Lazer Beams

Meet Yosef Karduner

If you're as much as a Yosef Karduner fan as we are, then Breslov World is the site to visit. We have a fantastic new bilingual correspondent on our staff at Breslev Israel, Tal Rotem, whose father and I were close friends in the army. Tal gets off on a running start with this wonderful interview of the world's most humble musical superstar. In addition, there are two terrific mp3's of Yosef Karduner hits, and a superb-quality video clip.

Rav Shalom Arush talks about Fighting for the Truth and also gives us practical advice on Preparing for Shabbat. Rav Avraham Greenbaum presents us with more of what Rebbe Nachman says about faith. In this week's Kabbalah lesson, he explains the Sefirot and their attributes.

Yours truly elaborates on Rebbe Nachman's teaching Azamra - finding your good points and judging others fairly -  and ties it in to the story of a young soldier that was killed in Lebanon.

This week, we also talk about the Breslev Approach to Teaching.  For the kiddies, there's another exciting part of Rebbe Nachman's The Happy Clay Digger, retold and illustrated by Rebecca Shapiro. In a truly touching article, Alice Jonsson talks about Noahide Loneliness. Don't miss it.

This week is the second week of the six-week period of "Shovevim", Parshat Va'era. There's plenty of quality reading including a Chassidic Pearl and a story for the Shabbat table. Enjoy, and have a great week!

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Tonight (Monday, 31 Dec / 22 Tevet, 5768), I'll be speaking in English at the Carlebach Shul (Kehillat Ahava VeSimcha) in Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef at 8 PM. The subject is "Attaining Inner Peace." Hope to see you there!

Natural & Spiritual Remedy for Acne

Several of our readers have asked me for a natural & spiritual remedy for acne. Here it is:

First of all, be very careful not to say a bad word about anyone - no matter what - even about those that hurt you, G-d forbid.

Second, don't eat any fried foods. Don't eat any milk products that contain more than 5% fat.

Third, eat only whole grains and brown cane sugar - no white flour or white sugar.

Fourth, stay far away from junk foods and processed foods, especially smoked and preserved meats. No more pizzas!

Fifth, discontinue the creams and pills, and all other medications. Don't squeeze pimples, because that only increases inflammation and infection.

Sixth, eat lots of lettuce leaves and sunflower seeds. Vitamin E is good for the skin.

Seventh, wash your face with a gentle baby liquid soap. Keep your hands and your hair off your face.

Eighth, water washes away impurity from the body. Drink plenty of water, but no softdrinks and certainly no alcohol.

Ninth, Vitamin A shortage triggers acne. Snack on fresh carrot sticks or drink fresh carrot juice.

Tenth, ask Hashem to heal your skin, but thank Him for the problem because everything He does is for the very best!

With Hashem's help, your skin will clear up fast, G-d willing.

Adir Ayom

In this clip, Yosef Karduner and I sing a traditional Breslever niggun, Adir Ayom. Some say that it's an original Turkish melody, but my great great uncle - Reb Mendel Litvak, a student of Rebbe Natan of Breslev - put the melody to the words of this moving song that we sing every week at Melave Malka (Saturday night meal, ushering out the Shabbat Queen).

This week we begin Chumash Shmot with Parshat Shmot of course, including plenty of wonderful commentaries, a Chassidic Pearl, and a story for the Shabbat table. Enjoy, and have a wonderful Shabbat.

Anne's Story

When I first started visiting "Lazer Beams", I had never heard of "Rabbi Rambo" or of his accomplishments. I simply found it accidentally one day while I was browsing through various blogs. It quickly became a regular feature of my lunch time internet break. I was simultaneously fascinated and annoyed at Rabbi Lazer's confidence about everything and especially the way he often answers people's sticky questions, like the second-marriage type (boy, did that hit home). "He must make this stuff up!", I thought. "You can't just come up with a happy ending to this many different problems! It just isn't that easy." After all, I should know. My life had become a dreary blur. Due to what seemed to me to be a very tragic twist of fate, my hopes for a normal, happy life with my 2nd husband and our children (his, mine, and ours all under one roof) became a bitterly unattainable dream, especially now that my husband was laid off his job after 18 years (the plant where he worked closed down).

All the comforting words of my friends and family fell flat, and at times I felt so crushed that it was difficult to summon the will to breathe. I thought my soul would flee my body from sheer despair. I was enraged at G-d for inflicting this situation on me. My life lost direction. I couldn't face other people without a stiff drink so that I could work up a smile. The bottle became the focal point of my life to fuzz out the problems. I was sick of myself with tons of guilt too. Then, on an impulse, I decided to contact Rabbi Lazer. I had no real expectations, but I had nothing to lose, either. To my absolute amazement, he wrote me back, almost immediately. He sent me a gift - The Trail to Tranquility and his CD No to Drugs - and said it was compliments of Emuna Outreach.What was even more amazing is that the book and the CD really helped! I began to consider that perhaps endless suffering isn't really what Hashem intended for me. I continued to write to him, and in a very short time, years of pain began to fall away. Now, although my situation has not changed, I am no longer angry, no longer drinking, but instead am trusting in Hashem's care. The best part is that I have enough happiness to share. I am looking forward to a new life focused on bringing comfort and joy to other people. Anne G, USA

A formula of pure and simple faith, together with enhancing her own personal relationship with Hashem, has turned the tables for Anne. It'll work for the rest of us, too.

Better Wise than Clever

Someone once asked me what the difference is between a wise person and a clever person.

A wise person doesn't get himself into situations that a clever person knows how to wiggle out of.

Judge Moore Revisited: Teshuva Time for Uncle Sam

People that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. While the US State Department and boss Condi are so busy meddling in our internal affairs, telling us where we have a right to build in our Holy Land and where we don't have a right, maybe they should take care of their own domestic issues first.

Over at BreslovWorld, our Noahide correspondent Alice Jonsson did a fantastic interview of Judge Roy Moore, the controversial "Ten Commandments" judge that lost his chair for wanting to keep a statue of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

Since then, a lot of good folks have been sending me additional info on the Judge Moore issue. The truth is that Judge Roy Moore lost his chair not so much for keeping the statue, but for acknowledging G-d. For this "crime", he was removed from the bench.

If you can believe that acknowledging Hashem is a crime, then you can believe that building Jewish homes in Jerusalem is a crime too.

In light of all the warped thinking, here's a poem that Judge Roy Moore wrote about America. It's definitely teshuva time for Uncle Sam and those who emulate him...

America  the Beautiful, or so you used to be. 
Land of the Pilgrim's pride; I'm glad they'll never see.
Babies piled in dumpsters, Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty; your house is on the sand.
Our children wander aimlessly poisoned by cocaine,
Choosing to indulge their lusts, when God has said abstain.
From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love and a need to always pray.
We've kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown. 
When earth is but His footstool, and Heaven is His throne.
We've voted in a government that's rotting at the core, 
Appointing Godless Judges who throw reason out the door,
Too soft to place a killer in a well deserved tomb, 
But brave enough to kill a baby before he leaves the womb.
You think that God's not angry, that our land's a moral slum? 
How much longer will He wait before His judgment comes?
How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide? 
What then is left for us to do, but stem this evil tide?
If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face and mend our evil way:
Then God will hear from Heaven and forgive us of our sins,   
He'll heal our sickly land and those who live within.
But, America the Beautiful, if you don't - then you will see, 
A sad but Holy God withdraw His hand from Thee.

Judge Roy Moore

Superbowl Fever, Chassidic Style

There're lots of goodies at our sister site BreslovWorld this week. Here Rav Shalom Arush talks about the delight of Shabbat, and here is another excerpt from The Garden of Yearning where the Rav speaks about clarifying the truth. Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum presents more beautiful Rebbe Nachman sayings on the subject of faith, and gives us another enlightening lesson in Kabbalah, this week about the sefirot.

Every other letter I've been receiving lately has been complaints about financial-oriented marital problems. Rather than writing several dozen advice letters, I wrote this article with 14 tips for getting out of financial difficulty. This week's Breslev Beam's editorial talks about Achievaholics, with some probing food for thought.

SuperBowl fever at BreslovWorld? Not quite: Rabbi Mordechai Siev, former offensive lineman and now one of the staff at the Ascent Institute in Tsfat, shows how football, like everything in else in life – teaches an important lesson in spirituality. Rabbi "Big Mo" is someone you want to have playing on your team. Better yet, come on over and play on his winning team. Tell him that Lazer sent you.

Val Ritchie of Valdosta, Georgia writes, "BreslevWorld's Noahide corner is simply great!!" Thanks, Val. This week, Breslev Israel’s Noahide correspondent Alice Jonsson interviews Ray Petterson, the founder and director of Noahide Nations, who are now planning their first Noahide Nations World Conference this coming June.

Now call the Kiddies: “Kiddie Korrespondent” Rebecca Shapiro tells another scrumptious illustrated episode in the adventure of The Happy Clay Digger.

This week we begin Chumash Shmot with Parshat Shmot of course, including plenty of wonderful commentaries, a Chassidic Pearl, and a story for the Shabbat table. Enjoy, and have a great week.

A personal message to Ryan, Debora, and Yaakov (and whoever else that might need it): Rebbe Nachman said that there's no such thing as despair... I don't care what the doctors say. You must believe with all your heart that Hashem can cure you with a snap of the fingers. We all pray for your complete, speedy, and miraculous recoveries. For us, miracles are natural.

Back On Our Feet

The eternal nation isn't afraid of a long trek...

My father, may he rest in peace, was the only Jewish pilot from Western Canada in the RCAF in World War II. He went to flight school flight school at the Edmonon, Alberta training base. He told me that as a trainee, they had quite a few survival and land-navigational exercises. These were led by a mean sergeant major named Macdonald, who despised Jews. My Pop never hid his Judaism.

Once, Macdonald was leading the trainees up a difficult mountain path in the ice. My father slipped and fell, but was instantly back on his feet. Macdonald didn't miss the opportunity and snorted, "You see - you fell because you're a Jew!"

My Pop was quick on the draw too, and more than a bit sassy. "Wrong, sergeant major," he snapped back, not caring about the consequences, "I'm back on my feet because I'm a Jew!"

"Yikach": It Takes what it Takes...

"Yikach MaShe'Yikach" means "it takes what it takes", but we'll get there in the end. An ancient people isn't afraid of a long road.

Some folks think ancient isn't cool. My good buddy and Breslev's rock & roller Adi Ran is a prime example of a generation that was born far away from any morsel of spirituality and holiness, but that has discovered that the ancient is really cool - a lot more than anything doing on the side of the fence where they came from.

Adi Ran is only one example of a long list of Israel's leading performing artists that have made come back to their roots in recent years. For a Beam's Weekend treat, here's a unique clip from one of Adi's live performances, when he sang "Yikach MaShe'Yikach". I can't even begin to tell you the acrobatics we did to obtain this clip, but I have to thank Breslev Israel's General Director Yosef Nechama and Chaim Chazin of Indik Productions for letting us use this on the Beams. Here we go...

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This week's Torah portion is Vayichi, which you can find here, including a story for the Shabbat table and a Chassidic Pearl.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful Shabbat and weekend!

The Power of Dedication

King Solomon in Ecclesiastes teaches us a vital spiritual axiom, namely, that The Almighty created equal forces of good and evil in the world. The Ramcha"l explains in Derech Hashem that this perfect balance of good and equal enables us the free choice to do good or evil - no one can therefore claim that he or she is coerced to do good or evil. A system of reward and punishment for our behavior is meaningless outside the context of free choice.

Since Hashem maintains a balanced world, and he put Hizbulla, Jihadis, and Hamasniks in this world, then we must draw two necessary conclusions: First, each of us has the potential to do as much good in the world as they do to do evil. Two, only total dedication to holiness and saving lives can offset their proven dedication to death, destruction, and defiling the world.

Convenience and compromise spirituality just don't have the clout to make this world a better place. Total dedication to holiness is the only way to combat evil.

Total Dedication: One slip of the foot and it's all over... This is a helicopter rescue team of the Aiut Alpin Dolomites rescue squad in the Italian Alps. We have to be every bit as dedicated as they are. Photo by Mateo Taibon.

Dedicated skipper: This is a chopper pilot of the Aiut Alpin Dolomites rescue squad in the Italian Alps. He's about to fly into that narrow gorge up ahead on a training exercise. One tiny mistake and he and his helicopter become rubble. Photo by Mateo Taibon.