Mendel Bluming | Blogger

When you listen to the news it sounds like world is descending into utter chaos rather than marching toward a redemptive state! Remember though, that bad stories keep listeners more captivated! There must be a villain if it is to sell. In every key factor, the world is better today than it has ever been, and it's just getting better. We are healthier, safer, freer, smarter and richer than our forebears. And we don't even know it. Some examples: - In 1950, 75% of the world population was living in extreme poverty. Today it is down to 10%. Food is more accessible and abundant today than ever before. - International conflict is at an all time low. Historically, the chances of dying in battle or as a result of war were extremely high. Today they hover at around 0.04%. - Two hundred years ago, 40% of babies died before the age of five. Today that figure is a tiny fraction. Even in Africa their rate has halved in the last 30 years. - Until very recently,...

Flowers are useless. They are impractical, temporary, and they are not an investment. But that's precisely their power. You buy them for no reason other than because your wife likes them. You do it just for her. This is the very definition of romance—doing something just to express love. Nobody needs flowers, they won't be around forever, but they make someone whom you love smile, so you buy them. That's why our relationship with G d is so romantic. He needs nothing from us humans, and we won't be around forever. But He gets immense pleasure out of it when we do a mitzvah, an act that He has commanded. So we do it. Not for what we get out of it, and not for what He gets out of it, but just because He likes it and wants it. The moment we do something that makes no sense to us but makes our loved one happy, we have truly transcended ourselves and connected with someone else. Stop thinking about yourself and think about her. That's the power of the ro...

The panic and travel warnings and changes of business plans are great due to the spread of the coronavirus. I was interviewed for an article about it from a Jewish perspective and because you probably have not read that article, I will post it here :) “So Rabbi Menachem Mendel Bluming are there any Jewish teachings, lessons or travel warnings that you are receiving internally regarding this virus?”, we asked. “Before I proceed of course the Torah requires that we follow medical advice and I am not a doctor nor am I the CDC and so I encourage everyone to follow the advice of medical professionals”, Bluming began. “Here are a few thoughts. In truth this season of the regular virus has been and continues to be catastrophic and yet it has not caused the same panic as the coronavirus. Somehow because we seem to be used to the regular virus each year we think that it is somewhat under control or under our control and it does not cause us fear. So too so many people engage in ac...

One of the most crooked crooks in the Torah is Laban! At the Passover Seder we say that Laban wanted to destroy the entire Jewish future. Yet he was the father of Rachel and Leah the righteous matriarchs of the Jewish people! How did such a shady character have such wonderful children? The answer is a little-known fact in biblical and Jewish history. Their mother! Her name was Adina! Have you heard of other women called Adina? The origin of that name is from Laban’s wife (see Sefer Hayashar quoted in Seder Hadorot). The name Adina means refined and delicate. That is the power of a mother! Even if the father is corrupt and crooked, a true mother, an Adina, can turn it all around for her precious children’s upbringing and future. In so many situations there is one spouse who is stable and dependable and virtuous (in a study led by Menachem Mendel Bluming of marriages in which only one spouse is virtuous, in 99.9% of the cases it is the one speaking with you who is the virtu...

The dictator, the control freak, or the abusive spouse or parent, does not know how to give others freedom. He (or she) feels compelled to force others into the mold that he has created for them. Uncomfortable in his own skin, he is afraid that someone will overshadow him, expose his weaknesses, usurp his position or make him feel extra in this world. Outwardly he attempts to appear powerful, but inwardly his power is a symptom of inner misery and confinement. Only when one learns to embrace others, not for whom he would like them to be, but for whom they are, can he begin to embrace himself, not for whom he wishes he was, but for whom he is. When we free those around us, we are freeing ourselves. By accepting them, we learn to accept ourselves. In a fascinating narrative in the book of Jeremiah chapter 34, we read: Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: So says the Lord G-d of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers on the day that I brough...