Monthly Archives: October 2017

BS’D

There is a well-known statement attributed to R’ Yisrael Salanter ztk’l.

He once said: “When I was young, I wanted to change the world. Then I realized that I could not change the world. And so I thought, maybe I will change my nation. Then I realized that I could not change my nation. And so I thought, maybe I will change my village. Then I realized that I could not change my village. And so I thought, maybe I will change my family. Then I realized that I could not change my family. And so I thought, maybe I will change myself. Then I realized, if I would change myself, this would change my family. And if I would change my family, this would change my village. And if I would change my village, this would change my nation. And if I would change my nation, I would change the world.”

Torah study is a personalized experience in that it ‘talks’ to every individual differently so that we each hear the wisdom that our soul needs to receive. Torah wisdom conveys to us a custom-made message. Therefore, we are required to elevate our minds and hearts to internalize our specific calling. No two people learn the same Torah just as we learn a ‘different’ Torah at various stages in our lives depending on the message we need to ‘hear’.

We must be prepared to change ourselves rather than erroneously expect that others do. Torah is our physician who gives us each a ‘prescription’ for our individual ‘ailments.’ Change begins with us. Accusations, blame, complaints, denial and excuses are, as R’ Rietti calls them, the ‘ABCDE’s’ of running away from our individual responsibility. We are responsible to change ourselves, not others.

As we learn from R’ Salanter, this is the only way to change the world.

BS’D

The Ba’al Shem Tov HaKadosh ztk’l teaches that if only we were able to attach our souls to the words that we utter during tefillah, we would be enveloped with a great light of holiness that shines from one universe to the next. However we are distracted by extraneous thoughts.

Each time a thought invades our minds during tefillah we should attempt to connect to Hashem through it. For instance, a fearful thought should be elevated back to its source, Hashem, by relating it to yirat Shamayim, fear of heaven. When a thought connected to a teiva, desire comes to mind bind it to the love of Hashem. Essentially this is the process of releasing sparks of holiness from their husks, outer shells of impurity. It is likened to redeeming a prisoner from their captives.

Oy, if we only knew the power of our tefillah, the privilege to stand before the King of Kings and speak to Him. Hashem ‘listens’ to every thought, emotion and word; everything is taken into account. Tefillah is a priceless gift therefore we should use it to request that Hashem always keep the gates open so we may pour our hearts out to Him at any time. The intimate connection we build by speaking to Hashem breaks down all barriers. It is the result of emotional words spoken from a burning heart who craves a relationship with Borei Olam.

Focusing on the words of our tefillah enables us to forget ourselves (our bodies) and bond to the Shechinah through our soul. At that moment in time we are completely alone with Hashem with no disturbances; a genuine soul-union with our Creator.