"The soul of man is a lamp of G-d". Ki ner Hashem nishmas odom

"The soul of man is a lamp of G-d."

Like the candle, man is made up of different elements.
The candle's wick, flame, and oil resemble the body, soul, and their spiritual vitality.

The soul, like the flame, blazes with yearning. It burns brightly within, striving for holiness. It fiercely desires to tear itself free from physical reality and unite with its Source.
Yet, like the flame of the candle, the soul falls back, returning to illuminate the world and leave its mark on physical reality. For only as it exists within a human being can the soul accomplish its purpose of descent.

The body is likened to the wick of the candle.
The body houses the soul.

The soul can only fulfill its purpose through the body's senses; it can only understand with the body's mind, and it can only fulfill G-d's commandments with the body's limbs.
It is the body that provides the means and opportunity for the soul's relationship with creation.

The Torah, like the oil of the lamp, is the source for spiritual enlightenment, providing the direction for a meaningful life. Pure and clear, like the oil, the Torah and its mitzvot direct us to our ultimate purpose, permeating humanity and creation with a brighter goodness and truer perspective, in harmony with the will of our Creator.

Praying with a MINYAN

Prayer, the service of the heart, is one of the many ways that love of G‑d is expressed.

Although one may pray in private, praying in a synagogue with a congregation has always traditionally been preferable.

When ten men pray together, constituting a minyan, the Divine Presence rests on them. The prayer of a minyan is considered more effective than private prayer, because no interceding angels are needed to raise the prayer to G‑d. Rather, the prayers are accepted immediately.

G‑d never rejects the prayers of a congregation. Sometimes, a person's concentration and intention may be imperfect but if he prays with a congregation, his prayers will be heard. And as we all probably do not have perfect concentration when we pray, it is all the more important that we pray with a minyan. It is said that in the merit of praying with a minyan, one will make a living more easily and be blessed with the fruits of his labor. In fact, even if praying with a minyan causes one financial loss, G‑d will repay him by granting him extra success.

In addition, when praying with a minyan, one is able to say and/or hear many prayers that are only recited with a minyan, like the Kaddish, the repetition of the Amidah and the Torah reading.

Praying with a minyan is also said to be beneficial for long life.

The "Miser's" three legal court cases.

The townspeople of Berditchev were surprised when R' Levi Yitzchok attended the funeral of the rich miser. "Everyone took him to be a miser", explained R' Levi Yitzchok, "but I have discovered his true character through three legal cases which I had been called upon to decide."

"The first case concerned a wine merchant who went into shock when he discovered that he lost an enormous amount of money. He was not able to be revived until finally a man came forward and handed him the missing money that he said he had found. However, not long after, another man came forward, claiming that really it was he that had found the lost money, yet he had kept it until now. When he heard about the person who had given away an enormous amount of money to save the life of a stranger, he felt regret and now wanted to return the money to the generous donor.

The first man, however, didn't want to give up his mitzva of saving a person's life. They came to settle the matter halachically, and I ruled that the first man, whose funeral we just attended, was not required to accept the money."

"The second time I met him was when a poor man had fabricated a story to his wife and told her that while he was going to a distant town to 'strike it rich', he had arranged that she should go to our rich man here every week for a 'salary', so to speak.

"She innocently went and asked for what she thought was her due, and the rich man, understanding the situation, paid her for many months. When the husband returned, he insisted on repaying his benefactor. The "miser", however, replied that his business was solely with the wife, and he had nothing to do with the husband. Again, he was entitled to keep his mitzva.

"And the third time I met him was after a wealthy man who had gone bankrupt asked this rich man for a loan. 'Who will be your guarantor?' this rich man asked.

"'My only guarantor is G-d,' he replied. Our rich miser here said, "He is a Guarantor I can really trust!"

"When the day arrived for the man to repay his loan, the man said. 'You owe me nothing,' 'Your Guarantor already paid me.

" Once again, He was not required to accept repayment of his loan.

So, you see, my friends, he was no miser. On the contrary, he was a great and saintly person who practiced the giving of charity on the highest level - that of giving quietly, with no public acknowledgment. And he is now standing before the Heavenly Court, accompanied by his mitzvot, which are testifying to his saintliness before that Highest Court."

"Hashem is the refiner and purifier of silver"

In the Book of Prophets, Malachi, there is a verse which says: "He, [Gd], will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

A woman once wanted to understand how this statement applied to the character and nature of G-d, and went to find out more about the process of refining silver and see if perhaps she would then understand this verse better.

Without disclosing her reason of interest, she made an appointment with a silversmith to watch him work.
As she watched the silversmith work, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames were the hottest, so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about G-d holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse, that "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver".

She asked the silversmith if he had to sit in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

"And how do you know when the silver is fully refined ?" she asked the silversmith.
"Oh, that's easy", he answered with a smile, "when I see my image in it."

If you are ever feeling the heat of the fire, remember that you are in G-d's hand, He has His eye on you, and He will keep holding you and watching you until He sees His image in you.

Learn Torah

Once, there were two sisters. One married a rich man; the other's husband was poor. Ironically though, it was the wealthy sister who was the unhappy one. Her sister couldn't understand why she should be so miserable. "He supports you handsomely. He buys you beautiful clothes and expensive jewelry. Just look at your diamonds! Why are you so unhappy?"

Replied the wealthy sister, "Actually, I am jealous of you, my sister. You have a wonderful, loving relationship with your husband. Yes, my husband does buy me expensive things. It is true that he spends money on me. But your husband spends time with you, and mine does not."

We just celebrated Shavuout, the Season of the Giving of the Torah. We adorn our Torahs with exquisite velvet mantles, precious silver crowns, breastplates, bells and pointers, but all these expensive ornaments don't come close to spending time with the Torah. And the Torah is unhappy and cries out, "Thanks for the silver, thanks for the décor, but what I really want is you! I want your time, your mind. I want you!"

So on Shavuot we are reminded that we need to open the book and spend some quality time, meaningful study time, with the Torah.

Practically speaking, this is the season to commit oneself to a regular time for Torah study. Wherever we are in our Jewish education, it must be ongoing. We must have fixed times for learning Torah and those times should be non-negotiable.

Hopefully, this Shavuot was not only the Season of the Giving of the Torah for us, which was G-d's job, but was also the Season of Receiving the Torah - which is our job.

Shavuos; G-d offers the Torah to other nations.

The day drew near when G-d desired to give the Torah to His chosen people, the children of Israel. He saw now that they were cleansed of the impurities that had filled their lives in the slavery of Egypt.

But G-d decided that it would only be fair to first offer the Torah to the other nations of the earth before offering it to the children of Israel. And so, He first approached the descendants of Esau and offered them the Torah with these inviting words:

"Sons of Esau, I bring you a gift - My holy Torah. Accept it and ye shall be blessed with long life, you and your children also."

"What is written in Your Torah?" they questioned.

"It is written in My Torah: `You shall not murder!' "

"But that is ridiculous!" they protested.

"We are soldiers, men of war who live by the sword! How do you expect us to accept a Torah that preaches against our chosen way of life? No, thank you. Your Torah is no use to us at all."

G-d then took the Torah to the children of Ishmael and offered it to them:

"Children of Ishmael, accept the Torah which I bring you this day, and if you keep its commandments you shall be blessed with all good!"

"What does Your Torah demand of us?" the Ishmaelites asked cautiously.

"My Torah says 'You shall not steal!' " replied the Almighty.

"That wouldn't suit us at all," replied the sons of Ishmael. "We are men of commerce, and such a law would interfere with our business transactions. We are sorry, but we have no use for Your Torah."

The next people that G-d approached were the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon and all the people of Canaan, to whom He said:

"I bring you a most precious gift - My Torah. Take it and you shall all be blessed with many days upon your land!"

The Canaanites spoke up, saying: "First tell us what is written in Your Torah."

"In My Torah it is written: 'You shall have fair scales, correct weights, and give full measure,' " replied the Almighty.

"We do not want to accept Your Torah which is so finicky about such matters. Your Torah is not for us!" answered the Canaanites emphatically.

And thus, after G-d had taken the Torah to all the other nations of the world who lacked sufficient understanding to estimate its worth, He went to the children of Israel. He was confident that His chosen people would appreciate the Torah and accept it eagerly.

And we did.

"Love your fellow as yourself"

"Love your fellow as yourself", says the Torah.

"This is a major principle of the Torah", said Rabbi Akiva.

And The Baal Shem tov taught us that, "A soul enters this world for seventy or eighty years just to do a favor for another".

We, the Jewish People, are a single soul radiating into many bodies, bonding us as one.

A healthy body is one where every part works in harmony. A healthy Jewish people is one big, caring family where each individual loves the other as his or her own self. Where one Jew faces rough times and the others hold his hands. Where one meets good fortune and all of us celebrate. Where no one is labeled or alienated for his or her beliefs, behaviors or background. Where each runs to do an act of kindness for the other.

Love for those closest to home nurtures love for the extended family of humanity, and from there, love for all G‑d's creatures. But if love doesn't start at home, from where will it come?

Practically speaking…

1) Start each morning by saying, "I accept upon myself the mitzvah to love my fellow Jew as myself."

2) Follow Hillel's golden rule: "If you wouldn't like it done to you, don't do it to the other guy."

3) Speak only good about fellow Jews. Don't even listen to a bad word, unless some real benefit will come through your conversation.

4) Always be on the lookout for opportunities to do another Jew a favor.

5) Invite other Jews to share in the most precious thing we have, our Torah and mitzvahs.

R' Akiva / Respect.

We are now in the Omer mourning period. We are mourning for the students of Rabbi Akiva who perished at this time because they did not have enough respect one for another.

What's the big deal about respect?
Let's think about it for a minute.

Everyone deserves respect. We all have merit in this world. We all have something to share and to teach from our life's experiences.

Without respect, many negative things may happen between two people. They might not listen to one another. They might not speak to one another. They might not even look at one another. They might not think about one another. They might not help one another. They might even do harm to one another.

Think of what the world would be like if we gave more respect to even one person. We learn, in fact, that in the time of Rabbi Akiva, there was hope for the imminent coming of Moshiach. What can we do now to bring Moshiach in our time? Perhaps we can begin with more respect.

We can start by focusing on a single person. We can greet him with a smile. We can ask how he is doing. We can ask for his opinions and advice. We can thank him for the good he has done. We can recognize his special interests and abilities. We can humbly say we are sorry for not giving him more of our attention.

We can encourage others to give us more respect, too. We don't have to be treated like doormats. We can ask others about how we can gain more of their respect. We can patiently spend time with people to iron out differences.

It takes time to show more respect. It is an ongoing process, at times even a soul-searching process; definitely not something that happens overnight. Thus, we have this mourning period of the Omer to dwell on this.

Like Rabbi Akiva's students, we can study Torah with someone new and we can become friends. "Hillel says: Be of the disciplines of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures, and drawing them near to the Torah" (Ethics 1:12).

49 days to refine ourselves

The Jews who left Egypt were so excited about the prospect of receiving the Torah that they counted down the days until it would happen. We relive this experience each year through counting the Omer, the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot, when we received the Torah.

The Hebrew word for counting is "sefirah". Rearranging those letters can spell the word "sapir", which means "a shining sapphire". On each day leading up to the giving of the Torah, the Jews took time to refine themselves, to make their characters shine. And each year we do the same. From Passover until Shavuot we engage in a forty-nine day process of self-refinement.

Anyone who has tried to work through a character flaw will concede that it is very difficult. The famous scholar Rabbi Yisroel Salanter once commented that it is easier to learn through the entire Talmud than it is to change one ugly characteristic!

G‑d Himself acknowledges this challenge. The Torah instructs us to count forty-nine days. "And you should count for yourselves.....seven weeks," begins the verse, and then the next verse concludes, "...count fifty days". Well, are we counting 49 days or 50 days to Shavuot?

Says G-d to us, "You count 49 steps, you work hard, challenge yourself to go beyond your comfort zone and to weed out those destructive behaviors. And then, [says G‑d,] I will give you a gift; I will do the finishing touches, I will give you the 50th step; the holiday of Shavout", which is on the fiftieth day.

G-d is waiting to help us work through our challenges and He is most inspired to help those of us who take the grueling work of self-refinement seriously. Do your part, and He will do His!

Be holy!

"You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your G-d, am holy."

Can we, creatures of habit bound by natural limits, achieve true transcendence? Or are we ultimately trapped by our own finite boundaries, unable to free ourselves from our very own margins, no more than a leopard can change its spots or a tiger its stripes?

“You shall be holy.” Goodness, virtue and love, as great as they may be, are still part of the system, and thus, bound by its rules, boundaries and parameters. Holiness, by contrast, is more than human. Becoming holy means that your virtue is not only on your terms and your convenience, but going beyond yourself in helping another even when it’s not convenient for you.

By sanctifying our material lives, we transform the confined boundaries of existence into a form of higher energy.

Every moment in our lives we have the choice – which part of ourselves will control our lives? To serve our own needs [even healthy ones] or to serve a higher purpose, by sanctifying life.

In practical terms, being holy means going out of our comfort zone and conventional behavior.

As long as our behavior is defined by the parameters of our natural inclinations and acquired routines, then we remain trapped by the very structure we are following. When we go beyond our comfort zones and do something unexpected, we allow our Divine souls to emerge, freeing us of the shackles of nature’s constraints. In turn, this allows us to sanctify our existence:

So don’t just be good, be holy. Don’t just be human, be Divine.

Omer/ Counting/Time

Don't we all wish we had more time? We'd love to study Torah, spend quality time with our loved ones, and pursue hobbies and dreams which we have always postponed -- but between the duties of work and chores, there seems to be nary an extra moment to devote to these important endeavors.

We are currently in the midst of the seven-week Omer counting period. The mitzvah which dominates these days involves counting time; or, in other words, making time count.

A peek at the history of leisure time will give us some much needed perspective in the area of time management. What are we doing with all the extra time afforded to us by modern technology? To answer this question, most of us need only to look in the direction of some of the other "conveniences" and distractions provided by the very same sciences.

Maimonides writes (Laws of Kings 12:4): "The sages and prophets longed for the Messianic Era... only in order to be free to study Torah and its wisdom; with no oppressor or deterrence."

As the era of Redemption approaches ever nearer, we are experiencing a taste of this awesome possibility. And as time becomes more plentiful, knowledge has also become more accessible by quantum leaps. In times past, the average person needed to trudge to a library or synagogue for study texts; now it is within the means of the average consumer to own a modest personal library and, for everyone, the internet offers so many opportunities to broaden horizons, with hundreds of thousands of pages of Torah knowledge and so many audio classes as well.

As we "count time" this Omer period, let us resolve to make more of our time. The time is there -- the question is only how we will choose to use it.

Blessing on Fruit Trees

Our Sages composed a blessing to recite when one sees fruit trees in bloom. This is said once a year, and preferably in the Hebrew month of Nissan.

"Blessed are You, G-d, our G-d, King of the Universe, Who left nothing lacking in His world, and who created in it good creations and (specifically) good trees for human beings to enjoy (benefit from)."

This blessing should be said while standing next to a fruit tree in blossom and it should be said with a sense of awe and appreciation of G-d and His Creations.

Our sages have assigned special blessings when they felt that we ought to realize and acknowledge a special level of appreciation to G-d.

And to appreciate trees.

Trees put oxygen back into the air we breathe. Trees provide shade and shelter, homes for birds and animals, prevent soil erosion, and eventually supply us with lumber and paper.

During the month of Nissan, take a walk in search of flowering fruit trees and recite the special blessing.

The blessing, in essence, makes the following statement: I acknowledge that G-d has gone "beyond the call of duty" with this fruit tree. If all that this tree would give me is a delicious fruit to eat, it would be more than worthy of having been created. But before the fruit is ready for the picking - even before it has started to grow - this tree gives us all a beautiful visual and smelling display. Before my sense of taste is given its treat, my eyes and nose enjoy part of G-d's world.

This sentiment is echoed in the words of the blessing. Let's say it with feelings of spiritual and physical joy.