Monthly Archives: January 2015

BS’D

Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated l’iluy nishmat HY’D the four kedoshim that were killed in France. May Hashem reveal true justice to the enemies and shine His eternal love and compassion on the Jewish nation, Amen.

Sixth principle of Emuna according to the Rambam ztk’l:

G-d bestows prophecy to those who follow all of the Torah commandments and merit to perfect their personal attributes.

A founding principle of Judaism is that Hashem is intimately involved in our lives. He personally directs and oversees the minute details; He didn’t merely create us and leave us in the dark.   How has Hashem related His will to us; through His prophets.

Prophecy is likened to ‘seeing’ whole new worlds, seeing a truthful reality in its entirety.  The prophet entered into a whole new world of depth and perception; a place where only truth reigns.  It was in this place where doubt was completely erased and only the absolute reality of Hashem’s presence was recognized.  The purpose of a prophet was to guide the Jewish nation and for that he needed perfect clarity and understanding of what Hashem is.

The difference between a prophet and us is like the difference between the world of truth and the world of falsehood, light and darkness, closed eyes and opened ones.  A prophet must be with great wisdom and in full control of his yetzer hara.  He sees Hashem’s greatness in all of creation and is always connected to that which is directly under the Holy Kisei HaKavod. The prophet follows the Heavenly decrees and is connected to the worlds so that he knows what has been announced above.  He hears Hashem’s word.

The worst tragedy that ever beset us was that prophecy was taken from our midst.  The prophet assisted the Jewish people to achieve perfection by telling them which path to take according to the root of their soul.  Now that we are no longer worthy of prophecy we essentially live in the dark.

The importance in believing in this principle is so that we may fortify our emuna and trust that Hashem revealed His will and specifically guided us how to live our lives.

BS’D

Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Rav Shlomo ben Elisheva Chana.  May Hashem shower him with a complete healing b’riut hanefesh v’briut haguf among all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen.

Fifth principle of Emuna according to the Rambam ztk’l:

There is no power besides G-d whom it is fitting to serve.

This is a most fundamental principle.  Hashem has made it possible to communicate with Him through tefillah. He hears us, cares about us and even ‘lowers Himself’ so that He may attend to even the smallest of creatures.

Incorrectly we may feel that due to Hashem’s greatness He does not have any contact with this lowly world. Yet on the contrary it is because of His greatness that He is able to bridge the gap between heaven and earth and connect with us.  In fact this was one of the falsehoods that lead to idolatry; the belief that mankind needs an intermediary in order to relate to Hashem.  This clearly goes against a chief principle of emuna that Hashem hears us, understands us and feels our pain.  We can thus safely conclude there is nothing too small or inconsequential that Hashem does not care about.

It is through tefillah that we acknowledge that ‘Someone’ is listening to us and personally takes interest in what we have to say.  This serves to increase our emuna as the ego is faced with its sense of smallness and recognizes Hashem’s greatness.  It is our avodah, the foundation of our service and task in life, when we acknowledge Who we are speaking to, ‘A great and mighty G-d.’ Standing before Hashem and relating to Him is the most intimate mitzvah we are involved in since as we perform it we become an essential part of the mitzvah itself.

Tefillah is one of the most vital parts of our avodat Hashem. It refers not only to the prescribed prayers of the siddur but to the everyday intimate conversations filled with gratitude and longing that we should be having with Hashem.  Acknowledging how kind and caring Hashem is, sensing His infinite love and guiding hand is the avodah of tefillah and what essentially is called kavannah in tefillah.

Tefillah in its simplest form is the proclamation that there is no power beside Hashem.

BS’D

Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Chaya bat Baya.  May Hashem shower her with a complete healing refuat hanefesh v’refuat haguf among all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen.

Fourth principle of Emuna according to the Rambam ztk’l:

G-d has always been in existence and always will be. He is eternal.

Hashem is Omnipresent

Hashem is in all places at all times. He fills the universe and exceeds its scope. He is always near for us to call upon in need, and He sees all that we do. Closely tied in with this idea is the fact that Hashem is universal. He is not just the G-d of the Jews; He is the G-d of all nations.

Hashem is Omnipotent

Hashem can do anything. It is said that the only thing that is beyond His power is the fear of Him; that is, we have free will and He cannot compel us to do His will. This belief in Hashem’s omnipotence has been sorely tested during the many persecutions of Jews, but we have always maintained that Hashem has a reason for allowing these things, even if we in our limited perception and understanding cannot see the reason.

Hashem is Omniscient

Hashem knows all things, past, present and future. He knows our thoughts.

Hashem is Eternal

Hashem transcends time. He has no beginning and no end. This in itself should invoke awe by reminding us of the infinity of Hashem; it reminds us of our own limitations. As a result, we are lead to further rely on Hashem, a healthy dependence which further bonds us to Him.

BS’D

Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated L’iluy nishmat Dr. Yosef ben Sholom z’l. Dr. Herbert was my first MS doctor in the States and gently took care of me and all of his MS patients. He was the head doctor of the MS dept. at NYU hospital yet you would never know it by the personal relationship he had with each of us. May Hashem measure for measure envelop him with intimate love and care as he did for us. May his neshama bask in the Divine radiance of the Shechinah Kedosha and eternally rest together with all of the righteous who have departed from this world, Amen.

Third principle of Emuna according to the Rambam ztk’l:

G-d has no body or physical aspect

Hashem’s Oneness cannot be conceptualized since He is not limited to material; there is nothing at all to which He can be compared. All we know is that He exists, and that He is Hashem. We don’t know anything about His nature.

Since Hashem is knowledge itself, if we would have an understanding of Hashem, we would be Hashem! We cannot even understand a part of Hashem as Hashem is one indivisible whole. What He is, we do not know. But that He is, we know. Hashem exists. Hashem can act in many ways; He can act in a limited way, and also in an unlimited way, and it is not a contradiction.

Although Hashem is not definable in physical terms, we can still strive to have a personal relationship with Him and bond to Him with each breath. When you love someone you connect to that person with your mind and heart. In spite of the fact that you may be living across country from that person you may take them with you everywhere you go so long as you are mindful of their existence. Same applies to our relationship with Hashem. Even if we are physically unable to connect to Him this does not hamper the possibility of feeling closeness.

Rav Aryeh Kaplan ztk”l explains Hashem’s ‘non-defined existence, shape and form’ it the following way. Being that Hashem has no body, shape or form, any physical terms used in relation to Hashem come to express His relationship to the world. His ‘eyes’ become His awareness; His ‘arm’ is understood to convey His power and involvement.

BS’D

Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Miriram Manya Bat Lisa Laz who is desperately in need of our tefillot. May Hashem send her a complete healing among all of Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’rachamim, b’karov, Amen.

Second principle of Emuna according to the Rambam ztk’l:

There is only One G-d. Nothing in the universe can be compared to His Oneness.

Hashem’s unity is absolute.   What Hashem is and what He knows and what He wills, are all the very same thing.  It is all one.  Hashem knows, He is that which is known and He is knowledge itself.  The Rambam writes that it is impossible to describe Hashem’s true unity in words.

To bring it down to our reality; when learning Torah since Hashem’s unity is absolute once we learn Torah we essentially acquire a hold on the infinity of Hashem.  When we grab hold of Torah, we grab hold of Hashem. Hashem is Echad, Yichid and Meyuchad. Hashem is one, alone and unique. Everything that we see, touch and experience, it is all from Hashem.

The teaching of Ein od Milvado, there is none other than Him, deepens this emuna principle.  Negative emotions arise when we find ourselves faced with the illusion of Yesh od Milvado, there is another reality other than Hashem, chas v’Shalom.  Getting frustrated with someone or something essentially encloses us in this illusion that we are being guided by an outside force other than Hashem; unquestionably false. Therefore if we can implant this important principle of Hashem’s absolute unity and control over existence not just into our minds but strive towards melting it into our hearts, we in effect strengthen our emuna and see our world in truth.