I have recently been listening to a CD of Jewish music before learning and teaching in order to prepare myself for the sanctity and power of Torah. Some of the songs resonate with a deep part of my soul and transport me to a powerful spiritual place. The music is wonderful but the singer, as sweet and innocent as his voice may be, needs voice lessons. He cannot maintain the same key for the different parts of the tune. He starts on a note too high for me to accompany and then switches to such a low key that I cannot sing along.
Shall I say something to him? His imperfect voice is part of the attraction of his music. A voice teacher would help him but he will shed those imperfections and will sing differently.

He is like another friend who danced with abandon when he married, and because of his total ignorance of the steps and absolute lack of dancing skills, brought tremendous joy to all his guests who appreciated his total and uninhibited joy. When his bride watched the wedding video, she immediately sent him for dance lessons. He never again danced with such joy. We all celebrated with his imperfect dancing. We wish he never took those lessons.

In fact, that is the biggest challenge we all face: how can we retain the innocence and purity of prayer and service of God, even as we search for the perfect performance? I think I'll hold on to some of my imperfections...

Jeremiah the prophet celebrates the potential of our imperfections in this week's Haftarah: Trust. The Music of Halacha - Three Levels of Separation Part Two - continues to examine imperfect choices from Halacha's perspective. Forms of Prayer deals with imperfect prayer and What Is The Reason addresses other quirks and issues. Table Talk addresses the Battle Against Evil in this less than perfect world. My very dear friend, and, in many ways, teacher, Selwyn Gerber has contributed an essay on the Portion of the Week in order to introduce a wonderful website A Taste of Limmud. Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg continues to shine in The Torah Connection. Rabbi Irwin Katsoff continues Words Can Heal with a frightening story The Impact of Gossip on My Career. From Redemption to Revelation continues with a daily post on the 49 Midot Hayom.

We have posted a YouTube Video about the recent War in Gaza that will soon be removed by YouTube"due to lack of interest". The IDF asks that we share this video with as many people as possible. At least we can do something in this imperfect world.

We do not celebrate, but apologize for the current imperfections in our website. We hope they will soon disappear.

So sorry, I have to run; my voice coach is here!

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Simcha L. Weinberg
President