BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

SHAVUOT The all-nighter is an observance that developed on Shavuot. By Lesli Koppelman Ross Staying up to study Jewish texts for all or part of the first night of Shavuot is an increasingly popular activity among a wide range of Jews. This custom is called a "tikkun." The word tikkun is most popularly understood to mean a process of "repairing the world" or even an improvement of one's qualities. Tikkun is also used to describe a particular time devoted to study, a seder--order--of texts designed for this study, and also a canonical book containing these texts . Following the holiday meal, many people proceed to synagogue for Ma'ariv [the evening service], followed by an all-night (or into-the-night, as many last only until midnight) Torah study session based on the kabbalists' [mystics'] practice. [This specifically refers to the sixteenth century mystics of Safed, Israel, under the leadership of Isaac Luria. Many people recite Ma'ariv ...

Any of my readers know I am against blanket forgiveness. Forgiveness without the repentance of the person who hurt you - or you repenting to those you've hurt - is nothing. It's a "get out of jail free" card that will do nothing to heal the emotional, spiritual and psychological rift. It's bullpocky that I reject completely. Though your anger at someone else - does start to eat at your very soul. When I am completely disgusted & disappointed in someone - eventually I feel nothing. They become dead to me. Or, like my ex, his abuse numbed me to the point of feeling nothing but cordiality towards him. And a desire to work with him as politely as I could for the welfare of our children. But nothing else. No desire for revenge. Not hate or anger... just indifference. I abhor any ahavah ha-t'luyah b'davar : "love that is conditional." This is love that treats the other person or you, as an object. True love is unconditional because the oth...

Prayer of Forgiveness Working on it... Barbara (Before Bed) By Rabbi Michael Lerner YOU, my ETERNAL FRIEND, WITNESS now that I forgive anyone who hurt or upset me or who offended me-- damaging my body, my property, my reputation or people that I love; whether by accident or purposely; with words, deeds, thoughts or attitudes. I forgive every person who has hurt or upset me. May no one be punished because of me. May no one suffer from karmic consequences for hurting or upsetting me. Help me, Eternal Friend, to keep from offending You and others. Help me to be thoughtful and not commit outrage by doing what is evil in Your eyes. Whatever sins I have committed, blot out, please, in Your abundant kindness, and spare me suffering or harmfulillnesses. Help me become aware of the ways I may have unintentionally or intentionally hurt others, and please give me guidance and strength to rectify those hurts and to develop the sensitivity to not continue acting in a hurtful way. Let me forgive ot...

“MAKING AMENDS” (something for Elul) Phyllis B. Grodsky, Ph.D One day I was with my mother in front of her building when an older man came by. He was carrying a shopping bag full of groceries, and appeared to have difficulty walking. When he saw my mother he changed course, tipped his well-worn cap, and headed straight towards us. He was smiling broadly and about to greet her when she abruptly turned her back, and stiffened her face until it looked ashen. The gentleman waved his hand and went on his way, seemingly unperturbed. I guessed, correctly, that he was her neighbor, Mr. Dutke, a man about her age who was born in Germany. She seemed aggrieved that Mr. Dutke approached her in a friendly manner, and said she wasn’t fooled; she “knew” he was a Nazi. When I asked if she had ever discussed his past with him, she said she hadn’t, but it didn’t matter because she “knew” what he was. My mother clings to opinions like a life raft, as if all would be lost if she were to let go. She doesn’...

AFTER THE FALL: WHY AMERICA NEEDS A SPIRITUAL LEFT by Rabbi Michael Lerner For years the Democrats have been telling themselves 'it's the economy, stupid.' Yet millions of middle-income Americans have voted against their economic interests to support Republicans who have tapped a deeper set of needs. Democrats differ on the fix. The center/right activists of the Democratic Leadership Council warn that the Party needs to distance itself more from its economic populism, its anti-war discourse (what they call the George McGovern or Howard Dean wing of the party), and its identification with gays, feminists, and other cultural legacies of the 1960s. On the other hand, center/left activists like Robert Borosage of the mainstream progressive Campaign for America's Future and Katrina van den Heuvel, editor of the Nation, call for big ideas from progressives but actually have little more to offer than the recycled ideas that failed to catch primary voters when they were offered...

A prayer in need, a prayer indeed Rav Michael Laitman Tikkun In Kabbalah, the term Tikkun (correction) is the most important concept. It is the means to achieve the Creator's goal in creating His beings (us). Jewish tradition is teeming with stories about Kabbalists secluding themselves or going on solitary journeys in the mountains to make Tikkunim (plural for Tikkun). Reality, alas, is far less romantic than that. A Tikkun is the transformation of one's qualities from egoism to altruism. In simpler words, when a person stops thinking of his or her own well-being, and starts thinking of everybody else's benefit, that person is considered corrected. Kabbalah (and, of course, not only Kabbalah) explains that the Creator is benevolent and wants to do good to His creations. Kabbalah also explains that since He is the best thing that exists, He wants to make us like Him. At the moment of birth, they tell us, we are nothing like Him, but our every trait is completely...