RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:Tzedakah:BAVA BATRA 7B
Jewish Spiritual Renewal Shabbat 6/27/09 Torah,TaNaK,Talmud Ethical Spiritual Views
Shalom my beloved Talmidim v' Chaverim:
Thank you and my amends for putting up with a few extra emails this week regarding Tzaddakah for our fellow Talmid and Chaver and new Ger, Michael Ben Avraham. I am pleased to report that in just one week, this illustrious class and on-line community raised 50% of the funds Michael needs to make alliyah. I know that many of you have the means to contribute and have not yet done so. If ten more folks send $50, or 5 more $100, we have met our goal. Please pray on this and with Shabbat coming, please see if your hearts can help your hands reach into your pockets or purses and send a bit to finish helping Michael so we can put our learning of the ethics and spirituality of Judaism into practice.
''This message was submitted by michiyke20041@YAHOO.COM to the SPIRITUALRENEWAL list at SHAMASH.ORG . Shalom , Those who are offended for all the daily mails received, I want to apologize.
May God bless you all. Michael ''
Some Martin Buber, a Jewish Philosopher from the 20th century: "He who loves, brings the Divine and the World together." When we do an act of ahavath chesed, loving kindness, especially for someone who could never pay us back, we do true Tikkun Olam. We peal off the husks covering the Divine light lost in creation, and help repair the face of God. We bring heaven down to earth. And at the same time elevate ourselves so that where we stand is Maqom, The Place, holy ground, another of one of Ha Shem's Holy names.
Some Mibar Ha Peninim (Choice Pearls) by Ibn Gabirol Published in 1484 : "A man's faith is not perfected till his mind is perfected." Judaism does not believe in Blind Faith (although the 1969 album of that name with Clapton, Winwood, Baker and Grech, still gives me a rush). As Ibn Paquda wrote in his Duties of the Heart in 1050 CE Spain, God's greatest gift to us is our intellect, and we must use that intellect to determine the existence of God, and hence our service to Him, and then our love to all of our fellows. Don't give tzaddakah because I or some other rabbi or book tells you its the right thing to do. Use your intellect. See all the wondrous things that God has given you as a loan on this plane of life, and see if you think its righteous (the definition of Tzedakah), to help someone in need.
Some more Andalusian Spanish Jews: "Be not like a bird that sees the grain but not the trap."
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shaul ibn Tibbon of 1150 CE Granada. We all see our grain, the goodness that we have. But many do not see the trap. The trap is ego. The trap is thinking that we brought forth with our own hands these goodies. Moses warns us about this in Deuteronomy. He tells us that when we come into 'the land', and in a few generations things go well for us, do not for a moment think that the goodness came from our hands. It is all from God. And not sharing it, and worse bragging about it, is the trap.
For those of you taking learning seriously, one of the meanings on being a Jew or any person in study, is to live in a state of sustained wonder. We are to accept that there are things beyond human grasp. The we learn, the more we do not know. The very existence of anything at all is beyond knowing because each bit of new wisdom, will lead us to a new question. Then we strive to know more. For a serious Jew, study never ends.
Some Talmud: Bavli Tractate Bava Batra 7b: It is prohibited to construct the type of gate in front of one's house that will block the sound of knocking. It is a terrible mistake the sages say to slam the door on the poor. It is so antithetical to the Torah's viewpoint that even the design of one's home must take the poor into account.
I have, as many of you know, 3 classes at night my home, for gratis. Mondays is the Ethics of the Talmud, Tuesdays are Shaarei Halachah, and Wednesdays are Paquda's Duties of the Heart. (mentioned above). This Monday a fellow asked, ''how are these ethics usable in today's society?" The gist was with so many folks being unethical, being gonefs, doing lashon ha ra, and just being plane cruel and egotistical, how can we be ethical, if 'everyone' else is not?
Some more Talmud: Pirkei Avot: Well the Talmud tells us ''in a place with no Torah leaders, be a Torah leader.'' Most agree with all the wonderful advice and ethics written in the books of the sages. Most agree that this is the way to run your life. The only issue each one of us have is whether those words are truly meant for us, or for someone else in another time and another place. If it is truth, it is meant for us, now and here. We have free choice.
Some more Talmud Bavli Tractate Gitten 59b: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace".
And some TaNaK: Proverbs 3:17: "And all of Torah's way's are peace".
Sometimes no matter how good our intentions, we will do something that ends up hurting someone, or miss an opportunity to help someone. This is why those of us in Jewish Spiritual Renewal,
www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org do an accounting of our actions each night, to see if we owe anyone teshuvah. Peace between us and our fellows is the only way to live.
Some Talmud Bavli Tractate Ketovoth 62b: The story is told of Reb Rechumi who would study all year and come home only on Erev Yom Kippur. One year, Reb Ruchumi was too engrossed in learning and neglected to come home. Reb Rechumi's wife, who waiting for him, finally broke down in disappointment and shed a tear. At that moment the roof which Reb Rechumi was sitting on collapsed and he fell to his death.
Of course Rebetzin Rechumi had no desire to see her husband die and it obviously didn't make things easier for her. It is explained that Reb Rechumi's death was inevitable: Rebetizin Rechumi's tear was a ball of fire, created by the deep pain of a holy woman. The Tear had a power and a life of it's own. The Tear, not the logic or the circumstance, was what killed Reb Rechumi.
The whole of the Torah is for the sake of promoting peace. In our lives we have hurt many, many of whom we do not remember their names... the person we pushed in front of to catch a cab, someone we did lashon ha ra about, maybe even an ex spouse who we used as training wheels toward our second marriage. For the tears we provoked in these people, we repent, by treating those in our lives better today, and when opportunities come for tzaddkah, we do them.
Shabbat Shalom:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
member:temple oseh shalom
Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal
- Rabbi Arthur Segal
- United States
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- I am available for Shabbatons, and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history, (from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', and do not ask for honorariums for my services. I am post-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.
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- I am available to perform Jewish weddings, and other life cycle events, ONLY IF, it is a destination wedding and the local full time pulpit rabbi is unavailable, or if there is no local full time pulpit rabbi, or it is in my local area and all of the full time pulpit rabbis are unavailable.
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- My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.
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- Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge.
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- For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net and visit WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Net. OR CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW.
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- Todah Rabah and Shalom v' Beracoth. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com .
Click to Order
| THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:
A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice into a step-by-step process to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality in a concise easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner.
If you find yourself wishing for the strength to sustain you through the ups and downs of life; if you want to learn how to live life to its fullest without angst, worry, low self-esteem or fear; or if you wish that your relationships with family, friends and co-workers were based on love and service and free of ego, arguments, resentments and feelings of being unloved...this book is for you.
Price: $19.99
254 Pages
Published by: Amazon's BookSurge |
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Click to Order
| A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM
TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD
Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew.
All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home.
Price: $24.99
494 Pages
Published by: Amazon's BookSurge |
Welcome to Rabbi Arthur Segal's Jewish Spiritual Renewal bookstore. We invite you to create an account with us if you like, or shop as a guest. Either way, your shopping cart will be active until you leave the store.
You can purchase each book individually, but if you purchase them together as a set with the Tzadakkah Bundle, I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to a tzadakkah of your choice, such as your synagogue.
Simply provide the donation information in the "Special Instructions" box during checkout. When doing so, please include the following:
- Name of Organization
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Thank you for visiting.
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In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.
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A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal
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