Emuna Therapy

The Defense Called "Denial"

The defense called denial has its origins in infancy. This occurs when the baby sees a stranger for the first time. Due to his feeling overwhelmed by "stranger anxiety" the infant turns his face away from the stranger as if to say "if you're out of my sight then you don't exist." 

Some of us have remained at this ostrich-like stage of emotional development and use the rather primitive defense of denial to massively block out something that we unconsciously believe will be too overwhelming for us to deal with.

Denial can also effect whole communities and even nations.

Howard Morton is a seasoned journalist who is making riveting contributions to our web magazine.  As you can see below, Howard's agenda is crystal clear - to help us deal with our widespread tendency for denial.

This guy is well-researched and very worth checking out: Here are some samples of his invaluable work:

America Tomorrow - By Howard Morton

The 69 Year Old Warning - By Howard Morton

It Can't Happen in America - By Howard Morton

When It's Cool To Hate Jews - By Howard Morton

The 21st Century Aryans - by Howard Morton

Dear friends, please remember to:

Live strong, live with emuna!

Dr. Zev Ballen

Hashem Needs Our Help!

This eye-0pening clip shows us in unequivocal terms where we stand in relation to our neighbors and the world at large. Isn't it clear that when Rabbi Shalom Arush tells us that we can't count on anything but our Faith that he knows what he's saying? Let's take time today to decide on one thing in ourselves that we will fix with Hashem's help. In the merit of even your desire to improve in one area of your life, may Hashem grant you that change and lift you above all the other challenges of your life as well! Amen.

With Every Blessing,

Dr. Zev Ballen

  

The Great Mitzvah of Settling the Land

 

                                Giv'at Ze'ev Chadash 20 minutes north-west of Jerusalem

The mitzvah of settling Eretz Yisrael, Israel, is so great that the Shulchan Aruch (The Jewish Code of Law - Laws of Shabbos 306:11) says that it is permitted for a Jew to buy a house in Israel from a non-Jew even on Shabbos.

The law says further that the non-Jew may sign the document of sale and register it in the non-Jewish court, provided that the Jew does not actually hand him the money explicitly.

 How should one do this? The Mishna Berurah says that one should show the non-Jew bags of money for him to to take as payment for the house. The Mishna Berurah continues saying that even though the Shulchan Aruch ruled in Sec. 307, Paragraph 5, that a labor prohibited on Shabbos by Torah law (not just Rabbinic Law), in this case writing - is forbidden to be done even through the agency of a non-Jew and even for the of a mitzvah. Even so,  our sages were lenient and permitted this to allow for the great mitzvah of establishing Jewish settlements in the land of Israel.

(I don't suggest you do this however, without Rabbinical consultation).

With Hashem's Kindness, the Ballen's settled in the above settlement two weeks ago. There is similar construction already underway on neighboring mountaintops. Who knows, maybe we'll be neighbors!

With every blessing,

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

Home Sweet Home

 

 

 

Here's a view from my new home in Gi'vat Ze'ev Chadash, which is 5 kilometers north-west of Jerusalem. We are "officially" over the green line (not part of Israel yet); though Israel has had military control of the West Bank since 1967. in the past Syria and then Jordon controlled this area, but now we have a 20% Jewish presence here with much more building in progress. From where I stood in the picture above I can see Palestinian villages on neighboring mountain tops. I can't explain how safe one feels here. The personal prayer sessions have been off the charts. 

Forgive Yourself!

 

image credit:Octavius Maurus

You can achieve awesome spiritual corrections while kindling the Chanuka lights. Have in mind that Hashem forgave you already on Yom Kipper. Nowhere is G-d's love for Israel more clearly revealed than by his willingness to continually forgive our sins. Remember to forgive yourself too before kindling the lights. 

The theme of Chanuka is the consecration of the Holy Temple (chanukas beis Hamikdash), and on Chanuka you are drawing the sanctity of the Holy Temple upon yourself and your family - but you can only do this if you first forgive yourself for your sins like Hashem already did!

Happy Chanuka!

Dr. Zev Ballen

The Song of Life

Here's a moving and true story about the life-saving power of prayer. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Do you need something to say at the Shabbos table? You'll find some great ideas in our weekly parsha newsletter::  Download CSC NL Week 8 Vayishlach (2)

Have a great Shabbos,

Dr. Zev Ballen

Without A Shot

"If Israel's leaders would go out into the field for an hour and speak to Hashem about whether or not they should send ground troops into Gaza, Hashem might bring a tsunami on our enemies without us having to fire a shot."

- Rabbi Lazer Brody

 

Weekly Live Broadcast

With Hashem's Loving Kindness, we will be broadcasting live today, Wednesday at 5:00pm Israel time from the Chut Shel Chesed Yeshiva, 13 Shmuel Hanavi Street, Jerusalem.

This week's lesson is entitled, "For We Not Me." 

 You can see it right here. The broadcast, as well as our lessons posted from now on - are Mac and iPod compatible. If you tune in too early to the live broadcast link, you'll be sent to the main page of the Breslev Israel website, so try to tune in on time as follows:

If you are not able to watch the lesson live, we will, G-d willing be posting a link to it soon. If you can't see the broadcast, you might need to download a new version of Flash Media player which you can do here. We hope you enjoy the broadcast.

With Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

 

 

 

Home Sweet Home

 

By Dr. Zev Ballen                                                  Image credit:sethfrantzman 

Lifta is an ancient settlement on the outskirts of my home town of Romema. It dates from before the second temple period. The site of a large spring (Mayan) it was also home to a number of Arabs who attacked Romema in 1947.  In 1948 Jewish forces attacked the village in retaliation and the people fled. It was never re- settled or torn down. Now people go there to speak to Hashem.

With Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen