Lazer Beams

Don't Wait Another 10 Years

Debbie finally arrived in Israel last month, after ten years of longing. She has been corresponding with me for a little over a year, and the first thing she did was to show up at my Wednesday evening weekly Emuna talk and broadcast in English from the Chut Shel Chesed Yeshiva in Jerusalem. G-d willing, she'll be working in the mornings as an English teacher and spending her afternoons at a women's seminar for Baalot Teshuva.

Debbie wrote a message that we wants me to convey to all of you; it's really profound:

Rabbi Lazer, please tell your readers how I wanted to make Aliya ten years ago when I was 21. I also wanted to learn more about Judaism. I let my mother talk me out of both. During the last ten years, I wish I could say I've been treading water, but it's worse. I floated from job to job, had a miserable relationship with a person outside of our religion who I lived with for four years, and have sacrificed my own aspirations to keep mom happy. I was miserable and lost my self-esteem. You gave me the courage to pack up and do what I really want. Pass the message on to others - don't waste a decade of your own lives to keep others happy. Come to Israel today, and claim your Jewish birthright. Live your own lives. 31 is better late than never...

No, Debbie, don't cry over spilt milk. With Hashem's help, your Emuna will strengthen and you'll meet a good guy very soon. Your message is an important one.

The ingathering of the exiles is just one more sign of the wonderful times that await us in the rebuilt Jerusalem of Eretz Yisroel, amen.

It Really Works

Dear Rabbi Brody,

In case you don't remember me with all your mail volume etc., I'm Peter from Kansas City who wrote you about my financial difficulties three months ago. You told me never to criticize my wife and to be sure I give a tithe to charity. To be honest, I thought your advice was off the wall. Then again, a little voice in my head said, "Hey, Peter - you're the one that asked his advice. He called it the way he saw it. Maybe you should listen?" Well I did, and not only has my marriage never been better but 2 weeks ago I landed a job with better hours, nicer people, great bennies on the side, and catch this - $12,000 more a year than I've been making. And guess what - I owe different people the sum of $12,000! Can you believe it?! Your advice and your CDs (I listened to "First Place" and "Respecting Your Wife") really work! The good Lord is great and thank you Rabbi for bringing us all closer to him whether we're Jews or not. May you have continued strength in your holy work, an appreciative Peter from KC

Joy, not Zealotry

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

Six months ago I wrote you about my husband's spiritual slide, that he shaved his beard and stopped putting on tefillin in the morning. We exchanged a few emails and you told me that I was being too zealous and too "frum", always nitpicking at small details rather than stressing joy and emuna. I must be honest that you really upset me, an my heart (really my Yetzer Hara, but I didn't know it at the time) told me that you're just some NaNach-BT-Breslever parading as a rabbi and spiritual guide. But, when my husband opened up divorce proceeding in the Beis Din, I got a wake-up call from above that I had better listen to you. Other rabbis here were telling me to get a divorce. They said that my husband would ruin our three boys spiritually, and that I'd be better on my own. You said the opposite. Despite the way I insulted you, you answered with patience that I should stop criticizing him and stop yelling, and that I should pray for him at least an hour a day. I did, while doing my best to control my temper and to be attractive at home. Better to be a meshiggina Breslever than an arrogant single parent. (I can't believe how arrogant I was in thinking all the negative about you - please mochel me).

The patience paid off. After Succos, my husband cancelled the divorce file. This has been the best Chanuka ever. Like it says in "Women's Wisdom," I give him nothing but positivity. It has paid off big time. He is doing all sorts of things to earn more love and respect, which he is thriving on. Not only is he back to davening with a minyan, but he now has a Gemara chavrusa between mincha and maariv every day. He is spending much more time with our boys too.

I don't know how many families Rabbi Arush and you have saved, but ours is one of them. I just want all your readers to know that Yiddishkeit with joy - and not zealotry - is the way to go. Forever gateful, Miriam from Queens (who by the way attended and loved your shiur last week in Kew Gardens)

Dear Miriam,

I don't remember that you insulted me but of course I forgive you anyway. Thanks so very much for your letter. Happy Chanuka and Chodesh Tov, with blessings for another simcha in the family this year, LB  

A Home in the Land of Emuna

Make your decision to come home to the Land of Emuna and try to strengthen yourself in emuna with all your heart, and you'll see big miracles like my wonderful friends the Gros family did:

Dear Rabbi Brody,

Exactly a year ago, my husband (Michael Gros) and I had a question for you. I wanted to give you an update on Hashem's answer to that question.

We had made aliyah two years prior and had still not sold our home in America. In the meantime we were renting it out and the rent our tenants were paying covered the mortgage plus a little spending money.

Our problem was that we really wanted to buy a home in Eretz Yisrael but were unable to without the sale of our home in Atlanta. As you know the real estate market in America is bleak and it is even worse in Atlanta.

Your advice to us was to actively look for an apartment here in Israel and talk to Hashem telling him our dilemma and asking for help. We told Him all the reasons we wanted to buy here (including that we know that Moshiach's arrival is imminent and we wanted to be able to house all the guests that are going to be pouring into Erertz Yisrael!)and asked him to send a buyer to purchase our Atlanta home at the right time and the right price.

After much searching we found our dream apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh. It was beautiful with a view of the neighboring mountains. The sunset from our balcony would be breathtaking and we really wanted the apartment however there was not even a bite on our Atlanta home.

We did not loose faith! We continued talking to Hashem every night and made an offer on the apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh and it was accepted. Although we had enough money for the down payment we knew that the monthly mortgage payments would be an enormous financial strain on us. We would have to start asking relatives to help us each month if the house in Atlanta did not sell.

A closing date on our apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh was set and instead of getting nervous about our Atlanta home we kept davening and talking to Hashem.

A week before our closing here in Eretz Yisrael we received a phone call from a family in Atlanta saying they were interested in our home, how much were we asking and how quickly could we close.

In the end, we got for out home in Atlanta the exact amount we needed to make our mortgage payments comfortable here. The best part of the whole story is that we closed on our apartment here at 3pm and in Atlanta 11pm all on the same day...only a 7 hour difference. We couldn't have planned it that!!

Thank you for your advice! Thank you for showing us that Hashem really listens to us. Thank you for giving us the gift of Emuna!

Shoshana and Michael Gros

 

No Easy Way Out

Dear Rabbi Brody,
I'm not religious, but I get a kick out of your column and your broadcasts, even though I disagree with you plenty. One thing I particularly don't like is the fact that you're always hounding Jews about keeping all of the 613 commandments. So what if I'm Jewish? Why can't I just keep the seven Noahide commandments like you tell the non-Jews to? How come you're so nice to the non-Jews, and you're all over the case of the Jews. That doesn't seem fair. Please explain. Thank you, GA from Ohio

Dear GA,

Diesel fuel is fine for a diesel engine, but it won't propel a jet engine. The spiritual profile of a Jew differs that of a non-Jew. Therefore, the spiritual diet that can keep a non-Jew healthy won't get a Jew off the ground. A non-Jew can eat shrimp and lobsters all day long, and as long as he/she observes the seven Noahide laws, he/she is considered righteous. If you eat 28 grams of shrimp, you put a gaping hole in your soul. Whenever you turn on a light bulb with a tiny flick of the finger on the Sabbath, you cut yourself off from Hashem. On the other hand, a non-Jew can do whatever he or she pleases on their Saturday.

If a Jew keeps 612 out of the Torah's 613 commandments, and willfully breaks #613, he or she is considered a transgressor. Not fair? Consider this - if a grain of sand lands on your hand, nothing happens. But, if it lands in your eye, you suffer excruciating pain. Not fair? A hand and an eye - while both being very necessary parts of the body - are built differently with different strengths and sensitivities; the same goes for a Jew and a non-Jew. While both are Hashem's beloved creations, they have different strengths and different sensitivities because of their different tasks in the world. Yet, like an eye and a hand, both are vital.

Since you're a Jew - whether you like it or not - the only way for you to guarantee yourself true happiness in this world and in the next is to keep all 613 mitzvas. There's no easy way out. We all came down to this lowly world to perform a difficult task, and not to have fun and games. Yes, I will continue to get on your cage for your own good - if that's so distasteful for you, why do keep on reading the Beams? I'll tell you why, GA - deep down, it makes your soul feel good. Think about it, GA. If you add some emuna to your life, you'll feel great. With smiles & blessings, Lazer Brody

Mad at the Rabbi, Glad for the Result

Dear Rabbi Brody,

I emailed you in December last year requesting your advice. I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and a mastectomy was scheduled within a few days. The chronology is a little fuzzy in my memory now.  The final email I received from you was something to the effect of "have the surgery and thank HaShem for your disease". 

Not exactly what I wanted to hear at that particular moment!  Not only was it, in my mind, cold and generic, how would it be humanly possible for me to be thankful for this horrible disease?  I was angry with you, threatened to boycott Lazer Beams, Breslev, and cancel my membership with Breslev Israel!  A day or so later, I mentioned to my friend Bill (also a reader of yours) that I had received a reply from you.  I had told him that I wrote to you.  I also told him the way I felt about your less-than-10-word response. 

Keep in mind that we had already read Garden of Emuna and listened to numerous of your emuna series lectures.  Bill reminded me that I had contacted you and I was obligated to follow your advice. He also reminded me that you answer tons of letters every day and that I was being a little selfish to expect a long wordy email. After all, you're the rabbi!  So I swallowed my indignation, pride, fear, etc., walked out in my backyard and began to pray.  I thought I would choke on the words, but, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I thanked HaShem for "the disease".  Instantly, the fear left me and I regained my "center", that being connected with G-d in a way I had not been since I got the diagnosis.  I was once again at peace in the core of my being. 

Soon thereafter I had the surgery and was never afraid.  Bill kept reminding me that G-d already knew the outcome and there was nothing to fear.  Several weeks later I met with my oncologist for the first time.  She wanted to submit my lab work to a hoity-toity lab in California for an oncotype test before deciding on a course of treatment for my cancer.  I had never heard of this before, but agreed.  Apparently it would indicate the likelihood of cancer recurring in my body.  I was still seeing my surgeon at this time, who I really liked, and he was also anxiously awaiting the outcome. 

When the results were in, I went to see the oncologist for her to interpret them to me.  My oncotype test score was 2.  She explained to me that that was extremely low and that I would need neither chemotherapy nor radiation!  I grinned, said Baruch HaShem, full well believing that this would be the case.  A day or so later I had an appointment with my surgeon and he further explained that he had never, in his years of practice specializing in breast cancer, seen a single digit score on an oncotype test.  He had seen some 12s or 14s, but never a 2! 

Needless to say, I had no angst or problem thanking HaShem for this turn of events and this is what I knew the outcome would be because I had followed your advice, thanked HaShem every day, and maintained my emuna even when it was difficult to do so.  Thus, my sincere gratitude to you for making me mad!  I truly am blessed to know you and I am honored to have met you in person last month.  We need help here in OKC and you hit the nail on the head in your talk.  Love and unity, which is what I was praying you would talk about as I was driving to the shul.  Funny how that works, huh? 

Shalom and best wishes, Dawn from Oklahoma

Blue Otter's Dream

"Blue Otter" is a Tennessee Cherokee. Together with Chief Sitting Owl of the Central Tennessee Cherokee Nation, he travelled nearly 200 miles to meet me in person for the first time and hear me speak in Memphis this past month. A few days later, Blue Otter sent me the following email:

Osyio, Rabbi Lazer!

That night after the lecture, as I was blissfully sleeping in the Chief's "luxury suite," (as he calls it, and I did find it to be very commodious)... I dreamed that wherever you go on earth, there is a square 7' x 7' patch of what looked like "rain" that constantly follows and covers you. That was an interesting dream! I know it's true...

Shalom, Gah gey you e,

Blue Otter

Blue Otter's dream is remarkable. The minimum size of a kosher Succa is 7 tefachim by 7 tefachim. Our sages tell us that this is the smallest area befitting for the "Clouds of Emuna" to hover (in the words of the Zohar, tzila demehaimnuta). May we all be worthy vessels of the Divine Presence, amen.