Praying with fire

"Even when a person cannot daven with intention he must never refrain from praying in whatever way he can. Although for the present the tefillah without kavanah(intention) cannot ascend on high, when he will say a prayer with intention he will revive all the ‘empty’ tefillos, enabling them to ascend on high on the ‘coattails’ of the prayer said with kavanah.”

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, zt"l

Much to learn

There is much that philosophy could learn from the Bible. To the philosopher the idea of the good is the most exulted idea. But to the Bible the idea of the good is penultimate; it cannot exist without the holy. The good is the base, the holy is the summit. Things created in six days He considered good, the seventh day He made holy.

To Jewish piety the ultimate human dichotomy is not that of mind and matter but that of sacred and profane. We have known profanity too long and have become accustomed to think that the soul is an automation. The law of the Sabbath tries to direct the body and the mind to the dimension of the holy. It tries to teach us that man stands not only in a relation to nature but in a relation also to the creator of nature.

What is the Sabbath? Spirit in the form of time. With our bodies we belong to space; our spirit, our souls, soar to eternity, aspire to the holy. The Sabbath is an ascent to the summit. It gives us the opportunity to sanctify time, to raise the good to the level of the holy, to behold the holy by abstaining from profanity.

Abraham J. Heschel, The Sabbath, p.97

The Earth Turn

A renowned genius once asked a student, "What are you watching when you sit on a hillside in the late afternoon as the colors turn from yellow to orange and red and finally darkness?"

He answered, "You are watching the sunset."

The genius responded, "That is what is wrong with our age. You know full well you are not watching the sun set. You are watching the world turn."

Jeremy Kagan, The Jewish Self

Kindness

From a yeshiva buddy and a great friend 

Why is there a commandment to not eat a stork (In Hebrew החסידה like the word חסד kindness) in a portion that talks about not eating wild animals specifically? Something named after kindness surely is not wild, right? 

Rashi answers it is because they only do kindness to their own kind. Lesson for today, be kind to all. 

Shabbat Shalom

Service

The prophet serves G-d in a way that is constantly changing over time. When people are at ease the prophet warns of forthcoming catastrophe. When they suffer catastrophe and are in the depths of despair, the prophet brings consolation and hope.

R. Sacks, Parshat Shmini

to the world

G-d is to this world, as your soul is to your body. R. Zalmen Mindell

A beautiful quote from a great Rabbi.  

An Ancient Color

From, The New York Times:

"Tekhelet is the color of the sky," Dr. Koren said in his laboratory. "Its not the color of the sky as we know it; its the color of the sky at midnight...It's when you are all alone at night that you reach out to God, and that is what tekhelet reminds you of."

Shabbat Shalom!