Anger, Faith, and Growth

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Anger, Faith, and Growth.”

We live in an unpredictable world and I have made more than one bad decision recently. Fortunately, it was nothing too terrible, but I was still angry about it, and my gut reaction was to somehow blame G-d, and to feel angry at Him, because I thought somehow I didn’t deserve what had happened. However, I asked myself how can you be angry at G-d if you believe that everything he does is for your ultimate good? It took me a little time, but I realized that I wasn’t really angry at G-d, but at myself; It was my fault, I did deserve what happened, and my mistakes aren’t G-d’s.

Maybe this is what life is really all about–searching and finding G-d even among all the multitude of mistakes we make in life. We have to own our mistakes, learn from them, and thereby become stronger and better people.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Our Journey To Freedom Is Almost At The End

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Our Journey To Freedom Is Almost At The End.”

Despite our redemption from slavery in Egypt (1312 BCE), we continue through cycle after cycle of enslavement and exile.

In Kabbalah, we learn that the Jewish soul reincarnates until it reaches its spiritual enlightenment and fulfills all the mitzvot. Similarly, the soul of the Jewish people is reincarnated and relives painful destruction, slavery, and exile until we learn, grow, and finally become what we are destined to be as servants only of Hashem and as a light unto the nations. This has been our fate, but also it is one that we are finally nearing the end of with the return to the Promised Land and perhaps even the arrival soon of Mashiach.

(Free Photo via Pixabay)

Dog Eyes and Knows

Something very cute about this dog and how he’s looking. 

Almost seems like there is a person inside there.

See the twinkle and knowing in his eye. 

Makes me wonder whether dogs (and other animals) were once people who have been reincarnated.

Is a dog and a person soul both the same (or how are they different)?

I am sure that there is divine justice (or Comedy) in coming back and in so many different ways and forms. 

This dog knows something for sure. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Striving To Be Good Enough (This Time Around)

Please read my new article in The Times of Israel called, “When Are We Good Enough?“

I too believe strongly in reincarnation. I think that is partially what G-d means by doing justice in this world. If you bomb out in life and don’t fulfill your true potential than G-d sends you back for another try.  And this can happen as many times as it takes to get it right!

I hope I am getting it right in my life this time around. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Wealth Effect

So some wealthy people are good and they use their blessings and good fortune to help others.

Yet, others think that they “have it all coming” to them, and they flaunt their money and look at others who don’t have what they do as pure trash–unworthy to occupy or breath the same universal space or air that they do. 

Visiting Palm Beach yesterday, I must say that I saw too much more of the latter than the former. 

Some people were nice, but others were incredibly arrogant. 

With my Jewish head-covering (yarmulke) and our mundane vacation wardrobe, we got more than our share of looks–with one older lady who was wearing fancy clothes and talking to another literally sneering at us with her nose raised in contempt as we passed. 

People whispered as we browsed the fancy stores where a shirt, skirt, or bag averaged around $10,000!

Even a large (over-sized) coffee table book was almost $1,000.

Yes, we did not belong there to buy anything, and were just respectfully browsing–and frankly, we are human beings too.

In the end, we were subject to some good old-fashioned racial profiling by the Palm Beach Police, who pulled us out as we were entering an Uber by the gorgeous beach and fancy schmancy Worth Avenue. 

At least 3 police cars surrounded us and took us toward one of them for questioning. 

They said to my wife that Chanel called saying a woman in a “hot pink” top and black skirt had stolen a pair of sunglasses. 

My wife doesn’t wear sunglasses!

We told them matter-of-factly that we weren’t even in that store–although we did pass by there–and my wife wasn’t wearing a skirt, but rather pants.

They looked in my wife’s knapsack that she opened and it was almost empty except for some travel items for the day. 

Then they said that the suspect that been called in had high heels, which also my wife didn’t have–so basically the description didn’t match and it didn’t make any sense why they even pulled us over.

Hey, did they bother to check the store’s surveillance tapes to see what the thief actually looked like???

So after they proceeded anyway to run my wife drivers license for any outstanding warrants–hey,  at this point might as well try for something–we finally, we got the:

Oh, so sorry for the inconvenience and have a nice day folks. 

Another officer winked at me. 

This whole thing went right along with the scene of the high-end looking Palm Beach patrol car that they have off to the side of the road immediately when you get over the bridge to their luxury island–clearly conveying the message:

Non-wealthy people not wanted here!

We are watching you!

So this is part of the land of the free and the home of the brave, but where the sickness of money pours from their narcissistic veins. 

But interestingly enough, right over the bridge going in the other direction–after you leave this island paradise–is the hospital. 

I’d bet that they probably all have nice, private rooms for these monetarily rich people, but for those that are spiritually bankrupted, I’m sure that their money doesn’t buy them what is truly important in life like health, meaning, happiness, or love. 

For the ones that are driven by corruption, greed, and arrogance–what they get is a dirty evil little soul.

And like Sodom and Gomorrah–these things usually don’t end well for them. 

If they manage to live out their stink-in rich years, I think G-d will probably send them back one day, but instead, theirs will be a story of riches to rags–so they learn their lesson and learn it well. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Wise Man Watcheth

I just loved this Asian sculpture that I found in this cool antique store.

It was white and slim with a Asian man face, long beard, and tall hat. 

The face was so expressive.

The eyes so alert and watching. 

The beard and hat made him look old and wise. 

As a real person, this is someone who has seen and learned so many things.

Forever watching.

Forever seeking to understand.

Forever trying to learn the secrets of the life. 

This is a person to consult and get guidance from. 

With age comes wisdom.

And with (occasional) reincarnation comes more opportunity to learn the painful lessons that we haven’t, but must.

How long has this man been sitting there watching and learning–how long must we?

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Seeing Your Life Flash B4 Your Eyes

So in near death experiences, it is common to see your life flash before your eyes. 

Researchers believe that what you see isn’t necessarily in chronological order, rather there is no time or space, and people report that “it all happened at once.”

Additionally, people feel the experiences and pain from others’ points of view. 

It’s like a melding of time and space in a single continuum. 

This so-called life review experience (LRE) is eye-opening. 

It’s almost like a G-d’s eye view of your life in the world. 

In the worst case scenario, what we see at the end is what we failed to see during life–how far wrong we went and how much we hurt others. 

If we wait until the end to open our eyes and see what’s right in front of us all along, then frankly, it’s too late to do anything positive about it. 

Maybe you have to come back (reincarnated) for another try to do things better and make things right. 

Hopefully, you learned something from this go around so that you are building incrementally and purifying your heart and your soul. 

If though life experience, it’s ups and downs, and pains and suffering, you still learn nothing…then what you see in the end is your own blindness to the eternal lessons of the omniscient creator–all in 20-20 extra clear hindsight. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Conflicts That Challenge Us

My wife told me something good today (first time ever, haha).  

There are three types of conflicts:

1) Between Man and Himself — these are our internal conflicts or demons (fears, anxieties, guilt, compulsions, and evil impulses) that we must conquer. 

2) Between Man and Man — these are conflicts we have with others and we must resolve them with either empathy, compromise, giving, and forgiveness or at the other end of the spectrum with fight or flight.

3) Between Man and His Environment — these are conflicts that are man-made or natural in our surroundings and may involve scarcity, harsh or destructive conditions, and obstacles to overcome with scientific and engineering problem-solving. 

I would add a 4th type of conflict:

4) Between Man and G-d — these are conflicts we have in trying to understand why we are here, what G-d wants from us, and “why bad things happen,” and involve our relationship and reconciliation with and service to our maker. 

Basically, these four conflicts are more than enough to keep us busy day-in and -out for our entire lifetime, and either we resolve them and go to the afterworld, or perhaps we have to come back to do some more work on resolving them again. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

It’s Got To Be

So I read a book review the other day that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. 

The book was by an atheist who had 2 near-death experiences. 

And while for other people, they see the light at the end of the tunnel–and are reunited with family loved ones and are in bliss from being with the Heavenly Father…

This guy saw nothing but blackness and said it was empty and nothingness. 

And he was dead serious about it. 

He said there is nothing after we die, absolutely nothing. 

Now, while I have always believed in life after death and even in reincarnation if we still have more growing and learning to do, I had heard others say contrary beliefs in the past.

One guy in synagogue when I was a young adult used to say, “When you die, you’re as dead as a dead dog!”

Lovely thought (not), but I never took any of that seriously. 

Yet, this guy’s book somehow got to me on a deep level. 

Maybe because I lost my beloved parents over the last 2+ years and am still deeply mourning them, and the only thing that can possibly console me about that is the notion that I will one day be reunited with them and see them again. 

So the opposing idea that it’s really over–that I will never see them again–experience their love and laughter again–is beyond my comprehension–it literally blows my mind in a bad bad way. 

Also, I said to my wife, if this atheist is by any chance right (not about G-d) but about there being no afterworld, then what is the purpose to anything we do–who cares?

Without G-d, without Divine will and justice, and a world-to-come, there really is nothing but darkness and not just after we die, but now too–because it would all be purposeless. 

No, I cannot believe that!

The atheist saw nothing afterwards, because he believes in nothing–it’s a measure for a measure. 

For those who believe that there is more, much more–there really is. 

It has to be that way…for anything to make sense. 

For us to try so hard. 

For us to go on.

For us to have a purpose.

For there to be justice.

For there to be us. 

My dad used to tell me that “No one has ever come back from the other side to tell us what’s there.”

So it really is the ultimate mystery of life…but I choose to believe in life now and in life later. 

The miracles of my own life and those around me show me again and again that there is design, there is order, there is a plan, there is a purpose and I will find mine. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Will You Take The Next Exit Or Not?

I’m not really into the psychic stuff.

First, I learned in Yeshiva that we are not supposed to divine the future.

Second, I don’t think we’re supposed to know what we’re not supposed to know–it take the edge of the challenge in life (almost like trying to gain an unfair advantage in going through life’s ups and downs, which is how we learn and grow).

Third, I think there are a lot of charlatans out there (not everyone, but a lot).

But one idea recently, from Sylvia Brown, has got me thinking.

The idea is that we each have Exit Points in our lives–“precise times and ways when we’ll leave here and go Home again.”

Brown says we each have 5 of these exits planned in our lives–“and we can use any one of the five we want, as we go along, depending on whether or not we feel we’ve accomplished enough of what we wanted from this lifetime to begin with.”

Thinking back to my own life, I can clearly see times when it seemed like my number was up.

Each occurrence was dramatic and looking back now, sort of surreal.

During these exit points, I know that I was just inches from death and that G-d brought me back.

This is where I differ from Brown, I don’t think it was my choice to live or die, but I think it was a time of judgement, when G-d decided whether to let me live on (although, perhaps, I had some input as far as G-d is concerned).

The exit points are not escape hatches like from the Matrix, where we can choose to stop or “exit program,” but rather times in our lives when we are given the opportunity to go on or not.

Also, I think the decision of whether we stay or go is based in part on whether we’ve accomplished our mission, but also on those around us who will be impacted–that’s why it takes G-d to figure out all the combinations and permutations to make the call.

Bad things happen and people die suddenly and violently or even excruciatingly slow and painful deaths–and in other cases people survive to die another day–we really don’t know what is going to happen.

Part of not knowing tests us–sometimes to our limits and perhaps for some even beyond (although I was taught in Yeshiva that G-d never gives us more than we can handle).

We live, we die, and perhaps we live again i.e. through reincarnation–a mechanism of ultimate justice and learning.

Will G-d permit us to continue as ourselves in this go around, to come back as another in a future spiral, or is it really “game over”?

I thank G-d for letting me live to continue my journey–I still have so much to learn here and now–what the future brings, only the merciful Almighty knows. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)