There's A Dust Storm in Your Soul

SERVICE TIMES FOR YOM KIPPUR AND SUKKOS - see below   Question of the Week:   I think I can give Yom Kippur a miss this year. I know it is supposed to cleanse your soul, but I was thinking, I'm really not so dirty.  I didn't rob a bank, I am not a mass murderer. Over all I am a decent and honest person. If I haven't done any major sins do I need to fast on Yom Kippur too? Answer: What do you say about the freak dust storm in Sydney this week? The entire city was covered by a huge blanket of dust, blown in by unusually high winds. Flights were cancelled, highways closed, schools evacuated, and people were coughing and spluttering all over the place. Now the storm has passed, but the whole town is filthy. Meteorologists are dumbfounded. No one has seen anything like it before, and no one saw it coming. But I think it is perfect timing. A dust storm is just what we needed to see now, a few days before Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a day of spiritual cleansing. Every immoral act is a stain on our soul, and on this day it gets wiped clean. We look back at the year that went by and analyse our actions, trying to identify the things we have done wrong. Through fasting, deep prayer and a true inner turnaround, we clean off the stains and regain our purity. But many of us feel that we have little to regret. We make the mistake of thinking that if we haven't murdered anyone, if we haven't committed any big sins, we are fine. The truth is, it's not only the big evils that need to be cleansed on Yom Kippur. There is a far more pervasive evil that needs our attention. Not the big blotches on our soul, but the little specks of dust. There is a spiritual dust that accumulates in our souls. This is the dust of little evils, those seemingly harmless acts that are in fact very damaging. We tend not to take these minor transgressions so seriously, but we should. You may not be a murderer, but have you never participated in a character assassination? Deriding or disparaging someone, either to their face or behind their back, is not murder, but it is the dust of murder. You are not a liar, but you may have on occasion massaged the truth to protect your own pride, or adjusted a story to suit yourself. You may have never robbed a bank, but it is perceivable that you may have cut corners here and there in your business, and made money through slightly deceptive means. These are not dramatic acts of evil, they are the dust of evil, simple ordinary activities that many of us fall for every day. A speck of dust may seem completely insignificant. But as we witnessed in Sydney this week, when millions, billions and trillions of such particles move together they can bring an entire city to a standstill. So too with the dust of evil. A tiny bit of gossip here, a little joke there, a small stretch of the truth over there - in isolation they seem trivial and harmless, but every bad word said is another speck of dust. Over time they accumulate to create a thick cloud of darkness over our soul.   So now is time to clean up. Apologise to those you have hurt, and ask G-d to wipe away the thick layer of dust that has built up over your soul. And remember, if little specks of dust can cause such darkness, imagine what little sparks of goodness can do. Good Shabbos and Gmar Chasima Tova - an easy fast and a year of blessing, Rabbi Moss   To subscribe email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au

HIGH HOLYDAYS WITH NEFESH fully booked ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Services: Yom Kippur fast begins 5:36pm Sunday, ends 6:32pm Monday (Sydney times)   Sunday, 27th September - Kol Nidrei: 5:45pm - 7:45pm Monday, 28th September: 9:30am - 2:30pm, 4:00 - 6:32pm Yizkor Monday 10:45am   All Services will be held in the Games Room, 2nd floor, Hakoah Club.   Childminding will be in the play area upstairs, for those who have booked their kids in.   Please note: there is a different service for the Russian community in the Goldstar Room on the first floor. We are one floor above them - don't be confused!   If you would like to sponsor or part-sponsor the breaking of the fast after Yom Kippur, please contact the office on 9363 5543 or office@nefesh.com.au. SUKKOS AT NEFESH  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: We are not changing our clocks for daylight saving until after Yomtov on Sunday night.    Sukkos:   Friday October 2, Mincha 6pm, Shabbos and Yomtov service 6:30pm followed by Kiddush in Sukkah   Shabbos October 3, 10am service followed by Kiddush in Sukkah Mincha 5:35pm, Maariv 6:30pm   Sunday October 4, 10am service followed by lunch in the Sukkah, all welcome, no charge, donations appreciated Mincha 5:45pm.   Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah:   Friday October 9, Mincha 6:10, Shabbos and Yomtov service 6:30pm with Kiddush and dancing   Shabbos October 10, service 10am followed by Kiddush Mincha 6:40pm, Maariv, Kiddush and dancing with the Torah 7:30pm till late   Sunday October 11, service 10am, Kiddush, dancing with the Torah, followed by lunch, $15 per person, to book email office@bina.com.au

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Tradition, Modernity, Apples and Honey

SERVICE TIMES FOR NEFESH AT HAKOAH see below   Question of the Week:   Why do we eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah? I know it is supposed to symbolise a sweet new year, but there are plenty of other sweet foods we could eat. I imagine in times gone by that was the only sweet food that was readily available. But these days we have much more choice, so why do we still dip apples in honey?   Answer:   The biggest question Judaism faces today is how to respond to modernity. How can Judaism appeal to a new generation? What will ignite the Jewish soul in the 21st century? Does Judaism need an update, or should we try to go back in time and recreate the lost world of Jewish life that existed in times gone by?   There are two common answers, the traditionalist and the modernist.   The traditionalist says that whatever was done in the past is right, and anything new is evil. What was good for our great-grandparents is good for us too. We need to go back to the good old days. Modernity can go jump.   Then there is the modernist. The priests of progress say that whatever is old is out, and whatever is new is in. We are not our grandparents, and we are not living in their world. We need to update Judaism to fit into the latest fads, the newest of new-age ideas, the most recent cutting edge worldview. This view claims that Judaism needs to move with the times.   In truth, they are both wrong. Traditionalism won't work, because it doesn't deal with the unique challenges and blessings that we face today. Modernism won't work either, because it has no roots, no eternal truths, it is fickle and flimsy, superficial and empty.   There is as third approach, one that I believe is the authentic Jewish approach. This is the apples dipped in honey approach. Not traditionalism, not modernism, but applehoneyism.   Both apples and honey are sweet foods. This they have in common. But where they differ is in their shelf life. An apple goes bad very quickly.  Even after a few minutes left exposed, a slice of apple will go brown and soft, and soon be inedible. Leave an apple in a fruit basket for a few weeks, and it will shrivel up and become mushy and rotten. Apples need to be eaten fresh.   Not so with honey. Honey does not decompose. In fact, the ancients used it as a preservative. Jars of honey were found in the pyramids in Egypt, unspoiled after thousands of years. Honey never goes bad.   Apples represent the modern world, the here and now, that fleeting moment in time we call the present. It is fresh today, stale tomorrow. Honey on the other hand represents tradition, a force that is unchanging and constant, timeless and stable.   Jewish spirituality is a delicate marriage of these two forces. For our spiritual life to be dynamic and alive, it must change and keep up with the times. But to have substance and meaning, it has to present a truth that is above change, that is timeless.   The true way to achieve this balance is by not making up new traditions, but rather finding new depth in the old traditions. The laws and rituals of Judaism are as compelling and inspiring today as they ever were. But their message needs to be communicated in a way that speaks to today's world. Maintain the beliefs and rituals of our grandparents, but bring to them a new vitality, by exploring deeper reasons and explanations that talk to our generation. You don't need to change our traditions to make them relevant. All you need to do is dig deeper into their meaning. In the infinite well of Judaism you will find the message for today.   The apple alone will go rotten fast, as will every spiritual fad not based on truth. Dip your apple in the honey of our eternal tradition, and it will be preserved forever.   Nechama Dina and I wish you a sweet new year, may you be inscribed and sealed for a year of blessing and goodness, Rabbi Moss

HIGH HOLYDAYS WITH NEFESH fully booked ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Services: Rosh Hashanah   Friday, 18th September (mincha 5:40pm) - 1st Night 6:30 - 7:15pm Saturday, 19th September - 1st Day 9:00am - 1:00pm                                 Mincha 5:30pm Maariv 6:30pm Sunday, 20th September - 2nd Day 9:00am - 1:00pm   Yom Kippur   Sunday, 27th September - Kol Nidrei: 5:45pm - 7:45pm Monday, 28th September: 9:30am - 2:30pm, 4:00 - 6:32pm   All Services will be held in the Games Room, 2nd floor, Hakoah Club.   Childminding will be in the Monash Room, next to the Games Room, for those who have booked their kids in.   Please note: there is a different service for the Russian community in the Goldstar Room on the first floor. We are one floor above them - don't be confused!   If you would like to sponsor or part-sponsor the breaking of the fast after Yom Kippur, please contact the office on 9363 5543 or office@nefesh.com.au.

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Why Do All Rabbis Wear Glasses?

NEW SEFER TORAH, SYDNEY-WIDE CELEBRATION - see below   Question of the Week:   Why do all rabbis seem to wear glasses? Obviously you do a lot of reading and studying Torah, which must strain your eyes. But I am sure there is some deeper significance to the fact that all rabbis and their students seem to be bearded and bespectacled... Answer: There is a great advantage in always wearing a hat, a beard and glasses. Your picture can never be defaced. No one can squiggle anything on it, because you've left nothing for them to add. But you're right, there must be something significant about rabbis wearing glasses. Maybe it's this. Wearing glasses doesn't actually change anything. If you look at a scene without your glasses, and then look at the very same scene with your glasses on, it is exactly the same scene. Nothing has been added. The scene hasn't changed, but your view of it has changed completely. Without glasses the world is all fuzzy and blurred. You don't recognise people, you can't read signs, and there are many obstacles that you may bump into on your way, simply because you didn't see them coming. Then you put on your glasses, and a new world opens up to you. Everything's clear, you recognise things for what they are, and you foresee the bumps and obstacles before you stumble upon them. It was all there before, but now you have vision and perspective, now you can see it. The Torah is like a pair of glasses. Its divine wisdom gives us clarity of vision. It develops our ability to identify good and evil, and differentiate between truth and falsehood. It teaches us to recognise the good in people, even when that good is not so apparent. And it sensitises us to the subtleties of life, to see beyond the superficial and find deeper meaning in our everyday experiences, to read the signs that point us in the right direction, to avoid moral pitfalls and behold the beauty of the world around us. The Torah student lives in the same world as everybody else. He faces the same challenges, suffers from the same weaknesses, experiences the same pain and is plagued by the same questions. The Torah does not provide some magical relief from the vicissitudes of life. But it does provide perspective and clarity, direction and inspiration, which allow us to see those challenges in a new light, and face them with a deeper resolve. Perhaps that's why students of Torah end up wearing glasses. Their vision is sharpened as they wear spiritual spectacles. Until you try them on, you don't know what you're missing. Good Shabbos, Rabbi Moss   To subscribe email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au

CLASSES - www.bina.com.au ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   NEW - The Kabbalah of Evil with Rabbi Moss, Tuesdays 1 - 15 September 8:15-9:30pm at Nefesh   **NEW VENUE** Lunch in the City with Rabbi Moss, Thursdays, 1-2pm The Atheist Delusion - A response to modern attacks on faith in G-d  at Arnold Bloch Leibler, Level 24, Chifley Tower, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney CBD   and many more classes   Meaningful Motherhood Discussion group for mothers with their babies with Nechama Dina Moss and Shterny Dadon Mondays 10:00am at Nefesh, 54 Roscoe St Bondi Beach     See www.bina.com.au        HIGH HOLYDAYS WITH NEFESH fully booked ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Services: Rosh Hashanah   Friday, 18th September - 1st Night 6:30 - 7:15pm Saturday, 19th September - 1st Day 9:00am - 1:00pm                                 Mincha 5:30pm Maariv 6:30pm Sunday, 20th September - 2nd Day 9:00am - 1:00pm   Yom Kippur   Sunday, 27th September - Kol Nidrei: 5:45pm - 7:45pm Monday, 28th September: 9:30am - 2:30pm, 4:00 - 6:32pm   All Services will be held in the Games Room, 2nd floor, Hakoah Club.   Childminding will be in the Monash Room, next to the Games Room, for those who have booked thier kids in.   Please note: there is a different service for the Russian community in the Goldstar Room on the first floor. We are one floor above them - don't be confused!   If you would like to sponsor or part-sponsor a Kiddush for the days of Rosh Hashanah or the breaking of the fast after Yom Kippur, please contact the office on 9363 5543 or office@nefesh.com.au.

NEFESH SERVICES 54 Roscoe St Bondi Beach  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Friday Mincha 10 mins after candlelighting time, followed by Halocha Shiur 6:30pm - 7:15pm Shabbos Service with kids program and Kiddush sponsored anonymously   Saturday 9am Class on Weekly Parsha 10am -12:30pm Morning Service with kids program and kiddush sponsored by Rev Amzalak in honour of his mother's yorzheit   Mincha 5 mins before candlelighting time, followed by Sholosh Seudos and Maariv   Sunday 8am Morning service followed by breakfast and Beginners Talmud Class     ALL WELCOME

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The Power of a Flower

Question of the Week:

My wife tells me that it is tradition to give the women in your life flowers before Shabbat - is this true and what is the significance? And secondly, why give something that dies like cut flowers - and not a pot plant?

Answer:

Flowers are useless. They are impractical, temporary, and they are not an investment. But that's precisely their power. You buy them for no reason other than because your woman likes them. You do it just for her.

This is the very definition of romance - doing something pointless, just to express love. Nobody needs flowers, they won't be around forever, but someone you love likes them, so you buy them.

That's why our relationship with G-d is so romantic. He needs nothing from us humans, and we won't be around forever. But He gets a kick out of it when we do a mitzvah, and act that He has commanded. So we do it. Not for what we get out of it, and not for what He gets out of it, but just because He likes it.

The moment we do something that makes no sense to us but makes our loved one happy, we have truly transcended ourselves and connected with someone else.

Stop thinking about yourself and think about her. That's the power of the flower.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

To subscribe email rabbimoss@nefesh.com.au

Guest Speaker at Meaningful Motherhood
Discussion group for mothers with their babies
Teaching Kids the Meaning of Success with Mrs Dina Gourarie
Monday Sep 7 10:00am
at Nefesh, 54 Roscoe St Bondi Beach

A Fight for Life

Question of the Week:

My brother is losing his fight for life. The chemotherapy treatment has not worked, and I need to say goodbye to him. I cannot accept his death, he is so young and I love him so much. Can you help me to accept this pain in my heart?

Answer:

I feel for you in this most heart wrenching time. It is horrible for anyone to witness a loved one go through such agony. I wish you much strength, and pray that you do not lose hope.

There is no way to avoid the pain that comes with loss. But there is an approach to it that can make the pain slightly more bearable. This comes by learning to focus on the soul rather than the body.

The body is limited and finite. It is born and it dies. It can be healthy and it can get sick. No one is here forever. No body escapes death.

But the soul lives on. The soul has an existence that is beyond the confines of life and death in this world. Our time here is merely a short chapter in a long story. During our lifetime, this world is all we see. But deep down we are aware that there is more. We know that while our material possessions and worldly achievements will die with us, our spiritual wealth and the good we do will live on. The soul does not die.

Your brother's body is weak. But his soul is strong. His true self, his inner self, is very much alive and will continue to be so. And it is his true self that you love, that you are connected to and that you yearn for. The brother you love is the person he is, his character and his presence, not his flesh and bones. Ultimately it is not his body that you love, but his soul.

The more soulful you are in your own life, the more you will be able to stay connected to your brother's soul. Through prayer, through Torah study, through charity and good deeds, you become more attuned to your soul and your spiritual side. Become more in touch with the real you, and you will see beyond the suffering body to the real him.

Of course, we would rather just be able to connect with our loved ones like we always did, to talk and laugh with them, to hear and hold them. We don't want our relationship to have to become abstract and spiritual. But sadly, this is the reality, until G-d puts an end to all suffering and death, when Moshiach comes. May it be soon. May it be now.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

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You're Not an Angel!

Question of the Week:

My religious observance has started to become neurotic. I am forever worried if I am doing things 100% right. Did I say the correct blessing? Did I wash my hands correctly before the meal? Did I accidently break Shabbos? I am scared I am becoming compulsive. On the other hand, I do want to take Jewish law seriously. Can I be fully observant and not go mad?

Answer:

Being careful about mitzvos is a very good thing. When it comes to fulfilling the divine will, every detail matters. But there is a limit. I learnt this when I was studying to be a rabbi. I had a powerful experience that forever changed my view of G-d and His laws.

I was studying in Israel in a rabbinical school with several hundred other students. One morning, just after prayers, one of my friends came over to me with a concerned look on his face. "I think your Tefillin may not be kosher," he told me. (Tefillin are phylacteries. I don't know what phylacteries are.) I asked him what he meant, and he pointed out to me that my head Tefillin didn't look perfectly square. It seemed that one of the corners was not an exact right angle.

This was serious. The hand-made leather boxes of the Tefillin are supposed to be square. If they are not square, then they are not Tefillin. They aren't even phylacteries. If my friend was right, if my Tefillin were slightly off, then I hadn't been wearing kosher Tefillin for years. I had been putting on unsquare unkosher Tefillin every day, which is as good as not putting Tefillin on at all.

I knew what I needed to do. I needed my head Tefillin examined. I rushed straight away to an expert in Jewish law. He was a senior rabbi who was famous for his decisive and clear judgments in Jewish law. I brought him my Tefillin and asked if he could advise me. I showed him the black leather box, pointing out the imperfect corner, and fearfully awaited his verdict.

The rabbi inspected the Tefillin, looked at me with his kind and wise eyes and smiled. He responded with one line, a quote from the Talmud: "The Torah wasn't given to angels."

I immediately understood what he meant. My Tefillin were just fine. When the Torah says to make your Tefillin square, it means you should make them as square as human hands are capable of doing. We are not angels who can make perfect angles. We are humans who can only do our best. And that is exactly what G-d requires from us.

If G-d wanted perfection, He would not have created us fallible humans. So obviously that's not what He wants. He wants us humans, with all our imperfections, to make every effort within our means to fulfil our divine purpose.

That means our squares won't be absolutely perfect squares, and our angles won't be exactly right. It means we all make mistakes and get it wrong sometimes. But that's alright. We are not angels. We are not expected to be. To do our utmost, and yet remain imperfect, that is perfectly human.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss


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Can a Soul be Miscarried?

Question of the Week:

I suffered a miscarriage recently. While I am thankful for the beautiful children I have, I still feel a sense of loss for the child that I will never know. Is there some kabbalistic explanation for why these things happen?

Answer:

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's understandable that you are left wondering what could have been, in what seems to be a case of a potential unfulfilled.

But Kabbalistically, there's no such thing as what could have been. Every soul has its own flightpath. Why some souls spend longer on this earth, some shorter, and some never make it - is a mystery that only G-d can solve. We can only suggest a possible explanation, by exploring what Kabbalah teaches us about the soul's journey.

The soul has a pre-history that goes back a long way. There is a storehouse of souls in heaven, where from time immemorial every soul that was ever born or will ever be born waits for its time to come down. When a mother down here conceives, up there a soul is summoned from the storehouse and sent down to begin its mission. The Messiah can only come once that storehouse is empty, and every soul has been sent on its path.

It is a scary and traumatic experience for a soul to leave its divine source and descend to this lowly world. The materialism and darkness of our universe is completely foreign to this pure and G-dly spark. In order to ease the soul's descent into this world, it experiences a transitory stage, it enters a realm that is neither heaven nor earth - the mother's womb. The womb is a haven where the soul enjoys the warmth and protection of its mother, the support and love of its father, without being tainted or corrupted by the world outside. At this stage, the soul does not yet enter the body, but rather hovers around it. It is still free from the limitations of the physical. This is an intermediate step, in order to soften the shock of arriving in the world beyond the womb.

But some souls are never ready to leave. They are too sublime, too pure, too sensitive to be thrust into the harsh realities of worldly existence. It would be simply too cruel to plunge such a gentle soul into a body, to enter a world polluted by evil and selfishness. So instead of descending further, these souls float back to where they came from - the higher and holier realms where they feel at home. Perhaps they will come down some other time. Or perhaps their mission is fulfilled, having come down far enough.

For the mother, this is a painful loss. The future she anticipated for her child did not eventuate. But is it a miscarriage? Miscarriage implies that something went wrong, that a mistake happened; but we cannot know if perhaps this was the destiny of that soul.

This does not in any way diminish the loss that you have suffered. Your pain is real and justified, and your wounded heart will take time to heal. To the cry, "Why me?", these may seem to be just empty words. But at moments of spiritual clarity, at times when your thoughts can overpower your emotions, maybe you can sense that in a way you have been honoured, to have hosted such a holy and precious soul in your womb. That sacred time you shared with your little unborn child can never be taken away from you.

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

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