Torah ShareRabbi David Aaron – Shares about our view of Hashem (vs. G-d) and how we can turn a destructive view into a constructive view of Hashem.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
Rabbi David Aaron – Shares in this brief interview about how important our choices are but the results of those choices are in Hashem’s hands. We can take responsbility for our choices but not necessarily for the results. Even if things are going well its a good idea to still check in with someone (a mentor) because while you may be getting the results that you want you may still not be making the right choices. Most people base their choices based on the results rather than understand that the ultimate results are actually the integrity of your choices.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
Rabbi David Aaron – Shares in this brief interview about jealousy, that the jealous person doesn’t have an issue with another person but that the core issue is they have an issue with Hashem. Therefore, connecting with the core issue and being grateful with what we do have will ultimately solve the internal jealousy.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
I have never seen or touched gravity, and I never will. But I know that gravity exists when I feel a force pulling me down.
And so, too, I have never seen or touched God, and I never will. But I know God is in my life when I feel a force pulling me up.
In other words, we can know God. Even though we cannot see or touch Him, we can feel seen by Him and touched by Him. And when we do, we feel uplifted, transformed and inspired.
In truth we are always seen and touched by God, but we might not always be tuned into that truth.
Let’s say you are in a majestic forest, or watching a glorious sunset by the sea; or perhaps you are at an amazing concert, or admiring a stunning work of art, or simply enjoying an intimate conversation with a friend. How will you know if you only came across a bunch of trees, experienced the end of the day, listened to some nice music, saw a pretty picture, felt a warm friendship, or that you actually encountered the Presence of God?
You will know by what happens within you.
You can know that you actually encountered God when you feel at that moment a sure sense that your life and the life of others really matters. From within you will erupt a yearning to love, respect and care for yourself and others. And you will feel filled with an unusual sense of happiness, with a certainty that you and others really matter and what you do really makes a difference, and you will be driven to live a life in service of a greater good.
Simply put, when people, places and/or events set you on fire with the higher desire to love, give, grow, do good and cherish living responsibly – then you are surely feeling seen and touched by God.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
Rabbi Aaron – Shares about the root issue for many people – our issue is with Hashem (G-d) and how we feel about Hashem and how we think Hashem feels about us. What a powerful realization that is – to be able to verbalize that deep emotion some of us feel about. Let’s heal!
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
Many of us have heard about bring the material into the spiritual but the reverse is also true. We bring the spiritual into the material by bringing Hashem into this physical World and elevating our existence.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
“Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from your needy brother; surely open thy hand to him.” — Deut. 15:7-8
The Talmud teaches: “Tzedaka [commonly translated as charity] saves from death.” When we need an incredible influx of life force — because we are facing impending physical death or impending spiritual death, the act of giving to charity can be one of the most powerful antidotes. Why should giving a few coins have the power to save a person’s life? Why is Tzedaka such an incredible connector to life, blessing and abundance?
To begin with Tzedaka is really not charity. Charity is doing something you don’t have to do because you are being nice. You don’t feel an obligation to give, but you want to be nice, so you’ll give a few coins. That’s what charity is, but that’s not really Tzedaka.
Tzedaka really means “justice.” According to justice, you must help someone who has less than you. It’s not giving because you feel like giving, and want to think of yourself as sweet and generous. Tzedaka is an obligation.
By giving out of Tzedaka, out of justice, we justify our existence. Without giving, there’s no reason to exist. Only by being contributing members of a community do we acquire worth. Tzedaka justifies our existence by demonstrating that we are a part of a community in service of a greater reality. At the same time, we recognize that what we are giving is not really our own. It’s all G-d’s wealth. We’re just passing it on.
Torah teaches that we are responsible to acknowledge — in thought, speech and action — the blessings of life’s spiritual wealth and pass them on to the world. And Tzedaka fulfills that function. We give each to each, because we are all members of a community. Our higher purpose in being part of a community is to acknowledge G-d as the source of all life and goodness and thereby enjoy the opportunity of being a channel for the presence of G-d into this world. The simple act of living Tzedaka accomplishes that in an instant.
Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” Tzedaka is not being nice. Tzedaka is being honest. You are saying, in effect, “It’s not my money. It’s for me to pass it on. And the more I give away, the more I’m going to get.”
Now, if you can’t give it away, it’s because you think it’s yours and you are the source of your wealth. When you know that it’s not yours, that it’s only entrusted to you, you have no difficulty in passing it on.
A stingy person is like a wire trying to hold on to electricity. But isn’t that crazy? Why would a wire want to hold onto electricity? Its whole purpose is to pass it on, to be a conductor of electricity. That’s why a wealthy person is not a person who has a lot. A wealthy person is a person who gives a lot. A person who gives a lot understands that he is plugged into the source of all wealth. G-d is the source of blessing and wealth. The more conscious a person is of G-d as the source of wealth, the more he can become a vehicle to channel wealth into the world. But when a person holds onto money, thinking, “It’s my money. It’s just for me,” eventually he will lose his wealth. Maybe he won’t lose his money literally, but he will lose the blessing of that money. That’s why when people who are experiencing financial difficulties seek the advice of a rabbi, often he will tell them, “Give more Tzedaka.” It may sound odd. Here a person is struggling, unable to make ends meet, and the solution is to give what little he has away? But it works, because by letting it flow out one end, new resources flow in the other end.
A wealthy, very generous man named Joe Berman once told me something which made a deep impression on me. He said, “Very often, when people go through bad times, they ask, ‘Why me?’ Well, why don’t people, when they go through good times, ask, ‘Why me?’ My whole life, I’ve been blessed with good times, and I’ve always asked, ‘Why did it come to me? What am I supposed to do with it?’ Because I could see that it certainly wasn’t coming in just to make me rich.”
Very wise advice. We all have to ask ourselves this same question: “Why me? If I have this money, why me?”
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
Two !Short Clips! centered about faith in Hashem and the Soul.
Is Your Soul Hungry? by Rabbi David Aaron:
The Cure For Anger, Crime & Violence By Rabbi Lazer Brody
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
We’re here to repair, not just enjoy the ride. Find what’s broken and take pride in being the one who fixes it.
After Tisha B’Av this video is a perfect constructive way to jump into the rest of the day, week, and year. Rabbi Aaron shares that many us seem to think that the World in an amusement park and we are here to be entertained – Jewish thinking actually is the opposite we are here to accomplish tikun olam (fix the broken World) – instead of be here now its serve here now. This purposeful life yields a fulfilling life full of joy.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/
If G-d is good, where is the bad coming from?
The Zohar, the chief work of Kabbalah, presents an intriguing perspective. It claims that the Torah could have been given to the world during the time of Noah, but the people of his time weren’t ready. These were the same people who violated G-d’s will by their violence and selfishness, leading to the great flood that only Noah and those aboard his ark survived.
Kabbalah offers a unique interpretation: it equates the Torah with the life-giving force of water and suggests that because the people were incapable of receiving it, the water of the Torah turned into a flood.
From this, we learn a fundamental principle in Judaism: bad does not come from G-d. G-d only sends good, but when we are not receptive to the good, it turns into bad.
Here’s a helpful analogy: Imagine a bat on your shoulder. You and the bat are both looking at a light. While you see light, the bat, unable to handle the light, perceives it as darkness. If the brightness intensifies, you see more light, but the bat sees more darkness.
Similarly, G-d only sends us good. When we are not prepared to receive it, it appears as bad. The Baal Shem Tov, the 18th-century founder of the Chassidic Movement, pointed out that a curse is actually a blessing we are not ready to receive.
G-d is always sending us His good. When we resist or are incapable of receiving it, the good appears as bad. But the more we open our hearts and minds to faith in G-d’s goodness, the more His goodness will flow to us as blessings in every way.
In Jewish blessings, “Baruch Atah” means “Blessed Are You,” indicating that G-d is the source of blessing. Blessing signifies bounty, abundance, wealth, and everything good.
While life’s challenges may sometimes feel burdensome, everything G-d does is always and only in our best interest. G-d never sends us bad; He only and always sends us blessings.
If you are interested in more readings and videos from this Rabbi please visit this YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiDavidAaron
If you are interested in receiving these Torah-Share.com posts via email please subscribe here: https://torah-share.com/subscribe/