Human Being

31/10/2024

11/10/2024

Yom Kippur is a day of 'at-one-ment.' aka coming back to ones self (that real real good good). The fasting is the easiest way to let go of the material world, our misconceptions and false beliefs, and truly remember who we are. Beyond our schedules, work, responsibilities, masks....

And when this holy day falls on Shabbat, the day G-d and all of creation rests, then our 'at-one-ment' is done with rest. You already are who you want to be, all is forgiven, healed, loved. It's just 26 hours to remember this; that's the work.

And since Yom Kippur is known as 'Shabbat Shabbaton' (the Sabbath of Sabbaths), we'll be in a triple Shabbos wave and I mean who doesn't love that

Gear chatima tova, may you be signed and sealed for a good year. A good unknown, becoming known with every second. Everything good, in Life, with joy.

15/09/2024

When we're given the Torah (i.e. teaching or instruction), then all the mountains come to naught.

If you look out over this water, the mountains and hills look very large. The mountains in our life can seem that way too sometimes...our challenges, struggles.

Torah is like water, it comes from a very high place and comes to the lowest places. It gives life and nourishment. Now, when you see the reflection of the mountains in the water, they are flattened...they are like nothing. It was simply an illusion.

Thus too, the things that seem so big and mighty in our lives (work, relationships, health, livelihood, etc.), when looked at with the perspective of water (i.e. the Torah; a good teaching), they become so little. We just need the right eyes.

Everything on the outside is reflecting the inside.

10/09/2024

"I look to the mountains, from where will my help come?"

'from where' = מאין

In hebrew, אין translates to mean nothing. But in Torah and chassidut, we learn that 'nothing' is really what exists beyond 'everything.'

'Everything' includes what I understand, how I feel, what I think, see, hear....'nothing' where 'i' ends, and the Life of all Life begins.

From the 'nothing-ness' does my help come.
i.e. from the G-d I will never understand completely, from a place that is beyond my wildest imagination...that is where my help will come from.

And that is where are dreams are born...where we begin to discover who we really are. One cannot understand who they are within the box they currently exist within. When we transcend our self, then we actually start walking.

Ask for help from the King of Kings. He is always listening. Waiting for you to remember.

You were never separate from Him, it's who you are. Just come back to the אין, the question before the answer, the unknown before the known. And there we begin

01/09/2024

Healing and the mind

The worst thing you can do to recover from illness is to dwell upon it. To ponder, "Perhaps I would be better off with this remedy or with that; perhaps I should read up on what happens to people with this sort of thing; perhaps my doctor doesn't know what he's talking about and I'm going to get worse instead of better; perhaps..."

Find a good, caring doctor, a doctor who is a friend, and follow his advice. Remove your mind from the illness and trust in the One Healer of all creatures, that He will send His healing energy through this doctor. Be confident you will be healed.

And then let your mind rest on good and healthy thoughts that have direction, purpose, and meaning.

By Tzvi Freeman

29/08/2024

A single rose only blooms for 6-8 weeks in a cycle. And by nature, only once a year.

Why do we expect more of ourselves?
..

I have long been fascinated by the cycles of the world. From the seasons, to women's cycles and just life cycles as a whole, nothing in this world continues going nonstop. What really boggles me is that we've created a system, culture, society that teaches us the opposite, and that this is normal. To go every day, all day, all year. One day, this cycle will break too...as it is simply unsustainable. And we will learn to dance with the rhythm once again.

When was the last time you rested? Or took action from a place of excitement, and not simply what was expected of you? Either from yourself or another.

When will we shift from a place of production/consumption to coming back to empty and seeing what really matters to us? Does it take a global pandemic? War? Or maybe just some radical individuals showing us this world is not just what the eye sees.

26/08/2024

be you. all of you

There is no one in this world who can tell you how to do it. The "right" way...or the "wrong." It's all just from where you're looking. And nobody is inside of you, except you. So trust yourself. Whether you follow this path, or that one...are part of a religion, business, work force, relationship. That something, or someone, only ever needed you to be you (not them).

Rav Kook says that only when we can all sing our own song will we hear the song of our nation, humanity, and all of creation. We're not waiting for redemption, it's waiting on us...to just be ourself.

22/08/2024

home isn't a place. Nor a destination
We're always here. If we just recognize
All that is now

15/08/2024

Get bored today. I dare you

12/08/2024

6 Av - sharing now because it was shabbos (aka give yourself grace for imperfection)

This teaching is a diamond (like you).
All spiritual work is rooted in learning how to want be a giver (through transcending our desire to receive).

I mean, if you (like me) have been on any journey of growth and done 100+ different things to better yourself, this simplifies everything. Any work we do is rooted in learning how to desire to give (to G-d, or other). aka 'loving your fellow as yourself.'

10/08/2024

5 Av - Arizal yartzeit - ואהבת לרעך כמוך

This is little me. Beginning in Israel. I went to the Arizal's kever quite often. What did I learn? We are already free. How? We're already loved. What does he have on his gravestone? "LOVE YOUR FELLOW AS YOURSELF." How does the tehillat Ari begin? ואהבת לרעך כמוך We can only ascend in prayer when we are as One. I can only go up when everyone is with me; on my mind and in my heart. My neighbors growth is my growth. My friends' success and blessing is mine own. We only see gan eden when we're in this together.

I was in a very different place, then. But the love Hashem has for me has not changed. Observant or not, dressing a certain way or not, learning Torah or not. We are always seen for who we tuly are by the tzadikkim...by G-d Himself. So what would it take to see each other in this light? Ourselves? Jews and people's of all backgrounds, dress, act, observance, religion, etc. come to the Ari. All are welcome, all are wonderful. The Ari had the eyes to see we are all precious in the Creator's 'eyes'. And we feel it when we go to any tzadik. How do we begin to be this for each other?

A love unbounded.

14/07/2024

A lot has changed in a not so long amount of time.

I got married, moved across the country, and am living in a dream I once had, with the soul that was standing right next to me.

I want to make very clear, nothing is perfect. There are challenges, things to work through, blahhbidy blah. Life continues on

But

If I can share one thought in this hour it is this:

Whatever your dream is, it is real.

Maybe it's still just inside of you, waiting, brewing, soaking to sprout. A relationship, children, purposeful work, finding peace within, mastering a craft.
1 year of waiting, 5, 10? Maybe it seems completely out of your hands, near impossible. Maybe everyone and everything, even your own thoughts, tell you it ain't gonna happen. Maybe the yearning is almost unbearable.
Whatever it is, don't ever give it up.

In the higher worlds, beyond this flesh, we don't have to believe in G-d. It's all so revealed. Effortless

If you only came into this world to believe in yourself, why not give everything up for it? For the Light inside you waiting to pour out?

How, what, who, when, why...all up to G-d. All that's up to you is to believe. To believe beyond your understanding and feeling. To just keep giving. And once we live here, it doesn't matter anymore if the dream even comes down or not.

How could we question the One who created us and gave us these dreams to begin with?

And then, one day, we get to walk our dream in this lowest world. From the heavens above when it was just a first thought, to infinitude steps leading you where you are today. Likely different from your own image, but even better than you could have asked for.

Whether you've gotten there, or have not yet...( says best "there is no THERE")...you get to be here. In this step.

Quite literally bridging heaven and earth.

The first step is always to believe.
And every step thereafter includes step #1.

p.s. Even if you're in a concealed part of the story, just know you're in a good came of peek-a-boo. You can then look up and say "I see you G-d!!!! I know You're behind Your hands. Come play with me."
-David shmuel

and He does.

09/01/2024

Creed

by Shaul Tchernichovsky

Laugh, laugh at all my dreams!
What I dream shall yet come true!
Laugh at my belief in man,
At my belief in you.

Freedom still my soul demands,
Unbartered for a calf of gold.
For still I do believe in man,
And in his spirit, strong and bold.

And in the future I still believe
Though it be distant, come it will
When nations shall each other bless,
And peace at last the earth shall fill.