Week's Roundup
Highlights from this week's learning and events; An eternal message from the Torah about why repetition is essential
Did you know that the Torah has an eternal Divine Message that applies to every single human being? Authentic Torah learning grounds us in reality, both what we can observe and what is beyond our observation, grasp and even understanding, and leads to practical positive action. Positive for us and positive for those around us.
If you have adopted some or all of Enlightenment thinking, learning Torah will challenge everything you believe and hold dear.
In each Week’s Roundup, you will find a special topic, links to this week’s learning, the Torah perspective on current events, upcoming learning and action suggestions. This week we embrace repetition. Learn, take hope and take action, and share.
We are ten days into the month of Adar. It’s a month of increasing joy every day. Dance with your family! And happy Purim (Monday night and Tuesday) this coming week. Go hear a Megillah reading.
We had a great discussion in the Tanya learning about how the news is designed to derail our faith and certainty that G-d Al-mighty is taking care of us. Click here or Watch the video listed below as we describe the solution - turn off the news!! Save yourself and your family from manufactured despair!!
The Torah teaches that joy is the real state of existence, the real state of every living being. All thoughts that come to dampen our joy are actually distractions from reality.
Be joyful! And, if you don’t feel like it? Be especially joyful!
Are you dancing yet? If you are ready to dance, just do it and forget the rest of this article for now!
Not only is joy the resident state of every living thing, but joy is actually the solution to the problems we face.
Why am I repeating myself?
The more we ground ourselves in the reality that there is nothing but G-d Al-mighty and we are living in the flow of His Unlimited Love, Joy and Abundance, the more we will let go of the testing thoughts of loneliness, purposeless, disappointment, despair and scarcity.1
We say the Shema Prayer, “Hear Yisroel, the L-rd G-d Al-mighty, Our G-d, is One,” (Deuteronomy 6:4), four times a day, proclaiming that there is nothing besides G-d Al-mighty and that the entire world will come to know this. A non-Jew, who forswears idolatry and any form of partnership with idolatry, and commits to only cleave to the L-rd G-d Al-mighty, the G-d of Israel, should also say the Shema Prayer in the morning and at night.
The repetition directs our thinking and feelings to this reality.
In fact, by way of example, the Lubavitcher Rebbe repeated the same point in every talk, every letter and every interaction. He merely used the presenting question, topic or problem as the opportunity to re-direct the listener to the single answer, that there is nothing but G-d Al-mighty and He loves you, is pure joy and is the G-d of Abundance.
So welcome repetition into your life and embrace the tranquility of secure thoughts. You won’t be missing out at all!
Whatever things are not the way that you want them to be - you, your marriage, your children, your income, your assets, your health, your parents and other relationships, the world at large, will be addressed by ignoring the testing insecure thoughts, and instead of fermenting them in your thinking, making room for the graceful and innate Divine thoughts of well-being and joy.
Shabbos is coming, a reminder for every human being that they are an intentional creation of G-d Al-mighty right now and a continuing beneficiary of His Love, His Joy and His Abundance! What an incredible moment to increase even more in joy!
Action: Use the link above to check Shabbos Candellighting times in your city around the world. Shabbos Candlelighting time in New York City this week (3/3/23) is 5:31 pm and Shabbos ends at 6:31 pm.
Here is some of the learning we did this week:
These videos are available in the content library at RabbiSmith.org (in parentheses) and also on YouTube by clicking the name of the learning. When you watch on YouTube please like, share and subscribe so the message of hope reaches more and more people. See below at the end of this article a list of upcoming classes both in person and on Zoom.
After Shabbos Learning
👉🎯Tanya Shaar HaYichud v'HaEmunah Ch 7 - Faith & Joy - TURN OFF the news, spread of fear and despair (Yeshiva Shem v'Ever Playlist).
Sunday Learning
👉 2023-02-26 - Mitzvos Hashem - Rabbi Steif #51 - How far to go to remove idolatry from the world (Playlist - Mitzvos Hashem of Rabbi Steif for Bnai Noach).
Wednesday Learning
👉 Zecharia 8:23 - Parshas Tetzaveh - Righteous Judgment is the core of Creation (Zecharia 8:23 Playlist).
Thursday Learning
👉 Emunah (Faith) in Action 41 - Beis HaLevi 28 - Isaiah 50:6 - Don't be frightened from fulfilling your Life Mission! (Emuna (Faith) in Action Playlist)
👉 Gate of Oneness - Definitions of Chassidus #5 - יחידה - Your soul, the highest soul (Gate of Oneness Playlist).
👉🌟🌟🌟 Parshas Tetzaveh - The Jewish People are the Life Raft for the World...🛟 Keeping Humanity Tethered to turning from wrong to right. This is why a small handful of people from generation try to convince the Jews to self-eliminate through despair, and if that fails, take active measures against the Jews, with the plan that humanity, untethered, can be pushed to the same result, G-d forbid. Purim will be celebrated forever, because it celebrates the permanence of the Jewish People, as the life raft for the world who will help humanity navigate to the Ultimate and Complete Redemption with Moshiach.🎉🎉🎉 (Torah Lessons Playlist).
On Substack this week:
On Substack, I write about the practical implications of Torah learning, and how to keep our thinking clear, grounded in honesty and common sense. Here’s The Rabbi Smith Bulletin for this week:
A Torah perspective on the world around us…
Ask in the comments below about topics and new you would like the Torah perspective on.
A peek ahead…
Purim is only 3 days away. You can watch the Purim video series on the Purim Playlist. Topics include:
Purim 3 - Amalek Infiltrates the Government of every country
Purim 4 - Amalek Takes Advantage Of The Petty Motivations of Small Men
Purim 5 - Amalek seeks to destroy everything and everybody, G-d Forbid.
Purim 7 - If you Despair, G-d forbid, Anyone Can Take Control of You
Purim 8 - Out of Despair, Almost All Jews Went to the King's Banquet
A thought in concluding for now…
Thank G-d, we live in the most inspiring and incredible times in the history of the world. We have a great and beautiful mission before us. The need in the people is great, time is of the essence and the undertaking is massive, but eminently doable with the help of G-d Al-mighty. Please consider a generous gift to bring this message of hope to thousands more people, by clicking here.
May G-d Al-mighty bless you and Gut Shabbos!
See more actions further down. Torah learning and positive actions are the key to our future.
Upcoming Learning:
All learning uses the following Zoom link: https://bit.ly/BeisMedrash
👉Yeshiva Shem V'Ever
Moitzai Shabbos (After Shabbos) (Saturday night) 8 pm Eastern
We will be learning Torah relevant to non-Jews with Jews and non-Jews.
Tanya: Sha'ar Hayichud v'HaEmunah - the Gate of Oneness and Faith
In person with pizza and fries in Passaic, New Jersey, and on ZOOM.
Click here to sponsor the pizza and fries and dedicate this class in honor or memory of loved one
👉Rabbi Steif Mitzvos Hashem
SUNDAY 7 am Eastern (1 pm Germany time)
Rabbi Steif wrote this holy book to avert the Holocaust by making sure that both Jews and non-Jews should know clearly G-d Al-mighty's rules for non-Jews.
Click here to dedicate this class in honor or memory of loved one
👉Zecharia 8:23 - Weekly Torah Portion, Prayer and Talmud
WEDNESDAY 8:00 pm Eastern
Learn the week's Torah Portion (parsha) as it is relevant to every man, Prayer for every man and portions of the Talmud that are relevant to non-Jews
live in Passaic, New Jersey, and on Zoom.
Zoom Link
Click here to dedicate this class in honor or memory of loved one
👉Emunah (Faith) in Action
THURSDAY 10 am Eastern - Note New Time
Only with tranquility of the soul can we hear G-d Al-Mighty's voice clearly, know what to do and have the strength to do it effectively
Click here to dedicate this class in honor or memory of loved one
👉Gate of Oneness
Words on the Torah Portion
The Torah Experience - Life Fully Lived
THURSDAY 8:00 pm Eastern
Study the Gate of Oneness (Sha'ar HaYichud) by the Mittler Rebbe which teaches us how to think clearly. Delivered by Rabbi Shimon Chyrek. Rabbi Smith speaks on the weekly Torah portion at the end of the class. We have a new segment - The Torah Experience - Life Fully Lived. Join us!
Click here to dedicate this class in honor or memory of loved one
Actions:
Dance with your loved ones. Dance by yourself. Sing a happy song and let go the thoughts of doubt and despair. They tend to come back testing us repeatedly so feel free to skip a few rounds of the negative thinking.
Gift generously to propel this message to more people. The need is great and time is of the essence. The mission is monumental, but with G-d Al-mighty’s help it eminently possible. Your generous gift shares your G-d given resources with everyone you help reach with this message of hope. May G-d Al-mighty bless you for your generosity.
Thank G-d, we are blessed with over 13,000 subscribers. Let’s reach twice as many people with your help. Please share this article encouraging your friends to subscribe and click below to gift a subscription to three other people. Thank you!
👉This Week’s Roundup dedicated to the memory of my father, Mordechai Shlomo ben Yitzchok ע׳׳ה whose yahrzeit was this past Tuesday, 7 Adar.
Very real conspiracies do abound. Their main methodology is to distract us in myriad ways into anxiety and fear, both fear of the manufactured threat and the fear of the conspiracy. In this way they incapacitate us and take us out of our Divine tranquility to becoming frazzled and unable to enjoy every moment of life and love the ones around us. For example, someone becomes terrified that there will be a diesel shortage and even more terrified that there is conspiracy to cause a diesel shortage, and voila, that person has been taken ‘offline’ paralyzed by the fear, accomplishing the very goal of threatening real or imaginary diesel shortages. This is a spiritual problem, not a diesel problem, and there is only a spiritual solution. Both Jews and non-Jews, learn more by signing up for Torah learning at RabbiSmith.org.