Former First Lady, “Lady Bird” Johnson has passed away.
Chassidus teaches everything we encounter in life is meant to be a lesson to us.
Why do we pay so much attention when famous people die? What is it about the former first lady that draws so much attention?
Mark called in and suggested that Lady Bird’s greatness (besides putting up with President Johnson for so many years) was that she was a compassionate, beautiful person who exuded such kindness. But what catches our attention when she dies is that it makes you ask, “Where was I when she was First Lady”?
In torah and in Jewish tradition a lot of attention is paid to the passing of great people because it is at the end of life when we realize that all of life eventually boils down to what’s left of us after we’re gone.
Every time someone great passes away we should take to heart that what’s going to be left of us is only the impact we’ve had on the world, the good that we’ve done. Because it doesn’t matter how much money we’ve made, after all you can’t take it with you. All that’s left is your legacy.
Lady Bird’s legacy is, as Mark told us, was kindness. We must all get in on the performance of kindness because when our time comes that’s all that will be left of us.
We went on to discuss the Torah’s opinion of the pet- spay neuter bill.
Judaism is notorious for not proselytizing at all. The reason is that we have a profound respect for every creation. Jewish tradition maintains that every creation was created by G-d exactly the way He wants it to be, in exactly the right country, family and religion. We don’t like to tamper with that.
But besides the fact that spaying or neutering an animal is tampering with G-d’s creation there is also a G-d given universal law against being cruel to animals. Whether that includes spaying in any situation is debatable but certainly we cannot spay or neuter animals just on whim! This was our conclusion on the show.
We had some special guests, the counselors of our Gan Israel Day Camp.
Benny presented “My G-d, My G-d” by Yossele Rosenblatt. Wow! To sample or purchase Yossele Rosenblatt music click here.
Well, we’ll see ya’ next week,
Till then, Shalom!
Wednesday July 11, 2007
Wednesday July 4, 2007
Happy 4th of July!
There is no doubt in my mind that US is the greatest blessing that G-d has granted this world. Especially for the Jewish people who’ve suffered tzaros in every place we’ve lived. So to have a country like the US where every man is free to serve G-d in his own way is an incredible gift.
However, the question is, are we as Americans giving due credit where credit is due? Is it appropriate to separate G-d from state?
Everybody talks about the separation of church and state which is fine. You have to separate church and state because no single faith should rule a population of so many diverse faiths. But you can’t separate G-d from state. (You can’t separate G-d from anything!) We must recognize and give thanks and credit to the Creator of this country.
We must also continue to focus on that Creator and remember that if He created this world, which is us, it most surely must have been for Creator’s purpose not for the created.
This purpose preceded the world’s creation. If the purpose did not precede us, if we were created and then a purpose was tacked on, that would leave us with the overwhelming question of why did we happen in the first place? Nay! As I said our G-d given purpose preceded us and we must constantly focus on His purpose.
So if G-d created a US in the time and place that He did it must fit into the original plan of the Creator. So the question now becomes why does the US exist, what role does it play in (what Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof calls the) “Vast Eternal Plan”?
The notion that the US is an evil, terrible country is ludicrous. Truly, we’re not perfect but compared to what happened under other rulers one must be crazy not to appreciate what we have. One poignant example:
Do you think the yellow star that Jews had to wear under German rule was an original Nazi idea? It wasn’t at all. It dates way, way back. In 1555 Pope Paul IV made Jews wear yellow hats. In 1321 Henry II of Castile decreed that Jews wear yellow badges. Sometime around 1315 Jews in Granada were forced to wear the yellow badge. Around 1090 under the Muslim Abaset Caliph all “non-believers” were forced to wear yellow hats, not only the Jews. The Caliph also forbade all non-believing women from wearing matching shoes. You see, the Nazis weren’t original at all. So many governments engaged in this insanity called oppression for the sake of oppression.
Just no drive this point home, when was the last time a people were made to wear an identifying mark to express that they were of a different faith. The answer: in 2001 under Taliban rule in Afghanistan the Hindu had to where yellow badges!
Regimes throughout history have forced segregation so for us not to appreciate it and be grateful every minute of our live for is just crazy. We owe a tromendous debt of gratitude to the Founding Fathers, the man and women of the military, our ancestors who got us here and, of course to G-d.
What about America's beating up on "weaker" coutries? There has always been war. We try to avoid it but this is the sad reality, the unfortunate situation of our world. Going to war is not a sign of an evil empire. The Prophets promised a world without war and we strive for a world at peace but until then we must never, ever forget how fortunate we are to live in the United States of America.
Benny’s Music Clip of the Week was Adon Olam from Avraham Fried’s Our Father, Our King. To purchase the album click here.
Till next week,
Shalom!
There is no doubt in my mind that US is the greatest blessing that G-d has granted this world. Especially for the Jewish people who’ve suffered tzaros in every place we’ve lived. So to have a country like the US where every man is free to serve G-d in his own way is an incredible gift.
However, the question is, are we as Americans giving due credit where credit is due? Is it appropriate to separate G-d from state?Everybody talks about the separation of church and state which is fine. You have to separate church and state because no single faith should rule a population of so many diverse faiths. But you can’t separate G-d from state. (You can’t separate G-d from anything!) We must recognize and give thanks and credit to the Creator of this country.
We must also continue to focus on that Creator and remember that if He created this world, which is us, it most surely must have been for Creator’s purpose not for the created.
This purpose preceded the world’s creation. If the purpose did not precede us, if we were created and then a purpose was tacked on, that would leave us with the overwhelming question of why did we happen in the first place? Nay! As I said our G-d given purpose preceded us and we must constantly focus on His purpose.
So if G-d created a US in the time and place that He did it must fit into the original plan of the Creator. So the question now becomes why does the US exist, what role does it play in (what Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof calls the) “Vast Eternal Plan”?
The notion that the US is an evil, terrible country is ludicrous. Truly, we’re not perfect but compared to what happened under other rulers one must be crazy not to appreciate what we have. One poignant example:
Do you think the yellow star that Jews had to wear under German rule was an original Nazi idea? It wasn’t at all. It dates way, way back. In 1555 Pope Paul IV made Jews wear yellow hats. In 1321 Henry II of Castile decreed that Jews wear yellow badges. Sometime around 1315 Jews in Granada were forced to wear the yellow badge. Around 1090 under the Muslim Abaset Caliph all “non-believers” were forced to wear yellow hats, not only the Jews. The Caliph also forbade all non-believing women from wearing matching shoes. You see, the Nazis weren’t original at all. So many governments engaged in this insanity called oppression for the sake of oppression.Just no drive this point home, when was the last time a people were made to wear an identifying mark to express that they were of a different faith. The answer: in 2001 under Taliban rule in Afghanistan the Hindu had to where yellow badges!
Regimes throughout history have forced segregation so for us not to appreciate it and be grateful every minute of our live for is just crazy. We owe a tromendous debt of gratitude to the Founding Fathers, the man and women of the military, our ancestors who got us here and, of course to G-d.
What about America's beating up on "weaker" coutries? There has always been war. We try to avoid it but this is the sad reality, the unfortunate situation of our world. Going to war is not a sign of an evil empire. The Prophets promised a world without war and we strive for a world at peace but until then we must never, ever forget how fortunate we are to live in the United States of America.
Benny’s Music Clip of the Week was Adon Olam from Avraham Fried’s Our Father, Our King. To purchase the album click here.
Till next week,
Shalom!
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