Say, Oscar-winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, wanted to speak with you? I think you’d return the call.  Perhaps you’d prefer Microsoft founder, Bill Gates. We tend to respond to those whom we regard as further up the ladder than we are.  Calls from people who are prominent, famous, or conspicuously successful in their fields generally get returned.

However, we tend to ignore those whom we see as supplicants. We subconsciously erect walls that insulate us from those we think want something from us.  This is why the profession of sales requires such deep understanding of human nature.

Failing to reach someone for a conversation is a profound predicament because seldom is anything resolved, sold, or accomplished without two people talking.  Let’s explore the solution that ancient Jewish wisdom provides to this dilemma in human communication.

Wicked king Yeravam (Jeroboam) tried to create his own empire in Bethel in opposition to God’s directions and against the House of David based in Jerusalem. (I Kings 12:25-33)  He built an illegitimate temple and altars and even scheduled the consecration in a transparent duplication of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple.

God sent a prophet from Judah to remonstrate with King Yeravam and return his heart to atonement.  However, Yeravam insultingly ignored the man of God. Finally, the man of God, recognizing that his attempts to reach Yeravam were futile, no longer addressed the king but he still spoke, addressing himself to the altar. (I Kings 13:2)  You could say he left a message.

When Yeravam, pointing his arm at the man of God, called upon the guards to arrest him, he found his arm paralyzed in that position.  Now the straying king was eager to talk to the prophet.

The king then spoke up and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the presence of your God and pray…that my hand may return to me”…

(I Kings 13:6)

You could say the prophet got a call-back.

Uncharacteristically, the Hebrew root word for ‘return,’ SHaV, appears in this story fifteen times, hinting at the essential theme; God wanting Yeravam to return to his original Divine mission. (I Kings 11:31).  Though that never happened, we see the king returning the prophet’s call as it were. Getting someone to return your call is exactly what we’re discussing.

Let’s see what the man of God did.  Recognizing that trying to speak to the king wasn’t working, he spoke to an inanimate object, the altar.  With God’s help, he got the king’s attention, and he gave him a gift—the return of his arm’s usefulness.

Though we mustn’t expect God to intervene so dramatically in our cases, we can still learn two lessons from the man of God.  Firstly, figuring out how we can offer something, rather than just requesting attention, helps to melt psychological barriers.  Secondly, the voice is our best communication tool.  Listen to yourself leaving a message. Do you sound weak, whiny or arrogant? Do you speak too quickly or too slowly?

The sound of someone’s voice will always trump an email.  Here’s one way to utilize the above principles for the occasional “must-speak-to” person.  For about the same price that you’d spend on a special delivery overnight letter (which many use to try and get our attention) purchase a tiny hand-held digital voice recorder.  Speak a carefully scripted short message into it and have it delivered as a gift to your ‘must-reach’ person and mark it clearly “Please press PLAY”.  Don’t be surprised if you get a call back.

We achieve our best accomplishments together with other people.  Learning how human hearts and souls function helps us open communications and forge friendships.  There is no better instructor than the Creator of all life. We bring His message to life and enhance your skill set in our audio CD program Boost Your Income: 3 Spiritual Secrets to Success which is on sale online this week.

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Read the most recent Ask the Rabbi question and answer here.

Shalom: My husband and I are both I.T. Engineers. He has more certifications than I, but right now I am working and he is not. It is NOT due to a lack of experience; and I need not “echo” this nations current dilemmas. He has been running another business for now, but customers most often cannot afford his services…READ MORE

This week’s Susan’s Musings: Educated and Clueless:

There are weeks when I want to grab my husband, children and grandchildren and sail off to an uncharted island, cocooning us away from the rest of the world. Needless to say this idea has serious downsides including that I have yet to effectively grow anything in a home garden and that this voyage would render my library card useless. I’m not even sure that Google Earth, let alone government satellites still allow for the existence of uncharted islands.

Nonetheless, the desire to block out a confused world remains strong…READ MORE

Rather than allowing neighborhoods, social trends, advertising or schools to form your family’s culture, sculpt one that reflects your deepest values and make sure your family gets it.  Ancient Jewish wisdom’s advice on how to create a culture for your business and family makes both more effective.

The mezuzah found on the doorposts of Jewish homes is the expression of just this advice.

The Torah clearly instructs us to ‘write these words’ upon our doorposts (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & 11:13-21), yet neither archeological nor other evidence exists that Jews ever inscribed words upon their doorposts.  Instead, we have always carefully written the specified words upon a parchment and affixed that to our doorposts.  This is one of many instances where a universal and timeless Jewish practice cannot possibly be understood just from the text. It validates for me the great Transmitters who faithfully conveyed God’s details and whose work is so lovingly enshrined in ancient Jewish wisdom.

Interestingly, from the first time mezuzah is used in Scripture, we can see that the word means doorpost:

They shall take some of its blood and place it upon the two

mezuzoth (plural of mezuzah) and on the lintel…

(Exodus 12:7)

Yet, the piece of parchment itself along with its housing has forever been known as a mezuzah.  Hebrew is rich enough for it to have had its own name, but no such name exists.  It is called a mezuzah – a doorpost. How strange; the parchment is the doorpost?

In reality, yes it is; the mezuzah itself is the spiritual equivalent of the physical doorpost.  Just as a doorpost allows passage between public space and the private home so the mezuzah does the same.

After all, neither a business nor a home would be much good if there was no communication between it and the outside world.  The effectiveness of a home depends upon family members going out to work and becoming involved in the world, then returning for restoration and warmth.  The effectiveness of a business depends upon information, raw material and cash moving in while goods and services move out.  For this reason, the word mezuzah is derived directly from the Hebrew word zuz meaning move.

There are homes which have a weak or non-existent internal culture and members of those families unthinkingly import destructive values from outside.  Other families attempt to defend themselves by blocking off all contact with the outside.  Neither of these extremes works well.  Happy homes have mastered the secret of the mezuzah as have flourishing businesses.

The mezuzah teaches us how to move safely, easily, and effectively between inside and outside.  The fifteen verses handwritten onto the mezuzah parchment direct us to inculcate a strong and unique culture with clear expectations of conduct both inside and outside.  (Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God…you shall speak of these words when you sit in your home and when you walk upon the road…)

They promise protection, support and backup.  (I will provide grass in your field for your cattle and you shall eat and be satisfied.)

They provide a core of strength to those leaving and a filtering detoxification system for those returning. (Beware…lest your heart be seduced and you turn away…)

The custom of a groom carrying his bride through the door probably originated with the spiritual importance of that portal. As my bride and I celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, we want to impart the specific spiritual strategies that strengthen our marriage. Naturally, we got them from our Biblical Blueprint and now, so can you. We treasure the practical wisdom in our 2 audio CD set, Madam, I’m Adam: Decoding the Marriage Secrets of Eden and we ask you to buy some for yourself and for others while it is on sale this week.

King David refers to the mezuzah with these words:

The Lord will protect your departure

and your arrival from now until forever.

(Psalms 121:8)

Amen.

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Read the most recent Ask the Rabbi question and answer here.

This week’s Susan’s Musings: Happy (Homeschooling) Mother’s Day

If you want to be enthusiastic, hang around enthusiastic, people. And there is scarcely a more enthusiastic group than homeschooling parents. I had a wonderful time this week as a keynote speaker for the 4th annual Torah home education conference.

Homeschooling has grown rapidly in the United States, and there are churches I know where a majority of parents educate their children at home. However, it is only in recent years that the number of Jewish homeschooling families has grown significantly. There are reasons why Jews lagged behind in this American trend…

When we are the ones relaying information, we can get frustrated as our listeners tune us out. Instead of our employees, spouse, children or patients paying attention, they seem uninterested or distracted.

How do we become better at both giving and receiving information?

This verse can help:

Just watch out for yourself…lest you forget the words which your eyes saw,

… and you shall make them known to your children and your grandchildren.

(Deuteronomy 4:9)

Why does Deuteronomy 4:9 refer to words that are seen? We see things, not words. I sympathize with the plight of translators who often mistakenly write, “Just watch out for yourself…lest you forget the things which your eyes saw…”

While ‘things’ is a possible alternative meaning for the Hebrew word, DeVaRiM, which is used here, it is not correct in this context.  DeVaRiM, meaning words, is the Hebrew name for the fifth of the Five Books of Moses and is the second Hebrew word of the book.

These are the words (DeVaRiM) which Moses spoke to all Israel…

(Deuteronomy 1:1)

As our verse reveals, central to the entire theme of inter-generational Torah transmission is that we must transmit to our children and grandchildren specific words and not general things. But spoken words like the Torah taught by Moses are heard not seen!

Ancient Jewish wisdom explains that the unusual language in the verse refers to the fact that the entire Sinai revelation was an integrated, comprehensive, multi-media experience; a sort of son-et-lumiere show. There was a visual depiction of the words spoken by God.

Why was this necessary?

When we see a landscape, a statue, a battlefield or a building, we instantly grasp the entire picture.  No translation is necessary.

Many of us still prefer watches with hands because by merely glancing at the position of those little hands, we instantly understand that we’re late.  Seeing a colorful graph reflecting sales figures immediately lets us know how the company is doing compared to last year.  A picture really is worth a thousand words.

When we look at details or hear a recitation, our brains need to convert the information into useful real world information such as “you’re late!” Listening to a lesson, a speech or a piece of music requires that we concentrate through its entirety since it imparts meaning only once our brains have assembled hundreds of words or musical notes into one integrated totality.

Our verse teaches the correct technique for coping with the challenge of conveying and receiving information.  As listeners, we need to exercise our memory muscles in order to concentrate on converting a long flow of words into one complete picture that we can almost see in our mind’s eye. Only then can we exercise judgment and leadership in arriving at the right conclusion and taking the best actions.

When relaying important information, try to make it come alive, using words and imagery which captivate your listener and help him visualize what you are saying. Try making your listener see a picture rather than just hear words.

In directing the children of Israel to convey words to children and grandchildren, God taught us how to effectively do so. The words must be so alive that they can actually be seen just as they originally were when God presented them.

Increasing your comprehension, vocabulary and fluency is one of the most important steps you can take to improve effective communication in your business and family lives. Whether or not you use it, the foul language which abounds in our culture impedes success. Every word you speak and hear affects your income, your family and your soul. Our best-selling (and on sale) audio CD, Perils of Profanity will help you become aware of the poisonous effect of profanity and provide guidance for combating it.

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This week’s Susan’s Musings: Profiling, Racism and Reality

I am humbled by the responses to last week’s Musing. I asked for readers to participate in a conversation and you did. I truly appreciate the kind words from many of you and I am grateful for those who affirmed, gently chided, and wrote so passionately and eloquently.  Race is an emotional topic and as a country (and a world) we need to feel comfortable speaking openly. I encourage you all to read the comments; it will be a good use of your time.  (I have a culture gap admission to make here: the first comment which used the letters AA had me scratching my head trying to figure out what Alcoholics Anonymous had to do with the topic.  It took a bit of pondering to realize that it stood for African American.)

Rather than quoting from and responding directly to your comments, I’d like to continue the dialogue…READ MORE

A business can run without profits for quite a while provided it has cash flow.  However, the opposite is not true.  Webvan wasted capital on huge infrastructure investments and Pets.com struggled to raise capital. Meanwhile, Amazon was generating sales and raising capital.  Small business startups fail most frequently from lack of cash flow.  Maintaining, and projecting cash flow is crucial. The tool for doing so is counting.

Whether you run a business, work in one or invest in one, you occasionally examine a balance sheet showing assets and liabilities. You also watch income statements which reveal profit and operating earnings figures.  But more important, scrutinize the often neglected cash flow statements regularly as they show the cash coming into and flowing out of the coffers. Understanding numbers is a key life skill.

We are currently in the calendar period between Passover (Pesach) and Pentecost (Shavuot) when Jews count off each day.  (Leviticus 23:15) This is called Counting the Omer.  For instance, today, we formally note, is the 18^th day of the Omer.

Hebrew associates counting with wisdom.  The word SoFeR means both someone who counts and also a wise man.  Wise people can convert complex circumstances into precise numbers which can then be easily compared and analyzed.  Numbers can certainly be manipulated, but it is harder to mislead with numbers than with words. A torrent of words easily obscures simple facts and plays to the emotions. It is much easier to figure out the story from the numbers than it is to discover the numbers from the story.

For car enthusiasts like me, advertisements with performance figures are more useful than poetic paragraphs lauding the luxurious leather seating and the rapturous flowing lines of the Italian-designed bodywork.  When studying a company’s annual report, the financials and footnotes are more important than photographs of corporate personalities and their headquarters.  Revenue figures are more valuable than pages of propagandistic prose.

Jewish tradition is filled with numbers.  We maintain and calculate a complex calendar whose months and days have not names but numbers.  We count generations, we count money raised for the Tabernacle in Exodus and we count the dimensions of Noah’s Ark.  We even like knowing how many letters there are in the Torah (304,805) as well as how many words (79,847) and verses (5,845).

Numbers convey meaning; often deep meaning.  For instance, because the Torah is God’s message to mankind for all places and for all times, we should not be surprised by prophetic insights that flow from analyzing numbers.

For instance, the founding Israel in 1948 was a manifestation of God’s special relationship with the Jewish people.  It would be surprising if the Torah contained no hint of that forthcoming event.  The civil year of 1948 corresponds to the Hebrew year, 5708.

Let’s examine the 5,708^th verse of the Torah:

The Lord your God will bring you into the land

which your fathers possessed and you shall possess it…

(Deuteronomy 30:5)

As the State of Israel celebrates its 64^th birthday this week, it is worthwhile to remember that the land is continually earned through faithfulness to God.

I wish I could invite you all into my home to share more amazing truths which flow from Biblical numbers. I’m afraid that space would get a bit tight. But I am delighted that my wife and I can visit your homes through our television show, Ancient Jewish Wisdom. We have gathered four of our favorite shows on DVD, including The Importance of Numbers: Scripture is Full of Them. Why? You will greatly enjoy these shows with astonishing secrets embedded in Scripture. Imagine – TV shows the whole family can watch and discuss together! Ancient Jewish Wisdom with Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin is on sale online for a few days, making it an even friendlier individual, friend or family activity.

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This week’s Susan’s Musings: A Cruel and Unusual Susan?

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend relating to feedback on my Musings. Last week offered one example. A reader wrote to my husband, commenting, “Had Trayvon been your son would your wife had been so inhumane about the matter? I think Susan is very cruel, I would like to hear your comment when it is your child’s turn.”

What was my alleged cruelty?… READ MORE

But no; I just returned from teaching “Contemporary Lessons from the Exodus” at a weeklong Passover Conference in Nassau.  What I remember is not so much the natural beauty, though that was certainly striking. Not even the glowing descriptions from my friend, the distinguished Bahamas-based pastor Myles Munroe, prepared me for what I found.

It was the people.  Eight days which included traveling and lecturing, being interviewed on Bahamian television, and meeting hundreds of locals.  Yet I did not encounter even one surly, sullen, or unfriendly person.  Not one!

For an explanation I turn, as always, to ancient Jewish wisdom.  The Hebrew word for nature HaTevah has the identical numerical configuration (86) as the ineffable name of God, the Creator, appearing in Genesis 1:1 Elokim.  The lesson is that to understand God, we must try to understand His creation.

In the beginning, God created 92 basic elements including the well-known hydrogen, oxygen, gold, silver, copper, platinum, uranium, calcium and lead.  The remaining 83 include lesser known elements such as titanium, tellurium, caesium and cadmium.

While it is true that the periodic table today contains over 100 elements, only the first 92 occur naturally.  The others must be artificially made and are generally unstable.  They undergo nuclear rearrangement and radioactive decay shortly after being synthesized.

God created the entire universe with only 92 basic building blocks we call atoms.  Everything that we use and which makes life possible and wonderful comes about through combining the atomic building blocks into compound molecules.

Thus, water, air, steel, wood, plastic, wool, silk, potatoes and marshmallows are all mixtures of those 92 building blocks.  Even the table salt that our bodies need and which adds flavor to French-fries is a mixture of sodium and chlorine.

Obviously, true science never conflicts with the Torah and many of the secrets that God embedded in His book reveal this. Here is just one example.

The account of Creation runs from Genesis 1:1 all the way to Genesis 2:3.  Those 34 verses contain exactly 92 separate discrete Hebrew words.  That’s right!  The building blocks of Creation number exactly the same as the building blocks used to describe it.  92 words to describe 92 elements.  Please tell me that you’re utterly astounded by God and His Book.  I know that I am.

The lesson is clear.  God created a world for connection.  He created words to connect into verses, musical notes to connect into songs, and people to connect with one another for fulfillment and happiness.  Every socio-medical study arrives at the same conclusion.  People with strong connections to other people – friends, family, worship community and business associates – live healthier and happier lives.

Yes, happier.  Now back to the Bahamas.  During many taxi and jitney rides, it was impossible to ignore how everyone greeted and spoke to everyone else.  Even the driver’s efforts were punctuated by frequent horn honking as he waved and yelled greetings at acquaintances on the sidewalk or in passing vehicles.

I don’t know why this is.  Perhaps it’s the result of a small population on a small island. But one thing is clear.  Connected people are happier.  Now go out and make at least one new friend every day!

How do you transform the idea of continually making new friends from a sweet sentiment into an action? Many of us have difficulty reaching out, especially when it is so easy to be in touch with thousands electronically without making any deep connections. I created my 2 audio CD set, Prosperity Power: Connect for Success precisely to offer realistic, concrete guidance for this task, along with additional ancient Jewish wisdom. Get it by mail or download, on sale online today.

I like to think that my little granddaughter, Aliza, with whom I shared Passover, is still happily singing the lyrics from the Beachboys hit “Sloop John B”:

We came on the sloop John B
My grandfather and me
Around Nassau town we did roam…

This week’s Susan’s Musings: Time Out

When your life revolves around the Jewish calendar, certain periods in the year overwhelm time. Passover is one of those occasions which take up so much mental and physical space that there is no attention left for most other things. Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman; Obama and Romney; even Iran and nuclear armament recede into the background…

Today, that picture has become rare.  Those grandchildren have grown up.  Some have utterly abandoned observance of Passover while others take it very seriously.  The latter correctly understand the Passover Seder to be full of vital life lessons.

After being enslaved by the Egyptians for more than two centuries, no Hebrew even remembered what freedom meant.  Their slave status was natural.  Just as natural, in fact, as it is for each of us to accept our ‘Egypt’ as natural.

“Our Egypt?” you ask.  Yes, our slavery to whatever circumstances block the path to our own Divine destiny.  Egyptian slavery is the ultimate model of any oppressive force that obstructs our attempts to reach the purpose God has planned for us.

Our audio CD Let Me Go teaches three vital strategies for escaping the invisible forces that restrain you from reaching your dreams.  A peculiar phrase used in the description of the Exodus guides us towards a fourth escape strategy.

…and the Children of Israel are going out with a high hand.

(Exodus 14:8)

Perhaps because present tense is so rare in Scripture, the King James Bible substituted the past tense:

…and the Children of Israel went out with a high hand.

Ancient Jewish wisdom teaches that the present tense actually used emphasizes the relevance of this section to anyone wishing to emulate the Children of Israel and escape his own Egypt.  It applies to each of us today – present tense.

Second, the Hebrew word used for high is RaMaH.  It appears in a similar context in Deuteronomy 32:27:

…lest they will say, “our hand is high; the Lord has not done this.”

RaMaH means high and dominant.  However, look at this verse:

…the horse and its rider has He flung down into the sea.

(Exodus 15:1)

How perplexing that the Hebrew word used for ‘flung down’ is also RaMaH.

To make matters worse, see this verse from Job:

How much less man, who is [after all] a worm…

(Job 25:6)

The Hebrew word used for ‘worm?’  RiMaH.  Regular readers of Thought Tools know that RaMaH and RiMaH are the same word with slightly different pronunciations. With the special power of Hebrew, their meanings are also related.  Identifying that relationship exposes us to deep spiritual insight.

The mysterious message of the twin words RaMaH and RiMaH suggest that though they appear to be antonyms, there is a spiritual link between high/dominant and low/abject.  Furthermore, this link is a key to escaping one’s own Egypt.

That majestic record of Jewish durability known as the Hagadah, read at the Passover Seder, hints at the link. Not surprisingly, the Hagadah relates how the powerful and mighty Egyptians were humbled.  But another essential characteristic of the Hagadah is its commencement with deprecating accounts of the ignoble beginnings of the Israelites.  The Hagadah reminds us that Abraham’s father was an idolater before relating the achievements of his children.

Therein lies the valuable key. Life is not static. If you happen to be riding high at this point in your life, retain humility by remembering how easily and quickly high can turn into low. No matter what struggles you face today, you must remember how much lower you or your ancestors were yesterday. Neither the depths of misery nor the heights of triumph are constant states.

In this way, the Passover Seder serves as an annual inoculation against thinking that the status quo defines you. With God’s help and in the blink of an eye, we can go out from our difficulties with a high hand.

It is easy to descend into Egypt while searching for a life mate. I want you all to have the book, I Only Want to Get Married Once by a wise and experienced Jerusalem-based relationship coach. You or someone you love urgently needs the crucial guidance given here – and it’s only $10 online this week! Leave behind your status quo or help someone else do so!

This week’s Susan’s Musings: Beware the Misguided Majority

I’ve been at synagogue services and also at business meetings that suffer from the same syndrome.  Just like the speaker who can’t stop, the longer it goes on, the less likely it is that anything valuable is occurring. There is another event that suffers from having no ending.

I particularly enjoy being a dinner guest when a family’s children are also at the table. If they are deliberately included in the conversation, their views can be delightfully off-beat and refreshing.  The problem arises when they leave the table mid-meal.  Whether they excuse themselves politely or simply vanish, they leave unoccupied chairs and an off-balance feel to the gathering.

But since they have no idea of when it will end, what are they to do?   They become restless because the meal stretches off endlessly into the future.  Happily, ancient Jewish wisdom offers a solution.  Establish a formal end to every meal and signal that everyone is expected to remain till the end by labeling it “Grace after meals.”

The Torah directs us to thank God for the food we have just eaten with a blessing;

…you shall eat and be satisfied; then you shall bless the Lord…

(Deuteronomy 8:10)

We are also taught to thank God for giving us His book, by saying a blessing before we study the Torah. Ancient Jewish wisdom discusses these blessings over food and the Torah in the same section to make the connection that food nourishes our bodies while God’s word sustains our souls.  One who cares only for his body is but half a human as is one who cares only about his soul.

Why is one blessing said before and the other after? We say the Torah blessing before our souls are born aloft by hearing God talking to us from the pages of Scipture.  However, we say the major food blessing after our stomachs are sated.  The reason is because we always try to progress upwards towards the climax.  Allowing God to talk to us from the pages of His Book is the whole point of reading His word. The blessing precedes that pinnacle.  However, the highlight of the meal is when we talk to God.

In this fashion, a Biblical meal never just fades away.  It builds to a peak and goes out with a bang.  The solemnity of the Grace after Meals, along with its joyful melodies wraps the meal in the fabric of an unforgettable experience.

Children can easily be taught to remain at the table because the meal has a finite conclusion in the form of Grace after Meals.  They readily understand that leaving the table before thanking God is even worse behavior than leaving a meal without thanking their parents.

Good advice for those in charge of worship services is to emulate the principle of the Grace after Meals.  Instead of allowing the power and the passion of prayer to simply fade away as people inconspicuously creep to the exits in order to escape an interminable service, finish with a bang.  Program the most important, and perhaps the most moving part of the service for the very end. Thus will people leave invigorated rather than fatigued.

Similarly, arrange business meetings with not only a start time but an equally definite ending time.  Start the meeting with the less important items on the agenda.  Finish it with the most important topics and perhaps with an uplifting announcement. People will leave energized rather than wearied.

We hope our Thought Tool books help you to study God’s wisdom and to enjoy uplifting conversation at mealtimes. Our two volumes are on a “get two for the price of one” sale right now. They make a delightful gift for yourself or for someone you want to bless.

Posh and politically correct universities shrink from discussing these contentious questions because they fear the answer might refute their deepest beliefs.

Though largely ignored in academia, numerous books have been published dealing with this perplexing puzzle.  To mention just three—The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes; Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson; and Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson.  While conceding that climate, geography, and natural resources carry some influence, they along with almost everyone who has studied the disparity of societies concludes that the wealth/poverty gap is chiefly due to culture.

A culture is bound up with the language with which it communicates. We tend to associate French as the language of romance, whereas Russian lends itself to brooding epics about the darker side of human nature.  As God’s language, Hebrew gives us understanding into what God wishes for us to find important.

I would like to offer one small insight which grants us a spiritual strategy with practical application in our lives.  English clearly distinguishes between winning a lot of money and earning a lot of money.  Not all languages do the same.

Spanish

winning money = ganar dinero = earning money

French

winning money = gagner de l’argent = earning money

Unfortunately, I am not fluent in these languages and I am sure there are ways in which the context clarifies whether someone won the lottery or earned a fortune.  Nonetheless, there are cultural implications when a language fails to distinguish between acquiring money randomly or through hard work.  Is it out of the question that in some very small way, this could be linked to the launching of the industrial revolution in 18^th century England rather than Spain or France?

Here is another example. What can we understand from the fact that Hebrew possesses more words than any other language for moral transgression?

Here just some of the words:

avel-(Deuteronomy 25:16); avon, chatat-(Deuteronomy 19:15); aveirah-(Deuteronomy 17:2); pesha-(Genesis 50:17); ma’al-(Leviticus 5:15); oshek-(Proverbs 14:31); chammas-(Psalms 55:10); nevalah-(Deuteronomy 22:21)

There are many more, and remember, there are no synonyms in Hebrew.  Each word reflects a separate subtle nuance.

Sadly, the lofty Hebrew concept of always being alert to the possibility of sin and never straying “after your heart and after your eyes…” (Numbers 15:39) has been trivialized by comedic mocking of Jewish guilt.  The truth is that feeling guilt for wrongdoing and then trying to atone is a competitive advantage and one that you can easily adopt to dramatically improve your own life.

One type of moral wrongdoing is not living up to your own goals. Imagine you set yourself a professional or a self-improvement objective; say a sales target, a be-nice-to-spouse week, or a weight-loss plan.  Ordinarily, were you not to meet your aspiration, you might shrug your shoulders and move on. Or you might wallow in guilt. Either way, spiritually, your self-disappointment remains.

Once you remember the value of acknowledging and expiating guilt, you can set yourself a minor consequence or penance for not achieving that to which you committed yourself.  You might run five times around the block or memorize a poem.  By tying an action to your disappointment, you will find that your body and your soul smoothly cooperate in both moving on and also making it more likely that you achieve the next goal you set. If you repeatedly miss your goals, pay attention: it is a sign that deeper analysis is needed.

Carrying the weight of failed expectations can crush us. While the Torah uniquely highlights one day a year to recalibrate our internal monitors, the lessons from that day can be used year-round. Listen to my audio CD, Day for Atonement and let me know how it helps you look hopefully ahead rather than being trapped by the past. Download or order it at half-price right now.

Read this week’s Susan’s Musing: Gut-Punch: Too Old for a Transplant?

Who would have blamed the Israelites for accepting their nomadic lifestyle as normal?  After two hundred years of slavery, followed by forty years wandering around a desert, how could they ever have seen themselves becoming independent landowners?

Every Israelite should have dismissed the words of Moses as hopeless fantasy when he said to them:

And it shall be when you come into the land that the

Lord your God gives you as an inheritance…

(Deuteronomy 26:1)

What made them accept the vision of their own Promised Land without skepticism?

The secret is that Moses presented them with a vision, not a fantasy. He didn’t promise a utopian future divorced from reality; he let them know that with blessing comes responsibility. That was believable. He not only promised them their Promised Land and its abundant harvests, but he also revealed the duties and obligations that would be theirs along with the abundance.

In the future, they will take their first fruits, put them into a basket, and take them on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In other words as recipients of God’s blessing they must acknowledge Him as the source of that blessing and welcome the obligation to follow His ways.

That first fruits ceremony is described in Deuteronomy 26:1-11.  Now, you know how I encourage everyone to learn to read Hebrew or at least to have a rabbi (and I humbly submit my candidacy for your consideration). Well, off the Hebrew page jumps a real attention-getter—a rare word for basket.  The word ‘basket’ appears about twenty times throughout Tanach and most times the Hebrew word used is sahl.

…and the birds were eating them from the basket…

(Genesis 40:17)

In our first fruits passage, the word basket appears twice (Deuteronomy 26: 2&4) but the word used is not sahl but the very unusual word, teneh.

If you own any of the audio CD programs that comprise our Genesis Journeys series, you have the study guide that accompanies each teaching.  At the beginning of your study guide you will see my special layout chart of the Hebrew alphabet.

The 6^th letter of the middle row is the letter samech pronounced ‘S’ (as in sahl-basket). You’ll notice that it is shaped like a closed circle.

Not only is the word sahl missing in the first fruits passage but amazingly, there is no appearance of the letter samech in all those eleven verses.  The verse immediately preceding contains a letter samech (Deuteronomy 25:19) and a few verses later (Deuteronomy 26:18) we spot a samech.  Why is it so important that the whole first fruits passage should not contain that letter? Even a different Hebrew word is employed in order to avoid introducing the letter samech in the more common word for basket – sahl.

Ancient Jewish wisdom explains that the fully enclosed circular shape of the letter samech hints of boundaries and limitations. These have no place in a passage filled with God’s promise of limitless abundance.  For this reason, teneh replaces sahl to signify a veritable cornucopia of plenty. But along with being able to envision God’s ability to deliver abundance, one has to recognize that responsibility accompanies that gift, signified by the bringing of the first fruits.

Never view your today as your inevitable tomorrow.  But merely fantasizing about a tomorrow with health, wealth, and love entraps you in an unchanging today.  It is true that your promised land comes with no limits.  But it does bring accompanying obligations.  Convert hopeless fantasies into energizing visions by eagerly anticipating the obligations that will accompany God’s bounty.

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My wife always shared the preparations for the Sabbath with our daughters, assigning some children to set the table while others cleaned the house until it shone. Planning menus and cooking were group efforts as well. Especially when the kids were very young, she could have prepared the house and meals for our family and our guests far more quickly herself.

By contrast, researchers recognize that generally, American children ignore or resist appeals to help. According to a recent UCLA study, compared to other countries and cultures, and even more importantly, compared to how we Americans used to raise children, parents today are focused on what they can do for their children and don’t think about what their children can do for them.

Were my wife and I taking unseemly advantage of free labor or doing our children a favor? Let’s look at a precedent from God.

From the moment they left Egypt the Israelites grumbled about almost everything.

…Why did you bring us out of Egypt

(Exodus 14:11-12)

The people complained against Moses saying what shall we drink?

(Exodus 15:24)

…the Children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron…

(Exodus 16:2)

The people argued with Moses…give us water

(Exodus 17:2)

They gathered against Aaron…make us a god..we don’t know where Moses is

(Exodus 32:1)

Eventually God told every person to bring of his possessions and get to work building the Tabernacle.  This construction project and the service therein occupied the Israelites for many years and the complaining just about ceased.

After nightfall on Saturdays my family gathers for Havdalah. With this service we bid Shabbat farewell for another week and prepare ourselves for six days of productive endeavor.  During the brief ceremony, we celebrate our sense of smell enjoying the fragrance of some spices, often cloves and cinnamon.

When a festival terminates, we also conduct a Havdalah ceremony but without any blessing on smelling the spices.  Why the difference?

Ancient Jewish wisdom explains that, amazingly, in our world, the actions of humans leave a longer-lasting impression than God’s actions.  For instance, Mt. Sinai (where God acted) is largely unknown, whereas Mt. Moriah (where Abraham, Isaac, David, and Solomon acted) is still visited by pilgrims after 3,000 years. Ancient Jewish wisdom further explains that smell is the sense that most strongly links to our memories.  I am sure you can think of smells that immediately transport you to images of your childhood.

Sabbath was scheduled every seven days by God but we Jews were commanded to set the dates of the festivals by our own calculation. Linking the Sabbath to a smell prolongs the sensation of that day.  Since festivals have a human component, no fragrances are necessary for them to cling to us even after they are over.

We are more lastingly impacted by the things we do for God like building a Tabernacle than by the many things He does for us.  The children of Israel appreciated God more, not less, by giving of themselves for His structure. Likewise, our children are more lastingly impacted when they participate in family life, rather than just being recipients of parents’ beneficence.

You can use this information to change important things in your own life. The problem is, you feel shackled to the status quo. It’s like an invisible force imprisons you, yet you yearn to escape. Passively waiting for God – or other people –  to solve our problems isn’t the best way to activate change.  There is a God-given solution in my audio CD Let Me Go: How to Overcome Life’s Challenges and Escape Your Own Egypt. We’re discounting it online this week so that it is easily accessible to help you change your life. I’d like you to take advantage of this offer now!