Lazer Brody's Blog, page 306

Rebbe Natan's Wisdom

Here is the video of our most recent emuna lecture, which was given last Wednesday on Rebbe Natan's yahrtzeit. Rebbe Natan was the master of hitchazkut, strengthening oneself during challenging times. Enjoy, and have a wonderful week!

Blessing our Children

We bless our girls on Friday night that they should be like the matriarchs; yet, we bless the boys that they should be like Menashe and Ephraim. Why the difference?

Don't forget to bless your children when you come home from synagogue on Friday night. Wait and see how deeply it enhances your relationship with them. Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Important notices:

Parsha Sheet - You can now download the fantastic new Chut Shel Chessed/Breslev Israel weekly Torah portion sheet in English right here, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the sheet's editor Rav Yehoshua Goldstein and Breslev Israel's General Director Rav Yosef Nechama.

Judean Dream - Our exquisite new CD Land-of-Israel Music Collection Judean Dream will be released G-d willing in the nearest future.

Advice for Coping

Many people have been asking me how to cope with the latest wave of media-and-politician fueled incitement against the entire observant population here in Israel. Instead of answering, I sought the advice of a gadol, a spiritual leader of the highest stature, and here's what he writes:

Wednesday, Parashat Vayichi

"My son, be wise and realize that everything that happens to a person in the days of his short mortal lifespan is all for the very best; understand that Ecclesiastes was so right when he said everything is vanity. Our forefathers went through similar tribulations and much worse throughout the Diaspora, but it all serves as a test of our faith and a test of our free choice, whether we'll cling to Hashem in emuna and serve him happily or not. We must strengthen ourselves with emuna that even the outcome of this will be completely good, that it should bring us all to truth and closer to Hashem. My son, remember the Creator in times of trouble as well as in the good times, for everything is for the best and life is Heaven on earth when you understand that. Don't forget Who runs the world, and just grab as much Torah, mitzvoth, and hitbodedut as you can, particularly in these difficult days. I have so much more to tell you but time is limited..."

What great advice. Guess who wrote it: Rebbe Natan of Breslev, exactly 181 years ago to the day. How badly we need his advice!

Rebbe Natan, the prime disciple of Rebbe Nachman, is my hero and role model. He left this earth exactly 167 years ago on the 10th of Teveth, 5605 (1845). May his blessed and saintly memory intercede in our behalf, amen.

Weekly Emuna Live Broadcast

With Hashem's loving grace, our weekly emuna lesson and live broadcast will take place today (Wednesday) at 7:15 PM local time at our newly remodeled Chut Shel Chessed Yeshiva, 13 Shmuel Hanavi Street, Jerusalem, on the ground floor in the main sanctuary. Everyone is welcome, both men and women.

This week's lesson is entitled, "Rebbe Natan's Wisdom" and as always is open to the public - both men and women are welcome. You can see today's lesson live right here at 9:15 AM in LA and the West Coast, 10:15 AM Denver, 11:15 AM Mexico and Central, 12:15 PM EST, 5:15 PM in the UK, or 7:15 PM Israel time. As soon as we can, G-d willing, we'll post a link to the lesson for all those who couldn't see it live.

J'accuse

J'accuse - I accuse you, the irresponsible anti-religious anti-Zionist media of systematically sowing the seeds of hatred among the gullible people who daily ingest your venom, such as today's set of lies, which claims that Haredim don't serve in the army, don't work or pay taxes, and are funded by the government.

J'accuse - I accuse you, the irresponsible anti-religious anti-Zionist media of portraying all the Haredim like the few zealots who refer to fellow Jews as Nazis.

J'accuse - I accuse you, the irresponsible anti-religious anti-Zionist media, of spreading the type of sinat hinam, baseless hatred, that is an existential threat to our nation and to our people. 

J'accuse - I accuse you, the irresponsible self-serving opportunistic politicians, of trying to garner votes by portraying all Haredim as extremists and all the residents of Judea and Samaria as "price-tag" vandals.

J'accuse - I accuse you, the IDF, of misdirecting your energies, and rather than making the lives of our enemies miserable, you are deliberately making the lives of religious soldiers miserable by either forcing them to make compromises in their convictions or forcing them out of the army.

We shall combat this darkness with the light of emuna, truth, and a big smile on our faces. We solemnly commit to spreading unconditional love of every human being, and especially every Jew. We shall do our utmost to be a light unto the nations, and not a destructive source of darkness. More than anything, we need Rebbe Nachman's light in this generation.

Singing Soldiers

The intramural hate wars here in Israel and the media's/politician's/army's use of the age-old cheapest way to seek popularity is so ridiculous that it's beyond disgusting. I'd really be laughing if it weren't my people and my nation. Like the old Israeli joke says, the imbecile child would be amusing if he weren't my child...

You'd think that the Chief of Staff of the IDF would be preoccupied with Iran's imminent nuclear weapon, long range missile tests and Iranian war games in the Persian Gulf, unrest in Syria, Hezbulla's tens of thousands of missiles aimed at Israel, the tons of weapons from Libya and Egypt pouring into Gaza every day, El Qaida's virtual control over Sinai, the Egyptian border's breach that enables thousands of African illegals to enter Israel every week (a human time bomb in itself), the repeated blowing up of the Egypt-Israel gas line, the Moslem brotherhood's takeover in Egypt, just to name a few of our minor security challenges...

No, none of the above makes headlines in Israel or tops the Chief of Staff's list of priorities. According to our fearless leaders, the nation's security depends on G-d fearing soldiers being forced to sit through inane ceremonies while female soldiers sing. Major General Benny Gantz has solved all of the above security challenges, and now concentrates on the women-soldiers' singing as a daily obsession lately. 

Just to set the record straight, the Gemara (Kiddushin 70a, Berachot 24a, Yerushalmi Challa 12b) and Halacha (Chayei Adam, First Section, 4:6) calls the singing voice of a woman, erva, or something forbidden for a man to hear. The Torah warns that an army camp should be free of any erva, something impure or forbidden, lest the Divine Presence depart from our midst. King David was so careful about maintaining the purity of the Israelite military camp that if a soldier spoke between putting on his arm tefillin and head tefillin, he got kicked out of the army.

My suggestion to our soldiers is not to protest the army's silly ceremonies by walking out. Either sleep through the ceremony like everyone else does or read a book. Put a pair of artilleryman's earplugs in your ears - it's our responsibility to guard our eyes and ears. Meanwhile, just continue being the best soldiers in the army.

The media hasn't told people that the Nachal Charedi has outperformed the IDF's best units in infantry competitions, particularly sharpshooting.

It's not enough to be right. One must be smart as well. Being smart means not playing into the hands of those who are looking for legitimacy to fan the fires of hatred against Hashem's faithful. We must have pity on those who are so far away from emuna and the truth. Let's just smile back at them and win their hearts. Deep down, all of people are really special. Nobody ever made teshuva by having a rock thrown at him.

Rebbe Natan's Wisdom

The Tenth of Teveth is a very special date on the Hebrew calendar. Not only is it a public fast day, but it also marks the anniversary of Rebbe Natan's departure from the physical world. Thanks to Rebbe Natan, we have the rich legacy of Rebbe Nachman's teachings. In fact, Rebbe Nachman himself once said, "Were it not for Natan, there wouldn't be a single sheet of my teachings!"

Rebbe Natan personifies the lofty element of bitul larabo, one's total self-nullification to one's rabbi, teacher and spiritual guide. Even though Rebbe Natan had a prodigious IQ and a magnificent talent for learning Torah, as proven by his total mastery of Talmud and religious law by age 22, he cast aside his own logic and intellect in favor Rebbe Nachman's way of thinking. Rebbe Natan's total internalization of Rebbe Nachman's teachings enabled him not only to think like his beloved and exalted teacher, but to author an entire compendium of nuances, elaborations, and esoteric commentary on The Shulchan Aruch Code of Jewish Law, known as Likutei Halachot.

Each minute of Rebbe Natan's life was a priceless pearl that he guarded carefully. No wonder he accomplished so much in his lifetime of 65 years.

Alim LeTrufa (Healing Leaves, abridged English edition) is a collection of Rebbe Natan's letters, most of which he wrote to his son, Reb Yitzchak. These letters are a source of inspiration and encouragement that defies any price tag. No matter where you open the book, you can find practical advice to help you get through the day a little bit easier. Rebbe Natan, the understudy and prime disciple of one of Judaism's great doctors of the soul, always seems to have the right words to encourage us. He is the master of hitchazkut, the art of  spiritually and emotionally strengthening oneself against all odds.

As a loving memorial to Rebbe Natan, of saintly and blessed memory, here are a few morsels of his advice, ever so relevant to the challenges of contemporary times:

Continue reading Rebbe Natan's Wisdom on this week's online edition of Breslev Israel magazine.

Also featured this week:

Rabbi Shalom Arush: The Daily Reminder

Rabbi Pinchas Winston: Moshiach Ben Yosef

Zev Ballen: The Therapeutic Wasteland

Howard Morton: A Hollywood Refugee

Rivka Levy: Back to Basics

Dovber HaLevi: A Conversation with Hashem

Racheli Reckles: The Good Fight

Chaya Ovadia: The Chameleon

Gila David: Returning Citizen

Emuna Outreach and Lazer Beams want to reemphasize our vehement opposition to religious fanaticism and violation of human rights, be it sexual, racial, or any other discrimination. But, we also condemn the media's incitement against the religious population, and its vulgar attempts to dehumanize and deligitimize observant Jews. We'll have a lot more to say on this matter, either here on the Beams or on our weekly show at Israel National Radio. Have a good week! 

Emuna for Macs

Here's great news for Mac owners who had trouble viewing my weekly emuna lessons until now - you can now view WMA movie files on your Mac in one of the following ways:

1. Download Flip4Mac, an application that will enable you to view Windows-made movies on your Mac

2. Don't worry if you can't see the embedded lecture on the main post: go to the adjacent right hand toolbar and click on the name of the lesson you want to see (newest at the top of the list).

3. Another possibility is to download Parallels and to run Windows on your Mac, but that will cost about $80, depending on which version you download.

Hopefully, our very talented tech crew at Breslev Israel will soon develop a Video page application that's compatible with Macs too.

Life and Death

True vitality is a vibrant soul. Sometimes, the body is alive but the soul is vanquished - such an existence is tantamount to death. This week's emuna lesson shows what it really means to live.

And Now...

Joseph says, "And now..." - he comes to the sudden realization that everything Hashem did - all the trials and tribulations he endured - were all for the very best. Here's this week's mini-lesson on the Torah portion, Vayigash. Shabbat Shalom!