Lazer Beams

Acheinu - Our Brothers

In case you don't know already, rabbis rock too. Check out my dear friends from Manchester, England - Rabbi Mitch Goodman on electric guitar and Rabbi Danny Bergson on acoustic guitar and vocals singing one of our favorite songs, "Acheinu", which means "my brothers." This is a prayer for our brothers who are held captive, may Hashem return them home soon. Ron Arad, Gilead Shalit, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser - we don't forget you for a minute. You're always in our prayers and we'll never give up hope to see you again - soon, G-d willing, home here in Israel.

Here's a little surprise - after the High Holidays, I've been invited to be the guest of Rabbi Bergson and the Manchester community. We'll let you know more details once they'll be finalized.

Unity, not Division

Rabbi Chaim Moshe has a solid message for Jewish unity - those who think that they're better than others are far away from truth, just like Korach and his gang. A perfect lesson for this week's Torah portion.

This week's Torah portion is Korach. Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Spiritual Roots of Natural Disasters

What's the connection between Katrina from 3 years ago and the US-Midwest flooding today? Hear our Emuna Update from this past Sunday's broadcast with Tamar Yonah on Israel National Radio (19 minutes, 51 seconds). A big Beam blessing to Cookie Dalton from Alabama, who prepares our Emuna Update broadcasts for publication.

The Master Key - this week's Breslov World

Why is there such an existential threat against the Jewish people in the Land of Israel today? Where’s Moshiach? The answer is amazingly simple: if the door to Geula - the full redemption of our people – is locked, then when need a master key to open it. What's the master key? Find out in this week's Breslov World, Breslev Israel's popular weekly English-online magazine.

There's a gold mine of articles by our beloved teacher Rabbi Shalom Arush this week: He concludes his fantastic series on educating children with love, elaborates on Rebbe Nachman's famous tale of the Master of Prayer, and gives hope to BTs with uncooperative spouses in Part 5 of One-sided Teshuva.

Would you like to learn the proper way of putting on tefillin? No problem, Breslov World teaches you how this week, thanks to our dear friend Rabbi Moshe Flumenbaum of HaSofer.

Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum gives us a wonderful lesson in Kabbalah this week, where we learn that as a result of the Tzimtzum, the sefirot bevam visible.

Many people think that drug addicts are gutter-grown; not true! Many are professionals. You don't want to miss the first of the three-part series about substance addiction entitled Alan's Story, the gripping autobiographical account of a good Jewish boy's bout with drugs.

True class is not the Bolox look or a new Cadillac, says Breslov World's Alice Jonsson. She chops down a few giants this week in the Bolox Revolution. Go get 'em, AJ!

The sweetest illustrations on the entire web belong to Rebecca Shapiro of Worry Worm fame, who presents us this week with Part 15 of Little Nachman.

This week's Torah portion is Korach. Here's wishing you a lovely and productive week.

Three cheers for healthy eating

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

Our granddaughter was labelled in school as a hyper-active child. I wasn't surprised, because I noticed that at home she gets a constant diet of processed and fast foods which are full of MSG and other chemicals.

 

She is now visiting us on vacation. My husband sat up with her the first few nights because she had a difficult time going to sleep.  When she did sleep, she slept very restless, thrashing about and nearly falling off the bed.  Although she's 8 years old, her mother sent us a package of large, child-size disposable diapers for her chronic bed wetting.

 

I'm going to interject here, that many years ago I did an in-depth study into the dangerous health hazards and side effects of MSG.  The FDA can label it whatever they choose, but the fact remains that it is a drug, pure and simple.  After removing it from the diet, it can take up to 2 weeks for the glutamate level in the blood to return to normal.

 

By the third night she had calmed down enough to relax and I read to her at bedtime the story of Ruth.  When it was time for lights out, I put on music by Guy Tzvi Mintz and set it to loop so that it would repeat and play all night.  The next morning, the bed barely looked slept in because she slept so peaceful and no bed wetting!  We repeated it the next night, more reading and the same music.  Again, peaceful sleep and no bed wetting!

 

While she quietly plays during the day, I hear her humming a melody from the music she hears while she sleeps (track number 4 on the Guy Tzvi's Alarm Clock cd is the one in particular).  It's like a night and day difference from when she first arrived.  She prays, sings and smiles.  And no bed wetting.  I was very disappointed when her mother called and said their plans had changed and Maleah would have to go home early.  That night, I thanked Hashem for the time we got to spend with her.  Early the next morning her mother phoned again.  That time she asked would we mind if Maleah stayed another 11 days instead of coming home early.  Of course we didn't mind!  All total, we are blessed with her here with us for 3 weeks.  Baruch Hashem!  Prayer + Breslov music + healthy eating is just what the doctor (of the soul) ordered!

With thanks and smiles, Cookie from Alabama

 

Lazer's note: Cookie and Roy Dalton are our dear friends and Emuna Outreach activists in Alabama. G-d willing, Guy Tzvi Mintz CDs will soon be available here on the Beams.

 

Mizmor L'David - Psalm 23

"I will fear no evil, for You are with me (Psalm 23)." That's what emuna is all about. Here's my cherished friend Yosef Karduner with his version of "Mizmor L'David," Psalm 23.

This week's Torah portion is Shlach . Have a wonderful Shabbat and weekend.

Where's the ammo?

Our dear friend Tzvi Sheinkin (the Hero from Hendon) from London writes:

 

In 1983, I was privileged to serve as a volunteer on an IDF base. Effectively, I was no more than a "toy soldier" (see photo, left), working in the warehouses, checking equipment, cleaning and loading M16 clips and playing a lot of frisbee.

 

During the two months I was there, I learned a number of things:

 

1) An army base is no place for a woman - religious or otherwise;

2) How to paint. I'm an expert in black and green - if you ever need anything painted in those colours, then I'm your man!

3) How to shoot. I was taught how to use an M4 (aka short M16) and if you ever feel threatened by empty Coke cans, then do give me a call. I promise they'll never bother you again! (It would have been nice if they had given me some ear plugs: I lost my hearing for 3 days afterwards!!)

 

One particular incident stands out in my mind. One of the soldiers, Capt. G, was courtmartialed for making a very big mistake. Capt. G was responsible for seeing Armored personnel carriers to the Jordan border. Due to an oversight, he forgot to send the ammunition. What this meant was that for a whole week, the unit was patrolling the border, resplendent in their APCs with their heavy machine guns - but with no bullets!

 

Let's think about this for a moment.

 

You have soldiers who have trained hard for months on end. These were men who were totally committed to defending the Jewish People - yet, if G-d forbid, terrorists had appeared, not only would they have been sitting ducks themselves, but the Jews in the settlements were now defenceless too. The training, the guns, the bravery - it would all count for nothing.

 

Our Rabbis tell us that when we speak loshon hara - slander and evil speech - we ruin our prayers. We render them useless. We might look the part and sound the part, but our words do not reach their target. It's as if we're firing blanks. That means that not only can we not daven for ourselves, but, G-d forbid, when we pour out our hearts for a family member or friend, we're not going to hit the target.

 

That's why loshon hara is so serious (as is talking during chazaras hashatz or during Torah reading.) Our only weapon is Prayer - so let's not shoot ourselves in the foot!

 

Shma Yisrael

Several weeks ago, I was doing hitbodedut (personal prayer) in the desert south of Beersheba, and my reverie was interrupted by the Bedouin muezzin's call to prayer, that echoed from an adjacent wadi. It sounds like this:

After Moshiach comes, soon I hope, the Jewish call to prayer "Shma Yisrael" that will resound all across the Land of Israel three times a day will sound like this, inshallah (Arabic for "may it be G-d's will"):

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef shlit'a told me that when a million more Jewish children will call out "Shma Yisrael", Moshiach will come immediately. Let's get to work...

This Week at BreslovWorld

There's something for everyone this week at BreslovWorld, Breslev Israel's English website. Child rearing is a challenge, but Rabbi Shalom Arush shows how to do it right and educate children with love. In the fourth of this wonderful five-part series, Rabbi Shalom talks about parents' double standard, a major pitfall in child education.

We've often seen the tragedy of broken homes because of bad advice. Rabbi Shalom Arush doesn't agree with those who tell Baalei Teshuva to divorce their non-observant spouses, as we see in the fourth of this eye-opening 5-part series.

Rabbi Nasan Maimon, head of the Breslov World Center, tells about the history of the Kloiz from 1810 until today.

Healthy eating therefore has its qualitative side, that we eat the right foods – and its quantitative side, that we avoid gluttony and overeating. This week, I wrap up my 4-part series on healthy eating, showing that we can live better with less food than what we're accustomed to eat.

Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum's weekly Kabbalah lessons are a great way to taste the beauty of Jewish esoteric thought. Join us, and learn about the act of Tzimtzum. Rabbi Avraham frequently lectures in the UK, Canada, and USA; if he comes to your city, I strongly recommend that you go hear him.

Many women avoid baking their own challas because they don't know (or feel intimidated) by the mitzvah of removing challa. Rebbetzen Chana Bracha Siegelbaum makes life easy in her clear and exquisite explanation of the mitvzah of Challa, which is mentioned in this week's Torah portion, Shelach Lecha.

Hashem is the best screenwriter, as Alice Jonsson shows us in the anti-Brady Bunch. Alice Bacchini tells us how she beat the rap of Interstitial Cystitis, or IC, in The Best Bargain in Town.

Breslev Kids get the cherry on top with another episode of Little Nachman, beautifully illustrated by Rebecca Shapiro. We also want to send a hearty Mazal Tov to Rebecca's husband, our dear friend Avi Shapiro, who just completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Canada.

Here's wishing you and yours a lovely week.

Should a young bride live with a mother-in-law?

Dear Rabbi Lazer,
I need your urgent advice. I'm engaged, and my wedding date is in 4 weeks (July 13). My fiance, a fresh honors graduate from med school, had been accepted for internship in a reputable Colorado hospital, and promised me (before our engagement) that right after the wedding, we'd be moving out West. Now, he's been accepted to intern in a very prestigious hospital in his home town of NYC, which I utterly can't stand. To make matters worse, he wants to save money by us living with his parents, since they have a tremendous house, and all their other kids have moved out already. I feel like I'm getting a raw deal, my stomach summersaults with nerves, and I'm having second doubts about the marriage, with a guilty conscience to boot. Rabbi Lazer, am I being selfish? My fiance promised me that we'd be living in Denver; NYC is bad enough, but am I expected to live with his parents? I feel like a lamb being set up for slaughter, and I don't like it. As a rabbi, would you allow me to break off the engagement? Please answer me as fast as possible. Thank you so much. Susie from Connecticut

Dear Susie,

When a young bride is forced to live with her mother-in-law, the marriage is starting off on the left foot. No bride in the world can withstand a 24-hr. a day microscopic surveillance. Mothers-in-law are happy to find fault, and they almost always think that their daughters-in-law aren't doing enough for their poochy-moochy little boy. If your fiance told you before the engagement that you'd be living in NYC with his parents, you certainly wouldn't have agreed. It's therefore not fair to pop the new conditions on you four weeks before the wedding. According to religious law, you don't have to agree to the new conditions.

I would advise your fiance that a happy wife in Denver (where he'll have a good internship anyway) is better than a miserable wife and a prestige internship in NYC. If you're not happy, I don't foresee that he'll be successful. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches us that a husband's success is the result of the illumination of his wife's soul.

Under no circumstances should you agree to live with his parents. A young couple must have their privacy; you're better off living on a bed of straw in a rented barn than living in your mother-in-law's Long Island mansion with the swimming pool and tennis court. Although you are allowed to stick to your guns in the original conditions of your engagement, if you really want this guy, I'd suggest a compromise: Agree to live in NYC for the limited time of his internship on condition that he rents an apartment.

I strongly urge you and your fiance to seek immediate rabbinical premarital coaching (there are some excellent people in your area). It sounds to me that you both are focusing on yourselves; for a marriage to work, you need to be focusing on each other, with a mutual commitment to G-d. Without the coaching and the commitment, I don't give your future marriage much chances of success. Sorry, Susie, but that's my honest opinion. Best wishes and good luck, Lazer Brody