For the Ilui Neshama of Avraham ben Ester ZT’L & Yissachar ben Yona Z’L.
G-d forbid, when someone falls or hurts themselves in anyway
they usually have pain. This pain begins to create a massive obstacle in that
individual’s life in the days or even weeks around the same time of the fall.
Sometimes the pain goes away. In special cases, the pain actually stays hidden
and every once in a while it is expressed in the location of the
bruise/cut/sprain in the body.
If this person does not take care of it, does not go to the
doctor or avoids taking medicine, the pain will not go away. From this we can
learn about the spiritual world in great detail and how everything physical can
be used as a lesson for our spiritual potentials and spiritual awakening
process.
Having a bad characteristic trait is one of the worst things
anyone can express. Bad characteristic traits according to Hazal (our Sages) include: worrying, hatred, anger, impatience,
self-pride, stubbornness, stingy, flatterer, immodest, show off, gossiper, etc.
The Orhot Tzadikkim (the world-renowned Mussar book studied in all Yeshivot)
speaks about bad characteristics and calls them the holi hanefesh, the disease of the soul.
Letting these bad characteristic traits take control and
take over us is like having a recurring pain. Sometimes we are successful in
holding in the anger or refraining from speaking the Lashon Hara (gossip) about Person X, but usually we do not reach
the central location of the bad characteristic trait to really work on
ourselves to completely get rid of it. The only real thing we do is take away
the anger or impatience or immodesty is by avoiding it for a temporary amount
of time, or in symbolic terms, by popping an aspirin. We do not really get down
to the point and say: I want to stop being angry or I want to stop with my show
off capabilities.
The only way an adult can succeed in working on himself or
herself is by beginning to change the way they look at the world. A big issue
in the holy of holy cities of “Manhattan Ir
HaKodesh” is that everyone tends to think only of themselves. A crucial
element in Judaism is thinking about the person next to you. How will she react
if I blow her off? What will he say if I tell him Person Y said a, b, c about
him? What harm do I do to the world if I show off my brand new iPhone 5? The
real medicine is by learning Mussar,
books with Torah written by HUGE Rabbis over 300 years ago that directly relate
to our everyday situations and discuss characteristic traits. Learning Torah is
the medicine that helps us get rid of the ‘temporary pain’ and the scar that the negative attitude left in our system.
Judaism=Think.
We CAN change. Stop
telling yourself you can’t.
Sponsor theCLD for the Ilui Neshama (memory of) or
Refua Shlema (the speedy recovery) of your loved one! Click the Donate Button
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