When The Brain Kicks Out

WHEN THE BRAIN KICKS OUT
"In trying times, whenever the brain complains that a certain situation is bad, we do ourselves a tremendous favor by putting our brains aside and by activating our emuna (Hebrew for faith) that everything Hashem (God) does is for the very best. With emuna (faith), we rejoice rather than succumbing to despair and depression. WHEN WE'RE HAPPY, OUR BRAINS OPERATE MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY. Therefore, emuna enhances our brain power and our ability to cope under any situation." -- THE GARDEN OF EMUNA, by Rabbi Shalom Arush, pp. 66-67.
(Sandra Freedman's Thoughts for the day)

Welcoming In The Sabbath

Tonight Sandy and I will welcome in the Sabbath with the traditional prayers. We will light the candles, make a kiddish and say the blessing over the challah. We have been lax in doing this lately and resolved to try to correct this on this erev shabbat.

It's Not As Easy As It Looks

So far Sandy and I have been trying to incorporate as much as we can into our daily ritual. Today is the first day of Passover and we fell short of getting the house ready for the holiday. There was so much we needed to do before the holiday that we just didn't have time to accomplish. Next year we will need to budget our time and money better to fit in more of the preparation we need to observe the holiday properly.

To Finish Off The Kiddish for Sabbath Evening

My last post added a part to the Kiddish before the blessing over the wine. The following is said right after the blessing over the wine to complete the Kiddish home service.

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצותיו ורצה בנו, ושבת קדשו באהבה וברצון הנחילנו זכרון למעשה בראשית. כי הוא יום תחלה למקראי קדש זכר ליציאת מצרים. כי בנו בחרת ואותנו קדשת מכל העמים ושבת קדשך באהבה וברצון הנחלתנו. ברוך אתה יי, מקדש השבת

Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has hallowed us by thy commandments and has taken pleasure in us, and in love and favor has given us thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance, a memorial of the creation that day being also the first of the holy convocations, in remembrance of the departure from Egypt. For thou hast chosen us and hallowed us above all nations, and in love and favor has given us thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance. Blessed are you, O lord, who hallows the Sabbath.

Adding More To The Sabbath

I mentioned in an earlier article that I was adding the prayer over the wine shown below to my Sabbath observance;

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם, בורא פרי הגפן

Before that there is a blessing that acknowledges the creation as part of the kiddish. The following is said before the blessing over the wine shown above.

ויהי ערב ויהי בקר

יום הששי: ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם: ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי מלאכתו  אשר עשה וישבת ביום השביעי מכל מלאכתו אשר עשה: ויברך אלהים  יום השביעי ויקדש אתו כי בו שבת מכל מלאכתו אשר ברא אלהים לעשות

"And it was evening and it was morning - the sixth day.

And the heaven and the earth were finished and all their host. And on the seventh day God had finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and he hallowed it, because he rested thereon from all his work which God had created and made."

It is my intent to add this part next Shabbat.

Upon Awakening In The Morning

When I wake up in the morning just recently I have added a short little prayer called the מודה אני to my daily routine. I have decided it is appropriate to acknowledge God  when I first wake up.

.מודה אני לפניך, מלך חי וקים, שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה, רבה אמונתך

"I render thanks to you, everlasting king, who has mercifully restored my soul within me; your faithfulness is great."

Adding To Our Shabbat

So far Sandy and I have been ushering in the Sabbath by saying the blessing over the candles and lighting them. This Shabbat we are adding a Kiddish and a blessing over the bread.  The blessing over the wine or Kiddish is short, but we are adding things slowly to our ritual to the Sabbath. The following is the blessing over the wine.

 ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם, בורא פרי הגפן

Next we added the blessing over the challah or bread.

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם, המוציא לחם מן הארץ

Very simple thing to add these blessings right after we light the Sabbath candles. It never hurts to acknowledge the creator for the Sabbath and the wine and bread that we are able to enjoy.  

Washing The Hands

Sandy and I have begun to practice the mitzvah of washing the hands. It's something we do every morning anyway. All we had to do was to add the following blessing.

.ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על נטילת ידים

"Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has hallowed us by the commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands."

It's not a huge effort and does not take any extra time to speak of. It became easy to add this mitzvah to our daily routine.

The Daily Prayer Book By Dr. Joseph H. Hertz

One Publication that I have found very helpful is the Authorised Daily Prayer Book סדר תפלות כל השנה by Dr. Joseph H. Hertz the late chief rabbi of the British Empire. The text is in Hebrew and English with commentary and notes. Each prayer is translated and explained in great detail making the daily commandment of prayer much easier to accomplish and understand. The prayer book is usable for the entire year including all holidays as well as everyday. I strongly recommend it to anyone regardless of level of understanding. Rabbi Hertz writes this siddur for the common man to understand and does not talk over the readers head.

When You Lie Down And When You Rise Up.

The following is the first paragraph of the Shama (Deuteronomy vi. 4-9) that Sandy and I have begun reciting in the morning and evening as part of the prayers we say everyday. As Sandy begins to read Hebrew better and better we will add more of the prayer until we make the prayer part of our life routine.

אל מלך נאמן

שמע ישראל יי אלהנו יי אחד

ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד

ואהבת את יי אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך. והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך היום על לבבך. ושננתם לבניך ודברת בם בשבתך בביתך ובלכתך בדרך ובשכבך ובקמך. וקשרתם לאות על ידך והיו לטטפת בין עיניך. וכתבתם על מזזות ביתך ובשעריך

"God faithful king

Hear O Israel the lord is our God the lord is one

Blessed be his name, whose glorious kingdom is for ever and ever

And you should love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be on your heart: and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the door posts of your house, and upon your gates."

The second paragraph of the Shama is found in Deuteronomy xi 13-21.

והיה אם שמע תשמעו אל מצותי אשר אנכי מצוה אתחם היום לאהבה את יי אלהיכם ולעבדו בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם. ומתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו יורה ומלקוש ואספת דגנך ותירשך ויצהרך. ונתתי עשב בשרך לבהמתך ואכלת ושבעת. השמרו לכם פן יפתה לבבכם וסרתם ועבדתם אלהים אחרים והשתחותם להם. והרה אף יי בכם ועצר את השמים ולא יי מטר והאדמה לא תתן את יבולה ואבדתם מהרה מעל הארץ הטבה אשר יי נתן לכם. ושמתם את דברי אלה על לבבכם ועל נפשכם וקשרתם אתם לאות על ידכם והיו לטוטפת בן עיניכם. ולמדתם אתם את בניכם לדבר בם בשבתך בביתך ובלכתך בדרך ובשכבך ובקומך. וכדבתם על מזוזות ביתך ובשעריך. למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם על האדמה אשר נשבע יי לאבתיכם לתת להם כימי השמים על הארץ.

And the third paragraph is found in Numbers xv 37-41.

ויאמר יי אל משה לאמר. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם ועשו להם ציצת על כנפי בגדיהם לדרתם ונתנו על ציצת הכנף פתיל תכלת. והיה לכם לציצת וראיתם אתו וזכרתם את כל מצות יי ועשיתם אתם ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם אשר אתם זנים אחריהם. למען תזכרו ועשיתם את כל מצותי והייתם קדשים לאלהיכם. אני יי אלהיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים להיות לכם לאלהים אני יי אלהיכם. 

Sandy and I are working on reading them in Hebrew trying to become fluid in the attempt. 

More Good Books

Yesterday I talked about the ArtScroll Chumash and how much I enjoy reading it along with the commentary. Today I wanted to mention that ArtScroll is also publishing some of the books of the Prophets. I hope they will complete the entire Tanach.

So far they have published the Rubin edition of the נביאים ראשונים or early prophets they are Joshua and Judges in one volume, Samuel 1 and 2 in one volume and Kings 1 and 2 in one volume and they have published the Milstein edition of נביאים אחרונים or later prophets, the book of Isaiah. All of the above mentioned books have the same traditional rabbinic commentary.

As I mentioned before, I hope they continue to complete the Tanach as I find the books very helpful in my study of Torah. They also serve as an excellent introduction of Torah to my wife Sandy and aid in answering many of the questions she has as she follows her path to conversion.

תנך

The Weekly Torah Portion

Sandy and I have been putting aside time to read the weekly Torah portion from the Art Scroll Stone Edition Chumash. We like this edition because it contains traditional rabbinic commentary that helps explain the portion we are reading. I also like to bring in the commentary of S. R. Hirsch and the commentary of Rashi to supplement our reading. The Chumash is also nice because it contains the Haftorah portions as well. It's kind of like getting an extra bang for our buck.

ספר תורה

We find this practice to be very interesting as neither one of us has spent any time to speak of reading the bible. My background gave me the stories but I didn't spend any real time reading the actual source of the stories. I find there is a lot more detail I was not aware of.

One Step At A Time

It was once told to me that God would not perform the miracles at the red sea until the first Jew put his big toe into the water.

My wife Sandy and I decided to attempt a Shabbat by doing more then we have done in the past. We were already lighting the Shabbat candles, making a Kiddish and a blessing over the Challah. Our big choice for this Shabbat was not to drive or ride and to see how that went for us. We stayed home the entire time from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday and studied Jewish topics. We actually found it to be very rewarding and satisfying. We did not miss going out at all. It is hoped that our future Shabbat observances will include more and more of the laws.

שבת שלום

This Is Our Journey

I started my quest because I felt detached from the people I grew up with. I had had a very good Jewish education when I was growing up and that always gave me a sense of peace and a feeling of belonging. I married a Methodist woman and our life has been very happy so far.

We began studying Judaica as an attempt to become closer, resulting in getting to know each other better. Soon after our journey began, we both developed a thirst for Torah. My wife Sandy began to relate to the subject matter we were studying very closely and I was reminded of the joy I had felt as a youth when I studied as well. As time goes on, we find ourselves desiring to go deeper and deeper in our studies.