Just an administrative note...

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by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

(Breitbart) Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and Allahahaha's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

What does Iran have up it's sleeve? Should we be afraid???

Rabbi Yitzchok declared: In the year when HaMelech HaMoshiach will come, all the gentile nations will challenge one another. The King of Iran will challenge an Arab king and the Arab king will go to Aram (another edition says "to Edom") for advice. The King of Iran will then destroy the entire world. All the nations of the world will panic and become frightened, falling on their faces, suffering contractions like labor pains. The Jews will also panic and become frightened, asking, "Where will we go? Where will we go?" Yalkut Shimoni, Yishayahu Remez 499

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

Some years ago in the States we had a neighbor who were a middle-aged Israeli couple. Not particularly religiously observant, they attended shul on Shabbat and were an active part of the community. I asked them once about a fancy impressionalistic painting on their wall. The father pointed to it and said, "it was painted by my 10 year old daughter, who almost wasn't here!".

He told me the following story..."When my wife became pregnant, she was in her late 30's so the doctor was 'looking out' for 'problems'. After the first ultra-sound, he said "uh oh". He said there might be a problem, we'd wait another month to see. A month later we arrived nervously and had another ultra-sound. The doctor looked at it carefully and declared the fetus to be deformed. He recommended an immediate abortion as the fetus would 'probably not' survive for long after birth.

We went home and thought about it, and upon return told the doctor that we're Jews and we won't do that. Thought we're not particularly religious, we do know that life and death is in Hashem's hands. Who are we to decide to kill this fetus? The doctor responded, 'well, if you're not going to take my advice I can't treat you.' He referred us on to a high-risk obstetrician.

We went to the high-risk doctor, who repeated the tests and made the same declaration. Again we told him that unless there was a risk to my wife's life we would not kill this fetus. He said fine, but it was clear from the ultra-sound that the baby probably would only survive a few days after birth, at best.

At this point I got a letter from my insurance company. Because two doctors had recommended an abortion, they would not cover the cost of the high-risk obstetrician, or any obstetrician, delivering the pregnancy. The high-risk obstetrician's billing manager called up and told me, 'I'm sorry, we don't work for free. The doctor cannot continue care and do the delivery unless you pay in advance.' The fee was over $100,000.

So now we faced the question, kill the fetus or lose our house, retirement accounts, savings, etc. Tear filled and stressed from the nightmare pressure put upon us, my wife almost went into premature labor. However, we decided we simply would not give in, and as my wife felt a kick from the paper she clearly said she would not kill her baby.

We sold everything, borrowed from friends, cashed in every account...and just barely raised the money in time. We went to the hospital for an induced controlled birth, with a neonatal ICU team standing by on the side of the delivery room. A surprisingly normal labor occurred. The baby started to come and the neonatal care team stepped forward to be ready to grab the baby and immediately begin life saving treatment...

The baby was born. Girl or boy, we didn't know as the neonatal team grabbed the infant, placed it in an incubator and rushed from the room. We waited with baited breath for word on our baby as my wife finished contractions and the after birth process. My wife as exhausted and I was terrified.

The neonatal doctor came in and called me over. I squeezed my wife's hand and walked out the door to hear the dreaded news about our baby. Was our baby still alive? Would it have hours to live or days to live? Would it suffer? Would it know we were there for it?

The doctor looked at me and said, "your daughter is fine." A daughter! But wait, fine? Meaning she's holding her own for the moment? For how long, what's the diagnosis? "Umm, no, she's perfectly normal. There's nothing wrong. She has an APGAR of 8. I don't understand it, it was clear from the ultra-sound, but perhaps there was some other tissue or fluid creating shadows or echos. Anyway, come see her, she's an average newborn."

I gripped the wall to keep from falling as I went to see and hold my newborn perfectly healthy daughter...

And as you can see, not only is she a normal 10 year old, but she's very gifted! Baruch Hashem!

Doctors are authorized to heal. Yet they do make decisions of convenience. Further, crazy legal systems that have allowed lawsuit's for things like WRONGFUL LIFE (a child born with a birth defect not detected) have resulted in doctors trying to help parents not be burdened with 'imperfect' children. The doctors are not always right.

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

Oy dear friends, sometimes the battle seems endless. Yet, we do what we can and trust Hashem to help...

A Noachide reader, who is Indian in Asia wrote (edited)...

I wrote to Chabad.org regarding their current article (saying Yoga is ok), questioning from my background how they could say this. "Please tell me if yoga is kosher and whether the Rebbe
supported it. As an Indian I know it is based on Hindu deities.

I received this reply...

"I see no reason not to use yoga techniques for relaxation and health. When it becomes a spiritual path for Jew, then something is very wrong. --Rabbi Tzvi Freeman"

Rabbi Freeman may see no reason, but we do. Later this week (or next), we will present multiple statements from the Rebbe that it is prohibited. FURTHER, EVERY yoga system (including the supposed kosher models) discusses "energy", "focus", and "meditation". They are NEVER just about stretch and posture.

Let's speak of posture for the moment. In our last article we presented a picture of Mr. Audi Gozlan from Kabbalah Yoga, sitting in Chabad clothes in the classic yoga sitting position, with arms outstretch, hands curled and thumb and forefinger in a circle.

Reb Gutman will be presenting a detailed article on this specific point later this week (G-d willing). But let me state it in brief... Reb Gutman heard _direct_ from a senior Hindu guru (a supposed reincarnation of a Hindu deity!) that there is a specific Hindu religious reason for holding one's hands in that thumb-to-forefinger(s) circular position.

Any time you see ANYONE in a seated yoga posture with their hands in that position, they are practicing a Hindu spiritual energy direction technique. Straight clear direct AVODA ZARAH.

Moments before I wrote those, a commentor "Chassidic Yogi" (kind of like oilwater) wrote, "Shemor Nafshecha (safeguard your physical health) (Torah) ...WHEN THE MIND BECOMES...IT WILL ...GO BEYOND THE NORMAL MUNDANE AWARENESS INTO THE STATE REFERRED TO AS MEDITATION...When you meditate, it is best to be facing ... take advantage of the magnetic currents of the earth...STRAIGHT...ALLOWS THE ENERGY TO MOVE UP THE...TRIANGULAR...HELP TO CONTAIN THE ENERGY."

NOT JUDAISM. NOT TORAH. NOT KOSHER No question. Yes, there is wisdom in the East - but it's NOT our path. Just to be clear, this commentor was describing HOW different Yoga positions should be used to manipulate spiritual mind-body energy.

Anyone think pulling energy out of the earth and/or manipulating it through the body, and using it to push the mind into different consciousnesses is Jewish or kosher? Or pushing and manipulating bodily spiritual energy around the body and consciousness is Jewish or kosher?

[Yes, there are such things in Kabbalah. The key differences are the sources of the energy, NOT the blood/body/physical world but kedusha, holiness, mitzvot that draw and connect to G-dly energy, and the push/connection to strive to reach out the levels of G-dly consciousness and literally connect on higher levels to G-d, not to stretch human consciousness out to nothingness. For more information, consult your local mekubal. Not for the uninitiated, because the improper manipulation of energy, and the manipulation of the wrong energies is ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED and spiritually dangerous too boot!]

For more information, turns out we've practically written a small book on Yoga problems in the Jewish community. Here's our historical posts on the matter...

Makes Me Ill
Yoga is NOT KOSHER
It's YogaDance at Chabad
More Questions on Yoga
I Don't Feel Spiritual (Yoga)
Feedback
Energy Healing
What's Wrong with Yoga
The Rebbe on Meditation and Yoga
Yoga Questions
Yoga for Good, Don't Believe It!
Kosher Stretch
Yoga Redux
It Simply Isn't Kosher

Eastern Infiltration Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

...Jews don't let Jews do yoga.

by Reb Nati at Mystical Paths

Please daven for the Refuah Shalayma of Ariel Ilana bat Malka, a young mother of 3 children in critical condition... UPDATE: Chaya was added to her name, as she is in very critical condition.

AND

HaRav HaGaon the Rishon L'Tziyon Mordechai Eliyahu, shlita, who's returned to critical condition (during an extended hospitalization). Please daven for Mordechai Tzemach ben Mazal.

...May all the sick of Klal Yisroel have a Refuah Shalayma!

by Reb Gutman Locks at Mystical Paths

From the way he looked, I would not have thought that he would be so eager to put on tefillin. He was from Berkley, California, and, I must say, he looked it. He was very warm, outgoing, a loving guy, and as you can see from the picture, on the colorful side of things.

I put tefillin on him, had him say the prayers, and then sent him to the Kotel to pray for his family. He was really happy. He almost skipped as he hurried to the Kotel.

He came back a few minutes later, but he wasn’t smiling. “How come it didn’t work?” he wanted to know. “When I was here the last time, 25 years ago, I had the greatest experience of my life. I used to tell people about it all the time. Now… this time… nothing!” he said, with a frown. “I have thought about that experience all these years. I couldn’t wait to come back and have it again. But nothing! Nothing happened!”

I tried to explain, “Whenever you have such a spiritual experience like you had, it is a sign that you have come up to a higher spiritual level. But, the next time you come up to that same level you do not have a noticeable experience, because you have already been there. You are used to it. That higher level is now not higher for you. To have another experience like you had, you have to grow to an even higher level than where you were.” My explanation didn’t help at all.

I saw that he was saddened by what happened, or better yet, what didn’t happen, so I continued. “Look at how you have been living your life since you had that experience. You didn’t change at all. If you don’t follow what He showed you, then, how can you expect to have those kinds of experiences again?

He jumped a little when I spoke. Then he pointed a finger at me and said, “You are in the right place!” He meant that I had answered his question correctly, and he understood that I told him the truth.

Just last Shabbos, a girl asked me the same question about her visit to the Kotel. Spiritual life is more than having amazing experiences, although, I wish we would all have them every day. Some people are never blessed to have even one such experience in their entire lifetimes. But, if you are fortunate enough to have had one, then you better pay attention to what that experience showed you. The guy from Berkeley should have grabbed on to the truth that he saw and changed his life right away, but instead, he went right back to the same old lifestyle that he had been living. He should have come to the Kotel the other day eager to help put tefillin on others, instead of needing someone to help him put them on him.

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

There's a story told about the Chabad Chossid Reb Shmuel Munkus. He was at a farbrengen (chassidic gathering). Various appetizers were being brought in as l'chaims were passed around. After a while, he was asked to bring the next thing in. The next item in the kitchen was a large roast (actually a roast lung), a special treat. He arrived back at the table with this special treat, and laughed and danced around the table with it.

For a time, everyone played along wholeheartedly. But after a while they got annoyed with him already and started grabbing at him to get it, beginning to get downright violent. Finally, mouths watering they chased him around the room...he ran to the side and right before the grabbed him he dumped the roast into the spittoon - rendering it inedible.

(to cut the story short) Being very upset at the loss of this very special treat, they insisted he be punished. He agreed to submit to their judgement, and they gave him makot.

A few minutes later, the butcher rushed into the Beis Medrash, "yidden, yidden, don't eat the roast!!! It's not kosher!". He was glad to see that they hadn't, but didn't understand, why not?

Everyone turned to Reb Shmuel and demanded an explanation. How did he know the roast wasn't kosher? Was he a miracle worker? Did he have the chuzpah to do miracles right there in the Rebbe's Beis Medrash?

He explained, "Ever since my yechidas (personal meeting) with the Rebbe, he gave me a blessing and a program to overcome my physical desires. Yet when I brought in the roast, I felt my mouth watering and a strong desire for the roast. Then I saw everyone else reacting the same, practically getting violent just to get a piece of the roast. Seeing my own and everyone's animal soul come alive at the sight of the roast, I knew something had to be wrong."

Dear friends, take a look at the picture below. If you are a religious Jew, tell me how you feel about it. Then try to tell me this is kosher. Sometimes we need halacha, but sometimes all we need is our eyes.



I cannot imagine how COLIVE, a Chabad news and events site, could even put such a picture up.

Chabad House rabbi's and rebbitzen's, THIS is what you want in your Chabad House? THIS is what you want to bring yidden to?

I am disgusted.

by Reb Gutman Locks at Mystical Paths

How do you make something that is already beautiful, even more beautiful?

You decorate it with beautiful things. For instance, if you want to make a basket of first-fruits that you are bringing to the Temple in Jerusalem to give to the Kohenim (priests) more beautiful, you hang additional beautiful fruits from it. If it is a bride that you want to make even more beautiful, you dress her hair, put coloring on her face, and clothe her in a beautiful gown. If you want to make the Kotel even more beautiful, you place 150 young yeshiva boys in a circle in front of it at 3 o’clock in the morning, and you join them singing Chassidic melodies.

All remember the horrible terror attack on the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva over a year ago. Yet, the pain and memory fades with time for most of us...just a memory.

Naftali ben Gila Rachel was one of the young men shot who miraculously survived and began the long road to recovery after being shot multiple times and being considered too critical to survive.

We've reported before on this status and his miraculous recovery as he moved from critical to discharged from the hospital. However, discharged and ok are not the same thing. Today his family reports...

Naftali, the young man that was severly injured at Mercaz HaRav is undergoing leg surgery on Sunday Feb. 7, 2010. It would be greatly appreciated if Tehilim would be said for him. Please daven for Naftali ben Gila Rachel.

Thank you.

May he have a successful surgery, a complete recovery, regain full function, and have a life filled with many blessings!

** NOTE this is valid from February 3, 2010 through February 13, 2010. These notes have a tendency to get passed around, and back around, forever. Please include this addition so people know when this request expires. **

Well this is cool. Note, it's not confirmed as from an authoritative source. But cool even so...

by Reb Gutman Locks at Mystical Paths

It was Friday afternoon; he was a young American, visiting the Kotel for the first time. By the way he dressed and acted, I was sure that he would consent to putting on tefillin. I was usually very successful with this type of youth, but no matter what I would say, he would not agree.

I tried my assortment of tested approaches one after the other, but to no avail. No matter what I said, he refused. First, I tried reason. No luck! Emotion. He didn't budge! Humor? No, he was not going to give in no matter what. I was truly surprised. With years of experience in sizing up visitors, I could almost always tell an agreeable Jew, but it was as if he had made a promise to himself and he was not going to break it.

As I wrestled with him trying all the best arguments, an old man kept interrupting me, insisting on telling a story.

“A story? At a time like this?” I thought. “For sure the kid was going to slip away while this old man would go on with some tale,” but he insisted. I gently held on to the tip of the boy's sleeve to keep him from slipping away as the old man began. But as soon as he started, I could see there was no need. He wasn't going anywhere.

The story began, “Tomorrow is my anniversary. It will be forty-four years tomorrow that I was liberated from the death camp.” He spoke softly, almost casually. It took a moment or two to realize the depth from which he spoke. His English was perfect, which also seemed to diminish his authenticity, as if a thick Yiddish or European accent was necessary for the story to be true.

“There were 8,000 of us that went in there together, and I was one of thirty-five who survived. Only thirty-five of us….” He paused looking back into that darkness. “I weighed 88 pounds when I got out.”

“The day of the liberation, I found myself in the Camp museum. The room was filled with exquisite treasures stolen from Jews and displayed as propaganda trying to justify their hatred of the Jewish People. I found before me unbelievable wealth, abandoned by the fleeing murderers as the Allied armies advanced. I knew that the room would be bare, looted, by the morning, and I could take anything I wanted. Right before me there was a ring, a watch, and a pair of tefillin. You must understand that these were not ordinary jewelry, but they were taken from a very, very rich man. The ring alone was so costly that they said it was worth 34,000 days' labor.”[i]

“At first I picked up the ring, then the watch, but I was afraid that if I took either of them, people would think that I was a very rich man and they would hunt me down for my wealth, so instead I took the tefillin. I want you to know that when I put them on I felt like I grew two feet taller. I felt strong again and I have been putting them on every day since then, and the good L-rd has kept me healthy every day since then.”

He looked at the boy who by now was a soft puddle. He hugged the boy and kissed him, “Now, I want you to put on tefillin.” The boy merged into the old man's hands as he helped him to put on the tefillin. “And after you put on tefillin, I want you to come home with me for Shabbos dinner.”

The boy's eyes were wide open and soaking wet. He was sure that he was dreaming, as the fortunate survivor led him away towards a joyful dinner and a changed life.

(This following story happened in 1988, & is published in, There Is One.[I])

[i] By today's (1987) standard this is somewhere between one and two million dollars.

by Reb Gutman Locks and Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

In the past week we've received several emails about an article on Chabad.Org that basically says, "yoga is basically ok when it's just exercises". While we respect Chabad.Org and the author of the article, in this case we respectfully say DO A LITTLE RESEARCH...

- The physical aspects of almost any system are parve (okay if they are healthy) but in yoga their names and traditional associations are poison. Even religious Jews who study yoga, now have picked up such concepts as chakras, kundalini, prana yama (G-d help, as these are worse than poison - even for the non-Jew!).

One small example: Aish HaTorah (of all places) had a class on meditation. One student had what he called a beautiful vision. He told the teacher about the gorgeous blue light that he saw. The teacher told him to come talk to me (Reb Gutman Locks). The Hindus say that blue light in visions is the highest (The Blue Pearl), and both Yoga and Hindu practices strive for it. The Zohar Chadash says "it is the lowest color in visions and much ardent prayer must be exercised to avoid it."

I asked the student if he had learned meditation in India. No. Did he learn from someone who studied Indian ways. No Did he have any Indian books in his possession. No. Then he opened his siddur and he had drawn in it an "om" sign! "That's it" I told him. He took it out and the color never came back.

Even such a small thing like that is an antenna to pick up that spiritually corrupt stuff.

One of the "Kosher Yoga" systems had, up until last year, a huge "om" sign on the home page of his website (until I complained). He assures everyone that his Mystical Kosher Yoga (not the real name) is completely kosher, and even pulls out a letter from the Lubavitcher Rebbe (a letter at the beginning of which the Rebbe wrote this is a private matter specifically for addressing a particular mental illness - and public letters from the Rebbe on the topic specifically say it's completely prohibited) to back up his statement while showing a symbol of avoda zarah and teaching meditations.

One more story, I was teaching Jewish meditation one night and I saw a shade of that blue light come from and surround one of the students. I asked him those same questions; did he study in India and such and he answered no to all of them, but then he told me that the guy who originally taught him meditation had learned from a Hindu. The stuff is spiritual poison that can catch a Jew's soul and lead him into years of hell and worse, as my (Reb Gutman's) personal story shows.

There is nothing wrong with exercising, nothing wrong with stretching or relaxation exercises. While doing so one can meditate upon Jewish concepts, chassidus, Hashem, the Ein Sof, etc.

But as we've shown here previously on Mystical Paths, the "schools of yoga" that the "kosher yoga" teachers are from are clearly and heavily involved with avodah zarah. Yoga is steeped in Hindu concepts through and through. And by introducing religious Jews to Yoga, at the very least you're getting them interested in a topic that is, by nature, very damaging to a Jew. Does anyone believe that if someone enjoys a nice "kosher yoga" class in the Chabad house that they're not going to pick up that book on Chandrakanian Yoga when they see it on the front table at the bookstore in the mall?

As a religious Jew, tell me which one of these classes you'd attend or recommend...

- Jewish Buddhist Meditation, "gain Buddhist focus in a Jewish way!"
- Kosher Christian Prayer, "learn to pray to God like a holy roller!"
- Kabbalistic Islamic Submissivism, "kabbalah techniques for submitting to God like a good Muslim"

Dear friends, Yoga is not kosher. Don't open that door! If you want nice stretching relaxing exercises, try Pilates.

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

The politicians are shaking. Behind the scenes, the global leaders are consulting. No news has reached the public as the clueless politicos are faced with the results of their policies. Yet hints have made the front page...



Where? Why? What is suddenly happening?

(Guardian) Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that President Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran. The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait – and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations.

What is going on here? Where did this suddenly come from?

(PressTV Iran) Iran will deliver telling blow to global powers on Feb. 11. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the "global arrogance" on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Dear friends, the Iranians have been threatening for years and world leaders have been ignoring it for years. Why the sudden rush of anti-missile equipment to the Gulf??? (And when Obama sends the military, someone very seriously believes the situation is critical.)

Rabbi Yitzchok declared: In the year when HaMelech HaMoshiach will come, all the gentile nations will challenge one another. The King of Iran will challenge an Arab king and the Arab king will go to Aram (another edition says "to Edom") for advice. The King of Iran will then destroy the entire world. All the nations of the world will panic and become frightened, falling on their faces, suffering contractions like labor pains. The Jews will also panic and become frightened, asking, "Where will we go? Where will we go?"

[G-d will then reveal Himself, and] tell them: "My children, you need not fear. Everything which I did, I did for your sake. Why are you frightened?... The time for your redemption has come." "This ultimate redemption will not resemble the first redemption which was followed by aggravation and subjugation to other powers. After the ultimate redemption, there will be no aggravation and subjugation to other powers." Our Sages taught: When HaMelech HaMoshiach will come, he will stand on the roof of the Beis HaMikdash and call out to the Jews, "Humble ones, the time for your redemption has come." (Yalkut Shimoni, Yeshayahu Remez 499)

Note the Yalkut says these events happen in the YEAR Moshiach comes, not AFTER or WHEN Moshiach comes.

As the Lubavitcher Rebbe said in a sicha (Torah talk) where he quoted this Yalkut Shimoni, 'Everyone should realize that there is no reason to become frightened and we have the promise: "The time for your redemption has come." May we see Moshiach standing on the roof of the Beis HaMikdash and may he announce: "Moshiach is here."' (Sichos, Parshat Re'eh, 5750)

by Reb Nati at Mystical Paths

I met a man who asked, “Are you new here?” I crossed the street to speak with the tzaddik. As we talked he asked “Are you a chossid?” I responded, “Someday I hope just to reach the level of being a Jew.” He countered “I’m tired of that shtick, nu what are you, Breslev?”, I said “I hope to be”.

We talked and it was very friendly. I enjoy these kinds of encounters as they always give me a chance to encourage my brothers to draw closer to Hashem. I asked him "What is being a Chossid?". He gave me the classics description.

I asked, “Is it enough to wear a certain style of hat or to daven a certain nusach?”

I answered myself, “It’s not enough to be a baal l’vush or baal mitzvot or even baal limud. The mishna in avos says a chossid is one who goes beyond the letter of the Law. In all regards, not just in the length of his peyos. He grants forgivingness where the law does not require him to.”

As we continued he said “The litvak derek is a cold derek”. I thought about the derek of my litvish brothers for a moment. Ah, I thought, it is for the head and thus in his words a colder derek, as we know the head has to remain (emotionally) cooler than the body to function, He went on to describe himself as “A litvak yekah with a shtickel of a chossid”.

I realized that this is mamash the truth! We need to have cool heads, but what about the heart? It is a furnace. So chassidus is the derek of the heart, that we serve Hashem with all our hearts.

Of course, we need both. For in the Shema second perek we say twice daily, “You shall love Hashem with all your heart, with all your soul ‘mind, will, and emotions’ and with all your might ‘these two in unison”. For only when we bring achudus into ourselves will we be able to realize achudus in the Am and bring about the geulah.

But until then which do you choose? I asked him, “If there are two bowls of delicious homemade chicken soup on the table, both the exactly the same except that one is piping hot and the other ice cold, which is the tastier and which do you prefer? The hot soup or the cold soup?” He said "Nu what’s the kasha? I will always choose the hot soup!”

I said “Nu, my Rebbe makes a great hot bowl of soup! Why don't you come and try some?"

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

(Political satire.)

Hamas terrorist murdering scum Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has been assassinated. Word is this was done by the (Israeli) Mossad. (Of course, if the guy slipped and fell in the bathroom cutting himself with his razor, this would also be blamed on the Mossad.)

For those not aware of it, here is the response of our religious Jewish community in Israel...

- We did (not) drive through the streets honking our horns.
- We did (not) hand out candies to our children celebrating death.
- We did (not) hold a rabbinical sermon on the pleasure of the death of the enemy.
- We did (not) shoot our guns in the air (and accidentally kill someone).
- We did (not) wave flags celebrating the assassinating organization.
- We did (not) have a parade of armed community members prancing about.
- We did (not) hear calls for more of the same.
- We did (not) praise the value of martyrdom to our children.

Oh well, maybe next time.

(Photo: Palestinian children receiving sweets in celebration of a successful terrorist attack and death of innocents in Israel.)

by Reb Nati at Mystical Paths

(Thoughts on Parshat BeShalach...)

“And it happened that when Pharaoh sent out the people…” He, ‘Hashem’ brought them from the simple path to the roundabout way - “the difficult path”. This is an aspect of the burdens that we all carry and the different yissurim that we encounter. A person must take a few paths before coming to the Land of Israel.

The pasuk says “He led them in a different path,” in order to bring the ingathering of the exiles, “the sparks”. The Ari writes,(Pri Eitz Chaim sha’ar פ''ג ,ק''ש) in the kavonot for the pasuk from the Shemonei Esrei,… “Any place that even a single Jew was exiled to, even the farthest most distant place in the world…it was as is the whole nation was sent there”. Through this one Jew all the sparks in this place are redeemed and raised up.

This is the secret of why Am Israel is spread out even to the lowest and farthest places from holiness. Not only are Jews found today in the most remote places of the world (the mountains of South America, the islands of the South Pacific, the frozen plains of Alaska), they’re found in the most tumadic places (the ashrams of India, the alleyways of Thailand). Reb Noson of Breslev says “We see with our own eyes that the majority of these Jews are not even Benonim, almost all of them are not tzaddikim. They are very far from Hashem (…though even the worst, evil, wicked of all the Jews are full of mitzvot like pomegranate). How can it be that these Jews dafka are the ones that have to lift up these sparks?

In truth this is very deep. The main part of the golus is in being far from Eretz Israel and the Holy Temple, which is the epitome of the kedusha.

The main purpose for the exile is to redeem and lift up all those “people” that went astray. And when we speak of the exiles we are no longer speaking of the people but the most distant sparks that were sent into the deepest and darkest of the klipot.

We were sinning when were in Israel, so Hashem sent us out to fix ourselves. Reb Noson asks "how can this help, to send us from a place of holiness to a place of kilpah, it makes no sense. We were sinning so you send us away, how can there be any hope? Because if we sinned in a place of holiness then how can we fix ourselves in a place of kilpah. If the Yetzer HaRah overcame us in our place of our strength in the very source of holiness, where even the air is holy, how is it we will be able to overcome it in a place where even the air is tamei? It makes absolutely no sense. How is it that we could not serve Hashem in the holy land and now here wants us to do it from outside! How are we to overcome this from there, where there is no hope for us?”

(Shir HaShirim 6:5) “Turn your pleading eyes from Me lest I be tempted to bestow upon you holiness more than you can bear” Rashi says that “Hashem showed great, great love in the Beis HaMikdash. Hashem showed us so much love that we rebelled against Him”. When we are in the holiest place then the slightest pagam (defect) is very damaging. And this is how the Baal Hadavar got us to sin in Eretz Yisrael. Little by little while we were so close to Hashem, we were to close we could not see our growing defects to fix them.

After being scattered amongst the nations, living and serving in the tamei atmosphere of these lands, we can see ourselves and overcome our errors. We can feel the separation from Hashem. We can wake up and to start to return. "I’ll take away your heart of stone ‘your unfeeling heart ‘and give you a heart of flesh ‘and a feeling heart’" Specifically because of being outside of Israel in the depth of tumah, as soon as a person does the slightest good act or mitzvah, it is so so precious to Hashem.

A Jew who is far far away from Hashem on the streets of Brooklyn raises his whiskey bottle on Friday night and says "L’chaim Hashem" and gets drunk. He has performed a big elevation of sparks, from a depth other Jews can't reach, and Hashem shows him the biggest mercy.

Even though this person is far away and in the impurity, he took a smallest step towards Hashem, and from that little avoda that person did to come close to Hashem, and Hashem has mercy on him. So there is hope! This the answer for anyone who has fallen away. No matter how far they have fallen “I have done the worst and I feel that there is no hope for me”, no matter what the pagam, “What will be with me in the end?”, if one takes one little step back towards Hashem, Hashem has mercy and opens to path to teshuva.

And this is the entire secret of the golus of Israel, as well as the secret of our own personal failings. This is the main service of the golus. There are sparks that only the person distant from Hashem can raise up. To the great depths that a person has fallen he is then able to recover the sparks that fell from the earliest times. A number of holiest of sparks fell into the depths of the kelipah and most distant places (from holiness and physically). Certainly there is no one to enter and go into these places except chas v'shalom a person who has sinned. When this person takes a little step towards Hashem, these sparks immediately attach themselves to him and hitch a ride up. They are elevated to a new level and if this person has enough merit, he will carry them to the land of Israel to be gathered up by Hashem.

Whether an Israeli backpacker in South America, an IDF doctor in Haiti, or an assimilated Jew in New Mexico, one little step towards Hashem – even just saying “I’m a Jew!” can elevate the sparks and bring them towards Israel – and open the door to Rachamim and Teshuva…and Geulah.

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

“For I am G-d, your healer” – Parshat BeShalach

Reb Avraham the Doctor wasn’t really a doctor, but a G-d fearing, long bearded small town medic with no formal training. At a Chassidic farbrengen at which Reb Avraham was present, Rebbe Shmuel of Lubavitch remarked (commenting on the quality of medical care at his time), “I don’t think much of doctors. Concerning the vast majority of illnesses they know nothing at all. As for the little they do know, the medicines they dispense to heal one disease usually harms another of the body’s organs.”

“But you, Reb Avraham, I hold very highly. When someone comes to you for a cure, you know good and well that you have not the slightest idea of what’s going on. But you have to give him something, so you sit there with your hand in your bushy beard pondering what to give him. Believe me, this helps more than any medicine.

The beard corresponds to the Divine attribute of Arich, and Arich is the abbreviation of the pasuk “For I am G-d, your healer”. And that certainly helps!

...from Once Upon a Chossid

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by Reb Gutman Locks at Mystical Paths

Question:

“I am going to prison in Melbourne to visit 3 Jews. Beside tefillin, prayer, etc… how should I direct the conversation…to teshuvah (repentance), the weekly Torah portion, or what?”

Answer:

The most severe prison can be escaped without leaving the cell. A person can be overpowered and forced into a tiny cell, but when he learns the spiritual reality, he sees that they have imprisoned only his body, not him. As horrible as prison may be, a person can still sit in a tiny jail and think of the loveliest things in the world. He will then be living in those lovely places.

The prisoners should learn to pray softly, and to converse with G-d. They should acquire Jewish meditation skills so they can free their minds from the room they are locked in. In order to help them, you should learn some meditation techniques (see Taming The Raging Mind [i]) and teach them to free themselves from the real prison that is holding them down, i.e. thinking that they are their bodies.

They should look and see if there are any ways at all for them to perform even the slightest deeds of kindness. Maybe they can teach a Jew how to do a mitzvah, help someone learn to read, teach a class in their special fields, cheer up a depressed person….

The body can be likened to a prison for the soul, or it can be seen to be what it actually is, an opportunity. The same can be said for jail.

You are doing wonderful things with your life. I am very happy for you. Your family is being blessed by your deeds.

[i] Available from www.thereisone.com

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

My son dropped his tefillin today, dented a corner. (Tefillin, Jewish Prayer boxes...not dangerous.) As this is the third time this has happened in the past year, a friend told him it's a segulah to prevent this happening again to give tzedakah (in the value of a meal), which he did this morning in yeshiva.

While we do believe in segulot here at Mystical Paths, the proliferation of "segulah cures" at the expense of straightforward (or dare we say common sense) solutions is troubling. We fully feel that Judaism should have some mysticism, and chassidus & kabbalah provide that.

But as a solution to dropping tefillin? I asked my son, "what do you start to do at the end of davening (prayer time)? Do you get distracted and start chatting with friends? Or get concerned about the time and rush to get to class? Examine your actions and see if there's a change to your pattern you can make to reduce the chance of this from happening." A forgetful person could pray for this attribute to go away, or they could organize a tray or table where they put their commonly forgotten things (and put them there every time they take them out). A person who's bad with tracking their financial situation could pray for math skills, or could carry a notebook (or PDA or iPhone) and enter every transaction - noting the result and knowing where they stand.

Similarly in chassidus we talk about making a keyli, a vessel for blessings. We must do our part, and then (or during) turn to Hashem and ask that He do His part.

But to neither do our part, nor even turn to Hashem to do His part...just to go for the spiritual shortcut (a segulah). That's not the way.

Rebbe Mendel of Riminov said that saying Parshas HaMon on Tuesday of Parshas B'Shalach is a Segulah for Parnossa (wealth, income). That's today, and here it is...

Parshat HaMon - w/Artscroll Linear Translation

Parshat HaMon - Hebrew w/Onkolos

One place says this should be 3 times, twice in Hebrew and once with translation.

Two explanations of why are here and here.

A wish of great parnossa to everyone!

(Courtesy of Artscroll and Tefillos.Com.)

Photos by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

It's cold, it's rainy...THANK G-D! Israel is a semi-arid land of seasonal rainfall. That means, unlike most of our readers in the US, Europe and South Africa where rains are a regular thing (and extended rain is just annoying) - rain in Israel is life itself. If it doesn't rain in the 3-4 month rain window, there simply is no rain any other time. No rain, no water...drought, brush fires, crops lost. In the past this was immediately life threatening with insufficient drinking water, not enough to give livestock, and no crops meant starvation.

Irrigation, wells and a national water system meant enough drinking water and minimal irrigation for crops, so the country doesn't completely fall apart with the loss of a single rainy season. But Israel has had a decade of low rainfall, and the last two years have qualified as full fledged drought years. Well levels have fallen, and the Kinerret water levels have fallen the lowest since the founding of the State, the fields have been very dry and the water company has been forced to cut allocations to farmers and industry.

This year's rainy season started heavy early, then went an extended time without much, and got heavy again in the past week. I haven't seen the official statistics, but so far it's looking good.

So in Israel, when it's wet, rainy and cold for an extended period of time...Thank G-d!

Storm clouds over the Cantalever Bridge, Jerusalem. The cloud level was very low, I tried to get a picture of the top of the bridge in the cloud but missed it.


It continued to rain off and on as each cloud bank passed through. This view is down the mountain, Har HaMenuchos in the distance.


The light played in and out between the clouds, lighting up some areas while leaving others in shade. This is Ramot, zoomed in across the valley.


Givat Shaul (thanks Anon), near the entrance to Jerusalem.


And finally, outside Jerusalem a bit of a rainbow briefly makes an appearance in the Judean hills. A rainbow, though beautiful, is not considered a good sign in Judaism. There is some debate over whether it must be a full rainbow or for an extended period of time to be "negative".


Happy Rainy Days! And I caught a cold from it on Shabbos. B"H, cough cough.

Given recent incidents with a plane being diverted due to the fear that tefillin might be a dangerous object, we're now offering Tefillin Are Not Dangerous shirts and buttons for the Jewish traveler. Be safe, let the public know that those scary black boxes aren't dangerous...

Online Tefillin Safety Shirt/Button Store





Online Tefillin Safety Shirt/Button Store

Yes, this is for real. Protect yourself from plane diversion and FBI interrogation today!

by Reb Nati at Mystical Paths

I was on the street this week and overheard a conversation about kashrus. Two men were saying that they were concerned about the hechsher’s used by their neighbors as their children are playing in the homes of others. “We’re Ashkenazi and they are Sefardi. We eat this and they eat that.” As the conversation continued I overheard them speak of the shows their kids were watching (on the Internet, no TV G-d forbid). It made my head spin as they were more concerned that the kids might eat glatt kosher Sephardi food which is certainly kosher, but they were totally unconcerned about the online tumadic culture being programmed into the precious neshoma’s of their children.

The body processes only the physical, the lowest container of thought, speech and deed. As the issue was only chumra al chumra, not (G-d forbid) treif or issur, there was no real reason for concern. But the pure little minds of these children were being besieged by a onslaught of true treif - garbage from Hollywood. Innocence cannot be reclaimed, not even by teshuvah. (We may repair damage, but never reclaim innocence.)

The minds and neshomas of our children must be as important (or even more so!) as the kashrus of the body.

G-d forbid that our children should eat treif! But we should be just as concerned about the projected treif that enters through their eyes and ears. As parents have the same responsibility to provide kosher activities as we do for their food consumption. Any damage from accidently eating kosher albeit not your chumrah is temporary but there is a lifetime of damage from images of lewd or violent behavior. We cannot ignore this responsibility. Just like a starving child will grab any food that comes his way, a bored child will become involved in negative activities and is easily drawn to the negative “entertainment” of the nations.

Please take this warning with love. We need to prepare our children for a better world, not infuse them with the lowest of this world. Let us strive to provide pure untainted souls that are able to meet the Moshiach. We are for the most part tainted from our experience in this galut, but we need not infuse it to the next generation.

by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths

Rabban Gamliel said...where there are no men, be a man. (Pirke Avos)

Today is Yud Shvat, the yaretzheit of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yizchok Schneerson (the Friederker Rebbe or the Rebbe HaRayatz). It is also the date when, 1 year later, the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson ("the Rebbe"), accepted leadership of Chabad.

I could go on about the incredible self sacrifice of the 6th Rebbe, as he was literally tortured by the NKVD (KGB) in Russia for having the nerve to arrange for Torah classes for children throughout Russia. And I could go on about the Rebbe, the wonders and miracles and incredible sacrifices made to strengthen world Jewry. But there's plenty of others who will do so or have done so at length.

What I will focus upon is the intense focus of the Rebbe on saving Judaism. While a small group of tzaddikim stepped forward after World War II and the Holocaust to rebuild Judaism, all of that group focused upon rebuilding from the inside out. Build walls, protect what we have, strengthen in and bring it back to it's highest levels.

Only the Rebbe focused on ALL of Klal Yisroel, and the WHOLE Jewish people. He stood up, took a small group of isolated chassidim and focused them exclusively of Ahavas Yisroel - love of their brother. He sent out the brighest and best, and refocused the chassidus on developing the organizations to support them, their work, and to develop the next generation prepared to take it farther.

No one else stood up for the Jewish people. Today, a Chabad house can be found practically everywhere in the world that a Jew can be found. It's staffed by an energetic chassidic couple who's there to teach, kosher, help, and create all the facets required for a Jewish Torah filled life.

Where there was no one else, the Rebbe took his chassidus and his chassidim and threw lifesavers out to a drowning Jewish nation. Outside of the dozen or so metropolitan areas that are the religious Jewish enclaves of the 21st century, there is (more or less) only Chabad for Torah Judaism. He pushed his chassidim to give up a life focused on daily learning, protected from the world by the intellectual walls of the shtetl, and to go out and do what was necessary (within a strict Torah Jewish context) to reach out to their brethren.

The Rebbe no longer stands in front of us physically and leads us. But he set the pattern and taught such lessons of mesiras nefesh - self sacrifice, such that 16 years later Chabad has tripled in size and continues to teach, strengthen, and create what's necessary for a Jew practically wherever he may be in the world to reach his Father in Heaven, and to take on all the Torah and mitzvot necessary for life as a Jew.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to stand before this incredible tzadik and man miss his physical presence dearly. But indeed, as taught in the Tanya, his influence has been greater since he left the limitations of a physical body.



Photo 1 - The 6th Rebbe with the (later to be) 7th Rebbe.

Photo 2 - Ohel Lubavitch, the holy resting place of the 6th and 7th Rebbe's of Chabad. Courtesy of Letters of Thought.