Mendel Bluming | Blogger

Here’s an idea: Ask him for help. When you contact him, set aside the illness as if it wasn’t there for a moment, and ask him for some advice. Think of his area of knowledge and talent and tell him that you need his assistance. He is a builder and you are thinking of renovating. Ask him about some issues you are having. This will be more than just telling him "you matter and you are needed", it will be actually making him needed. Now obviously we are talking about someone with some serious health issues. They won’t go away with one little conversation. It might not change anything at all. He may not even be receptive to being asked, or maybe he can’t respond. But if you have even the slightest possibility of getting through to him, it is worth a try. It might give him the opportunity of not being absorbed in his own issues. If he can focus on another person for even a short time, that may serve as a little breath of fresh air, and he may be lifted, if even t...

Rabbi Mendel Bluming, who serves the community through the Chabad Shul of Potomac, is often challenged with this question. Below is a thought based on Jewish philosophy: Good is so because G-d made that choice. G-d is not bound by anything, and could have chosen differently. He could have said "Thou shalt steal," and "Do not help the poor and needy." Helping old ladies cross the road would be the wrong thing to do, but mugging them would be o.k. Now you could argue, anyone with a healthy conscience knows that stealing is morally wrong and helping the needy is a righteous and decent thing to do. But our conscience was too created by G-d. If morality would be on its head, we would be wired accordingly. Fortunately for all those old ladies trying to cross the street everywhere, G-d chose the former way around. Does this mean good isn't good in actuality? Is morality nothing more than a fanciful fancy? Not at all. Only humans are whimsical and rando...

There is a theory believed by many that we can learn all we need to know about a person in the first few seconds of meeting them. It is a decent theory. There is only one problem with it however... it’s not true :) A person is so much deeper than meets the eye. We are multi-layered. We have thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams, quirks and faults. Everyone has a past and everyone has a soul. You can't see everything at first glance. How many times have you been impressed by someone's first impression, only to be disappointed after a few conversations? And the opposite is true too, how many people have you spoken to and not particularly appreciated, only to be pleasantly surprised after spending more time with them? Even looks are misleading. A person whom you find unattractive originally can grow on you as their complete picture unravels. I am certain you would agree that no one can know what you are all about by speaking to you once. The same is true for others...