Ki Tissa

Ki Tissa - the words with which the Torah commands the census does not literally mean "counting," but rather "the elevation of one`s head", impressing upon us that when we realize that we count, our heads are lifted up and we are elevated, That realization, that we can impact on the destiny of the world, that our words and deeds have significance, charges us with responsibility and allows us to grow and become better people.

No sweet song

There is no sweet song that is not equally bitter, save that which is shallow and meaningless. - Rabbi M. M. Schneerson

Whole Stones

Rabbi Yochanan ben Yakkai said "It is written: 'You shall build the altar with whole (Shlemot) stones' -(Devarim 27:6)- stones which make peace (Shalom). Now, is this not obvious: If The Holy One, Blessed Be He, said of the altar stones, which cannot see, hear or speak, but help to make peace between Israel and their father in heaven, that we must not treat them harshly, how much more so of one who makes peace between man and wife, between one city and another, between one nation and another, between one kingdom and another, between one family and another, that no harm will befall him." Mekhilta: Shemot 20:22

Achieving your ambitions

Sometimes the best way of achieving you ambitions is to stop pursuing them and to let them pursue you. – R. Jonathan Sacks

A ray of holiness

‘..thus is it written (Kohelet 2:13) “Then I saw that wisdom surpasses folly as light surpasses darkness.”’: Tanya, Chapter 12

The Alter Rebbe – Schneur Zalman of Liadi – explains the analogy is used to illustrate how wisdom is superior to folly: The superiority of light over darkness is manifest in the ability of a tiny ray of light to banish a great deal of darkness. Furthermore, the light need not battle darkness to banish it; the darkness disappears as a matter of course with the appearance of light. In the same way is the wisdom of holiness superior to the folly of evil. A mere ray of holiness suffices to banish — as a matter of course — a great deal of evil folly.

Holy Ground

Heard at a Shabbat table:

There was once a community that was in deep trouble. They were shrinking, they were impoverished, they couldn't get along. No one would step up to leadership and if they did they would be destroyed by those who criticized them. Clearly it was a community heading downhill.

This little town had some self awareness about their predicament so they invited a famous rabbi to come and speak with them. However after meeting with them, the rabbi did not have a solution, not to their shrinking population, not to their poverty, not to their dysfunctional communal structure. When he left the people were even more discouraged than before, except that just as he was about to go, someone heard him say, that one of the 36 righteous, one of the lamedvavniks upon which the world depends, lived in this little town. Now maybe he said efsher, perhaps one of the lamedvavniks lived in this town, no matter, word began to spread and slowly, slowly things began to change. Instead of treating each other roughly, people became a little bit more courteous - after all you wouldn't want to be rude to a lamedvavnik. They began to listen to each other, they were more willing to give each other the benefit of the doubt- after all the motivations of a lamedvavnik would certainly be kindly. Slowly the town got cleaned up, people began supporting each other, the economy improved, and other people passing through found it a pleasant community and decided to settle there. Looking back the people wondered. The rabbi had done nothing and yet accomplished a great deal. All these changes because of an efshar, a perhaps, a hint to remember-that every spot on earth is holy ground.

Unity

"The true unity of God is that nothing exists other then God. A true belief in the unity of God should tell you, you don’t need to run away from darkness but rather find how the darkness is also God. If you need to run away, to escape you haven’t come to truly penetrate, been able to truly reveal, how within the darkness, within the negativity is also God, the ultimate non-dualism." - R. Shmuel Braun, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov

Go here for the whole speech.

Shabbat Shalom.