Week's Roundup

Highlights from this week's learning and events; An eternal message from the Torah about the Hebrew month of Adar that applies to every reader, Jew and non-Jew

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 joy, and tackle Ohio, attacks on Jews in Florida, the WHO, and attacks on Jews in the Holy Land. Learn, take hope and take action, and share.

We are three days into the month of Adar. It’s a month of increasing joy every day.

But one second? Can I really be joyful now, when I have a long list of things in the past and the present that I think should be different? What about the future? Can I be joyful if I don’t know what is going to happen next?

Enlightenment thinking tells us that joy is not real, and, if you accept their premise and conclusion that life has no meaning, then joy really is hard to muster. All that is left is to be down and dragging along, try to numb the pain with legal or illegal pain subduers, try to distract from the pain, and try to spice things up with something exhilarating and highly stimulating from time to time. This attitude intentionally, for its promoters, not its sufferers, leads to the destruction of civilization - suffering, lack of energy, drugged out citizens, broken marriages, constant searching for, and then blaming, the ‘source’ of the pain, and great despair.¹ That is why it is so important for the Enlightenment to keep you distracted from G-d Al-mighty.

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.

In this short video, I address this point:

So 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, increasing in joy now is the answer.

Shabbos is coming, and as we wrote last week, that is a reminder for every human being that they are an intentional creation of G-d Al-mighty right now! 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 (2/24/23) is 5:24 pm and Shabbos ends at 6:24 pm.