The Kotel, or Western Wall. a.k.a. “The Wailing Wall”

I think of so many things
when I see this image.

What do you see?
What is happening?
When is it?
What is missing?

זבחי אלקים, רוח נשברה: לב–נשבר ונדכה––אלקים, לא תבזה.

Psalms 51:19 The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart, O G-d, Thou wilt not despise.

(image: http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-stick2.htm)

The Torah’s version of a “broken heart” is not what we consider a broken heart.  For us, a broken heart sounds like a loved one hurt us, or like a friend betrayed us, ch”v.

What the Torah speaks of as a broken heart is vastly different.

Rebi Yehoshua ben Levi said in the Gemara:
“Come and see how great the humble are in the eyes of The Holy One, Blessed is He…regarding a contrite person, the Torah ascribes it to him as though he had offered every one of the sacrifices, as it says, ‘The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit’ (Psalms 51:19). More than that, his prayer is not despised, for it continues [there], ‘A broken and a contrite heart, O G-d, You will not despise’.” (Sotah 5b)

In this way, he glows with humility.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslev
Rebbe Nachman distinguishes between “a broken heart” and “sadness.” Sadness is that which is dark and leads a person further and further from G-d and is expressed in anger and irritability. Hence, in Judaism we say that “Joy is an Obligation.”

On the other hand, a “broken heart” is when a person understands and feels how distant he is from G-d, like a child who ran away/was sent away/was kidnapped from his Father. With such a “broken heart” a person is filled with a desire and motivation to draw closer to his father, to draw closer to G-d.

In this way, he glows with a longing for closeness.

Student of A Simple Jew
This lovely person’s own interpretation is that a “broken heart” is a heart that is not complete. A person who recognizes that it he is not perfect, that he has much room to grow is a person with a “broken heart.” This is when we see ourselves with truth un-obscured by ego.

In this way, he glows with a desire to perfect himself.

How do you glow?

My best friend growing up had an african parrot just like this one.  He used to say “David! Go to your room!” because my friend’s older brother David would get in trouble so often that the parrot learned to copy the phrase.

One of our beloved Noahide readers owns a parrot just like my friend’s.  Except around the Noahide house their bird has learned to say “Baruch Hashem!”¹

Should we make this the iHeartNoahides mascot?
What do you think?

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

I had dinner in Borough Park with my cousin on Thursday.
In Borough Park, most of the residents look like this:

My cousin looks something like this:

Anyways, we had just arrived at my cousin’s apartment, and he was gathering some papers from the back of his car, with his car door open like this:

when an elderly couple in an old car like this:

came and rolled right into his car door, bending it like this:

and my cousin - whooping, over nearly being ran over - looked like this:

At first I was like this:

because my cousin was not hurt, unlike my father who was hit by one of these:

8 weeks ago and broke this:

and some of these:

but thank G-d everyone, including my dad and my cousin, are alive and healthy. Which is why I looked like this:

But I couldn’t tell this to my cousin while his anger was boiling over due to the damage on his car. I couldn’t tell this to my angry cousin because Rabbi Shomin ben Elazar used to say:

Do not appease your fellow in the time of his anger, nor comfort him while his dead lies before him. Do not question him in the time of his vow. Do not try to see him in the time of his disgrace.¹

Yet the anger my cousin shot at the driver and that the driver flung back at my cousin was volatile like this:

And made one of them look like this:

and the other one looked like this:

and there was a whole lot of this:

which I think is really rooted in this:

but then a young Borough Park resident at the scene who looked like this:

remarked - “It’s never good when Jews fight - no matter what the situation.”

Yet the cancer called Anger only crept further down their throats, enslaving their tongues and lips to curses and disgraces that surely left their souls crying out from Heaven.

And the evil inclination within each of us is so sly, because after all of the toxins the evil inclination enticed my cousin to spew, he then proceed to entice my cousin to feel terribly sad and somewhat depressed after the fact.

But Rebbe Nachman zt”l says that we must every day - every moment! - begin from a new! Do not despair over the past! Make amends, yes. Fix what needs to be fixed, yes. But despair? No!!

That way, G-d willing, the world will look less like this:

and more like this:

Many of the Torah’s prophecies have been reexamined in the context of our modern world - especially those relating to weapons of mass destruction and the Jewish People’s return to the Land of Israel.

But what about this prophecy from Zachariah:

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, that they shall make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations…
- Numbers 15:38

And then you start to see tzitzit everywhere…

Israeli soldier during Second Lebanon War 2006.

Ehthiopian Jews getting married in Israel, using the Tallit (tzitzit and garment) as their chupah.

Another wedding using the Tallit as their chupah.

Bloody tzitzit garmet in aftermath of the 2008 Merkaz HaRav terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
(Source: IsraelNN.com)

Jewish children, keeping the mitzvah of wearing tzitzit for generations and generations!

What are Tzitzit?

Where can G-d be found?

Wherever man lets Him in.

Photo: Kotel - Western Wall, Jerusalem.