ב"ה
There is truth 
The question is not really do we
have it, but what exactly is it. Is it a self-improvement thing, like a
woodworking class or a therapy session? Is it a duty, like obeying the law of
the land and going to work in the morning?
Genesis 28:10-32:3 Week of December 3-9, 2000 
The story of a journey to a place of anger, deception and wealth. There's a dream to point the way and a dream to summon us back, and angels to send us off and greet us on our return. There is the sad-eyed fruitious Leah and the beautiful pining Rachel, and flock and flocks of sheep amidst which a family is founded and a fortune is amassed. It is the story of Jacob in Charan, and the story of every soul that visits this earth.
"Look at it this way." said Rabbi DovBer. "When two Jews get
together and one tells the other what ails his heart, the result is two G-dly
souls taking on a single animal soul."
No other domain of life has been as chaotic and bewildering as the relationship between the sexes. Neither Freud nor Friedan has made the slightest difference. They have simply propounded new misconceptions, unleashing cascades of novel frustrations and social woes. Marriages and families continue to fail, as men and women persist in misunderstanding themselves and each other. What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman?
According to Jewish tradition, we are animated and driven by two souls: an animal soul related
to the blood and a divine soul related to the mind. These two souls struggle for
control of the entire personality.The natural method to change behavior is for thought to affect emotion, which affects action. The Torah method of behavior modification reverses this hierarchy: deed affects emotion, which affects thought. This system has been applied with great remedial success to Jewish prisoners and their families by the Aleph Institute in Miami.
For folks like me battling a life-threatening disease, cracks in faith and trust allow seepage of the darkest kind. Does this mean that we incapable or void of bitachon?How might we apply the adage “Think good and it will be good” to our flawed lives and selves? What truth might it hold for us who, in spite of our imperfection, seek such faith to combat illness and hardship? |
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