The purpose of this blog is to raise the bar at the Shabbat table.... Please forward / like / tweet....
Mazal tov to Yoseph Seinfeld on the celebration of his becoming Bar Mitzvah.
Yes, not everyone loves archaeology and some don't care for neophilism....
So today's theme is something we all want.
Well, we all say we want it.
We probably do want it.
But how many of us achieve it?
I'm talking of course about living in the present moment.
How many of us actually do it?
Every moment?
Once a day?
Once a year?
Why is it so hard?
Here is the answer you've been looking for your entire life.
Notice above at the top of this message in the fine print, I wrote, "becoming bar mitzvah".
How come I didn't write, "on his bar mitvah"?
Do you get the difference?
"Having a bar mitzvah" or "having a bat mitzvah" means that the event is external to you. It is a celebration of something, but the occasion - the event - is external - it's something you're having. Like having breakfast. You consume it, and maybe some of it affects you, maybe some of it even stays inside of you, but it begins (and ends) as something external that you "had". Once it's over, you "had" it and it is in the past.
But "becoming bar mitzvah" means it is all about you, about what's going on inside of you, about your relationship to the concept of "mitzvah".
What is the concept of "mitzvah"?
A mitzvah is - yes - a good deed. Better: it's an opportunity to do a certain kind of good deed, namely one that is defined as "good" by the Torah.
So a bar mitzvah is someone who has the awesome ability to do a TGD - a Torah Good Deed.
Question 1 for your table: What if a person becomes of age and is unaware of their ability to do a TGD?
Question 2: What if a person is aware they are bar or bat mitzvah, but doesn't know much about the Torah?
After everyone offers their answers, you might share mine with your table:
Imagine someone has telekenesis but is unaware of it. Then one day they accidentally will a chair to move in order to prevent a child from injury - the power was there all along, they just didn't know it. It is merely a matter of concentration.
That's what a mitzvah is like to a bar mitzvah. You have the power to turn every - yes every - action into a TGD.
Once again: You can turn every action into a TGD.
How?
Step 1: Want to.
Step 2: Do the hardest thing in the world to do:
You must use your mind.
Think about it obsessively.
When you wake up and when you lie down.
And pause before every action to think, "How can this action be a TGD?"
May the mitzvah be with you.
Shabbat Shalom
Good one this week? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, or just forward it.
(Haven't tried the new "forward" button yet? Give it a tap!)
Mazal tov to Yoseph Seinfeld on the celebration of his becoming Bar Mitzvah.
Yes, not everyone loves archaeology and some don't care for neophilism....So today's theme is something we all want.
Well, we all say we want it.
We probably do want it.
But how many of us achieve it?
I'm talking of course about living in the present moment.
How many of us actually do it?
Every moment?
Once a day?
Once a year?
Why is it so hard?
Here is the answer you've been looking for your entire life.
Notice above at the top of this message in the fine print, I wrote, "becoming bar mitzvah".
How come I didn't write, "on his bar mitvah"?
Do you get the difference?
"Having a bar mitzvah" or "having a bat mitzvah" means that the event is external to you. It is a celebration of something, but the occasion - the event - is external - it's something you're having. Like having breakfast. You consume it, and maybe some of it affects you, maybe some of it even stays inside of you, but it begins (and ends) as something external that you "had". Once it's over, you "had" it and it is in the past.
But "becoming bar mitzvah" means it is all about you, about what's going on inside of you, about your relationship to the concept of "mitzvah".
What is the concept of "mitzvah"?
A mitzvah is - yes - a good deed. Better: it's an opportunity to do a certain kind of good deed, namely one that is defined as "good" by the Torah.
So a bar mitzvah is someone who has the awesome ability to do a TGD - a Torah Good Deed.
Question 1 for your table: What if a person becomes of age and is unaware of their ability to do a TGD?
Question 2: What if a person is aware they are bar or bat mitzvah, but doesn't know much about the Torah?
After everyone offers their answers, you might share mine with your table:
Imagine someone has telekenesis but is unaware of it. Then one day they accidentally will a chair to move in order to prevent a child from injury - the power was there all along, they just didn't know it. It is merely a matter of concentration.
That's what a mitzvah is like to a bar mitzvah. You have the power to turn every - yes every - action into a TGD.
Once again: You can turn every action into a TGD.
How?
Step 1: Want to.
Step 2: Do the hardest thing in the world to do:
You must use your mind.
Think about it obsessively.
When you wake up and when you lie down.
And pause before every action to think, "How can this action be a TGD?"
May the mitzvah be with you.
Shabbat Shalom
Good one this week? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, or just forward it.
(Haven't tried the new "forward" button yet? Give it a tap!)
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