Debbie finally arrived in Israel yesterday, after ten years of longing. She has been corresponding with me for a little over a year, and the first thing she did was to show up at my Wednesday afternoon weekly Emuna talk in English at the Chut Shel Chesed Yeshiva in Jerusalem. G-d willing, she'll be working in the mornings as an English teacher and spending her afternoons at a women's seminar for Baalot Teshuvas that our Outreach Program helped arrange for her in B'nai Brak.
Debbie wrote a message that we wants me to convey to all of you; it's really profound:
Rabbi Lazer, please tell your readers how I wanted to make Aliya ten years ago when I was 21. I also wanted to learn more about Judaism. I let my mother talk me out of both. During the last ten years, I wish I could say I've been treading water, but it's worse. I floated from job to job, had a miserable relationship with a person outside of our religion who I lived with for four years, and have sacrificed my own aspirations to keep mom happy. I was miserable and lost my self-esteem. You gave me the courage to pack up and do what I really want. Pass the message on to others - don't waste a decade of your own lives to keep others happy. Come to Israel today, and claim your Jewish birthright. Live your own lives. 31 is better late than never...
No, Debbie, don't cry over spilt milk. With Hashem's help, your Emuna will strengthen and you'll meet a good guy very soon. Your message is an important one.
The ingathering of the exiles is just one more sign of the wonderful times that await us in the rebuilt Jerusalem of Eretz Yisroel, amen.
Our weekly emuna lesson will be broadcast live today (Wednesday) at 5 PM from the Chut Shel Chessed Yeshiva, 13 Shmuel HaNavi Street, Jerusalem. This week's lesson is entitled, "Little Lanterns" and is open to the public, both men and women are welcome. You can see today's lesson live right here at 11 AM EDT, 4 PM in the UK, or 5 PM Israel time (we are now on the winter clock). Tomorrow night, G-d willing, we'll post a link to the lesson for all those who couldn't see it live.
Abujalad and I have been corresponding for over a year now. I met him through Tamar Yonah of Israel National Radio, when she forwarded a letter from him to me. Abujalad, an American-educated journalist, is now a senior editor of one of the most important Arab news agencies in the Gulf. He is a devout Sunni Moslem, by I have the feeling that he's an under-the-table Sufi. Here's his latest email:
Dear Rabbi Lazer, I was happy to receive your last email; I firmly believe that if the whole world connected with God in the way you call emuna – or what we call al-'imān bi-llahi – we could bring peace in a matter of hours. Your emuna and my al-'imān not only sound the same - they are the same thing. The sons of Ibrahim call out to the same God. I pray to Allah for your success, because your teachings are what the world needs so that we don’t blow one another off the face of the earth. Let us use our energies to call out to God and to see the good in one another, for as you say, everything is good. Once again, many thanks for the copy of The Garden of Emuna that you sent me via our London office. I read the book in one sitting on a flight from London to Abu Dhabi. With esteem and friendship, yours faithfully, Abujalad
The politicians say that there's no partner for peace. If we all made emuna a top priority in our lives, we'd not only have peace, but prosperity too. Emuna's not only the way, it's the only way.
The Wall Street Journal writes about the elections in Honduras earlier this week and says: "Unless something monumental happens in the Western Hemisphere in the next 31 days, the big regional story for 2009 will be how tiny Honduras managed to beat back the colonial aspirations of its most powerful neighbors and preserve its constitution."
Here's an amazing first-hand report from Carlos, one of our Beams readers in Honduras:
Shalom Rabbi!
Yesterday was elections day, everything was so great, we didn’t face any big problems, no bombs, no gun shots, no nothing, I believe only a few smalls communist protesters clash with the police, but nothing big. The conservative party wins, I’m so happy for that. I want to say thanks to HaShem, for helping us, and thanks you Rabbi for your blessing and encouragement during the dangerous times. Shalom from Carlos in Tegucigalpa
Carlos is one of our growing number of Noahide friends in Honduras. I'm sure that the power of their emuna is what defeated Chavez, Zelaya, and all the other tyrannical gangsters. Mazal Tov, Honduras! Emuna is the key not only to your success, but to the success of the whole world.
If you feel down for some reason, watch the following 3-minute clip. It will pick you up. My gift to you today is a 3-word saying that you must tell yourself as soon as you sense the slightest bit of sadness or depression: Hashem Loves Me. It's true, and it kills the evil inclination. Enjoy.
You can obtain the Hashem Loves Me CD and many more Rav Arush/Brody titles at the Breslev Israel Online Store. For Chanukah, send the people you love Emuna books and CDs.
A group of friends once made a trip together. On the way to their destination, they saw someone standing with a backpack on a desert crossroads. Seven days later, on their way home, they encountered the same person with the backpack standing on the same desert crossroads in the hot sun. The group of friends asked the backpacker, "Why are you standing here?"
"I want to go to Jerusalem," responded the backpacker. "I'm waiting for a ride."
"How long have you been waiting?" they asked.
"More than a week," he answered.
They laughed. "Jerusalem's only a two-day walk from here. If you'd have started walking, you could have been there and back four times already!"
Many of us want to change, yet we expect it to happen automatically, with no effort on our part. Life doesn't work that way. An old Hebrew expression says, "Even a journey of a thousand kilometers begins with a first step."
Continue reading Start Walking in this week's issue of Breslev Israel web magazine.
Yours truly answers a young lady's question about Anger, Talent, and Recognition. Also, after a young man sought my advice on a marital problem, he asked another rabbi who gave him very different advice. Read about it in Get Tough, or Not?
The Melitzer Rebbetzen gives a delightful Historical Overview of Chanukah, which is only twelve days away. Rebbetzen Siegelbaum, esteemed Dean of Midreshet Beerot Bat Ayin for women, beautifully elaborates on this week's Torah portion Vayishlach in Hashem's DNA.
Also in this week's issue, David Fink talks about the bad habits we acquire from our neighbors in Tefilla and Tequila. Rivka Levy talks about life in Israel in Funny, No Money. Alice Jonsson tells about Revelations of Godliness. Frederick Betesh tells about his kidney adventure in One in a Million. For Breslev Kids, Rebecca Shapiro has part 6 of David the Shepherd Boy.
You can now pick up 20-piece sets of our Emuna CDs in English at really low prices at the Breslev Israel Online Store.
Have a wonderful week, with blessings of success in everything you do!
Over the course of the past few months, Rabbi Shalom Arush and I have been speaking extensively about the power of gratitude. It may sound incredible to those who are far from emuna, but learning to say thank you to Hashem has the power of nullifying the harshest decree, even a terminal disease, Heaven forbid. You can hear all about it in our recently released CDs, Learn to Say Thank You and Stop Crying, both of which are circulating in Israel and abroad like wildfire.
Goldie from Montreal, a longtime Beams reader and friend, sent us an amazing link where clinical research proves that giving thanks promotes health and happiness. We don't need the research, because Rebbe Nachman taught us the secret of gratitude over 200 years ago. By the way, that's what Chanukah and the month of Kislev are all about - learning to say "Thank You" to Hashem. Gratitude is a virtual lifesaver.