Rabbi's Blog - The Shul of Bellaire

Friday, September 8, 2023 - 9:52 AM

Did you ever excitedly make a commitment to a cause or a project, in the heat of the moment, only to find yourself losing your enthusiasm for it sometime later?

Every seven years the entire Jewish people would gather in Jerusalem to experience a reenactment of the original revelation on Mt. Sinai, when the entire Jewish people received the Torah. The purpose of this gathering was to ‘recommit’ to G-d, His Torah and its commandments.

But when making a commitment to rituals, there is always the risk that with time our enthusiasm can run dry. How do we ensure that we will remain excited and personally invested in what we’re doing?

The answer lies in the fact that at this gathering the leader of the Jewish people read from the Torah, not while standing on the floor but specifically while standing on a platform.

The platform is a symbolic reminder that when we ‘do Jewish’ we also need to ‘feel Jewish’, to find ourselves in the experience, we should identify the components within Judaism that resonate with us personally.

By standing on a ‘platform’ of courage, confidence and pride in who we are and what we do, we can remain enthusiastically engaged, until our next ‘Hakhel’ experience in Jerusalem.

Have you ever felt used?

Friday, September 1, 2023 - 9:53 AM

Have you ever had the yucky experience of engaging with someone in a way that left you feeling taken advantage of?

Examples can range from the harmless to the extreme, but we all know that 'feeling used' is pretty awful.

If we take a moment to probe deeper, it may be because when G-d created each of us, it was with choice, love and intention. Meaning, each individual has automatic intrinsic value and a unique purpose. IOW: If you are here, then YOU matter.

There are things in this world that are a means to an end, and that do not carry the same unconditional value as each individual person does. For example: alarm clocks are here to wake us up, cars are here to drive us where we need to go and jobs are here for us to earn a livelihood and support ourselves and our loved ones. If there was an alternate way to wake up, get ourselves where we need to go or earn a living, we would easily ditch the alarm clock, car and job.

You however are not a means to an end. You are the end. If you exist, that is G-d saying “you are the most important thing to me, you are indispensable”.

This intrinsic value can be compared to the automatic and unconditional love a parent feels the moment their child is born. The child does not need to perform or produce anything unique to win the parent’s love. Our sages teach us, that the parental love is only an attempt at a metaphor for the great unconditional love G-d feels towards each individual.

This may be why being taken advantage of feels horrible, because it denies our intrinsic unconditional, G-d given value.

When we cultivate this attitude towards ourselves and others, many of life’s challenges are healed. When we stop judging ourselves and others based on performance alone, zooming into the absolute core value at each individual, we experience the transformative power of unconditional love.

Doing Jewish AND Feeling Jewish

Have you ever felt used?