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4 Heshvan 5769; November 2, 2008
 
 

Shalom to you all... Thank you all for your continuing support of KosherTorah... Please continue to remember us....

NEW MP3s: REINCARNATION IN TORAH & THE BIBLE. This new two-part lesson is available only in MP3. It is a selection from our class in classical Kabbalah from the book Ohel Moed. These two lessons take a complicated topic and makes it very simple. I am sure you wlll find these lessons profound and enlightening. You will not want to pass them up.

I have many more MP3 on all areas available now... with more titles being added regularly. Check them out on our KosherTorah.com front page.

All MP3s are $5.00 and are instant downloads. Unlike our CDs, MP3s can be paid with either a credit card or with PAYPAL.... So check'em out....

I have a new free online lesson for everyone to hear. It is entitled: HOSHANA RABBAH & WHAT THE COMING YEAR HOLDS. In this lesson I discuss many things that I really think you should pay attention to.

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Here in the United States we stand before a great election. The decision is already made in Heaven. Yet, we do still have a say in the matter. Pray for what is best for the United States, for Israel and for the world. Do not be so sure that one candidate is the right choice. Throughout history others have also thought this way, as the following essay may suggest. I endorse no candidate, but I encourage my fellow Americans to do the right thing according to Torah...


Midnight Reflections
By HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok. Copyright (c) 2008 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.
Regardless of what you may think, we are living in difficult times. Preparing for the worse to come however does not mean surrendering to fear or negativity. On the other hand, the best way to face a negative future is with a positive attitude. No matter how bad things may appear or actually become, just remember this, G-d is in control of it all. G-d is in control of us too. All we have to do is to keep focused on this. Here is where our preparations need to be.

No one knows what tomorrow may bring. Will there be military conflict? Will there be political, social and economic upheavals? Are there other factors, natural or otherwise that can pop up in a moment and cause for us great changes? No one but Heaven has the answers to these questions. We must always remember that we are never in control of what happens to us. We are however in complete control of how we choose to respond to whatever happens to us.

A positive attitude is vitally important. Yet, attitude alone is not enough. Our personal outlooks and hope for salvation and a promising future are sometimes our greatest strengths. Without inner strength, all forms of outer strength become nothing more than hollow shells. The difference between survival and disaster often depends most on one's personal point of view. With a proper positive attitude, rooted in realism and not in idealistic denials, one can face any uncertain future and knowing that G-d is by one's side, march forward into the unknown without any fear.

Changing one's attitude is not an easy thing, especially when the worries and problems facing us seem insurmountable. Yet, it is at just these times of challenge that we can unleash the best that is inside us. We cannot always have what we want all the times that we want it. We cannot always hold onto a past that is fading away. We cannot always demand that things stay the same when life and the natural order dictate that they always be in a constant state of flux and change. Life is about movement. Death is about stagnancy.

It is always hard letting go of a past that is so comfortable, safe and secure. Going forth from Egypt is today a psychological condition in which we must learn to face detachment from a comfortable past that still holds us in slavery to many things, never allowing us to find true inner emancipation and freedom. Being attached to so many things, be they wealth, comfort, or the attitudes that cultivate them, these are the modern day temptations that keep our eyes focused on our modern day Egypt and prevents us from realizing the exodus and path to inner Sinai and the spiritual promised land.

In times of great change, much of the old will have to be left behind, in order to embrace the new. Many will have great choices ahead of them; to embrace the new and live or to hold on to the old and go down with the sinking ship. Choices are hard, but we as individuals are defined by the choices we make. Our character is shown by what we do and how we do it. Talk is cheap. Even the right words if spoken at the wrong time will lead to the right people making the wrong decisions. Be careful of comforting words. Never allow them to be used to lull one into a sense of security, when no such security exists. Never dismiss words of alarm when there is smoke, for as we all know, where there is smoke, there is fire.

In times of fire, those who fight the flames with wisdom and planning usually live to talk about it. Those who panic and flee usually lose everything, even that which did not have to burn. People of faith whose security is in G-d will know when it is time to fight the fire and when it's time to let the fire take its course. Never confuse the two. When dealing with fire, every moment counts.

Cultivate peace of mind. Explore inner space. Learn to meditate, to contemplate Torah day and night. Learn the techniques of controlling your mind and your emotions. Learn to recognize what is intuitively true and how your mind can play tricks on you to lull you into a state of complacency. Learn to detach; learn to change; learn to move on; learn to let go, and most of all; learn how to recognize when all these things need to be done.

Learn these things without panic, without fear; with total peace of mind and comfort of heart. Know that G-d is with you and that if you are truly with Heaven, then you will be like a dancer in a ballet, sensitive to the choreographed flow of moves that direct you through your dance of life.

Sometimes it is time to close the books and to open your eyes. Sometimes it is wise to see change before it happens. Sometimes it is best to not have one's proverbial eggs all in one basket. Sometimes diversifying before a crisis is the best way to weather it.

It is not for me to tell anyone what to do or how to do it. My only message is that one must reinforce their efforts to cultivate a living awareness of G-d and His Presence. One must strengthen one's faith and be ready to act upon that faith however is necessary. Talk is cheap and complacency is death. Torah is life and its ways are action.

Let us keep our eyes upon the rising sun and remember that the land underneath it is our home. Where the Earth and sky meet, there is where we must reside. Faith is our ticket home. Trust in Heaven and live by Torah. Silence your tongue and cry out with your heart. Let go of your burdens that weigh you down and soar on eagle's wings back home. Go on high, for this is the way to the place where the sun rises from the Earth. There is no place like home and if not now, then when?

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Shalom, HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok

phone: 818-345-0888

Stop! Take a moment, and say a sincere "thank you" to HaShem for all the the good things you have right now.

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