Mendel Bluming | Blogger

It is so natural and joyous to care for our children and yet what a challenge to show that love, patience and care to our parents. Why is it so? It’s easy to write it off to the ills of our societal values and of course there is truth to that, but here’s a different angle.  We are all descendants of Adam and Eve, the first human beings. We have inherited from them the basic ingredients of our human nature.  One thing made Adam and Eve very different to the rest of us. They didn't have parents. They were created as adults by G-d, not born as babies to parents. They had no umbilical cords. We on the other hand do have parents. And we inherit their genes, all the way back to Adam and Eve. That's why the desire to look after our children is human nature, but looking after our parents are skills that don't come naturally. Adam and Eve knew how to parent, but they never knew how to treat a parent. This is a skill that we need to learn. If children are taught ...

The healthcare debate rages on in the USA. The costs are so great and they are beyond what many (most) families can afford and yet costs keep on rising and the price tag to society is skyrocketing. How can we leave families without healthcare coverage? How can healthcare   coverage  be provided in a fiscally responsible manner? What to do? So here is a word to the wise from the Bible, the Torah (Exodus 15:26 ) “...if you will diligently heed the voice of G-d, your G-d, and do what is upright in His eyes and carefully listen to all His commandments and statutes , then all of the illness that I (G-d) brought upon Egypt , I will not bring upon you for I am G-d your healer.” The two parts of the verse seem to be contradictory. If G-d promises not to bring any illness upon the people why then is G-d referred to as ‘your healer’ since a healer is only necessary after one already has an illness? The answer is that G-d is teaching us two important lessons about health and heali...

If your wife askes you if you love her during a particularly lousy day in your relationship on which you really do not feel the love (to say it mildly) should you answer her honestly? Yes… and that answer should be: "of course I love you!" My momentary lapse of feeling due to the inevitable vicissitudes of normal relationships does not threaten the essential foundation of our relationship. So it is perfectly honest to say "I love you", even at a moment when you don't feel it. And an amazing thing happens when you do. Your heart starts to melt. By mouthing the words "I love you", not because you felt like saying it, but because your wife needed to hear it, you have reached outside of yourself, bursting the bubble of self-absorption that is probably the cause of the blockage in the first place. Now you are open to feel again. It won't be long before the love starts flowing back, more powerful and passionate than ever. The same applies to...

R' Menachem Mendel Bluming, Do you have a good answer for me? My 6 year old son keeps on asking me: If G-d created the world and everything in it, then who created G-d? Hmmm... not an easy one. Indeed, G-d created everything in the world. Not just tangible things, like trees and rocks and caterpillars, but abstract things too, ideas and concepts. time and space, G-d created them too. Until G-d created these things, they did not exist. Before creation, there were no caterpillars, but there also was no time. Space did not exist before G-d created it. We created beings can't really picture what this means. We always say we don't have time, but we can't actually imagine existence before time. But that's what was before G-d created it. Another idea G-d created was the very concept of creating, of a beginning. G-d made up the idea that things can be created, that they weren't there and then they are there. This too did not exist until G-d made it. So you can...

In 1997 Pepsi ran a promotion in which one bottle cap out of 565 million revealed a win of 1 million dollars! It was called the 1997 Pepsi Cola Globe Buck Contest. There was excitement in the air and Pepsi sales sky rocketed! Say you invited some friends to a BBQ on a beautiful summer afternoon in your backyard and while they were enjoying their food one of them opened a Pepsi bottle and SHE WON! She was thrilled… but you, not so much… “Wait, you can drink the Pepsi as my guest, but the bottle cap and bottle are mine... I won that million dollars not you…” What do you think? Who would Jewish Law consider the rightful owner? Upcoming class taught by Menachem M. Bluming in conjunction with JLI 

There are times to bend like a reed in the wind. And there are times to act as a stubborn wall against the tide. There are matters that lie at the periphery of life. In those situations stubbornness often stands in the way of harmony and peace. Every such “I” is the very root and source of evil. But when it comes to matters that touch the purpose for which you were placed in this world, that’s when you have to be that immovable wall. That’s when you have to say, “On this, I‘m not going to budge.” That “I,” that’s not evil. That‘s an “I” fulfilling the purpose for which you were given an “I.” Menachem Mendel Bluming,  Chabad.org and Rabbi Freeman

Lighting candles seems to play a prominent role in Judaism. We light candles every Friday for Shabbos, we light candles on every festival, in memory of a loved one we kindle a flame and Chanukah is all about candles.  What is the meaning behind this focus?  There is something about a flame that makes it more spiritual than physical. When you use something physical, it is diminished. The more money you spend, the less you have. The more gas you use, the emptier your tank becomes. The more food you eat the more you need to restock your pantry. But spiritual things increase with use. If I use my wisdom to teach, the student learns, and I come out smarter for it. If I share my love with another, I become more loving, not less. When I give a spiritual gift, the recipient gains, and I lose nothing.  There is no better illustration of this than a candle. When you use one candle to light another, the original candle remains bright. Its light is not diminished...