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Rabbi's Blog

Thoughts and Musings by Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky

Esty's RCS Remarks!

Good evening everyone... Ok, so here’s a story:

There was once a couple from Minneapolis who decided to go on vacation to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly cold winter. The problem was they were both super busy people and they had a hard time coordinating their traveling schedules. So finally, they worked it out and it was decided that the husband would fly out on Wednesday evening and the wife would fly out the next day, Thursday and they would catch up with each other in Florida.

The husband arrived as planned late Wednesday night. He checked into his hotel, and although he was so tired, he opened his laptop just to send his wife back at home a quick e-mail. But due to his exhaustion he accidentally left out one letter in her e-mail address and mistakenly sent the e-mail to the completely wrong person, without realizing his mistake.

Meanwhile, In New Jersey a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. Her husband had unfortunately passed away the day prior. The widow checked her e-mail expecting condolence messages from relatives and friends.

But when she read the first e-mail message she fainted and fell to the floor. Hearing the crash, the widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother, and read the e-mail still on the screen. It went like this:

To: My Loving Wife

From: Your Departed Husband

Subject: I've Arrived!

And the message read as follows:

I've just arrived and have been checked in...

It sure is hot down here!

I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

Talk about miscommunication - right?

I could not think of a better story to introduce what I want to tell you right now:

And that is – That I passionately believe that buried deep down beneath heavy layers of misunderstanding, miscommunication and misconception lies the greatest gift of Jewish wisdom for marriage and relationships!

The problem is, so much of this divine wisdom can be lost in the translation and in the delivery. And that’s without even getting into the stigma’s and stereotypes that surround this very topic.

Take for example:

The story of Adam and Eve in the garden and Eden… Or the commandment to be fruitful and multiply… Or how about: “A man should leave his parents home and cleave to his wife.”… Does this sound very romantic?

What does all this ancient stuff mean?

Is it possible for these ideas to have any relevance in 2014?

Have we gotten the right memo?

The truth is, we ought to pay close attention here, because, although there is so much out there on marriage and relationships - so many books, theories and ideas - there is only one best seller (the Bible)  that offers us marriage advise – straight from the very creator of the very institution of marriage and relationships.

So we need ask: What does G-d say about all this? What Does G-d think about marriage? And most importantly: “Is it possible for me to have access to this divine wisdom?”

To answer these questions, ladies: I invite you to join us at the Rosh Chodesh Society in Bellaire for the upcoming course: ‘Soulmates’. Join other fun, cool, Jewish, likeminded women - once a month - for a ladies night out of learning and discussion (and great refreshments!). Our first session is just 2 weeks from tonight on Nov. 13th.

The Rosh Chodesh Society is actually an international Jewish sisterhood that runs in over 200 locations around the world, including two others here in Houston. It has been incredible to open a local chapter here in Bellaire last year. I am particularly thrilled to be teaching this upcoming course because of it’s fascinating topic ‘Soulmates!’.

Whether you are currently married, in a relationship or considering entering into one – this course is for you! Also, each class is self contained and you need not attend all to appreciate one. Aside from the inspiration, you will walk away from each class with concrete take away tools for real life relationships.

Together we will explore all the classical Jewish sources on marriage and relationships, through the lens of Jewish Spirituality and Kabbalah. The ideas are not my own – they are divine – literally… and because I’ve seen firsthand how fascinating and transformative this information can be – I am so looking forward to sharing It with you!

Together, we will uncover and discover the divine secrets of Soul mates and relationships!

Register for the course by clicking here.

 

A Perrier lesson

A Perrier lesson

Many of us are still on a “high” from the moving, inspiring and joyful Holiday season!

But as you know, inspiration is so quick to dissipate, much like the bubbles in a bottle of Perrier, if it is left uncovered for too long.

So how can we ‘bottle up’ the holiday fizz and inspiration?

This is what works for me, translating my ‘highs’ into real action.

By beginning to act - and without delay - our inner feelings find a concrete outlet of expression.

This is how we can unleash the inspiration for a long lasting impact into the year ahead!

The Holidays provide the initial “oomph” to get us going, but now we need to do the maintenance work on our own, even when the going gets tough.

That being said, this Shabbat provides the perfect opportunity to “make that move”. Join (thousands of Jews around the world, and) us at ‘The Shul’ of Bellaire for “The Shabbat Project” experience!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky

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