If your mind tells you that one thing is greater or more important than another, should you listen? It may be wrong. Which of these are longer and which is wider? Now measure.... our minds are rather overrated
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...
Spirituality and healing are fundamentally intertwined. Modern medicine has opened its mind to the power of the mind to help heal the body, and the impact of a patient's spiritual state on the healing process. Any attempt to better our physical health should be coupled with an upgrade in our spiritual health. On many levels, the body and soul go side-by-side. A medical treatment will only be effective if it is well-matched for the patient. Factors such as blood type, genetic make-up and family history will help make a determination whether a particular treatment is appropriate for a particular person. A practitioner would be negligent in their duty if they did not first investigate the patient's background prior to deciding how to treat them. The same applies to remedies of the spiritual nature. Your soul's family history must be thought about before embarking on any spiritual path. If your soul’s DNA is Jewish, it needs Jewish spirituality to be healthy. Heal...
I look at the empty Seder plate with this lonely chicken neck left behind, and wonder, why is it there? Here’s a thought: One of the most amazing characters in the story of the Exodus is Pharaoh. He witnessed with his own eyes the downfall of his country, he experienced firsthand the miracles of the Ten Plagues one after the other, he saw how every prediction Moses made came true, and yet he stubbornly refused to let the Israelites go. Only when every firstborn Egyptian died in the final plague did he relent and let them go. Stubbornness is sometimes called having a stiff neck. The neck connects our head to our body, representing the passageway that translates what we see with our eyes and know with our mind into what we feel with our heart and do with our body. A stiff-necked person is unmoved by what they know to be true. They have blocked neck, and the message just doesn't reach their heart. This was Pharaoh's problem. Indeed, the Hebrew word for neck is הערף...