Tapping Into Our Fruitfullness

My husband, Rav Berg, once told me a story about two great friends. There was a man who was sentenced to death. Before he was taken away, the condemned man begged the king, “Please allow me three days’ time to put my affairs in order and to make sure that my family is taken care of.”
“How will I know that you will come back?” asked the king. Almost immediately, the condemned man’s best friend raised his hand and said, “I will take his place. If he doesn’t come back, you can hang me instead.”
Three days passed, and the condemned man had not returned. When it came time for the hanging, the king’s guards turned to the man who had offered himself as a substitute and said, “You will have to take his place.”
Just before the noose was slipped over the man’s head, a voice suddenly rang out in the distance. “I’m here! I’m here! Stop! Stop!” The condemned man ran forward from the crowd to take his rightful place on the gallows.

At this point, however, the friend had already made up his mind to die in the first man’s stead. “You were late,” he said. “So maybe this was meant to be my destiny. You have a family who needs you. I’m alone, already here and ready to go.”

The two friends argued back and forth, each one choosing to die for the other. Seeing this, the king declared a stop to the hanging, saying, “My sentence was meant for one man, but I see that if I were to kill one of you it would be as though I were killing two people. Both of you can go free.”
The point of the story? Because each friend was willing to face death for the other, the judgment was removed from both.

Now obviously most of us, thank God, will never be in such an extreme situation. Still, there is a message here about the unlimited power of unconditional love. This week’s portion, Bamidbar, allows us the ability to go against our doubts and to understand that our spiritual growth is not determined by how much we learn or even by how much we pray; it’s determined by how much we’re prepared to extend ourselves for others.
You know the word “Kabbalah” actually means “to receive.” In our lives, we have little problem with receiving. The problem lies with what happens on the other side. Often times, the people that are – or appear to be – the most successful are also the unhappiest because they haven’t found the balance between what they have and what they can share and do for this world. This week, may each and every one of us have the ability to tap into our fruitfulness – whether it be time, money, or talent – and find ways to share it with the world.

Abrindo espaço para Deus

Existe uma história sobre um golpe de estado que teve lugar em um pequeno reino. Quando os soldados foram procurar o rei para matá-lo, ele fugiu para o centro da cidade e se escondeu em uma alfaiataria. O alfaiate reconheceu imediatamente a importante visita e sem fazer perguntas o fez se esconder sob uma pilha de roupas.
Pouco depois, os soldados invadiram a loja, espadas em punho, gritando: “Sabemos que o rei está aqui!” Perfuraram repetidamente a pilha de roupas, mas por poucas polegadas não conseguiram atingir o rei. Não encontrando ninguém, saíram tempestivamente e foram procurar o soberano na loja ao lado.
Quando o rei saiu de seu esconderijo debaixo da pilha de roupas, ele disse ao bom e velho alfaiate: “Obrigado. O senhor salvou minha vida. Por esse motivo quero que me faça três pedidos e eles serão atendidos.” Surpreso e entusiasmado, o humilde alfaiate pensou por uns instantes e disse: “Em primeiro lugar, quando vossa majestade receber seu poderde volta, eu gostaria que estabelecesse oficialmente um Dia Nacional dos Alfaiates. Em segundo lugar, todos os alfaiates do reino seriam pagos em dobro. E em terceiro lugar “ ele fez uma breve pausa antes de continuar dizendo “ Eu devo admitir que estou curioso. Gostaria de saber uma coisa: Como foi que vossa majestade se sentiu quando essas pessoas estavam tentando matá-lo?”
Seus pedidos serão atendidos, disse o rei, que então partiu da loja do alfaiate.
O golpe de estado fracassou e o rei retornou a seu trono. E seu primeiro ato oficial foi anunciar um Dia Nacional dos Alfaiates, proclamando também que todos os alfaiates do reino deveriam ser pagos em dobro. Em seguida, ele ordenou que o alfaiate que o havia ajudado fosse preso e enviado à forca. Apavorado e espantado, o alfaiate não conseguia imaginar como e por que ele estava sendo tão maltratado. A corda foi colocada ao redor de seu pescoço, mas segundos antes da alavanca do alçapão ser puxada, o rei interveio e gritou: “Libertem-no!” Ainda tremendo de medo, o alfaiate se voltou para o rei. Quando os olhos dos dois se encontraram, o soberano disse calmamente: “Agora seu terceiro desejo também foi atendido. Agora você sabe como eu me senti!”
O que essa história nos mostra é que nós podemos pensar que talvez saibamos o que os outros estão passando, mas enquanto não nos colocarmos no lugar deles não saberemos realmente.É por esse motivo que quando temos que enfrentar uma pessoa difícil, a coisa mais sábia a se fazer é ser compassivo e aceitá-la.
Vamos encarar a verdade, Todos nós julgamos. Basta dar uma olhada para uma pessoa e já estamos julgando a forma como ela se veste, como caminha, como fala. O problema é que às vezes estamos tão cheios de julgamento que não deixamos nenhum espaço para o amor. Ficamos tão cheios de nós mesmos - de quem nós pensamos que somos, do que acreditamos ser nosso por direito — que não há espaço para os outros e não há espaço para a Luz.
Esta semana, vamos nos lembrar de que o verdadeiro crescimento espiritual acontece quando aumentamos nossa empatia, nossa capacidade de sentir a dor dos demais. Como? Abrindo nossos corações para nos importarmos com os outros em vez de abrir nossas mentes para julgá-los. Afinal, há tantas coisas boas nas piores pessoas e tantas coisas ruins nas melhores pessoas que não cabe a nenhum de nós encontrar defeitos nos outros.

Com carinho,

Karen

Making Room For G-d

There is a story about a coup d’état that took place in a small kingdom. When the soldiers came looking for the king to kill him, he fled into the city and hid in a tailor shop. Immediately recognizing his important guest, the tailor, without so much as a question, shoved him under a large pile of clothing.

Shortly thereafter, soldiers stormed into the shop, swords in hand, shouting, “We know the king is hiding here!” Stabbing the pile of clothes repeatedly, they missed the king by mere inches. Finding nothing, the soldiers stalked out and into the next shop.

When the king emerged from under the clothes, he said to the kind old tailor, “Thank you. You saved my life. For this, I would like to grant you three wishes.” Surprised and excited, the humble tailor thought for a moment and asked, “First off, when your power is restored, I would like you to declare a National Tailors Day. Secondly, all tailors in the kingdom should be paid double. And thirdly…” he paused for a moment before saying, “I must say I am curious. I want to know something: How did you, the king, feel when these people were trying to kill you?”

“Done,” declared the king, and with that, he left the tailor’s shop.

The coup failed, and the king was returned to his throne. As his first order of business, he announced a National Tailors Day, also proclaiming that all tailors in the kingdom should be paid double. Then he ordered that the tailor be arrested and brought to the gallows. Terrified and bewildered, the tailor couldn’t imagine how and why he was being treated so badly. The noose was placed around the tailor’s neck, but just before the lever was pulled, the king intervened and shouted, “Release him!” The tailor turned to the king, still shaking with fear. When their eyes met, the king said quietly: “Now your third wish has been granted also. You now know what it feels like!”

The point of this story is that we may think we might know what others are going through, but until we walk in their shoes, we really don’t. This is why, when we are faced with a difficult person, it is wise to be compassionate and accepting.

Let’s face it. We all judge. We take a look at people and we judge them—by the way they dress, the way they walk, the way they speak. The problem is that sometimes we get so full of judgment that we leave no place for love. We get so full of ourselves—who we think we are, what we believe we are entitled to—that there is no space for others and there is no space for the Light.

Let’s remember that real spiritual growth happens when we grow our empathy, our ability to feel another’s pain. How? By opening up our hearts to care, rather than our minds to judge. After all, there is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behooves any of us to find fault with others.

Love Thy Neighbor - Anyway

Turn on the TV, go to a news website, or read any newspaper at this time of year and you will be sure to find some beautiful stories of sharing, hope, and love. On both a small and a large scale, people have helped other people during this holiday season. This is the time of year when we go out of our way to give and to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, which is a great energy—an energy that creates miracles.

But according to the kabbalists, it’s not enough to have this consciousness once a year during the holidays.  It is comfortable to share at this time because ‘tis the season to do so. But what happens now that the holidays have passed and we all go back to work? It is so easy to fall back into our routines: thinking about what we want, what we need.  But if we really want to bring about an evolution in the world, if we really want to make a difference, then we have to look for ways to share our energy so that we can improve the lives of others.

Most religions and philosophies in the world can agree on one tenet: Love your neighbor as yourself. Like sharing during the holiday season, this is easy to do, especially when we like the person we are supposed to love. But what happens when we don’t like our neighbor, or we are jealous of our colleague, or we resent our parents? Do we still love them as we would love ourselves? For most of us, the answer would have to be no.

It's easy to buy a coffee for a friend, but what about a coffee for the person who pushes all our buttons? Are we able to extend human dignity to the people we don't agree with or get along with? This, then, is our challenge and our power: to extend tolerance to those who are different from us—not because we are “good people” or it’s the right thing to do, but because doing so brings us closer to achieving our potential.

For the kabbalist, the golden rule is not simply to "love your neighbor as yourself," but, even more so, to “love your neighbor as yourself, when it is difficult." It is only when we love when it is difficult that we remove the layers of negativity that separate us from the Light of the Creator.

Kabbalah says that every time we do a negative action, hurt someone else, or find ourselves in a place of anger, we create a negative angel and open a space for bitterness to grow and fester. Who are these bitter people? Bitter people feel victimized or confused or believe that others don’t understand them. Bitter people are people that are totally involved with their ego, with their Desire to Receive for the Self Alone.

So I challenge you to take advantage of this time of year, for it is a time of cleansing, not of our souls but of our hearts. We have the chance to remove any sadness and bitterness we have within so that we can share when it is hard to share and love when it is difficult to love.

Remember, as long as we are alive, there is a spark in us that belongs to the Light of the Creator. But every time we think and act like victims, we deny that energy that was given to us by the Divine Force. So let us use this energy. Let us be a part of the Light in the world, not just at this time but for the whole year to come.

A Time For Miracles

This week is Chanukah, and according to the kabbalists, this is the holiday of miracles.
But what do we mean when we say "miracles"?
At Chanukah, we speak about the miracle that one day's-worth of oil lasted for eight days. In truth, the real miracle is not what happened in those eight days but what has happened and continues to happen during this week throughout the generations. Chanukah is the time when we can return our consciousness to the place where all that exists is Light. This is the miracle available to us during this week: access to a dimension of pure Light and perfection.
If we are not a part of that Energy, then we are finite. Without Light, we are just physical beings in physical bodies: We wake up, go to work, come home, watch TV and go to bed, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

When we light the candles of Chanukah, we are actually igniting the Light within ourselves—the Light that binds us with all the other souls of humanity and elevates us beyond the physicality and limitations of the "me." And when there are enough people that are connected to this Light, with everyone fighting against the negativity within themselves, the Cosmic Energy will come down and tell us, "I'll be there with you all."

This week, we have the opportunity to really understand that regardless of the circumstances— whether we are sick or well, whether we are in a good space or a bad one, whether we are financially sound or a little bit rocky—all there is, truly, is Light. And we are candles.
The minute we forget this, we have forgotten why we were put on this earth in the first place. When we find ourselves in the dark, however, it takes only one little candle to make the difference between being able to see our path or not being able to see it.

And that is the real miracle of Chanukah.

Controle Sua Língua

Eu recebi esta resposta à Sintonia Diária de segunda, dia 10 de maio:


Compreendo como a fofoca prejudica os outros, mas me diga: como a fofoca nos prejudica?

Não tenho como dizer o quanto aprecio o feedback e o diálogo que resulta dos emails que recebo. E para responder a pergunta...
Fora a óbvia natureza prejudicial da fofoca que prejudica a(s) pessoa(s) de quem se faz fofoca, causamos danos irreversíveis a nós mesmos de duas maneiras:

Quando fazemos fofoca sobre outra pessoa, toda a Luz espiritual – energia que obtemos das nossas ações, influência positiva, generosidade, conexão com o Criador e assim por diante – é transferida imediatamente para a pessoa de quem estamos falando.
Em outras palavras, podemos falar sobre quem quisermos, mas o preço que pagamos é o retorno que obtivemos por nosso esforçado trabalho espiritual. Parece até um bônus para a pessoa de quem se está falando. Irônico, não é?
Então, se você está se esforçando muito em um nível espiritual, mas está se sentindo desfalcado nos resultados, você deveria verificar o seu medidor de fofoca. Não estou dizendo que esta seja a única explicação por não se sentir revigorado neste caminho, mas é um fator importante.
O segundo perigo é um pouco mais sutil. Fazendo fofoca sobre outra pessoa, você a está julgando. E todo o julgamento que fazemos volta para nós. Isso não tem como ser evitado. Nenhum julgamento vem a nós que nós mesmos não tenhamos feito antes.
Da mesma forma, portanto, se você se vê sendo julgado desnecessariamente, pergunte-se quem e o quanto você tem julgado. Resumindo, nós geralmente subestimamos o poder das nossas palavras. O que colocamos para fora volta para nós, e sem o endereço do remetente.
Esta semana, mantenha sua língua sob controle. Pense duas vezes antes de falar.

Como a minha mãe, Karen Berg, costuma dizer: “Quem dera que ao menos tivéssemos tanto cuidado com o que sai da nossa boca como temos com o que entra”.

Tudo de bom,

Yehuda

Karen Berg

David Start-Cohen & Karen Berg

"Hoje, com as ferramentas e a sabedoria de que dispomos, somos capazes de transformar o caos ao nosso redor. Não só podemos, como devemos fazê-lo. Nossa tarefa não é apenas nos preencher com Luz mas, também, ter a capacidade e a responsabilidade de transmitir a força da Luz de D-us a outros." (Simple Light)