Mendel Bluming | Blogger

Let’s do a simple exercise. Think about the blessing you need right now. Acknowledge the obvious fact that G-d, being all powerful, can solve your problems and fulfil your needs with the click of a finger. One phone call, one ‘chance’ meeting, one turn of events can change everything. You may not be able to imagine how your life could turn around, but G-d is not limited by your imagination. G-d can do anything. You know all this. That’s the easy part. Here’s the challenge. Take your faith to the next level. It’s not enough to know it in your mind. You have to feel it in your heart. Feel calm and relaxed, right now, even with your issues yet unresolved and your needs not met. You are in G-d’s hands, and G-d is good. Your problems will go away and everything will work out. So why wait until then to enjoy it? Start celebrating now. Feel the peace and comfort of knowing that everything is good, even before you can see it. Smile and be happy. It’s all done. When you bring your tru

What is the big deal if I make a quick call on Shabbat? It isn't such hard work to dial the number and talk. Will the day of rest be totally disturbed by my 30 second call?? Here's a thought... You are out for a romantic dinner, just the two of you. You make a reservation at a fancy restaurant, a quiet table for two in the corner. Gentle music is playing, lights are dimmed, and the ambiance is just perfect for an evening of romance. You resolve not to talk about work, not to talk about the kids, rather to take the time to really connect and enjoy each other's company. You laugh together, chit chat, and give one another complete focus and attention. Then suddenly you say, "Oh, I just remembered something." You take out your phone and call your business partner to remind him to send a report you are waiting for. It all took no more than fifteen seconds. You quickly put your phone away and smile at your wife. But she's not smiling. You just ruined the m

Torah teaches that Hebrew is the original language. The world was created with the Holy Tongue. When G-d said "Let there be light" He said it in Hebrew: "Yehi Ohr". Adam was given his name because he was made from the ground (Adama), and Eve (Chava) because she was the mother of all life (Chai). These word plays only work in Hebrew. All other languages are translations of the original, their vocabularies a series of made up words. A cow is called a cow in English because we all agree to call it a cow. But it is called a Parah in Hebrew because it really is a Parah. The Hebrew word for things is their actual name. There could be scholarly backing for the concept that it all started with Hebrew. Linguists have been able to trace words in multiple languages back to their Hebrew roots. For example, the Hebrew word Derech (way/road), can be found in Daroga (Russian), Derecho (Spanish), Durch (German) and Doro (Japanese), as well as our own English word, Direction. So

Have you ever tried snapping out of a bad habit only to find yourself falling right back into it? I don’t think you should quit your bad habit entirely. That seems too much, and apparently hasn’t worked for you in the past.  I suggest you quit just for one day.  This would be manageable. I’m sure you can control yourself for a single day. Especially when you know that it isn’t forever. You can go back to your vice tomorrow. But today, just today, you are over it. Then do the same thing again tomorrow.  And the next day.  This is an old hack to fool the Yetzer Harah - the evil urge inside us that pushes us to do the wrong thing. When you say that you are quitting forever, your evil urge fights back ferociously. But if you reassure it that you’ll be back to your devious ways tomorrow, and you’re just taking a day off, it doesn't feel threatened and leaves you be.  After one vice-free day, you have reclaimed a tiny bit of control over your urges. Now you have your foot in

This is one of the biggest secrets of life. Good doesn't always taste good. But not-good often looks and tastes good.  It has to be this way. Imagine it was the other way around. If good always felt good, and bad just felt bad, who would do bad? Our challenge is to make the right choices in life. But for that we need a choice.    There are two paths to choose from: the path of good and the path of no good. One path leads to true happiness, the other is a dead-end leading nowhere. And it isn’t so easy to tell which is which.     G-d wanted to make it fair, so He let bad look good. The bad path has nothing to offer, so G-d gave it good PR. The wrong path is so much more tempting. Unhealthy food is the yummiest. And doing the wrong thing seems so much fun.   But that’s just looks. The good path is where real enjoyment lies. The choice is between superficial good or real good. As our sages wisely said: “Don’t look at the packaging, look at what's in it.” Don’t fall fo

I remember at school a friend failed his end of year exams and had to repeat a grade. He stayed back for a year and was no longer in our class, but rather the class below. We all moved on but he was held back. Some think reincarnation is like repeating a year at school. While some souls graduate to the next world after their life in this world, others are sent right back down to get things right in another life. That is not quite how Judaism teaches that it works. A better metaphor would be a mobile data rollover plan. The phone company gives you 15GB of data per month. Any part of that data you don't use in one month rolls over to the next month. So if you only used 14GB in May, that 14GB is gone, but the remaining 1GB comes back for you to use in June. Your soul has multiple gigabytes of spiritual energy and divine potential. This is the power G-d has invested in you to fulfill your mission in life. You use that potential by doing good deeds, performing mitzvot. Every mit

A convert can marry a Jewish king. A convert can marry a prophet. A convert can even marry a rabbi. So there must be some reason for a Kohen not being allowed to marry a Kohen. Here is Kabalistic thought: When the Torah forbids a marriage, it is never because one party is not good enough for the other. It is because both parties are not matched to each other. They are simply not soulmates. In the case of the Kohen and the convert, their soul dynamics clash, their spiritual energies contradict, and so they can't marry. The holiness of a Kohen is hereditary. If your father is a Kohen, then you are a Kohen. Priesthood is a birthright that is not achieved through a person's effort nor deserved through a person's righteousness. It is bestowed at birth. The holiness of a convert is the exact opposite. It is completely earned. The convert was not born Jewish. They chose it. They achieve Jewishness of their own initiative and with their own hard work. They are self-made sou

Question: My Dad drags me to synagogue and insists that I stay with him for 20 minutes. The prayers mean nothing to me, so why should I comply? Here's a thought, I challenge you to try this. When it's time for the prayers, sit with your prayer book open and start reading. For the next twenty minutes, try not to take your eyes off the book. Try to maintain focus and concentration for the entire duration of the prayers. I don't mean to have mystical intentions or to meditate on anything in particular. Just look at the letters on the page without lifting your eyes. It will be excruciatingly hard. At first you might only be able to last half a minute. But over time, if you persist, you will be able to hold focus for the entire twenty minutes. This powerful brain exercise is much needed today. We live in a time of shortened attention spans and over-stimulated screen addictions. Most people would not even be still reading as far as this paragraph without getting distrac

Many see prayer as a wish list. It’s as if G-d is some supernal vending machine, and prayers are the currency you drop into the slot to get what you want. If that were the case, this vending machine needs repair. But that’s not what prayer is. Prayer is a practice of gratitude and humility. We give thanks for what we have received, and humbly ask for what we need. We recognize that all we have is a gift, and whatever we lack can only be fulfilled by G-d, the source of all. He may give us what we ask, or He may not. We know that from the start. A person of faith knows that nothing is random, nothing is meaningless, and ultimately G-d is in control. This doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. Prayer gives perspective to know that there is a bigger picture, strength to know that even hard times can have hidden blessings, and humility to know that we can’t control what happens, only how we react to it. I would call that a prayer that works. Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and Rabbi Moss and other

There is a story told by the great chassidic teachers, and it goes like this.    There was once a simple villager who won the lottery. In the olden days, this meant literally winning a pot of gold. So with excitement and anticipation, he set out on foot for a three day journey to the big city to collect his winnings.     When he came to the lottery office and saw his prize, he realized he could not possibly carry such a heavy pot of gold home. So with some of his new wealth he hired a wagon driver with a strong horse to carry him and his pot back to the village. The journey took several hours. Along the way they stopped off at the side of the road for a little rest. The wagon driver parked the wagon in what seemed to be a safe spot and the villager had a little nap under a tree.   Refreshed and ready to go, they jumped back onto the wagon to continue the journey. But after a short while the wagon driver stopped and said, "I think your pot of gold has been stolen." The v

A fish out of water does not die immediately. In fact, a fish out of water seems quite lively. It flips and flops and dances around, seemingly more active than it was before. An ignorant observer may think that the fish is better off on dry land, free from the confines of the sea. Just look how vibrant and energetic it has become!   But we know the truth. This tragic dance will not last. All that intense movement is not an indication of good health, it is a desperate and hopeless grasp at life. A Jew without Torah is a fish without water (teaching of Rabbi Akiva, Talmud Brochos 61b). We can flip flop for a while, jumping from one ideology to another, this save-the-universe cause or the next, but it won't last. You can only stay Jewish without Torah for a generation, maybe two. Then the flipping and flopping stop altogether. This is not about being orthodox. It's about being immersed in genuine Judaism. And that is open to anyone. In your own way, with your critical mind a

Mazel tov! If Jews believe in Divine Providence (fate), why do we always use the word mazel which means luck? Isn't that a contradiction of belief? Actually, mazel is usually mistranslated as luck. The correct meaning of mazel is "a drip from above". Which is probably why people just translate it as luck. It doesn’t quite sound right to say, "Wishing you a good drip from above on the occasion of your bar mitzvah". Your mazel is your pipeline from heaven. In heaven there is abundant blessing waiting to come down to us. But as those blessings descend to earth, they can become corrupted. The freshest water can be polluted if the pipes are dirty. Good mazel means the flow from above reaches us unadulterated, in the form of positive and happy experiences. If the flow is blocked or contaminated, that’s bad mazel, and things don't come out as blessings. When we say Mazel tov on a special occasion, we are wishing that the blessings should flow freely from ab