Lazer Brody's Blog, page 295

The Same One

Tonight (Thursday) at midnight marks the exact time when The Almighty split the Red Sea for the children of Israel. As such, the 7th day of Passover makes for a very inspiring day.

The same G-d who performed miracles 3324 years ago is still around today, performing miracles. Just because a miracle is subtle doesn't make it any less of a miracle. If you examine your own life carefully, you'll find endless miracles.

What's a bigger miracle than the human heart? Guess what - the same G-d that split the Red Sea is personally massaging your heart and mine this very second. No, He didn't create the world and then retire upstairs. He's still with us performing miracles, every second of the day. He's the same One that was at the Red Sea.

Aliya: Like Cleaning for Pesach

My cherished and esteemed friend Doctor Arie Keehn, who is also a key partner in spreading emuna, send us a wonderful thought:  He was walking home from synagogue at the termination of Passover with his friend, Jay Wolf. Jay had mentioned that this was the time of year that they hung up a sign in his house that says: "Dust is not Chamentz and the Husband is not the Korban Pesach" (Pascal lamb). Arie asked if he could explain why people were not stressed to put away their Pesach dishes etc. in one night, but are overwhelmed for at least one month prior to the holiday.

Jay then related the message he gives to our brothers outside of The Holy Land. He likens Aliya to cleaning for Pesach. Everyone stresses out for that month prior to the holiday, but even though we are tired, at the end we get to celebrate the holiday of our freedom. Even more so with Aliya. Aliya is stressful during the preparation process, but in the end, we get to celebrate our freedom in our homeland. Every year we prepare for Pesach, but you only need to make aliyah once.

PS - The best preparation in the world for Aliya is reinforcing your emuna. Time to come home...

Matzo Man

Important Pesach notice: Sadness and depression are the two worst forms of spiritual chometz. They have no place in our house or in our hearts! If you're feeling low, G-d forbid, go have a look at Matzo Man:

Makin' Matzas

Matzas must be baked within 18 minutes from the time water is added to the flour until the matzas are totally baked. The Melitzer Rebbe and his staff are some of the world's fastest bakers; their shmura matzas are kneaded and baked from start to finish in less than six minutes. Have a look here, and enjoy (filmed in Moshav Komemyut, in the south of Israel):

V'hi She'amda: The Eternal Promise

The Gemara (tractate Sanhedrin 97b) says that the Nation of Israel (aka the Jewish People) will be redeemed as soon as they make teshuva, in other words, return to Hashem and the ways of His Torah. The Gemara then asks, what happens if the Nation of Israel doesn't make teshuva? Rebbe Yehoshua answers that if Israel doesn't make teshuva, then Hashem places them under the influence of a wicked king whose evil decrees are as severe as Haman's, and then they make teshuva.

We cannot fathom The Almighty's love for us and His infinite mercy. Despite the fact that we haven't made Teshuva from Love, which is what we need to do in order to be redeemed, and despite the fact that our own misdeeds put us under the boot of each generation's wicked kings, Hashem has made an eternal promise to deliver us from their hands. That's the V'hi She'amda prayer that we recite each year in the Haggada.

Let me share with you something additional about Hashem's love for His people: The Heavenly Altar and Throne is known as Upper Jerusalem; it is situated directly above Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is known in the Zohar, Midrash, and Gemara as Lower Jerusalem. Hashem refuses to dwell in Upper Jerusalem until His permanent dwelling on earth - the Holy Temple - will be rebuilt in Lower Jerusalem (see Gemara tractate Taanit 5a, Midrash Tehillim 122, Vilna Gaon's elaboration of Zohar, Safra DeTzniuta, ist Chapter). The entire world and certain evil leaders are denying our right to the area of our own Holy Temple. Once again, we have no cause to be angry at them, for as soon as we make real teshuva, they will crumble. But, until we make teshuva, those evil leaders should be forewarned that by disenfranchising Israel from what they call East Jerusalem, they are in effect trying to disenfranchise The Almighty. Cherished brothers and sisters, that won't happen, period.

Hashem has no gratification by forcing us to make teshuva. When we strengthen our emuna and seek Hashem on our own accord, we sanctify His Holy Name. Let's wake up, beloved brothers and sisters. It's either nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles or emuna books and CDs; the choice is ours.

V'hi She'amda is a Passover song whose words come from the Haggada. It conveys a very timely message for the Jewish people: He who stood by our forefathers stands by us to deliver us from the hands of our enemies in every generation.

One of Jewish music's favorite sons, Yonatan Razael, wrote a beautiful melody for this song, which he sings here with the king of Jewish singers, my very special friend Yaacov Shweikey. You'll get shivers up your spine and tears in your eyes listening to them. We're sure you'll enjoy this musical treat as much as we do. G-d willing, we'll be singing this same melody on the Brody seder table this coming Monday night. Meanwhile, have a wonderful Seder Night, Shabbat, and Pesach!

Family Album

Maybe the reason kids nowadays don't respect their parents is because they learn in school that their great grandparents were orangutans.

Tomorrow - Friday night - is Passover Seder night. Seder night is a family affair when children, parents, grandparents and great grandparents get together to refresh our awareness that we are descended from holy ancestors whom Hashem delivered from bondage in Egypt. The more we go back in time, the closer we get to our monumentally holy great grandparents. That's why we have so much regard for previous generations. Have a look:

Spiritually Preparing for Passover: Avoiding Slavery

We hope everybody is making final preparations for Passover with big smiles on their faces. We must also prepare ourselves for true liberation - freedom of the soul.

The minute one loses one's personal sense of worth and a positive self image, he or she becomes a slave.

Lack of self-respect, self-deprecation, and ignorance of one's own marvelous qualities and heritage are tickets to the slave train. Shame or embarrassment about one's ethnic or religious background is tantamount to carrying around an iron shackle with a 50-lb. ball and chain.

These feelings of inferiority are an invitation to let society dictate how you should live your life. People who feel inferior are weak; it's easy to exploit a person with no backbone. Controlled and exploited people are the most miserable creatures on the face of the earth.

For a Jew, one of the most important Passover preparation - after getting rid of the chometz - is learning who we are and why we're celebrating. Modern society often discourages us from learning about our wonderful background, our G-d, and what emuna - the full and simple faith in Him - can do for us in every level of life, be it emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and even physical.

Emuna helps you feel good about yourself.  As soon as you begin feeling good about yourself, you become free. Every human has an inherent right to freedom; that's the universal message of the Passover holiday. Happy Passover preparations!

In the Studio

The Finest Fabric

Do you recognize quality when you see it? Many people don't.

The Melitzer Rebbe shlit'a told me a beautiful parable about the things with true lasting value in life:

There was once a young fabric merchant making his first transactions. He heard about the tremendous trade fair in the city of Leipzig, so he decided to attend in hopes of buying top fabric at low prices, which he'd ultimately sell for a handsome profit in the small villages.

The young merchant decided to first make the rounds among the dozens of fabrics wholesalers who wereexhibiting their wares at the fair, to become acquainted with the many types and prices before he'd make his purchases. He went from table to table and booth to booth, looking at rolls of every type of fabric imaginable. Finally, a booth with rolls of shiny chartreuse satin caught his eye. It looked gorgeous; the fabric shimmered in the sunlight. It resembled sunbeams shining through sheaves of wheat flowing in the wind. He never saw such a beautiful fabric. This would surely make a stunning evening gown fit for a queen. The price seemed more than reasonable too. The young merchant jotted down the name of the wholesaler, the type of fabric and the price, and made a mental note to return after he made his initial visits to all the different fabrics exhibits.

The last booth that the young merchant visited seemed to be shabby at best. The wholesaler was an old man wearing a tattered gray suit, not near as impressive as the Italian wholesaler who sold the fancy satin fabric. Yet, what caught the young merchant's eye was the price tag on a roll of a plain, monotonously-colored cotton fabric; it was triple the price of the fancy chartreuse satin fabric, and not near as pretty!

"What's going on here?" the young merchant asked the elderly wholesaler. "This fabric isn't nearly as attractive as the gorgeous satin fabrics I've seen, yet it's triple the price! How can that be?"

Continue reading The Finest Fabric in this week's issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.

See our Passover Section for dozens of articles to help you prepare for Passover and the Seder Night.

Also featured this week:

Rabbi Shalom Arush: Stuck in the Mud

Rabbi Dovid Charlop: Doing What We're Told

Rebbetzen Chana Bracha Siegelbaum: Healthy Eating for Passover

Dr. Zev Ballen: Don't Worry, Father

Rivka Levy: What Stays Behind

Breslev Israel Staff: The Seder Overview

Yael Karni: A Tale of Two Friends

Bright Beams blessings for a wonderful week with easy & happy Pesach preparations!

Setbacks

A setback in life is really beneficial, as long as a person doesn't lose heart from it. If a setback stimulates a new beginning and a better second effort, it's wonderful! Rebbe Nachman cites Jonah's cry from deep inside the belly of the whale (see Rebbe Nachman's Discourses, 302) as the type of prayer we should all strive for. Only the earnest cries of a broken heart can pierce all barriers, and uplift the world from the depths of impurity

Rather than losing heart from the setback, one needs to arouse oneself and earnestly seek to reveal the concealed emuna, which makes the person – and the world – much more beautiful than if the emuna were never concealed at all. A setback and its subsequent yearning and renewed effort bring out the best in a person. Life's extreme difficulties reveal such lofty traits as valor and dedication, which make a person and the world so much more beautiful.  

This Shabbat is Shabbat HaGadol - "The Great Shabbat". It is especially conducive for turning a setback - like all the painful events of recent weeks - into a marvelous triumph. All we have to do is to believe that Hashem loves us and to do our very best to get closer to Him. Shabbat Shalom!