Mendel Bluming | Blogger

Menachem Bluming Muses: Who Is the Right Leader? I was interviewed this week for a parshah blog and figured that I would share with you. “So Rabbi Mendel Bluming, our question for you this week is why Moses was chosen to be the new Jewish leader. After all, he was not among the Jewish people who were enslaved in Egypt and for most of the first 80 years of his life he didn’t even live in Egypt after he fled Pharaoh, so why was he chosen to be the leader? Menachem M Bluming thought for a moment and then shared. ‘Have you ever made a suggestion to another which you knew was very helpful but they summarily dismissed?’ Bluming asked. ‘Have you ever chosen to not share a much-needed piece of advice because you are too familiar with the others in the group and figured that they would either laugh it off or mock it or just dismiss it?’ Bluming continued. ‘Because Moses was an outsider no one was able to turn to him and say, ‘I remember lighting firecrackers with

Menachem Bluming Muses: Heard anything juicy lately? The Talmud famously teaches us that gossip kills three. The one who   is spoken about is harmed. The one who speaks the gossip is harming himself. The one who listens to it is being harmed too. Why is the one who listens to it being harmed as well? Think about this: There are some people with whom you would feel comfortable to share some juicy gossip? There are some people whom you would not consider sharing this gossip with. There are some people with whom you might share an inappropriate   joke. There are some people with whom you would never consider sharing it. Are you the type of person who makes others comfortable to share gossip with you? The one who receives the gossip has a lot of soul-searching to do. Why am I someone with whom others feel very comfortable to share the latest juicy gossip about another? Why am I not the type of person whom others know to not welcome gossip? Mendel (Menach

The Talmud in tractate Niddah page 30 famously teaches us that a fetus while still in its mother’s womb is taught the entire Torah. Before the baby is born it is made to forget everything that it studied in utero. What exactly is the purpose of studying the entire Torah if you are not going to remember it once you enter the real world??? Isn’t that an exercise in futility... a waste of time Here’s a thought... There is a deep type of Jewish deja vu. It's called resonance. You hear an insight, a teaching, a truth, and although you have never heard it before, you know it is right. The idea rings true, seems familiar and comfortable, you are at home with it. It's what you always knew, but had never put into words. This happens when you study authentic Torah. You hear its message, and you know deep down that it is true. This is because you have heard it before. Our souls are taught the divine truths before we enter this world, but we forget it all at birth. Howeve