Lazer Brody's Blog, page 345

High tech, low ethics

With layoffs, recession, and economic slowdown, high tech companies are thinning their work force. Who gets the ax? The top brass wants to let others do the dirty work, so they've revitalized the nasty "360 Evaluation."

Have you ever heard of the "360 Evaluation"? It's a dog-eat-dog system used by leading high-tech companies whereby everybody rates everybody - superiors their subordinates, subordinates their superiors, and workers their coworkers. The outcome is a free-for-all of slander, revenge, and intrigue.

One of the senior design engineers of a leading Israeli high-tech firm was faced with a mandatory "360", where he was required to relinquish information about his subordinates, superiors, and peers - this was something that the KGB would be proud of. He couldn't sleep for a week, until he called me and asked me what to do. I told him to give only factual and positive information, and to steer clear of anything that could be detrimental to another person's reputation or livelihood in the slightest way.

The Chofetz Chaim writes that one is better advised to forfeit all his or her worldly possessions, rather than utter one word of slander against another person.

The Bolshevik-like system of the "360 Evaluation" is both immoral and a negation of Jewish law. The juxtaposition of high tech and low ethics is just another symptom of a decadent society. Some might say, "back to the drawing board"; better yet, back to the Gemara. High-tech has a lot to learn from Chovot Halevavot and Mesillat Yesharim.

Unconditional Love

This week's emuna lesson is Unconditional Love (50 Minutes).

This week's Torah portion mini-lesson is Beshalach (6 minutes).

For our upcoming USA-Canada-Mexico trip details, see the Beams Bulletins updated ticker-tape on the upper right-hand toolbar of this site. We look forward to seeing you.

Have a great Shabbat!

An Encounter with Jonathan Livingston Seagull

This Shabbat is Shabbat Shira, Parshat Beshalach; an old Chassidic custom is to honor the birds.

I was about two hours north up the Pacific coast from Los Angeles. Having found a beautiful cliff with a breathtaking overlook of the Pacific, I asked my driver to pull over and to give me at least an hour. What a magnificent spot for Hitbodedut...

Hitbodedut means solitary personal prayer. But, I wasn't alone for long. A very handsome gull with much finer flying finesse than I've seen from other seagulls glided effortlessly toward me and landed on the edge of the cliff about 5 feet in front of me. He looked at me with probing eyes, then said in perfect Hebrew, "Shalom Aleichem!"

"You're a Breslever, aren't you?" he asked, before I had a chance to snap back from my gaping amazement. "So am I," he said, not waiting for an answer. "I'm especially fond of Rebbe Natan's discourses on hitchazkut, spiritual strengthening."

"But your species are halachically impure," I remarked.

"True," he acknowledged. "But I am no normal seagull; I refuse to barbarically rip away at my fellow bird to fight for a fish. I have overcome the lust for bodily appetites. Besides, Rebbe Nachman says that there is no despair in the world. I may have been born impure, but I can uplift myself. My whole life centers around solitary flight and communing with The Almighty."

"I've never met a bird on such a lofty spiritual level. Do you have a name?" I asked.

"It's obvious that you're a foreigner," the gull said. "Everyone here knows me - I'm Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

I was stunned once more. "I thought you died at sea."

"I almost did. Really, there was no way out. The Almighty shined a ray of hope on me and I mustered up the strength to keep on going. Sound familiar, Rabbi Lazer?"

"How do you know who I am? And how do you know that my story is so familiar to yours?"

"Rabbi, how did you get through Rabbinical Seminary? Don't you know that King Solomon said (Ecclesiates 10:20), 'The bird of the sky shall carry the voice?' We seagulls know everything that's going on."

Jonathan then took off, singing "Dear Father," his song to Hashem. It was really moving. I want to share with you the poignant moment when Jonathan overcame despair and decided to keep on living and flying at all costs (see film clip, below).

Dear brother and sister, there's a little bit of Jonathan Livingston Seagull within all of us. No matter if we're down and bleeding, we can call out to "Dear Father" and He'll pick us up. You can soar skywards too. Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Deborah's Song

This coming Shabbat is "Beshalach", also known as "Shabbat Shira", the Sabbath of Song, since the Torah portion tells how Moses and the Children of Israel sang to Hashem after having been miraculously saved from the Egyptians at the Red Sea. The "Haftorah," or weekly Prophetic reading, also talks about song, particularly the Song of Deborah the Prophetess (see Judges, Chapter 5), after Israel miraculously defeated formidable invading enemies.

A few years ago at this time, I made a special trip to Tel Kadesh in the Upper Galilee some 350 meters from the Lebanon border to pray by Deborah's gravesite. Several miracles happened shortly thereafter:

1) Our neighbor's daughter inlaw, named Deborah, still had no children after several years of marriage. 10 months after I prayed for her at Deborah's gravesite, she gave birth to a healthy son.

2) Rebbetzen NB here in Ashdod had a history of miscarriages and very difficult child-bearing. When I arrived at Deborah's gravesite, Rebbetzen NB was again in the hospital, this time in labor for 14 hours. She was in danger and so was the unborn baby. The doctor's were preparing for an emergency Caesarian - before they had the chance, Rebbetzen NB suddenly gave a quick an unexpected natural birth to a baby daughter. At first, the doctors thought that there was damage to the baby's lungs. Shortly afterward, that proved wrong too. Today, this healthy baby girl is named Deborah.

3) Itai the son of Deborah, hit by a car the week before, came out of a coma.

That wasn't all...

Spiritual Gravity

Just as there are laws of physics in the material world, there are "metaphysical" laws in the spiritual world. In order to get through life peacefully, we have to learn these laws. So, today we'll learn about Spiritual Gravity, what lifts us up and what pulls us down.

Parashat Ha'Man - Story of the Manna

Today is Tuesday of the week we read the Torah portion of Beshalach. Our sages tell us that reading the episode of the manna today - Parashat Ha'Man, which appears in this week's Torah portion - twice in Hebrew and once in Aramaic, is very conducive for one's good income the entire year. Don't miss this special opportunity to bring down more Heaven-sent bread to your doorstep.

If you can't read Hebrew, read Exodus 16:4-36 in your English bible - that's Parashat Ha'Man.

To learn more about Parashat Ha'man and making a pleasurable income, check out Rabbi Shalom Arush's superb article, Pack Mule.

A Song in Your Heart

One of the most moving experiences I ever had was as a soldier on an army bus, being transported from my home base somewhere in the center of Israel to the northern front where hostilities were erupting. We were on the way to dangerous mission, much more perilous than we realized at the time. There were about thirty of us on the bus, each with full gear and ready to go.

We were nervous to say the least. I hadn't smoked a cigarette for seven years, but my buddy sitting next to me put a Marlboro in my hand, so I too lit up. The pack of cigarettes made its way around the bus, and soon, almost everyone was blowing smoke rings in the air. We looked at each other and wondered which of us would come home on a stretcher or in a body bag. Such are the thoughts of combat soldiers, shaped from painful prior experiences.

No one said a word. No one dared intrude in the intimacy of a comrade's contemplations. Well, the cigarette didn't help much and the closer we got to our embarkation point on the Lebanon border, the more the knot in my abdomen – and in everyone else's – tightened.

The silence was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. The tension was ever so tangible. All of a sudden, one of my comrades - a wonderful young man from a national religious background - started singing a tune of hope and encouragement, sung to the famous words of Rebbe Nachman of Breslev:

Kol haolam kulo, gesher tzar me'od; veha'ikar, lo lefached klal... Continue reading A Song in Your Heart in this week's amazing issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.

My beloved Rabbi and teacher Rav Shalom Arush is a phenomenal spiritual guide; use his advice to retaliate against the Evil Inclination in Evening the Score.

Psychotherapist Zev Ballen writes about the Emotional Terrorist.

Rivka Levy shares the Reflections of an Uman Wife and Racheli Reckles has a lively talk about mikva in Archaic or Romantic?

Dr. Shoshana Kesner discusses Natural Childbirth. We can raise those babies in a better world if we read Dovber Halevi's Emuna Strategy for Peace.

Blankenase is part 14 of Solomon's Trains, by Yaakov Bar Nahman. Duel with the Shadows is part 49 of Warriors of Transcendence.

This week's Torah portion is Beshalach.

Don't miss our two newest CDs, Eyes of Holiness , something every man needs. If you have an unmarried daughter, age 12 and up, The King's Daughter can literally save her life.

Have a great week!

3-Minute Meditative Cure

The Coolest Thing in Town

If your kids don't think Yiddishkeit is cool, ask them who invented the surfboard or hand-to-hand combat...

The Prayers of a Best Friend

Dear Rabbi Lazer,
I don't know if tears on a keyboard can cause a short circuit or not, but my fingers are slipping because the keys are all wet. A couple of minutes ago, I was informed that my best friend died of cancer in the brain. In between sobs, I'm typing this letter to you, because I need some consolation. For six straight weeks I've been begging G-d to save my friend, doubling up on my davening (praying) and saying Tehillim (Psalms) every day. I feel like Hashem doesn't care about me or my prayers. What's the use of pouring our heart out if in the end our prayers don't get answered? Please understand me - I don't mean to be disrespectful to G-d, I just want to understand. I'm glad you're available for people like me. Yours gratefully, Joanie from Australia

Dear Joanie,

May The Almighty comfort you at this tragic time of your untimely loss. Losing a close friend is even more difficult than losing a pound of flesh, since the souls of true friends are intertwined in a spiritual bond.

You can be comforted with the knowledge that not a single syllable of your prayers and Psalms has gone to waste. In a way, we're like little children - when G-d doesn't grant us what we want, we cry. I promise you, though, that Hashem always does for the best. The fact that we don't understand, doesn't alter the fact.

Here're a few important things to know about prayers one says in behalf of others:

Point one: Prayers often act to reduce a sick person's suffering in some manner.
Point two: Prayers have the ability to extend a sick person's life by a few months, weeks, days or even a few hours. Halacha forbids hastening a death in any way, since each moment of life is more precious than the Hope Diamond. Your prayers more than likely added some extra time units to your friend's life. For this, you can be joyous, because your deceased friend - may Hashem grant him/her eternal peace - will now be a "melitz" (mediator) on your behalf in the Heavenly Court. Anytime an accusing angel asks for a stiff verdict against you, your friend's soul will jump up in protest. You couldn't buy such a defense attorney for all the tea in China.
Point three: Even if the prayers effected no change in your friend's condition, they still are a source of merit for him/her, since prayer arouses Heavenly compassion, and your prayers were said because of the price of suffering that your friend was paying. These merits will stand by your friend in the World to Come.
Point four: Prayers bring salvation to other individuals and to the community as a whole. When Moshiach comes, we'll learn how each prayer uttered by each individual invoked Divine compassion and brought blessings to the world.

Now is your time for mourning, and again, may you be consoled among the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem. In the long haul, Joanie, you should rejoice. I can just imagine the joy that Hashem gets when he hears His daughter Joanie from the far-away continent of Australia calling out His name. By virtue of your continued prayers, Moshiach is a little closer. Continue talking to Hashem more than ever, and I'm sure that you'll be granted all your heart's wishes for the very best, b'ezrat Hashem. Yours always, Lazer