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