Lazer Brody's Blog, page 316
October 6, 2011
Kol Nidrei: Moroccan Version
Everyone knows the Ashkenazi version of Kol Nidrei, the holy prayer of annulling vows which ushers in Yom Kippur. Few have tasted the beauty of Moroccan Jewish prayers; we're therefore delighted to share with you the Moroccan version of Kol Nidrei.
The contention between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews is both despicable and ridiculous. We are all beloved brothers. My own family, 15 generations ago, came from Spain and was expelled during the Spanish Inquisition of 1492. Back in Toledo, Spain, our last name was "Barda". Our ancestors fled east to Poland and the Ukraine; our cousins fled south to Morocco. As such, the Moroccan Barda family is actually our 15th cousins. I pray for the day when we'll all love each other like true brothers. Yom Kippur Eve is a good day to start. Gmar Chatima Tova!
October 5, 2011
Ten Tips for an Easy Yom Kippur Fast
1. Cut down your caffeine intake to minimize headaches. That means stop drinking coffee, tea, and cola at least eight hours before the fast, and preferably twenty-four hours before the fast.
2. Avoid salty, spicey, and fried foods on the day before the fast.
3. Avoid white sugar, white flour, and white rice. Eat whole-grained foods such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread or challa.
4. Drink a lot of water all day long.
5. Eat a good breakfast that includes fruits, veggies, eggs or sardines, and whole grains.
6. The pre-Yom Kippur meal (se'uda mafseket) should include baked or broiled fish, a veggy salad, consomme, a small portion of chicken or turkey, and a side dish of complex carbohydrates. Substitute sweet deserts with watermelon or other water-retaining fresh fruit, and a cup of herb tea with a whole-grain cookie.
On Yom Kippur:
7. The more you immerse yourself in prayer, the less you'll think about food.
8. Rest between prayers. Don't run around outside, especially in the hot sun. Save your voice for prayers. Idle talking will make you thirstier, and will detract from the holiness of the day.
After the fast:
9. Drink two glasses of water, and then eat solids gradually, so as not to shock the digestive system. Begin with fruit, like plums or grapes. The worst thing people do is to consume pastries and soft drinks, or "lekach un bronfan" (cake and liquor) right after the fast (these are unhealthy anytime, all the more so right after the fast when they give your body a shock of glucose).
10. Forty-five minutes to an hour afterwards, one can eat a balanced meal with protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables. After eating, relax for an hour with your favorite book (preferably Gemara of the laws of Succoth from Shulchan Oruch) and your favorite beverage, then begin constructing your Succa.
Attention diabetics, heart patients, folks with high blood pressure, and people whose health depends on regular medication - you must be especially careful to ask your doctor if you are capable of fasting, and then consult with your local rabbi, giving him the doctor's exact opinion. For many such people, it is a mitzva not to fast on Yom Kippur.
The Israel Cancer Association recommends that cancer patients not fast without approval from their physicians. Fasting could cause considerable discomfort in cancer patients, who need a lot of liquids to alleviate side effects of chemotherapy. Again, first consult the doctor and then the rabbi. Give the rabbi all the details that you received from the doctor.
This past Tisha B'Av, I policed my synagogue looking for sick people who were fasting without authorization. It's no mitzva to get yourself rushed in an ambulance to the emergency ward because you were fasting without authorization.
Don't let children (boys under the age of 12 or girls under the age of 11) be overzealous. Make sure they eat on time.
With G-d's blessing and the above guidelines, you'll have an easy fast. May all of us be signed and sealed in the Book of Long and Happy Lives, amen.
October 4, 2011
Love Day
The Talmud makes an apparently surprising statement when it says (tractate Taanit, 26b), "There were never such wonderful days for Israel as the 15th of Av (Tu B'Av) and Yom Kippur." The 15th of Av is nicknamed "Love Day" in Israel, for it's the day when matches were traditionally made, as described in the above-cited Gemora. Several questions arise: First, what does Yom Kippur have to do with "Love Day"? Second, many people dread the fast and the ax of judgment hovering over their necks on Yom Kippur, so why would it be described as one of the two most wonderful days for Israel?
Our Talmudic sages reveal their divinely-instilled wisdom by juxtaposing Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is also a "love day", when Hashem demonstrates his limitless love for His chosen people. For the mere price of a 25-hour fast and saying we're sorry, Hashem forgives us of all of our wrongdoings against Him. Important - Yom Kippur does not atone for the sins of man against fellow man!!
Imagine that your national government declared a retroactive annual moratorium on all tax violations and unpaid debts once a year, as long as you appear in federal court, apologize in public, and fast for the day. What a deal! A wild dream? In Judaism, it's a reality. When we fast, beg Hashem's forgiveness, and promise to try our best this coming year, Hashem wipes our debt slates clean! A wonderful day, or not?
Gmar Chatima Tova!
October 3, 2011
Machnisei Rachamim: May the Angels of Mercy Intercede...
Oftentimes, a niggun can soften a heart of stone when thousands of sermons make no dent. Here is Avraham Fried singing Machnisei Rachamim, form the end of our Selichot prayers, when we ask the angels of mercy to intercede in our behalf and help present our supplications before Hashem.
For those of you who have been asking, you don't have to do the Kapparot ritual with a live chicken; you may use an envelope with tzedakka money instead, immediately thereafter giving the envelope to a needy family or other worthy cause. Gmar chatima tova!
October 2, 2011
It's Still a Jail...
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches us that a person is where his or her thoughts are. When I used to be the spiritual rehab director of an Israeli prison, I would encourage the inmates and tell them that concrete, iron bars, and barbed wire can jail a body, but they can't jail a soul. When you think about Hashem or when you talk to Him, your soul is free. Since your soul is the real you, you are free too. On the other hand, if you're driving a new Mercedes, but your thoughts center around peer pressure, car payments, money, career, and keeping up with the Jones's, you're worse-off than an prisoner with a ball and chain. Any melancholy canary will tell you that a gold-plated cage is still a cage.
The Ten Days of Repentance - the period between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur - is a wonderful time to rethink our priorities. We often discover that we're incarcerated in an unlocked cell of lust and bodily appetites. With teshuva and a resolve to do better, we can walk right out of that jail. Gmar chatima Tova!
October 1, 2011
Spiritual Hygiene
The Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch) is like an iceberg: The statutes that teach proper conduct in every facet of our lives are only a mere manifestation of deep spiritual causes and effects that transcend time, place, and matter. What you see is only a tiny portion of the spiritual benefits you get.
During the period between Rosh Hashana and Yom kippur - what we call the "Ten Days of Repentance" - we can do wonders in mitigating harsh judgments. This is a propitious time for prayer and self-improvement. The Melitzer Rebbe shlit'a told me that all Hashem expects of us is that we're a tiny bit better than we were yesterday.
If up until now, you weren't careful about washing your hands first thing in the morning, here's a great chance to perform an easy mitzva that could save your life, literally.
Jewish law dictates that you should wash your hands as soon as you wake up in the morning, pouring water three times alternately on each hand from a large cup, a minimum of approx. 150ml on each hand. The apparent reason for the hand washing is that one inadvertantly touches or scratches unclean parts of the body at night, and before saying G-d's name, the hands must be clean. Yet spiritually, the explanation is much deeper, as follows in a nutshell:
When you sleep at night, your soul leaves the body and enters upper spiritual realms. A body without a soul is tantamount to dead, even if the basic life forces continue functioning. When the soul leaves the body, as in the case of a dead person, the body is rendered ritually impure. Evil forces of the "Sitra Achra", or the dark side, easily control a person who is spiritually and ritually impure. That's why many people - especially Chassidim - put a pail with a large plastic or tin cup that holds a liter of water immediately beside their bed, so they can wash their hands even before taking their first step of the day, thus cleansing themselves from ritual impurity at their very first opportunity of the day. Why the hands? Spiritual impurity is especially concentrated in the fingertips, the point where the soul leaves the body.
One who harbors ritual impurity has difficulty believing in G-d or understanding the Torah, since ritual impurity acts as a barrier against Divine Illumination, thus preventing Divine light from reaching the soul. Only Divine light can nourish the soul. Therefore, an undernourished soul is easily vanquished by the animal urges of the body. The minute the body reigns, the person becomes a slave to base inclinations, and that's bad news, both in this world and in the next. You can study Kabbala day and night, but if you don't wash your hands in the morning, you're spiritually in the mud.
If you don't do so already, start washing your hands every morning, and within a week, you'll feel a marked change within yourself - LazerBeam guaranteed.
September 27, 2011
September 26, 2011
No Double Jeopardy
On Rosh Hashana, all of creation passes before Hashem, the supreme and sole Monarch of the Universe, who personally sits in judgment in the awesome trial that determines our fate for the coming year.
The Talmud also teaches that a Heavenly court judges the world in general and each person in particular, every single day. All court decisions must receive the final approval of The Almighty, who is much more merciful and compassionate than the court is. Frequently, G-d delays the implementation of an unfavorable decision against a person, to give that person an opportunity for self-evaluation.
When a person mends his or her ways, G-d cancels the verdict altogether. Double jeopardy is illegal in the Heavenly court. Therefore, when a person admits guilt after self-evaluation, he or she has in effect conducted his or her own mental courtroom. The heavenly court is no longer allowed to try the case. If the court has already tried the person, but has not yet activated the sentence, then the sentence is nullified.
If a person makes no change in the behavior that led to a guilty verdict, then the spiritual sentencing manifests itself in some type of affliction in this world. The resulting suffering from a person's own deeds is therefore self-induced.
Don't wait until until the fateful trial of Rosh Hashana - judge yourself before the Heavenly court judges you! The minute a person begins to evaluate him/herself, G-d sends an urgent message that forbids the Heavenly court from passing judgment on the self-evaluator. Again, The Almighty prohibits double jeopardy. When a person judges him/herself truthfully, the Heavenly court is not allowed to touch the case.
Once a person decides to improve in some way, two things happen: One, The Almighty grants the person's decision the validity of a Heavenly court decision. Two, all punishment is cancelled. As soon as a person decides to improve - even if the decision hasn't been fully implemented - G-d no longer needs to use punitive stimuli to stimulate that person's improvement. Also, The Almighty takes keen interest in a person's self-evaluation, and always listens when a person judges him/herself.
During the month of Elul, even the last day before Rosh Hashana, Hashem is very lenient and forgiving. The Lubavitcher Rebbe of blessed and saintly memory used to say that in Elul, Hashem resembles a king who visits his subjects in their villages; out in the field, anyone can approach the King. But, in Tishrei - from Rosh Hashana until the end of the judgment days on Shmini Atzeres, Hashem resembles a King on His throne; it's not so simple to visit the King in His palace when He sits on His throne. Also, on Rosh Hashana, Hashem judges all of creation, and the trial is much more serious.
Don't wait for the fateful trial on Rosh Hashana. Now's the time to judge yourself, taking stock of the things you want to avoid doing in the future and identifying those areas in your observance of Hashem's commandments where you'd like to improve. You'll be doing yourself the favor of your life.
In an earthly court with human judges, when an accused person pleads guilty, he or she gets the book thrown at them. In the Heavenly court, the opposite is true - when one confesses and pleads guilty, yet sincerely asks for forgiveness, one is not only pardoned, but granted a joyous and sweet New Year!
September 25, 2011
The Coronation
This is the video from our recent emuna lesson, which is a vital preparation for Rosh Hashana:
Don't Ignore the Dent
11 Sep., 2011
Dear Rabbi Brody,
I enjoy your teachings, especially the effect that The Trail to Tranquility has had on my husband, who is much calmer and nicer since he read your book. So, this is the first time I am writing to you for personal help.
Lately, I've been accident prone. I have a one year-old Toyota, and lately I seem to be making little mistakes all the time - parking the car in the rain and dark, and bumping the rear of the car into a pole; rushing while driving my children to music lessons, and the tire hit the curb and the tire cover popped off; pulling out into traffic, and I lightly grazed a fence and now have a streak on the side of the car.
None of these incidents involved harming myself, anyone else, or anyone else's car (thank G-d!), they are purely incidents of damage that I have done - completely inadvertently, but clearly, something is going on! I was actually distressed by how nice my husband has been - I thought he should yell at me and tell me to be more careful, slow down, why aren't you taking better care of our car? But he has been downright kind!
I've prayed for help in understanding what these small, but clearly repetitive, mistakes mean, but I haven't received any answers. In your opinion, what should I do?
In general, B"H, I am modern Orthodox, 38 years old, married happily for 15 years to a better-than-ever husband, we have 4 beautiful daughters, and we are blessed with an adequate income. I am grateful for all of these blessings, and in general, I am a happy person. This is the one area I need help with. With appreciation for your advice and help, Ricki, Midwest USA
* * * * *
B"H, 12 Sep., 2011
Dear Ricki,
These are personal Elul-type wake-up calls from Hashem to catch your attention. The dents in the car (blemishes in the machine's outer appearance) indicate that you have things to fix in your outer appearance. Without knowing you personally, I'd say that the repeated mishaps are probably a call to improve your modesty in dress and head covering. Blessings always, LB
* * * * *
23 Sep., 2011
Dear Rabbi Brody,
I want to thank you for your note from September 12th. You had no way of knowing this, but I hadn't been covering my hair at all. After I received your note, it all fell into place: I decided it was time to buy some head-coverings.
The next day when I drove home from work with my head covered for the first time, I had a co-worker with me. As soon as I entered the highway, she said, "Slow down! The speed limit on this road it 50, not 60, and you might get a ticket." I felt Hashem's love and protection being channelled through my friend, and I immediately relaxed and drove more slowly. Thank G-d, I haven't had any incidents with the car since.
So thank you very much for your advice. It helped me a great deal. Most sincerely, Ricki
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