Tuesday, October 9, 2012

To be a כלי for brachot - blessings

B"H
The Yom Tovim have ended. We are now in the process of coming back to the normal course of events and everyday life. One of the things that I reflected on these holy days was the need to make ourselves a kayli for Hashem's brachot. We often meet with obstacles in life because Hashem trusts that we can overcome these challenges and refine ourselves. One of the things that I was concerned about was the failure of some people to see the brachot and potential for brachot in their lives. For example, a friend told me about this person she feels so sorry for because this person has been looking for a shidduch (partner/ spouse) for twenty years. Now I am not so sympathetic to the plight of this person because she still needs to do a lot of work on herself and she has been offered several good men who are actually quite lovely people with the potential to be excellent husbands and who would love to have children but she will not consider them. Won't even give them the time of day. It seems senseless to me. Here are some perfectly lovely young men and they are brushed aside as "oh, no how could you suggest him?"
What pray tell gives you the right to say that about another human being? To brush him aside like someone of no account? To do things properly you must respect the other person and give them some  kavod as a human being. Also be sensitive, have a lev or heart in dealing with others and then your yetzer is balanced and with the words kavod, lev and yetzer you have a kayli.
The Rav gave a good drosha at yeshiva today. He talked about labels and labelling people. I understand that because many people always tend to put labels on others for any number of reasons. Mainly it makes them feel comfortable. They also label themselves as we'll as others. I define myself as an observant orthodox Jewess, that is why I feel comfortable in any shule to daven whether it is Yeshivah, Mizrachi, Hamayan, the Sephardi shule, the Kollel Beit Hatalmud or Ohel Devora or Mekas Shelanu to name a few. If you go to a shule to daven (pray) it should not matter so much which shule you go to. I am sure there are good G-D fearing people in all shules.
To open yourself to brachot and to be open to the blessings you deserve in life you have to also put effort into working on yourself as none of us are perfect. Hashem rewards us for hard work. I always feel uncomfortable when people tell me to demand of Hashem things that I feel we may need to do more work for. The Rebbe worked very hard and we need to do the same. We cannot demand like spoilt children, but we can say, 'Hashem please, we have worked hard, so hard, please meet us half way.

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