to Creation. It obviously defies all physical and biological laws known to us. Even today, 2014, when science has decoded the DNA and developed nanotechnology, no scientist can generate life from atoms. Even if a scientist would intelligently design a lab, duplicating the same original conditions in which, according to his theory, life appeared "randomly" on earth, he will not be able to create even one single living cell.  The generation of life remains God's exclusive domain. By the way, this is the weakest point of Evolution theory. Until today evolutionist fail to explain how life appeared in our planet to begin with.

Something similar happens with Tehiat hametim. Give to a modern microbiologist a simple mosquito, which died one minute ago of natural causes. Could a scientist restore the life of this mosquito, even for a few more minutes?  We are not talking here about creating life out of inorganic matter in a laboratory. The scientist is given a mosquito, with every part of its body still in place. Is it possible for a man to restore even one moment of autonomous life?

We humans have the power to help, to harm, to kill or to heal. 

But tehiat hametim, restoration of life, same as creation of life, is HaShem's exclusive domain.

Amida (Berakha 1). God, our protector

The 'amida consists of nineteen blessings, or short prayers which end with a blessing. The first blessing of the Amida is called "Abot", which literally means "fathers", in allusion to our ancestors or founding fathers,  Abraham, Yitshaq and Ya'aqob.  This blessing belongs to the first section of the 'amida: "Praise". Our first prayer to God, before we ask anything from him,  consists in praising Him for protecting us, the Jewish people.  

We affirm that HaShem watched over Abraham, Ytshaq and Ya'aqob. We also describe with three words what we can grasp of God's protective powers. We say that God is Great, Powerful, and Awe-Inspiring (=Gadol, Gibbor, Nora), there is no power beyond His control (el-'elion). HaShem uses these powers with kindness (gomel hasadim tobim) to guard us, and ensure our continuity.

We state that because of the merit of our ancestors (zokher hasde abot), God grants us His present protection and our future redemption (umebi go-el).

We also affirm that God promised (lema'an shemo) our ancestors that He will never allow the Jewish people to disappear. He will never abandon us because He loves us (beahaba). See Deut 7:7.

God protected us even before we became a nation. When we were just the family of Abraham or an incipient tribe. Then, we were extremely vulnerable.  In this berakha we are not asking God for protection. We are also not declaring that God will protect every Jew just by virtue of being a Jew. God's protection of the individual is not the subject of this blessing. We claim that God guaranteed our survival as the People of Israel, and we praise Him for delivering that, for keeping us alive as a nation, against all odds. 

Finally we state that God is our King (melekh). HaShem is a special King. He is not a king who demands His subjects to serve him for his own sake, but a King who cares about His subjects: us. A King ready to help (ozer) when we request His assistance. A King who rescues when we are in trouble (moshia'). A King who shields us (magen) from perils, dangers and hazards, which we are not even aware of.

We finalize this prayer by blessing (=acknowledging) God for enabling the survival of the Jewish people, since the times of Abraham Abinu (magen Abraham).