Lazer Beams

Integrity and spirituality

Maybe you know people who enjoy flaunting Tibetan phrases, rolling their eyeballs, and burning lots of myrrh-scented candles and incense. Maybe you know other people who walk around quoting scripture, and then look down at you, saying, "Where were you at services last week?" Neither of these types has anything to do with genuine spirituality...

Here's a fool-proof method to find out if a person is spiritual or not: Conduct a business transaction with that person, and if he or she deals with fairness and integrity, you can bet that they're bona-fide spiritually-oriented people.

When a person's soul leaves the body at the termination of the physical life on this earth, the first question the Heavenly Court asks is, "Did you negotiate in good faith?", in other words, did you do business fairly (Talmud, tractate Shabbos, pg. 31). It's fine if a person listens to sitar music or quotes Kabbala after having dealt honestly with his/her fellow human, but without integrity, forget about spirituality.

Rabbenu Bachiya: Duties of the Heart

Now that it's Elul and only 4 weeks from Rosh Hashana, we take you on a trip to the Upper Galilee to see what we can learn from the holy gravesite of Rabbenu Bachiya, author of the classic "Chovot HaLevavot" (Duties of the Heart):

Here's wishing you a wonderful Shabbat Shoftim!

High tech, low ethics

With layoffs, recession, and economic slowdown, high tech companies are thinning their work force. Who gets the ax? The top brass wants to let others do the dirty work, so they've revitalized the nasty "360 Evaluation."

Have you ever heard of the "360 Evaluation"? It's a dog-eat-dog system used by leading high-tech companies whereby everybody rates everybody - superiors their subordinates, subordinates their superiors, and workers their coworkers. The outcome is a free-for-all of slander, revenge, and intrigue.

One of the senior design engineers of a leading Israeli high-tech firm was faced with a mandatory "360", where he was required to relinquish information about his subordinates, superiors, and peers - this was something that the KGB would be proud of. He couldn't sleep for a week, until he called me and asked me what to do. I told him to give only factual and positive information, and to steer clear of anything that could be detrimental to another person's reputation or livelihood in the slightest way.

The Chofetz Chaim writes that one is better advised to forfeit all his or her worldly possessions, rather than utter one word of slander against another person.

The Bolshevik-like system of the "360 Evaluation" is both immoral and a negation of Jewish law. The juxtaposition of high tech and low ethics is just another symptom of a decadent society. Some might say, "back to the drawing board"; better yet, back to the Gemorra. High-tech has a lot to learn from Chovot Halevavot and Mesillat Yesharim.

Chronic "Borrowers" and Unpaid Debts

Dear Rabbi Brody,

My next-door neighbor is constantly borrowing things - a pint of milk here, a couple eggs there, etc. etc. Sometimes - especially before Shabbos or a holiday - she knocks on my door three times a day. Each time, her request is "minor", but the stuff adds up to tens of dollars every month, because she "forgets" to return what she borrows. My husband is a grad student, and we're certainly not wealthy, so we feel the loss. I'm careful about telling the truth, so I don't want to say, "sorry, I don't have what you need" when I really have it in my cupboards. I'm building up a lot of inner frustration and animosity toward the neighbor, yet I'm afraid to ruin the peace. Would should I do? Thank you, D.W., Ohio

Dear D.W.,

First of all, as a rule of thumb and good practice, always write down what you lend a person, the exact amount or item, and the date...

A gentle reprimand will release the pent-up frustration. When you don't express yourself, as you yourself have seen, you accumulate animosity. The Torah forbids us to harbor hate in our hearts toward another person. The only way to avoid the hate trap is to tell your neighbor - gently but candidly - exactly how you feel.

The next time your neighbor shows up, invite her for a cup of coffee, sit her down, and explain that according to religious law, one who fails to return a loan is called a wicked person. All the crying and chest-beating in synagogue on Yom Kippur can't rectify the crime of one unreturned potato. Also, the Zohar says that a person cannot achieve his or her rightful place in heaven unless they've repayed all outstanding debts. A person must suffer an entire reincarnation for a debt of a few pennies or more, and who says that your next go-round on this earth isn't going to be twenty times worse that this go-round? Also, religious law requires that a loan should be given only upon signing an IOU in front of two witnesses. Why? Many times people conveniently "forget" the money and/or items that they owe others.

Finally, explain to your neighbor that with all good intentions, you and your husband simply can't afford to be a free-aid society to the entire neighborhood. Unless the neighbor repays and returns all her outstanding debts, tell her that you won't be able to continue lending, for her own good.

If the neighbor accepts what you say, you will have done her a phenominal spiritual favor in this world and in the next. If she walks out in a huff, then at least she won't have the chutzpa to continue asking for things. Either way, you're the winner, and you've taken the load off your chest. The important thing is to avoid negative feelings toward another human at all costs. With blessings always, LB

Reflections about a Berserk Bulldozer

"For Hashem your G-d walks within your camp to rescue you and to give you your enemies, so your camp shall be holy and there shall be no impure thing, lest He turn away from you (Dvorim 23:15)."

The Divine Presence and impurity - debauchery, immodesty, lewdness, and abominations - are mutually exclusive. When the Divine Presence leaves, Heaven forbid, the dark side and stern judgments (sitra achra v'din kasheh) fill the void. Like in the material world, there is no void in the spiritual world. There's either holiness or the opposite.

Just three days ago on my weekly Sunday slot on Israel National Radio, I spoke about the connections between the San Francisco gay parade and the wildfires all across Northern California. With a lump in my throat I added, "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," trembling at what might happen after the Israeli government and Supreme Court allowed a public display of abomination in the streets of Jerusalem and hoping that the emuna revolution in Israel would be enough to get us off the hook.

Jerusalem is Hashem's palace, but with 2,000 unclad gays flaunting their debauchery in the streets of Jerusalem, Hashem won't be there. When Hashem leaves, the Samech-mem (Satan) walks in the front door.

The mode of operation in yesterday's gruesome Kafkaesque terror attack - a bulldozer gone berserk - is proof that the Satan himself planned the attack. Nobody could imagine such a scenario. Guns, knives, bombs, poison - but a bulldozer? The Samech-mem's fingerprints are all over the place.

This is a war. Those of you who follow the Beams know that I've been speaking extensively about holiness and modesty in recent weeks. No one can defeat Israel as long as our camp is holy.

The location of the bulldozer massacre was very symbolic - right on the corner of Yafo and Sarei Yisrael Streets. This is in effect the border between the religious and non-religious neighborhoods. What's Hashem telling us? Don't just blame the gays and the impurade. When religious women's hemlines go up and necklines go down, when they wear tight fitting clothes with a long blond wig that reaches vertebrae #8 and clicky spike heels, then the Divine Presence also says bye-bye. Hashem demands much more from the religious sector who should know better. When Haredi women start following Paris designers instead of rabbinical ordinances, that shows that they couldn't care less about holiness.

The Gemara in tractate Shabbat says (page 106a), "If one of the group dies, then the entire group should worry." It's not enough that we blow the whistle on the anti-emuna regime's sanctioning of filth on our streets. We have to blow the whistle on anything improper in our own camp. We should all do teshuva for breaches in holiness. And yes, we are all responsible for one another. If a Jewish women in Connecticut doesn't cover her hair, then another terrorist is born in East Jerusalem.

Imagine, after your 120 years on earth, you're summoned to the Heavenly Court and accused of aiding and abetting the bulldozer terrorist. You protest and say, "What do you mean? I was in the USA at the time!" The Heavenly Tribunal then shows that your flirting/looking at another person's spouse created an evil angel (stern judgment) that destroyed people in Jerusalem. This is no joke.

I had tremendous inner turmoil about whether to post this or not. I showed it to the Melitzer Rebbe shlit'a, who said, "Post it - it's all true."

It's time for truth. Self evaluation and teshuva are the order of the day. Our lives depend on it.

Jerusalem is Hashem's holy palace. You can get away with certain things in a cow shed, but they won't be tolerated in the palace. 

Holiness will win Jerusalem. The opposite is national suicide. Our camp must be pure.

Being Moral in an Immoral Society

Dear Rabbi,

I'm a Manhattan attorney, and I usually read your blog with my coffee and sandwich at lunch. I like your hard-hitting material, but sometimes you sound like Tiny Tim singing "Tiptoe through the Tulips". If I took your roll-with-the-punch emuna advice, I'd be trampled in my profession. Your morality is fine for rabbinical seminary, but it doesn't hold water in the Big Apple where it's a dog-eat-dog world. I attended a Yeshiva high school myself; the Gemorra is a superb mind-development tool, but excuse me, I don't see how its lofty moral platitudes are applicable to our society today. In short, how in the world do you expect a person to be moral in an immoral society? Best wishes, Louis

Dear Louis,

Look at all the immoral tough-guy tyrants from time immemorial. None had happy endings. Their success is always short-lived. King David taught us that the meek (humble) shall inherit the earth (Psalms 37:11); Hollywood, Wall Street, and many of your professional cronies don't subscribe to King David's thoughts, but meanwhile, King David's principle has proved to be historically correct for thousands of years. Maybe the role of a Spartan warrior, a Viking, or a Roman centurion is a lot more appealing than the humble role of a wise Talmudic scholar (which you obviously don't appreciate, since it seems to me that you regard your Talmud studies as a figment of your high-school past - please correct me if I'm wrong, barrister), yet the wise scholars are still with us today, while the Spartans, the Romans, and the Vikings have vanished from the face of the earth. I can go on and on with more case studies, but I think you get the point.

Now, let's look at our album of "meek", handicapped anti-macho moral types, who really did inherit the earth:

* Franklin D. Roosevelt - paralyzed from the waist down, yet successfully lead the United States through one of the most difficult times in its history.
* Helen Keller - blind, yet pioneered Braille and our entire system of special education for the blind.
* Thomas Edison - deaf; "I utilized my handicap to increase my powers of concentration, since I didn't have to listen to the small talk and nonsense of other people," he wrote in his memoirs, and rose to become the greatest of American inventors.
* Mahatma Gandhi - a frail weakling, but a giant of emotional strength. Gandhi was the father of "peaceful resistance," the mode of non-violent protest that led to the independence of India.
* Ray Charles - blind, but one of the giants of 20th Century American music.

Notice how history remembers all the above anti-macho types with love and admiration. Now, take a good look at the tyrants you know. Is there a single one who is happy? Has a single one been successful on the long run? Does history love and admire Haman, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, or Saddam Hussein? I don't think so.

The choice is yours, Louis. By choosing a moral path, you'll have The Almighty on your side. With His help, you'll always be a winner. Emuna makes you tough - not your biceps or a fast macho tongue. Blessings always, LB

Impurade 2007: Oh no, here we go again...

"They have eyes, but they cannot see" (Psalm 135:16). There is no better description for a regime that never learns a lesson, no matter how tragic it is.

The Midrash tells us that the only right the People of Israel have to the Land of Israel is by their living in holiness. The Torah says specifically that our continued presence in the Holy Land is on the condition that we don't act like the wanton and lustful Canaanite nations that were here before us (See Shemot 23:20-33, Devorim 9:5). If we fail to keep Hashem's laws, we lose the deed to Hashem's Holy Land, G-d forbid - it's explicit and simple.

The anti-emuna regime thinks that Israel can be Monte Carlo. They think that a fiasco like this will improve tourism or make them more popular in decadent eyes. What warped thinking.

The planned Impurade of 2005 brought us the destruction and exile of Jewish Gaza, where nearly 10,000 Jews lost their homes. The planned Impurade of 2006 brought us the disaster of the so-called 2nd Lebanon War, where nearly one million Jews were forced to evacuate their homes. Can't the silly regime see a connection? The holy Land of Israel can't stomach debauchery and impurity. Who are the daft leaders that want to chance another public show of anti-Torah abominations, like a dare in Hashem's face? As it is, Sderot is becoming a ghost town. Is anarchy in the name of democracy worth losing more towns and cities?

Dealing with this subject is most distasteful to me - there are 1000 more wholesome and pleasurable things to write about. Yet, someone has to stand up and yell at full volume that Israel is in grave danger. The decadent public shows of impurity on our Holy Land are a much bigger threat than Bin Ladin, Achmedinejad and his nukes, the Hamas, and the PLO rolled into one. We must stand firm together, just as we would in the face of an attack on our borders. Indeed, another Impurade is a threat deep within our midst. May Hashem help us.

What we really need is a Prime Minister like Rabbi Yehuda Levin, someone who fears nothing other than Hashem.

Behold your leaders, O Israel

Countless times, I've seen the Melitzer Rebbe shlit'a skip meals and entire nights of sleep because he was helping a family in urgent need or sitting by someone's sick bed. On numerous occasions, I've also seen him give every last shekel at his disposal to an emergency charity.

Once, the mafia was chasing a young man who owed them money. The young man didn't know who to turn to; he called Rav Shalom Arush shlit'a. Rav Shalom picked him up in the middle of the night and brought the young man to the Breslover Yeshiva in Jerusalem while endangering himself, and then arranged a debt settlement for the young man with the cutthroats.

I could go on and on with stories of dedication about this generation's true tzaddikim who selflessly concern themselves with the plight of other human beings in trouble, out of purest altruism, without expecting a thing in return. They only want to bring gratification to Hashem.

One the other hand...

How does the Commander of the IDF react when two of his soldiers are abducted by the Hizbolla and carried off into Lebanon, when at the same time a tank was ambushed and other soldiers were killed? He picks up the phone and calls his stockbroker. Despite fresh POW's, new orphans, new widows,  families beside themselves in grief and worry, Israel's security on the line, imminent danger, and Katyusha rockets falling already, Dan Halutz directs his attention to his investment portfolio, which of course are his highest priority.

Israeli pharmacies will be completely sold out of Dramamine today.

Halutz proves that the military leaders exhibit the same characteristics as the civilian leaders, for both stem from the same population. When one is corrupt, so is the other. Where one is devoid of ethical conduct, so is the other. In his lack of emuna and his disdain of Torah, Halutz shows the same egotism and self-serving lack of moral fiber as his bosses Peretz and Olmert.

To paraphrase Hashem's reprimand following the golden calf fiasco (see Exodus 32:8), "They have strayed quickly from the way I commanded them... these are your leaders, O faithless Israel." These are your promises, O Olmert.

The moral corruption can't go on like this. Moshiach is bound to come soon. Please Hashem, if You won't send us Moshiach now, at least instill the spirit of tshuva and emuna in all of our hearts; we're Your children - You must save us! The people of Israel are wonderful - help them see the truth and rise to fight the real battle, the battle against the Yezter Hara.

No contradiction

The Evil Inclination (Yetzer Hora) is a having a field day with the GayParade business. The media is now reporting that signs were posted in Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods offering a reward to anyone that kills a gay person, heaven forbid. I strongly condemn these ugly posters and the dark-side people that are behind them.

No G-d fearing person wrote such placards. I believe that it's a provocation of those who want to discredit the religious public and arouse sympathy for their waning cause. Yet, if the police do nail whoever's behind those terrible placards, I hope they lock them up behind bars.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlit'a, head of the Edah Haredit rabbinical court and a leading opponent of the planned Gay March in Jerusalem, said Tuesday that he was opposed to violence against homosexuals. "We must protest the desecration of the Holy Land," said Rav Sternbuch in a phone interview. "But we must do it nonviolently."

It's time to make something crystal clear: Every Jew is my brother or sister. A person doesn't lift a finger against a brother or sister; on the contrary, the Torah commands us to come to the aid of a fellow Jew. Do you know what that means? If thugs would attack a gay Jew, religious law requires me to do everything in my power to come to that Jew's assistance. An erring brother is still a brother. But, if that gay brother wants to flaunt evil in public and make a mockery of Jerusalem's holiness, then I must try my best to stop him.

There's no contradiction between loving a fellow Jew and fighting against his or her anti-Torah ideology, such as the way we fight against assimilation, abortion, and the like. King David said (Psalms 97:10), "Those who love Hashem despise evil." A Jew may have an evil ideology, but he or she is still a son or daughter of the King. Don't forget that in the heat of an argument.