Posts
Mindfully Walking with God Throughout the Day
Developing a Conscious Contact with God
God Listening Throughout the Day
Walking Hand In Hand With God
Doing His Will
Developing True Shalom and Serenity
Root Of Shalom=Shlema=Wholeness=Integrated, You Are No Longer Fighting Against Yourself
With prayer and meditation you are now well on your way to having regular conversations with the Divine at set times during the day. You're not going to stop there, though. Now I am going to teach you to walk mindfully with God throughout the entire day.
''And you shall love the Lord your God...when you walk along the way uv'lech't'cha va derech.'' (Deut. 6:4-8).
"Noah walked with God."(Gen. 6:9).
From 2 Kings 23, "And the king Josiah stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments."
Malachi 2: 6, "The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."
"We will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." (Micah 4:5).
"Walk humbly with God." (Micah 6:8).
The TaNaK is filled with stories of people walking with God. It is not difficult. It takes mindfulness. It is a conscious contact. It takes practice. It does not happen in a day or in a week. It is a life long process that never stops and is never truly mastered.
Lionel and Judith had just returned home from a party.
Judith said, "Do you realize what you did tonight, Lionel?"
"No I don't," Lionel replied, "but I'll admit I was wrong. What did I do?"
''When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.'' (Genesis 17:1).
"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 10:12)
''He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.'' (Proverbs 2:7).
"O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress." (Isaiah 33:2).
You will remember from earlier chapters that after you have finished your daily morning prayers and meditation, you should spend a few moments looking over your plans for the upcoming day. You know the things that used to stress you, the things you used to fear and the people you used to resent. You recognize your character defects such as ego, jealousy, self-seeking, gossip, dishonesty, selfishness and resentments that you might encounter during the day, but you know to ask God simply to keep you separated from these defects. For example, when driving your car if you used to get nervous driving on the expressway, or had a tendency to speed or drive carelessly, or if you looked at other drivers as opponents rather than as fellows, you now know to ask God to keep you calm and connected to Him, to proceed carefully and to treat the other drivers with kindness and courtesy.
"Asei ritzono ritzoncho, Make His will, your will." We humbly ask God to align our will with His.
You have learned about your yetzer ha ra, bad inclination, and that your heart and mind can be "deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9) if you are not mindfully connected to God. So as you go about your day, if ego or other character defects start emerging , immediately ask God to remove them.
Maurice and his wife Sadie were asleep one night when suddenly, at 2 AM, the phone rang. Sadie picked it up.
She listened to the caller then said, "How should I know. It's 95 miles away." She then hung up.
Maurice asked, "Who was that?"
Sadie replied. "Some mad woman wanting to know if the coast was clear."
You don't have to cast bad thoughts onto moving water. Call this a dry Tashlich if you will. Be mindful that God is the One with the good plan: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
God loves you. He knows you better than you know yourself so do not be alarmed if thoughts of, let's say a grudge against someone, enter your mind. Ask God to remove it immediately. Do not give it time to fester and grow. Remember that everyone is a part of God including you. If you hate someone, you're actually hating yourself.
There will be times when you need to ask God multiple times to have a negative thought removed. These are thoughts that you have had for years, but of which you may not have been aware. Now you are getting into conscious contact with God and with yourself. Bad habits are hard to break but with God's help they can be broken.
Lionel was wandering around
"Why would that help you?" she asks him.
"Because every time I talk to a beautiful woman, Sadie appears out of nowhere."
There is an undeniable link between God's abundant blessing and walking daily with God. He wants you to walk in His ways. And when you do not walk with God, you walk with your yetzer ha ra, and you are back to living a life without God. When you ignore God's benevolence, you only see your life's imperfections. Walking mindfully does not mean walking perfectly. There will be times when a thought from ego will occur unconsciously, or you will be conscious of it, but ignore it and you may act upon it. Or, you might owe someone teshuvah and have not gotten around to it. You should get to it as soon as you realize that it is owed.
"Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." (Eccles. 7:20).
In the Chapter on Teshuvah you learned to make things right with those you have treated badly. The closer you are to God, the less apt you are to behave negatively toward others. In my own experience, it now happens more at home than outside the home.
Proverbs (24:16) tells us that a person walking mindfully with God will fall seven times a day. This means that you may stumble, but you will not fail. Just get up and continue on your path. Continue being mindful of your thoughts and actions throughout the day and ask that ''God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do." (Jeremiah 42:3).
Have you ever asked God to show you "what is right and good in God's eyes?" (Deut. 6:8). Keep this question in your heart, mind and soul throughout the day and you will be walking with God. He will give you the answers.
You will use what you have learned about listening to God through meditation in your daily routine. God is always speaking to you, but so is your yetzer ha ra. Use the four way test to determine if you are hearing yourself or if you are hearing God. Is it of peace, honesty, altruism and purity?
Moshe goes into his local post office to buy some stamps. As he walks up to the counter, he sees a middle-aged man methodically sticking stamps onto a pile of pink envelopes. He was also placing "I Love You" heart-shaped stickers onto the envelopes. When he had finished, the man took out a bottle of French perfume and sprayed all the envelopes with it.
Moshe had to find out why, so he walks over to the man and asks.
The man replies, "I'm sending out 100 scented Valentine cards, each one signed, 'From you know who'."
"Why so many?" Moshe asks.
"Because I'm a divorce lawyer and business is not so good."
Martin Buber said that when he reached out for God's hand, he found it waiting for him. This is what happens to those of us who take the Jewish Spiritual Renewal path. Buber developed an I-Thou relationship with God, which helped him develop an I-Thou relationship with his fellows. This is what you are doing with your Jewish Spiritual Renewal. You will no longer have I-it relationships with people. As God loves us and wants the best for us, we learn to love and treat all people with kindness, even if the relationship is short. The Mishna (Pirkei Avot 1:15) tells us to greet all people cheerfully, the tollbooth attendant or grocery bagger as well as your friends.
You now walk through your days holding onto God's Hand in a spiritual sense and are able to do God's will daily. When you do His will things will go better for you because He gave us instructions for ''our own good.'' You will still encounter those who will try to detract from you, and might find some old friends turning against you, but you will not be thrown off course, and you will attract new friends who want to live a spiritual life. Spirituality is about attraction, not promotion. We are not here to proselytize.
You learned in the previous chapter that through meditation you become integrated. Your mind and soul are aligned to one purpose, living a spiritual life. Your soul is no longer searching for God because it has already found Him, your thoughts no longer wander into resentments, your limbs take you in the direction that your soul guides them. With Godly integration comes Shalom, serenity, shlema, wholeness and Oneness with the One and Only True One. You are at peace instead of in battle with yourself.
Bernie and Abe are having a drink together in a wine bar to celebrate Abe's recent promotion. They had been drinking for some time when Bernie begins to insult Abe. He shouts, "I slept with your mother, Abe."
There was a hush as everyone listens.
Bernie again shouts at Abe, "I slept with your mother, Abe."
Abe replies, "I know. Why don't you go home now, Dad, you're drunk."
Mindfully walking with God throughout the day means living in His presence. This involves the way you think. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). Thoughts need to be loving, selfless, truthful, void of ego, and pure. Walking with God involves steady progress and spiritual growth. It involves having to say no to certain worldly things that are bad for you. The Talmud tells us that one who is offered a fruit he has never tasted before, and does not taste it, has forfeited his place in Olam ha Ba (the World to Come) (Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Kiddushin 4 ). But the Talmudic sages, even in the age of Roman and Greek orgies, could not imagine a world in which the yetzer ha ra is extremely strong in the hearts of so many people and in many commodities.
King David on his death bed, said to his son Prince Solomon, "Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou may prosper in all that thou do, and where ever thou turn thyself." (I Kings 2:2-3). Mindfully walking with God throughout the day means saying "yes" to God and "no" to evil.
Mindfully walking with God throughout the day, you will constantly see his gifts and you will constantly bless Him for them. From the chapter on prayer: "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." (Ps. 69:30). When you bless God, do so with sincere spiritual intention…kavenah. The Ba'al Shem Tov (Rabbi Yisroel
Mindfully walking with God throughout the day, you continually remind yourself to have faith, trust, belief and experience in God and that He is indeed Adon Olam. You remind yourself continually that this is His universe, and to "Let Go, and Let God." When you worry or have doubt about the way God is running the world, it is driven by your yetzer ha ra. You need to push your ego and yetzer ha ra out of your heart so that you can serve God with complete joy. You must do this each day, sometimes many times a day because ego and yetzer ha ra never fully go away.
Old Chaim is dying. His entire mishpocha (family) is sitting around his bed, subdued and not knowing what else they can do.
They ask him, "Chaim, maybe we can fulfill your last wish?"
"Yes... I'd like ... a cup of tea ... with two teaspoons ... of sugar."
"Why?" they ask him.
"I've had a long life... and all of that time... when I drank tea in my own house... I used one spoon of sugar... When I had tea... in someone else's house... I put three spoons of sugar in my cup... But really... really... all my life... I loved tea... with two spoonfuls of sugar."
True mindfully walking with God throughout the day will have you cleaving to, spiritually holding hands with, and unifying with God. As you learn that you are created in God's image and are a manifestation of God, you come to truly know yourself in integration and Oneness. You will keep yourself connected consciously with the Creator and His creations, which include your will, your soul, your thoughts and your actions.
So far, this book has only mentioned in passing Kabbalah and its spiritual texts, the books of Zohar (radiance). I purposely did not mention it in the chapter on meditation. However some Kabbalistic ideas have been woven into this text. One is that we are delusional or seeing illusions when we thought we were in control of the world.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness." (Exodus 20: 3). Judaism forbids idolatry. This prohibition hides behind it the most fundamental principle in Judaism, which states that everything we see is only a figment of our imagination. We really are clueless to what reality is because we see reality through our own experiences. We hardly know how our own minds tick, but we think we know what someone else thinks about us.
Shlomo is standing in his house near an open window. He is obviously wearing nothing but a tie around his neck.
Jacob is walking past the house, sees Shlomo and asks, "Why are you standing there all naked?"
"Why can't I be naked?" replies Shlomo, "this is my house. There is no one else here."
"But why are you wearing a tie?" asks Jacob.
"Well," replies Shlomo, "what if someone drops in to visit me?"
Two people can view the same situation differently. It happens in courtrooms every day. Walking mindfully with God changes your perspective on life. Perspective determines your thoughts and emotions and eventually your actions. Your actions then determine your reality of life. What is actually real for you?
Kabbalists say that there is no reality at all, but something called "His Essence," the "upper force." That force operates so that God is viewed as an image of a certain reality, which we call our individual worlds. The closer one comes to God and the upper force, the less ego distorts reality and ''our world'' is seen more clearly. On the Kabbalistic Sefirot tree diagram, (which is beyond the scope of this text) the property of the upper force is altruism. Walking mindfully with God, you are living an altruistic and unselfish life. This helps you to see reality clearly.
If the last few paragraphs were a bit ethereal, let me give you a concrete example to bring things back down to earth. Imagine that you are having lunch with a friend. You discuss a number of different topics having to do with your mutual profession. You think you heard everything clearly, but you did not take notes and, since you are getting up in age, are a little hard of hearing. Your lunch companion offers to send you a summary of your conversation, with all points made, including references, by email. Frankly, these are all things that one in your profession should know, but you are now realizing some deficiencies in your knowledge as business school was a long time ago.
At no time does your friend attempt to make you feel foolish, but here is this long, involved email teaching you, chapter and verse, things that you don't know about your own vocation…and you don't like it one little bit! Instead of seeing a valuable lesson, you are looking through your egotistical low self-esteem glasses and see a "put down." You begin to think horrid thoughts about your colleague. You never thank him for the lunch meeting or the email and worse, you harbor such strong resentment that you stop answering his calls and returning his email messages.
Now if you were mindfully walking with God, you might have the negative thoughts about the person who sent you the email, and about the fact that you don't know as much as you thought you did, but you would ask God to remove the thought and you would embrace the idea of learning something from the email message. By asking God to remove a negative thought, you have changed your reality and, hence, your follow up actions. Being closer to God will bring you closer to your fellows as well. Living altruistically, doing good things while expecting nothing in return, you will view the world as a joyful place and see others in a positive light. You won't jump to the conclusion that others are harming you and take destructive action as a result.
Note also how actions of resentment don't hurt the target of your resentment, they only hurt you. A grudge is acid eating away at its container. You might get headaches, chest pains, or feel generally rotten when you see the other person doing well. You need to get control of this character defect, the grudge, and you will become closer to God. You will feel how God operates inside of you like a Divine flame. You'll never be able to feel Him outside of you, only how He operates inside of you because "By your acts we know you." (Zohar).
One early winter morning, Rabbi Bloom was walking beside the canal when he saw a dog in the water trying hard to stay afloat. It looked so sad and exhausted that Rabbi Bloom jumped in and after a struggle managed to bring it out alive.
A passer by saw this and said, "That was very brave of you. Are you a vet?"
Rabbi Bloom replied, "Of course I'm a vet. I'm a freezing cold as vell."
As you get closer to God each day by mindfully walking with Him, you will gain the gift of spirituality and insight, but there is a catch. The Talmud Bavli Tractate Succah 52a tells us that our yetzer ha ra inner voice will become louder, but now we have the awareness to ask God for help in negating it. So do not be surprised when, as you grow spiritually, you feel yourself being tugged backwards. While the death of Ego is a wondrous event, Ego does not want to die and he's going to put up a good fight.
Most people do not want to change. Those of us blessed to have reclaimed Judaism through Spiritual Renewal, including the steps of Chesbon ha Nefesh, Tashlich, Teshuvah, Prayer, Meditation and now Mindfully Walking with God throughout the day, do want to change and we have seen that the change is good. Isaiah 6:9-10 reminds us of what we were like before: ''You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. This people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes." And, "An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger, but
This chapter began with a quote from the V'Ahavtah prayer from Deuteronomy: ''And you shall love the Lord your God...when you walk along the way uv'lech't'cha va derech.'' I have seen no one fail who has sincerely followed this path, derech. In Mishna Pirkie Avot (2:2): "Beautiful is the study of Torah with derech eretz, as involvement with both makes one forget sin." The term derech eretz, literally "the way of the land," means behaving appropriately among others as one mindfully walks with God throughout the day.
"If others speak evil of you let the worst thing said seem unimportant in your eyes; but if you have spoken evil of others, let the least word of it seem important." "If you have done much good, let it seem little in your eyes, and say: 'Not of mine own have I done this, but of that good which has come to me through others. However, let a small kindness done to you appear great." (Talmud Tractate Bavli Derech Eretz Zuta).
Most importantly, do not give up this derech, path. God is with you. Talmud Bavli Tractate Makkot 24a said that the prophet Habakkuk reduced the entire Torah to one word, ''emunah," which means faith. Take this step of walking mindfully with God throughout the day as you have the previous steps… one day at a time..
Arnold and Abe are walking their dogs past the synagogue one Saturday morning.
Abe says, "they will never let us in with the dogs."
"Just follow my lead," says
As he thought, the shammas (caretaker) tells him, "No dogs are allowed."
The shammas says, "Sorry, I didn't know. Ok, you can go in."
Abe follows.
Again the shammas says, "No dogs are allowed."
Abe says, "But it's my seeing-eye dog."
The shammas says, "This is your seeing eye dog? A
Abe looks startled and says, "Is that what they gave me?"
In the next class you will learn about daily spiritual growth.
As always, a d'var Torah for this week's Shabbat parashah.
Shalom,
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
via Shamash-on line class service
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA SHOFTIM
DEUTERONOMY 16:18-21:09
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC
BLUFFTON ,SC
"Here Come da Judge"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
This week's portion reviews the rules about the Israelites' court system,
as well as the penalties for idol worship, rebelling against the
authority of the Torah, and witnesses who lie under oath. The parasha
also sets down rules for our future kings and rules of warfare, including
the basis of our modern conscientious objector status. To learn more,
please read further.
"Justice, justice, shall you pursue" (Deut. 16:20). These are five words ,
which if everyone followed, our task of Tikun Olam (repair of the world)
would be finished. The pursuit of justice has been a challenge to all
people. Some groups choose to ignore it all together. The Hebrew word for
justice is "tzadakah." This is the same word commonly translated as
"charity" that we read about in last week's Torah portion. Being a judge
("shofet" in Hebrew, where this parasha derives its name) is holy work.
Eye witnesses must be examined carefully. Circumstantial evidence and
logical conjecture is not admissible in court. Bribes cannot be taken.
Our judges must be truthful judges, just as we bless God as the
"truthful judge" when a tragedy occurs.
The same holiness is demanded from our kings. Our kings were obligated to
write their own Torah scrolls and carry them with them at all times
(Deut. 17:18-20). They were also obligated to study it daily. The
Kabbalists study the Hebrew word "melech" (king). They say it alludes to
three words: "moach" (brain), "lev" (heart), and "kaveid" (liver). The
liver filters the blood before sending it to the heart. The heart
refines the blood further before sending it to the brain. Before our
kings reached a decision, they had to go through a process of
intellectual and spiritual refinement.
Even our witnesses in court have a holy obligation to be truthful. If a
witness lies, he is punished with the same penalty that the defendant was
in jeopardy of receiving if found guilty. Even if there are 100
witnesses and one is found to lie, all of the witnesses testimonies are
disregarded. There were no lawyers or prosecutors . The witness brought
the charges and the judges examined all parties. Imagine if our court
system today had these same rules. Prosecutors and plaintiffs would think
twice about bringing trumped-up charges or frivolous law suits against
defendants. Our kings had to go to the front lines of the battle if they
declared war. Imagine how few wars there would be if our modern
presidents and prime ministers had to go out into battle with the youth
of their societies.
"Appoint for yourselves judges and police at all of your
gates"(Deut.16:18). Why did the Torah add the word "lecho" (for
yourselves)? The Mishna Pirket Avot 2:18 says we should not do evil
"before ourselves." We must constantly oversee our own actions. In a
previous parasha we were called a "kingdom of priests." We also have an
obligation to be a kingdom of honest judges, watchful policemen, and just
kings. Another explanation is deeper. Many times we are lauded by others.
We are painfully aware of our own shortcomings. We should not let
ourselves become blinded by their others' praises. "And you shall not
take bribery, for bribery blinds the eyes of the wise, and twists the
words of the righteous"(Deut.19:19). We must be self-judges and each
police ourselves.
"Where should our judges sit?", asks the Shla'h HaKadosh. He writes that
a person has seven gates: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one
mouth. We should guard our mouths from speaking loshan ha ra (derogatory
speech). We should be careful of what we listen to and how we look at
things in life. We need to continually pursue this personal goal.
Talmud Tractate Nedarim 32B says we find that "at the time the evil
inclination takes control, there is no one to remind you of the good
inclination." Anyone that has been on a diet knows this only too well! We
certainly have an obligation to judge and correct ourselves before
judging others.
The Talmudic rabbis ask why is the word "justice" repeated and what does
"pursue" mean. Pursue implies an ongoing endeavor. Tractate Sanhedrin 32B
gives two answers. "You shall follow an eminent court of justice." And
"Follow scholars to their academies." They argue that the best way to
avoid the need for justice is to learn Torah and follow its ethics. But
the sages go on to say that the first mention of justice means a decision
based on strict law, while the second word means to compromise with
leniency. They say the best justice is situational and subjective. They
say the best judges will find equitable solutions to complex practical
situations. This is the pursuit of justice. Mandatory sentencing laws are
not part of Jewish legal tradition. Daf (folio-page) 46A goes so far as
to say "I have heard that the court may pronounce lenient sentences even
where not warranted by the Torah, not with the intention of disregarding
the Torah, but in order to safeguard the spirit of the Torah."
There are times when the law must be set aside in order to uphold the
law. Tractate Berachot 63A says that in order to do work for God, you
must sometimes void the Torah laws. For the world to exist, the second
"justice" of compromise and mercy needs to be pursued as well. "Jerusalem
was destroyed because they gave judgments therein in accordance with
strict Torah law... they based their judgments strictly on the Torah and
did not go beyond the letter of the law" (Tractate Bava Metzia 30B). This
is why Hillel's liberal view always won over the strict view of Shammai
(Tractate Eiruvin 6B). Strict adherence to any law can be destructive.
What the sages were trying to teach us is that it is dangerous when a
person or a religious movement no longer uses Torah in order to relate
to God and His children, but rather worships the law itself. This is
"Tor-idolatry." The letter of the law becomes the "god." One's
relationship with God is obscured as one's relationship with his fellow
man is flawed. King David said it best in Psalm 85:11-12, "Loving
kindness and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each
other. Truth shall spring from the earth, and righteousness shall look
down from the heaven." Like the Kabbalistic tree of the Ten Sephirot, we
as a society must learn to balance justice with righteousness, and mercy
with strictness.
Any reading of the Torah will show there are numerous ways of incurring
the death penalty. Picking up sticks on Shabbat is a sure way to die. Our
rabbis write that the courts are obligated to look at every facet of a
case, and it there is one iota of a contradiction, to let the defendant
be declared innocent. A court which put a man to death once in every
seven years (and some sages say, seventy years) is a "bloody court." We
should not be looking for ways to accuse people, but for ways to help
people stay upright and honest.
Society's obligation for prevention of crime is made crystal-clear in
this week's parasha. If a dead man is found outside a city, the elders of
the village were commanded to bring a sacrifice to the site (Eglah
Arufah). They, not the priests in the Temple, had to kill this heifer.
The elders of the town had to say,"our hands did not spill this blood,
and our eyes did not see it"(Deut. 21:7). The Talmud very clearly states
that the elders were at fault because they did not see him and failed
to provide him with food , housing, and an escort. Tractate Sotah 38B
sums up needless deaths in a society succinctly, "The need for the Eglah
Arufah is only because of stinginess." Our politicians , as well as each
citizen, have an obligation to actively contribute to the well-being of
all in our society and not merely refrain from doing harm.
Even our rules of warfare had true justice in them. Newlywed soldiers,
or those with new homes or vineyards that they not yet had enjoyed were
allowed to go home. Soldiers who were faint of heart were excused from
battle so as not to scare other soldiers, as well as to be merciful.
Sincere overtures of peace to the enemy must made before any battle. To
show us that the ends do not justify the means in war, fruit trees were
not allowed to be harmed (Deut. 20:01-20). Thus in war we are to be
reminded that life, symbolized by a fruit-bearing tree, is not cheap.
"All is fair in love and war" is not a Jewish tradition.
Our Shabbat's Haftarah from Isaiah says "Awaken yourself! Awaken
yourself! "(Is. 51:17) and "Wake up! Wake up!...Shake the dust from
yourself!"(Is. 52:01-02). Isaiah begs us to herald in "peace...good...and
salvation"(Is. 52:07) and to "Turn away! Turn away!"(Is.52:11) from
injustice and "contamination." In a few months there will be an election
in our great country. Let us police and judge our hearts and minds. Let
us not be bribed by promises of increased personal financial portfolios.
Let us analyze our choices without prejudice. Let us pray that we can
reach a decision on whom to vote for and who will be picking the next
group of Supreme Court judges, using Torah ethics and teachings as our
guide.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
JEWISH RENEWAL
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC
BLUFFTON,SC
ORIGINAL VERSION WRITTEN WHEN SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT CONGREGATION TEMPLE MICKVE ISRAEL, SAVANNAH, GA
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