Rabbi Shaya's Thoughts

Staying Focused

Friday, May 27, 2022 - 12:30 PM

Often we feel that we are being pulled in many directions, and at times in opposing directions. One may question themselves by asking: Am I normal? What is it with me that I am being pulled in opposite paths at the same time?

When we do question ourselves, we need to know how to respond.

For starters, it is important to keep in mind that we are not alone. Not only do many human beings experience the same kind of thing as you, it is ingrained in our collective DNA.

This week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, starts off with blessings—if we fulfill the will of G-d—and then it gives us some very strong warnings if we don’t. This seesaw of positive and negative is prevalent in the portion of the week.

As an example, one verse says, “I will walk with you upright.” What does “upright” mean?

Will G-d lift us up? Or will we be expected to lift ourselves up, and when we do, G-d will be there at our sides?

One way to explain this is with the famous verse that adorns many a synagogue today, and was the reason why the Temple was built in the first place. “Build for me a Temple so that I can dwell within it.”

Let’s take a moment to reflect on this verse. G-d is telling us two opposite things at once. A- “Build for me a Temple …” This is the job for we human beings to do, which means that it will be accomplished with our minds, our limitations, and our successes. The achievement will come only through our initiation. However, B- “…so that I will dwell within it.” This part of the verse is talking about G-d. This is not dependent on us, but on G-d. It is up to G-d to decide if He wants to accept our efforts as satisfactory or not. True, the Temple is a building, but our views and G-d’s view are not the same. To us it looks like a structure that we, as humans, built. To G-d, it is a home in which He chooses to dwell.

To use Kabbalistic terms: To us the Temple represents our initiation from below, a lowly world, to a higher, more spiritual place. For G-d this is a Temple that He, in the most spiritual, highest of places, comes down to, this low, worldly place.

As we see, all of us experience this pull in many directions frequently. The challenge of life is to harness this feeling and utilize it to serve our Creator.

We should not permit ourselves to get distracted by the world around us. In fact, it is just the opposite: When we elevate our world, G-d will do His part and come down and help lift us up so that we can unite heaven and Earth, and then we will see that all these distractions are just annoyances that get in the way of our road to achieve our life goals.

Is Remembering Important?

Thursday, May 12, 2022 - 2:08 PM

"Remember them." When we hear these words, we know they refer to the victims of the Holocaust. (In a broader sense, they urge us to also remember all the anti-Semites who tried to kill us throughout the ages.) These words are ingrained into our psyches.

"Remember It." These words refer to Shabbat.

There are seven “remembrances” that should be constant in our minds.

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, mentions one such remembrance. Seemingly however, it doesn’t fit with the rest. When it comes to remembering to blow the Shofar—the ram’s horn—on Rosh Hashanah, the same word, Zichron, is used: remember. Why do we have to “remember” to blow the Shofar? Couldn’t the Torah have simply given us the commandment to blow the Shofar and we would do so just like we do every other mitzvah?

The technical answer is that G-d wants us to associate the blowing of the Shofar with the verses of remembrance, so that the experience of hearing the Shofar is not just that of an instrument we hear on Rosh Hashanah, but a sound that penetrates the soul. Reciting the verses while we hear the sound of the Shofar puts us in the mind frame of recognizing that G-d is the creator of this world, and we are coronating Him as our king on this very day.

However, there is even more to it. It is not just we who should be remembering. We are asking G-d to remember as well. We blow a ram's horn to show G-d that we remember—and so should He—way back when, at the binding of Isaac, Abraham sacrificed a ram in Isaac’s stead.

Why is it so important to us for G-d to remember this? Abraham’s unconditional devotion and actions showed that he was ready to put everything on the line for G-d. We, as Abraham’s descendants, have followed Abraham’s path. We thank G-d for not testing us daily, nevertheless, we want G-d, on the holy day of Rosh Hashanah, to remember this about Abraham and Isaac, and about us as well.

True, we don’t have to sound the Shofar daily, but when we do, we want it to carry the full meaning of its sound. We are here for you!

In our own personal lives, we have memorable experiences that often pass us by, and we don’t give them much thought. In truth, though, many have really shaped us in very meaningful ways. Today might not be Rosh Hashanah, but every day should be a meaningful day. So take a minute and think of a memorable moment that has been especially meaningful to you—and if there is someone associated with it who deserves recognition, let that person (or G-d) know.

Procrastination

Thursday, May 5, 2022 - 11:56 AM

The subject of procrastination has been studied in depth. It is a complex topic and not easily covered in just a few lines. Each person’s challenges are different as to why they might not do something now and push it off for a later time, against their own better judgment.

Many researchers point out that the issue has nothing to do with laziness or poor time management, and therefore using tools such as apps to help with organizing tasks will not help. The issue is more of an emotional one than anything else. At times, we might be in a bad mood, and we simply don’t want to do something, so we procrastinate. Research shows that chronic procrastination can go from bad to worse in a cycle, as we can become depressed because we are not being productive; that is why it is important to recognize that procrastination is not about productivity but about emotions in the first place. If we can get our emotions under control, if we can deal with our anxiety, our fear, our hesitation to face whatever task is on hand, we will be able to tackle our tasks in a timely fashion.

This sounds overly simplified, so the question that we must ask ourselves is, how do we get there?

There are dozens of recommendations in self-help books, such as rewarding yourself for getting a job done on time. In the end, however, all ideas boil down to one conclusion: that for anything to work, the motivation must be internal. It cannot come from anywhere else other than within ourselves.

However, this week’s Torah portion, Kedoshim, takes that concept one step further. Within the discussion of the sin of stealing and the mitzvah of returning the stolen item, emphasis is placed on the importance of not procrastinating in the process of returning the stolen item.

Why is it so important for a thief to return a stolen item right away? After all, the person has to overcome their embarrassment to ‘fess up. Why not give the person some time? Where is our compassion?

So long as the stolen item is in the possession of the thief, there is a “living sin” in the world. This negative reality is antithetical to G-d. Even the thief, who seemingly doesn’t care about right and wrong, should not procrastinate in their process of doing teshuva, of changing their ways and returning the stolen object to the rightful owner, and returning to G-d. Because the issue at hand is not just between the thief and the owner of the stolen object; it affects the whole world while this “living sin” exists in the world. When they correct their misdeed, they don’t only right their own wrong—between two people— they remove this bad stain from the world as well.

And so much more so when we do a good deed in this world! Every positive action that we take doesn’t just have an effect on our personal life, but it has a ripple effect on all those around us.

When we think of pushing something off because we are simply not in the mood, we should not only think about how it will be beneficial to us to do our task right away, but we should think how the world at large will benefit as well.

We are a microcosm of a macro world. We are interconnected. We make a difference.