Mendel Bluming | Blogger

A community member recently asked Rabbi Menachem Mendel Bluming: I don't need the 613 laws of the Torah to be a good person. I live by one simple rule: Do whatever you want, as long as you're not hurting anyone. Who needs hundreds of complicated laws when you can break it down into one? Here's Bluming’s thought co-authored by Rabbi Moss: Your rule sounds so nice. I wish things were so simple. But let's test it and see how your rule applies to real life situations. You're walking down the street. You see a violent criminal mugging an old lady for her wallet. You could save her by tackling him from behind. What do you do? Subdue the thug and save the lady? That would be hurting someone, which contravenes your rule. Unless you make an exception to your rule: Do whatever you want, as long as you're not hurting anyone, except when preventing a violent crime. But here's another case. Your child gets a splinter in his finger. Are you allow

“Rabbi, why do the matriarchs not get mentioned as often as the patriarchs in our prayers?” Bluming was asked recently by a congregant. After all, our Sages teach that they were, in spiritual stature, even greater than our patriarchs reflected in G-d’s commanding Abraham to listen to everything that Sarah tells him. “Yet” Menachem Mendel Bluming was asked, we pray by speaking of G-d as the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rather than our matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah!” “Here's one thought of many”, Bluming responded. There is something unique about our forefathers, something the mothers did not have. They were an unbroken chain. Abraham's son was Isaac. Isaac's son was Jacob. That's three generations of commitment to Judaism. Abraham was the first Jew. Isaac was the first to be born Jewish. And Jacob was the first grandchild to follow the Jewish path. The mothers were all first generation Jews. The fathers were a continuum of holiness. Th

The earliest appearance of what we call the Star of David is found in an ancient kabbalistic text called Raziel Hamalach. It is named after an angel who taught mystical secrets to the first man, Adam. While its teachings are way beyond our understanding, here is a thought that we can relate to. One of the most important ideas in Judaism is the concept of Shabbos, the day of rest. The seven day week is a biblical invention. After all why not have a 10 day workweek or why have any weekend at all? But Shabbos is much more than just a weekend. During the working week we are preoccupied with mundane activities. We don't have as much time to think about what is really important, like our relationships, our life direction, our soul. We can sometimes lose ourselves in a routine that seems endless and pointless. Shabbos gives us a chance to stop and focus on why we do what we do. Instead of being outwardly focused, for one day a week we turn inwards. For six days we may ca

Here’s an interview that I had for a blog recently, skip this if you have already read it on their blog: “Rabbi Menachem Mendel Bluming you lead a congregation in Potomac, Maryland and we have spoken with rabbis of other congregations. What is your perspective? Do Jews believe in hell?” “Yes, in some way we do, but it is very different than what other religions depict it as.” “In what way?” We asked of Bluming. “There are no demons with tridents who poke you and burn you and there is no fire because it is not a physical place. In Jewish tradition is called Gehennom.” Bluming responded. “Tell us more,” we were intrigued. “Have you ever said something that you later regretted deeply? Have you ever acted in a certain way and then later relived that experience in your mind and it caused you such agony and pain to think that you would have done something like that?” Mendel Bluming asked. “Uh- huh, we hesitantly admitted...” Bluming continued, “when your soul leaves

Isn’t it interesting that the Nationals lost all three of the games in their own stadium and won all four of the games in Astros Minute Maid Park? Traditionally it is easier to win a game on one’s home turf because you have the encouragement of the fans, the benefit of having slept in your own bed rather than traveling and staying at hotels and a much more familiar playing field, after all half of your annual games are played at home!  Yet the Nationals won every game when they were away and lost every game at home (same with the Astros). We read this week about Noah’s Ark. Water raged around him and yet he and his family were safe and focused on rebuilding a kinder more generous world. So too each of us have the ability, even when we are away from our home familiarity and even when stormy waters seek to crash us and drown us from all sides, to build an ark of protection in which we can find clarity and vision for our futures. Congratulations for the Nationals win! Besides the

If G-d appeared to you and asked you how long you would like to live, what would you say? 100 years? 130 years? Would you make any conditions like: but they need to be healthy years? The Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, chose to bless one of his greatest followers Rabbi Yekusiel Liepler, with long life. The Chassid qualified the blessing and said that he was only willing to accept it if it would be infused with spiritual vitality for without that the years were empty and meaningless to him In Genesis Adam died at age 930, Noah was almost 500 when he started building the ark (not bad!) and Methuselah lived a world record of 969 years! Are you jealous? Would you like to live 900 years? What would you do with that time? We study and marvel at centenarians. We ask them for their secrets and diets, lifestyles and habits. I find it very intriguing that some of the greatest in our history like Amadeus Mozart or Rabbi Isaac Luria, the greatest Kabbalist of all

In honor of Yom Kippur a Jewish newspaper interviewed me. Not that many read that paper :) so I figured that I would post the interview. Here goes: “So Rabbi Bluming when it comes to Yom Kippur most Jews think about how hungry they will be! If G-d wants us to be focused on prayer and returning to him why wouldn’t He allow us to eat so that we can better focus?” “Yes,” replied Menachem Mendel Bluming, “it is not easy to fast.” “Not easy?”, we asked. “It seems that when I fast I am so preoccupied by food and how hungry I am that I can hardly focus on anything else!” “You got it! That is exactly the point.” Mendel Bluming asserted. “Really? I am not sure what you mean by that.” We asked Bluming. “Yom Kippur is the day for me to put myself aside to focus on G-d and my spiritual destiny. By fasting I can reflect on what a pitiful existence my body is. Just withhold sushi and quinoa and bagels and lox for one day and I can hardly focus or think straight! I see mysel

In honor of Rosh Hashanah a Jewish newspaper interviewed me. Not that many read that paper :) so I figured that I would post the interview. Here goes: “So Rabbi Bluming is it true about your congregation as well, that Jews seem to come out of the woodwork for the high holidays?” “Yes,” replied Menachem Mendel Bluming, “it is truly incredible and heartwarming.” “Heartwarming?”, we asked. “It seems that it is just Jewish guilt. After all, where are they all year?!” “Jews used to feel a lot of guilt. That is so last century.” Mendel Bluming asserted. “Really? We thought that guilt is as Jewish as bagels and lox!” We asked Bluming. “In my experience Jews see themselves as good people, not sinful people. They are right. After all after communism and the Holocaust and the previous generation that to a large extent gave them little or no Jewish education the mitzvot that they do are so incredible! How can they be called sinful?” Menachem Bluming shared. “So to wh

Lately mass shootings have becoming painfully common. Everyone has an idea but meanwhile the carnage continues unabated in places of worship and places of work etc. Does the Torah give us guidance as to what we need to do to address this? In what must surely be one of the most enigmatic passages of the entire Torah, we read the section of egla arufa. An unidentified corpse is found abandoned in a remote location with no   clues available to help identity the murderer or the victim. The leading Rabbis and sages of the Jewish people gather at the site where the body was found to undergo a public cleansing ritual. As part of the ceremony, the Rabbis formally announce that they are personally innocent of the crime; our hands did not spill this blood, nor did our eyes see this crime (Shoftim 21:7). Almost all the Biblical commentators question the need for such a declaration by the sages. In the words of Rashi: would it enter one’s mind that

The medrash in Leviticus Rabbah 32:5 teaches that the Jewish people were redeemed from Egyptian slavery in the merit of their not changing their names from Jewish names. It is alluring to sound more Egyptian or to sound more secular in order to fit in. Maintaining a Jewish identity inspires a family to maintain Jewish practice. Someone recently asked me my name and when I told him that it is Menachem Mendel Bluming they asked me but what is your real name? Menachem Mendel Bluming I said. They said no I mean the name that the doctor calls you in the office or that they called you in school? I acquiesced. Okay either Menachem Mendel Bluming, Menachem Bluming or Mendel Bluming. They became insistent. Don’t you know Jews who have names like Peter, Paul or Charles? I certainly do I answered, fine Jewish people. But my name is just Menachem Mendel Bluming, that’s it. Do you mind if people call you something different, he asked? I said sure how about Mendel Menachem B