Tag: rabbi

Monday Fun-Day

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I hope that everyone’s summer adventures are full of “contentedness” and that the memories that spring from these wonderful adventures, add more contentedness to our lives, for years to come.

I love Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s Question and Answer column in Spirituality and Health magazine. I think that he answered this question, superbly. See below:

I used to be a believer, but COVID robbed me of that. How can I live without faith?

Rabbi Shapiro’s answer: “It’s important to make a distinction between belief and faith. Think of belief as a map and faith as a compass. A map tells you where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going. If the map is accurate, there are no surprises along the way. A compass simply orients you in the direction you wish to go and tells you nothing about the going itself. What you have lost is belief: You no longer trust that your map is accurate. But you can still cultivate faith and the qualities of curiosity, openness, humility, and not-knowing that faith embodies. Walking through life with a compass, rather than a map leaves you open to engage with each moment as it is, rather than as your map says is should be.”

Keep the faith, friends!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Just a Blip

It’s a dark and quiet and still morning, here at the house. My husband and I are the only ones up right now, working at our computers. It looks like it will be a rainy day today and for now, that sounds delicious. I have lit several candles and we have minimal lights on. Our dogs are back into deep slumber, after finishing their breakfast. It is so wonderfully peaceful. I hope that you all are experiencing the same calming peacefulness that I am feeling in this moment. I am bathing in tranquility.

I have mentioned before that I love to read Spirituality & Health magazine. The May/June edition of this year, is particularly good. I started ripping out pages that touched me, as I do with all of my magazines, until I realized that I was ripping out so many pages of this edition, that I really just need to keep the entire magazine, intact. Rabbi Rami Shapiro and I share most of the same ideas about spirituality. He answers religious/spiritual questions in every edition of the magazine and his answers are always so wise and compassionate and thought-provoking. I really like his answer to this question: “We humans are nothing more than a blip in the infinite expanse of the cosmos. Why do people matter?”

Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s answer:

“Think of the 26 letters of the English alphabet. These letters are the smallest component of this column – just a blip. Yet without letters there are no words, and without words there are no sentences, and without sentences there are no paragraphs, and without paragraphs there is no column, and without this column there is no paycheck, and without paycheck there is no food, and without food there is no me, and while I am also a blip, I matter – at least to me, my loved ones, and my creditors. So, while it is true that we humans are just a blip in the cosmos, without blips there is no cosmos at all.”

We blips matter. Shalom, rabbi.