Mendel Bluming | Blogger

Many Jews would like to consider themselves atheist but it is not as easy as it seems for a Jew!

Remembering Rivky - News - Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters

Many would claim that finances should determine how many children we have. If you can't afford it, don't have babies. The stork should be strictly cash on delivery. Debt and diapers don't mix. It's all about the bottom line. That sounds reasonable. But let's see if it makes sense. Let's say my financial adviser assesses that I can afford to have three children, and no more. So I go ahead and have them. A few years down the line, my situation changes drastically for the worse and I can no longer pay the bills for a family of five souls. So I call in my youngest and say, "I am sorry, we made a miscalculation. We thought we could afford you. But you know how unpredictable the market is these days. We are going to have to let you go..." How are we supposed to measure how many children we can afford? Does anyone know the future to be able to say for sure what size family we can or can't fund? Who can  say for certain that they can even afford on...

Chabad Rabbi Competes on CHOPPED - News - Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters

Shavuos is when G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people at Mt Sinai. So why is it celebrated by eating cheesecake and other dairy treats, rather than something a little more spiritual? Is it not ironic that the holiest event in history is acknowledged by indulging in cake? Some have suggested that eating cheesecake on Shavuos is based on a spelling mistake. An early English Bible read, "And G-d spoke to Moses in the middle of the dessert..." :) But I think there's more to it. Spirituality existed long before Judaism. People prayed and meditated, brought sacrifices and served their deities many centuries before Moses climbed Mt Sinai. Judaism didn't invent spirituality. It was around before. But what was not around before was the idea that your physical life can be made holy. People knew that G-d was in heaven, but never dreamed that you could find Him on earth. All pre-Sinai religious thinking went along the same lines: we are physical beings in a physical worl...

Like is All You Need?! Is love enough? Nah actually in daily life liking is more difficult and possibly more vital than loving. You love your parents. You love your brothers and sisters. You love your children. But you don't necessarily always like them.... Sometimes you love your husband, or your wife, but you have a hard time liking him or her.  What is the difference between "liking" and "loving"?  Love comes from our sameness; liking comes from our differences. Loving someone underscores your shared identity, while liking another person emphasizes your distinctiveness from each other.  I love you because you and I, in a very deep place, are one. You and your parents, you and your siblings, are connected in a very real way. There is love there, even if it is repressed and complicated.  When I like you it means that I appreciate your unique personality and character traits. I like you not because we are one, but because we are differen...