Might As Well Do It
Why do they hate us so? Many reasons have been given, but after all the discussions, it boils down to the fact that we are G-d's People and they just have a hard time with that. Own it friend!
What does it mean to be G-d's People?
Hashem gave us the Torah (please celebrate this anniversary with us) and in it are the instructions how to be G-d's People.
Some of these instructions are about religious things, like Shabbat, Kosher and blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah. But the real stuff is in this week's Torah portion.
The portion is called Kedoshim. G-d asks us to be holy like He is holy. Being holy is about the small things. Things like; how we eat, how we talk and how we treat each other.
In all of our most mundane activities, the actions that are done by all of humankind, we have the opportunity to uncover the G-dliness that is in it and to connect to Hashem and become holy through them.
We can help those that wish to hate us, but we can at least own it. Let's live as proud Jews in all that we do.
Good Shabbos!
With all my love,
Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman
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These are dark days. I'm not referring to the state of the world. We definitely live in a challenging world, but I choose to look at the bright side of things.
I'm referring to the season of the Jewish calendar in which we now find ourselves.
Life is hectic. Information comes at us faster than we can possibly process it. Podcasts to listen to. Books to read. Emails to answer. School forms. Family responsibilities. Date nights. Work. Errands. The list never seems to end.
So what is really important?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that for the first time since the days of King Solomon, Jews truly have it good. We have much to be grateful for, especially for the freedoms and opportunities this country has provided.
Gratitude is one of Judaism's most fundamental values. In fact, each morning, before we even get out of bed, we begin our day by expressing thanks:
The Rebbe often instructed his Chasidim to avoid politics. Not because we lack backbone, for who greater than the Rebbe stood up for the Jewish People, faced the fears that many post war Jews carried and moved the Jewish People forward.
Our mission is the Jewish People. Our mission is connection. Our mission is the Torah. Our mission is the Mitzvah.
This Monday I had the honor to travel to NY, post the Rebbe's Yurzeit on 3 Tammuz to visit the Ohel.
We finished early and since I'm very smart I decided to change my flight from 8:30 to leave a little earlier to the 6 PM flight.
We live in a culture that treats conflict as a disease. If people disagree, someone must be wrong. If there is tension, we assume something has gone terribly awry.
But Judaism sees it differently.
Are you unsettled inside? Anxiety, discontent, discomfort?Who isn't? Today's therapeutic brain science tells us that in early childhood our sense of self is formed.
Perhaps more than any other time in history we live in the era of the individual. Old norms, old structures are being replaced without revolutions. Regular folk making decisions on how they can disrupt industries are succeeding and the world is changing with it.
Seven Rabbis were summoned late at night for an early morning exclusive session to determine if the year should be interlocated (fancy word for adding a month - a Jewish Leap Year) as is proscribed. Eight Rabbi's showed up. This is not the beginning of a joke. True story Talmud Sanhedrin.
Neither the bent over suffering depictions of Jews by anti-semitic cartoonists, nor the image of the modern Jew the buff warrier are the authentic depictions of either the Torah's value nor the true meaning of greatness.