Emuna Therapy

Escape from the Box

photo by Louish Pixel

In the Chut Shel Chesed Yeshiva in Jerusalem, there are so many people with amazing stories of what they were doing before they ended up in Rav Arush's yeshiva. Some of the students were five star chefs; others were world-class kick-boxers; there's professors and doctors and lawyers from top Manhattan law firms - and they gave it all up to come and study Rebbe Nachman's Torah in Israel. Why?

Because something, some message, some occurrence, hit them, and they all paid attention to what G-d was trying to tell them, and they acted on it.  Amazing things happen when we have the courage to act on the Heavenly messages we get. That's not to say that we go around making hare-brained or rash decisions. The correct approach is to...continue reading...

There's only one week left before Passover. These articles, by my esteemed colleagues will prepare you to enjoy the holiday to it's fullest:

Beyond Logic  By Rabbi Shalom Arush

Passover: Dread or Dream?  By Rabbi Lazer Brody

The Main Course  By Tal Rotem

Mess and Madness  By Racheli Reckles

Upstairs Downstairs  By Rick Eskenazi

EEEEEEmuna  By Rivka Levy

Shabbat HaGadol: No More Chains  By Rabbi Lazer Brody

Credit Cards: Two Sides  By Rabbi Berel Wein

Uplifting the Inner Animal  By Rabbi David Charlop

Blessings for a wonderful day!

Dr. Zev Ballen

The Tree

Do you believe that Hashem can send us messages through nature? See what happened to me on Wednesday in this week's video clip, The Tree.

You can make sure that your Shabbos will be great by connecting to the encouragement that can only come from true wisdom. For me there's nothing better than to connect to the wisdom of my beloved teacher and spiritual guide Rabbi Shalom Arush. I do that on Shabbos by reading his words of truth and inspiration in our weekly newsletter. Here's your copy to print out for your Shabbos table: Download CSC NL Week 23 Vayikra.

Good Shabbos!

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

Beauty and the Angel

Here's a true story about an Israeli model and her grandfather - who was a famous Rabbi in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

Please enjoy our weekly parsha newsletter. You can download and print it out to use at your Shabbos table: Download CSC NL Week 14 Va'eira

Have a great Shabbos,

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

Bringing Sunshine to Work

  

image credit: gieta

A little while ago, I was in my car, on the way to pick my wife up from her work. As I was driving, I suddenly saw a beautiful sunbeam come down ahead of me, which lit the whole road up. That scene sparked something off, and Hashem sent me a lovely memory from my childhood, where I was just happy to be alive and breathing. I was probably out of school and it was a nice sunny day, and I was on the way to the park to play basketball, or something similar. It was a wonderful feeling. But then, it started to turn sour, because initially, I thought to myself: 'I wish I could do something today to be free, and to not have to be doing all this work...' but then, I caught myself, and turned it around. I said: 'thank you for the negative thought, G-d. Now, I can bring some sunshine into my work, today. I can use those memories from the past in a positive way and infuse them into my present, and that's the main focus I should have.'

 Hashem puts the emphasis on the present tense above all others; we are living in the here and now, and we really only have this moment. If Hashem is going to the trouble of sending me a message or memory from the past, it's not because He wants me to go back to that time of my life, or to be that person again. That memory or message is meant to be used by us now, today, exactly how we currently are, in the lives we are currently living. Yes, it's great to be out on a sunny day playing basketball without a care in the world - if you're nine! But I don't want to be nine years' old anymore. I want to feel the same freshness and joy that I felt then in my adult life now.

Remember to live strong; live with emuna!

Dr. Zev Ballen 

Spiritual Logic

When you've got 'spiritual logic' you are no longer bound to regular logic. So when the events of your life don't seem fair and make no 'logical' sense, you have a way to be comfortable with the uncertainty.
Shavua Tov, Dr. Zev Ballen