Would You Donate a Kidney?

One room left

Question of the Week I have been pondering some random philosophical questions, and would love to hear your take: If we lose our memory are we still ourselves? Am I still myself if I lose my mind? And how do I know that I didn't wake up this morning in this body with this memory, but yesterday I was someone else with their memory? Answer: Assuming you are still you when you receive this, I will attempt to answer your question. Let's approach this theoretical topic by first looking at a very real story. My brother-in-law Rabbi Zalman Sandhaus did something heroic this week. He donated a kidney to save the life of a stranger. A man who suffered from kidney disease for 24 years now has a new lease on life. And my brother-in-law is recovering from the surgery that removed one kidney, leaving him with only one now. He doesn't see himself as a hero. In his words, "How can I not give it if a guy's life is on the line?" But to give a kidney takes guts. So here's an interesting question. When you donate an organ, is the recipient partly you now? And is a kidney donor any less of a person with only one kidney? Having lost a part of themselves, is their identity minimized in any way? The answer to all of the above is a clear no. Because you haven't given away a part of yourself, you have given a part of your body. And your body is not you. Your soul is. You are a soul, and that soul has a body. So then let's ramp up the question a notch. Brain transplants are not yet possible. Although the way some people behave, it seems as if they have already become donors. But the theoretical possibility of brain transplants really boggles the mind. Am I still me if I have someone else's brain? Maybe your kidney can become my kidney, and we both still remain the same people. But if someone's brain becomes someone else's, who is who? Well, the answer remains the same. You are not your brain, you are your soul. Your mind, your memories, your personality and your identity are all stored in the soul, not the brain. Receiving someone else's brain would be like buying a used smartphone. You just transfer your old information from the cloud to the new device, and life goes on. So there is your answer. You are not a body, you are a soul. In the short time the soul inhabits the body, thank G-d for every healthy limb and organ you have, and for the opportunity to use them for good. Good Shabbos, Rabbi Moss To subscribe CLICK HERE or email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au SERVICES TIMES AND COMMUNITY INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, 19 August 2016 | 15 Av 5776 Candle Lighting.............................................. 5:10 pm   Mincha............................................................. 5:20 pm Kids program .................................................. 6:00 pm Friday Evening Service......................... 6:00-6:50 pm Followed by Whisky and Rabbi's exotic Herring Kiddush sponsored anonymously. Shabbos, 20 August, 2016 |16 Av 5776 Chassidus Class................................................ 9:00 am Shabbos Morning Service........ 10:00 am-12:15 pm Children's program....................................... 11:00am Followed by Kiddush sponsored by the family and friends of Paul Schaffer A"H in honour of his 1st yortzheit; and by David and Julian Cappe in honour of the yortzheit of their father, Peter Cappe - Long Life. Mincha..............................................................   5:05 pm Pirkei Avos ..................................................Chapters 3 and 4 Seudah Shlishis .................................................. 5:25 pm Shiur:................................................................... 5:45 pm Shabbos ends and Maariv................................... 6:07 pm Followed by Havdalah. WEEKDAY SHACHARIS SERVICES Sunday ................................................................ 8:00 am Mon- Fri.............................................................. 7:00 am Latest Shema this week..................................... 9:20 am WEEKDAY CLASSES Chassidus..................................... Monday 8:00-8:45am The Wisdom of Tanya ................ Monday 8:00-9:00pm MAZAL TOV TO Dean Krowitz and Heidi Rogers and families on their wedding this weekend! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Lana Goldshaft........................ 17 Av/ Sunday 21 August Jaime Kaplan.................... 20 Av/ Wednesday 24 August Taylor Kaplan.................... 20 Av/ Wednesday 24 August Hannah Jones................... 20 Av/ Wednesday 24 August HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO Craig & Sheryl Deubler........... 19 Av/ Tuesday 23 August LONG LIFE TO Barukh family for their late mother Florrie Barukh, Farha Neema bat Lulu..................................................... ........ 15 Av/ Friday 19 August Evelyn Mike for her late mother Marianna Margaret Mike, Rivka bat Menachem Mendel.......................................... .... 16 Av/ Saturday 20 August Charlene  Klein for her late mother Doreen......................... 16 Av/ Saturday 20 August Adam Pisk for his late grandmother, Frida Pisk Frida bat Yoseph Chaim................................................... ...... 17 Av/ Sunday 21 August Jonathan Isdale for his late mother, Stella Israel Sara bas Max.................................................................... 20 Av/ Wednesday 24 August David & Julian Cappe for their late father Peter Cappe Pinchus ben Shimon......................................................... ... 21 Av/ Thursday 25 August ANNOUNCEMENT The consecration for Paul Schaffer A"H will be at Rookwood Cemetery on Sunday 21 August 2016 at 10.00am. Section 26G Row 10 Plot 209.

Nefesh Shul, 54 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach, NSW 2026 Australia SafeUnsubscribe™ shmuly77d@gmail.com Forward email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au in collaboration with Try it free today

Did I Just Have a Spiritual Experience?

Last chance to book for Shabbaton

Question of the Week I am just back from my big trip to Israel. I thought I'd never get there. I think it's the first Jewish thing I've done since my bar mitzvah (which wasn't so Jewish either).  But here's the weird part. I went to the Wall in Jerusalem, and you know me, I'm the last person to have a "spiritual experience". But as I approached the Wall I started to cry uncontrollably. I felt this strange magnetism towards the Wall, almost as if G-d was pulling me. What do you think? Not bad for an agnostic, huh?   Answer:   You have a powerful Jewish soul, and you caught a glimpse of its power at the Wall.   The Wall is the last remnant of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. While ransacking Jerusalem 2000 years ago, the Romans burnt the Temple, and knocked down its stone walls. But one wall refused to budge, the Western Wall. The sages predicted long ago that the Western Wall will never be destroyed. It represents a holiness that no foreign power can ever touch. They can destroy the Temple, but there is something that is beyond their reach, a divine presence that never leaves Jerusalem.   The Kabbalists teach that man is a microcosm. Whatever exists in the world, can be found within ourselves. If there is a Wall that is so holy that it can never be destroyed, then within us must also be a spark of holiness that can never be lost. This is our spark of Jewishness, the essence of the Jewish soul. Our soul may be surrounded by foreign invaders - skepticism, ignorance, scars from negative Jewish experiences - but it nevertheless remains intact. Nothing can extinguish the Jewish spark, it is always there waiting to be ignited.   Even an agnostic Jew who has been dislocated from his spiritual heritage for generations, is Jewish at the deepest level of his being. Nothing can take that away. Eventually, if he allows it, that innate Jewishness will surface.   Everyone has a different catalyst that ignites this spark. In your case, the microcosm met the macrocosm. Your Jewish spark, the indestructible presence of G-d within you, was awakened at the Wall, the indestructible presence of G-d in the world. I guess it's not surprising that many have had that experience.   Now it's up to you. You have been given a gift. You have come face to face with your soul. These experiences don't happen often. But once you have discovered the Holy Wall within yourself, you can start to rebuild your inner Temple around it, so that sense of holiness will never be lost again. That's the secret of faith. You don't get it from the outside, you discover it within yourself.  You may be an agnostic. You may even be an atheist. But your Holy Wall is always there. Good Shabbos, Rabbi Moss To subscribe CLICK HERE or email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au AUDIO CLASSES Can Your Relationship Be Trusted? Does My Effort Make a Difference? Tanya Wisdom - Suffering The Limits of Logic - Hadran Part 3 SERVICES TIMES AND COMMUNITY INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, 12 August 2016 | 8 Av 5776 Candle Lighting.....................................5:05 pm   Mincha.................................................5:15 pm Kids program .......................................6:00 pm Friday Evening Service......................... 6:00-6:50 pm Followed by Kiddush sponsored by the Gold family in honour of the yortzeit of Dora Goldbaum, D'Vora bat Eliyahu on 14 Av- Long Life. Shabbos, 13 August, 2016 |9 Av 5776 Chassidus Class......................... 9:00 am Shabbos Morning Service........ 10:00 am-12:15 pm Children's program......................11:00am Followed by Kiddush in honour of Sam Green's barmitzvah- Mazal Tov! Early Mincha................................1:30pm Tisha B'Av Fast begins................................5:24pm Shabbos ends............................................5:58pm Tisha B'Av Program Commences (see flyer for more info)..............................7:00pm   WEEKDAY SHACHARIS SERVICES Sunday ............... (special Tisha B'Av program see flyer) Mon- Fri....................................................... 7:00 am Latest Shema this week..................................9:16 am   WEEKDAY CLASSES Chassidus..................................Monday 8:00-8:45am The Wisdom of Tanya................ Monday 8:00-9:00pm   MAZAL TOV TO Mark & Ariella Green, grandparents and extended family on Sam's barmitzvah Daniel and Amy Levy on the birth of a baby boy Jeremy and Nikki Kinstlinger on the birth of a baby boy   LONG LIFE TO Ivan Basserabie for his father Moshe Chaim ben Avrohom 9 Av/ Saturday 13 August Cecile Margolin for her mother Esther Kaplan Esther bat Avraham 11 Av/ Monday 15 August Magda Schaffer for her husband Paul Schaffer, Pinchus ben Shmuel  11 Av/ Monday 15 August Les Regos for his father, Joseph Regos, Yoseph 13 Av/ Wednesday 17 August Larnce Gold for his grandmother, Dora Goldbaum, D'Vora bat Eliyahu 14 Av Thursday 18 August Evelyn Mike for her mother Marianna Margaret Mike, Rivka bat Menachem Mendel 16 Av/ Saturday 20 August Charlene Klein for her mother Doreen 16 Av/ Saturday 20 August ANNOUNCEMENT The consecration for Paul Schaffer A"H will be at Rookwood Cemetery on Sunday 21 August 2016 at 10.00am. Section 26G Row 10 Plot 209.

Nefesh Shul, 54 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach, NSW 2026 Australia SafeUnsubscribe™ shmuly77d@gmail.com Forward email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au in collaboration with Try it free today

Why Doesn't G-d Feed the Poor?

Lunch tomorrow with tales from Dharamsala

LAST SEVEN ROOMS AT SHABBATON - BOOKINGS CLOSE AUGUST 12 CLICK HERE TO BOOK NOW Question of the Week G-d is surely not a hypocrite. If He tells us to do something, He should do it Himself too. So shouldn't G-d be obligated to feed the poor? Why doesn't He help His own children rather than commanding us to do it for Him?   Answer:   Imagine you know someone who needs food to feed their family. You want to help them. So you send a nice check in the mail. But it never gets there, as the mailman kept the check for himself.   So you order a meal online for them. But the restaurant got the order wrong and gave the food to someone else.   Not giving up, you arrange a grocery shop for them. But the delivery truck never showed up.   Exasperated, you go on to your bank app to do a direct transfer. And the app crashes.   Did you try to help? Yes. Were they helped? No. What went wrong? You were let down by the system. You may have the best intentions, but you rely on others to do their part. If they don't, the help doesn't arrive.   G-d wants to help everyone. So He created a world that has all the necessary resources to feed every mouth. And he set up a system to deliver the goods to those who are in need.   We are the system. You and me.   There is enough money in the world for everyone to have what they need, enough love to give to every lonely person, enough people with time on their hands to step in for those who need help. All that is required is goodwill and a sense of responsibility on the part of those who have, to share with those who have not.   So why are there hungry people? Because we aren't doing our job. If we don't deliver, the food doesn't get to its destination. That is not G-d's fault, it's ours.   Of course G-d could just cut out the middle man and feed the hungry Himself. But that would defeat the purpose of creation - to make a world of kindness, where free beings use their gifts to help each other.   Food is not all we need for nourishment. We also have a need for meaning. In order to give us a life of meaning, G-d gives us the opportunity to give. When I help someone more needy than myself, I am also being nourished. I am giving food, but I am receiving much more. I am receiving the gift of purpose.   Good Shabbos, Rabbi Moss To subscribe CLICK HERE or email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au SERVICES TIMES AND COMMUNITY INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday, 5 August 2016 | 2 Av 5776 Candle Lighting.............................................. 5:01 pm   Mincha...........................................................5:10 pm Shiur with Rabbi Levi Gourarie...........................5:30pm Kids program ..................................................6:00 pm Friday Evening Service......................... .....6:00-6:50 pm Followed by Kiddush sponsored by Simone Abadee in honour of her leaving to make Aliyah- we wish her Mazal Tov! Kids Kiddush & Program sponsored by the Radus family in honour of Phoenix's birthday- Mazal Tov! Shabbos, 6 August, 2016 |3 Av 5776 Chassidus Class.........................................9:00 am Shabbos Morning Service.......................... 10:00 am-12:15 pm Children's program....................................11:00am Followed by Communal Lunch with guest speaker Rabbi Dror Shaul from Dharamsala, India, sponsored by the Morris family in honour of Yair's 3rd birthday- Mazal Tov! Mincha..................................................... 4:55 pm Pirkei Avos ...............................................Chapter 2 Seudah Shlishis Gematria and Story by Rev Amzalak............ 5:15 pm Shiur:........................................................5:35 pm Shabbos ends and Maariv............................. 5:58 pm Followed by Havdalah.   WEEKDAY SHACHARIS SERVICES Sunday ................................................................ 8:00 am Mon- Fri.............................................................. 7:00 am Latest Shema this week..................................... 9:20 am   WEEKDAY CLASSES Chassidus..................................... Monday 8:00-8:45am Kabbalah Meditation...... Monday 8:00-9:00pm   HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Noah Weinberg......................... 2 Av/ Saturday 6 August Nicholas Levy............................ 5 Av / Tuesday 9 August   LONG LIFE TO Molly Runds for her late husband Joseph Runds, Yosef ben Shaul HaCohen 2 Av / Saturday 6 August Peter Pakula for his late father Henry Pakula Chaim Hanoh ben Yosef 4 Av/ Monday 8 August Ivan Basserabie for his late father Moshe Chaim ben Avrohom 9 Av/ Saturday 13 August

Nefesh Shul, 54 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach, NSW 2026 Australia SafeUnsubscribe™ shmuly77d@gmail.com Forward email | Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au in collaboration with Try it free today