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Date Posted: 01:22:45 11/13/12 Tue
Author: d
Subject: fb269


#637 Be Happy as a Lark

Although humans have a tremendous advantage over animals, you can still learn from animals. They have no worries or anxieties about the future. When you see a bird, dog, cat, fly, or bee, tell yourself, "Let me learn from this creature to live in the present." Learn from these beasts and free yourself from needless thoughts about the future!

It may seem a bit humiliating to have to learn from an animal or insect. But it's even more humiliating not to learn from them!

(Rabbi Yitzchok Blauser - Kochvai Ohr, pp.31-2; Rabbi Pliskin's Gateway to Happiness, p.153)


See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"




28 Cheshvan

On this date in 1949, the Jewish population of Israel reached one million. Over the years, waves of aliyah from Arab countries, Russia and Ethiopia -- combined with higher-than-average birthrates -- has pushed the Jewish population of Israel to 5 million. It is estimated that an additional one million Israelis live outside the country.



28 Cheshvan

Even if the entire world considers you a tzaddik (pious and righteous), you should nevertheless think of yourself as if you were sinful (Niddah 30b).

In 1965, I visited the Steipler Gaon, a sage whom people often consulted for medical advice. Since he had heard that I was a psychiatrist, he wanted to find out new developments in medications for mental illnesses. I related to the Gaon whatever I knew about the most recent advances.

"Is anything available that can cure someone from delusions?" he asked. I told the Gaon that delusions were very resistant to treatment, and that while antipsychotic medications could subdue overt psychotic behavior, the delusional thinking itself was difficult to eradicate.

"But what if someone has the delusion that he is the greatest tzaddik in the generation?" the Gaon asked. I could not restrain myself and laughingly replied, "No medication can cure that."

The Gaon shook his head sadly. "Too bad," he said. "That malady is so widespread."

Delusions of any kind are a sign of mental illness. How sick a person must be to consider oneself a tzaddik, and how wise the Talmud was to caution us against developing such delusions!


Today I shall ...
... try to be honest with myself, and even if my behavior is such that people may think I am a tzaddik, I must not allow myself to be deluded.

See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com


28 Cheshvan

Tattoo Prohibition

My husband wants to get a tattoo, but I said that if he does, he could not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Is that true? He wants me to show him proof, and if this is true, he promises not to get one.
The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Torah states explicitly: "You should not put a tattoo on your body" (Leviticus 19:27). This is accepted Jewish practice, as recorded in the Code of Jewish Law (Yoreh Deah 180:1).

If someone already has a tattoo, he does not have to have it removed, though many people will have them removed because they feel uncomfortable about it.

Whether or not someone with a tattoo can be buried in a Jewish graveyard is not even a question in your case. Since Jewish law prohibits tattooing in the first place, surely your husband should not get one.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (19th century, Germany) explains the reason for this prohibition. God made man in the image of God Himself (Genesis 1:26). Of course, this doesn't mean that God looks like us, but it does mean that our body is a finite expression of God's infinite wisdom. One Midrash even says that Abraham figured out all the mitzvahs by looking at different parts of his body! And as Job said, "In my flesh, I see God" (Job 19:26).

Imagine that you own a house with a huge glass window overlooking the beautiful mountainside. Imagine how clearly you see the trees, the snow, even the deer running down the mountain. Now imagine a toddler full of dirt and chocolate smears his hands all over your window. When you look out the window, what do you see? Nothing but a glaze of dirt, chocolate, and a fuzzy mountain in the background.

The body is a window to the soul, which is a spark of the Infinite. Tell your husband: Don't muddy up the window with handprints.



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