Mendel Bluming | Blogger

There is a penetrating teaching by the master of souls, the Baal Shem Tov. He says that when you look at another person, you are really looking in the mirror. The things that annoy you most in others are the things that annoy you most about yourself. The reason you notice them in your fellow is because they are inside you, they are familiar, and they bother you, because they are yours.  If you didn't suffer from the same issue you simply wouldn't be able to recognize it in another person. You have to identify with something to be effected by it. If it pushes your buttons, it's because they are your buttons. So if you think everyone around you is so self-absorbed, if all you can see in others is selfishness... You can change what you see around yourself. But you have to change yourself. By Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming of Chabad Potomac, Maryland since 2000 and Rabbi Moss

The Egyptians, who had cruelly tortured the Jewish People for hundreds of years, are now facing their fate when the sea split to swallow them up. Moses declares to the Jewish People: Because you see Egyptian taskmasters now, you will never see them again. (Shemot 14:13) What is the connection, because you see them now you will never see them again, seems like a non sequitur?! asks the Baal Shem Tov founder of the Chassidic movement. He explains as follows: It is only because you are facing the Egyptian taskmasters that you will never see them again. Because what you resist will persist! When you face your fears and enemies’ threats, rather than hide from them and retreat in dread, you will succeed in vanquishing their emotional control over you. Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming of Potomac, Maryland, shares Torah insight on subjects from life insurance to meaningful life

Moses is afraid to go to Pharaoh, the most powerful man of the time. G-d tells him “Bo el Pharaoh!” (Exodus 10:1) literally come to Pharaoh. Why come and not GO? Bo is spelled with two Hebrew letters: Bet and Aleph. Bet represents Bitachon trust in G-d and Aleph represents Emunah, belief in G-d. With trust and belief in a Higher Power one is ready to stand before any Pharaoh unintimidated and undeterred. Rabbi Mendel (Menachem) Bluming leads the Chabad Shul in Potomac, Maryland since 2003.

We are all descendants of Adam and Eve, the first human beings. We have inherited from them the basic ingredients of human nature. They didn't have parents. They were created, not born. They had no umbilical cords. They probably didn't even have belly buttons. So any normal human being has an innate desire to look after their children. But looking after our parents is a skill that doesn't always come naturally. The genes we pass on to our children are not enough. We must pass on to them a moral code too. If they are raised to think of themselves as mere intelligent evolved animals, then they will follow their instincts, which program them to care for themselves and their young, not their parents. But if we teach our children that they are moral beings that can go beyond their genetic programming, then we raise them to know that life is about doing what is right rather than what feels right, what is good rather than what feels good. We are not just apes with intellig

What happens when people need to choose between money and principles? Let's try the following theoretical experiment. Imagine you put Richard Dawkins, an outspoken atheist, in a sealed room all alone, with no one watching, no recording devices or CCTV's, and you offer him a deal: "I will give you ten million dollars if you will make the following statement right here and now: ‘G-d most certainly does exist, He created the universe, and atheism is a delusion.’ I will never tell anyone that you said it. There will be no record of this one off event. Just make the statement, get the cash, and it will all be forgotten." Does anyone have any doubt that Richard Dawkins would go for it and take the money? Can you think of any reason in the world for him to refuse that offer? Would he even hesitate to accept it? I think clearly not. Now imagine you put the rabbi he debated in that same sealed room, all alone, and made this offer: "Rabbi, you will receive te