Living the Rhythms

Shabbat Candle Lighting Times for
Moscow, Russia
Friday, July 15th
Light Candles at 20:46
Shabbat, July 16th,
Shabbat Ends 22:30
Torah Portion: Chukat

Living the Rhythms

Years ago, I was standing with a friend, a seasoned businessman, as his 38 year-old son walked by. Nodding toward his son, he muttered to me: “My son needs to understand that the stock market doesn’t always go up”.

It was an interesting insight for me.

You don’t understand life until you grasp the human journey’s comprehensive rhythm; until you appreciate that living is about ups and downs.

Ups and Downs. If anyone thinks they’ve experienced only one, they’re either mistaken or need to wait just a wee-bit longer; the other will come soon enough.

We all have both.

But ‘down’ is where we feel the pain. Stress isn’t pleasant, and problems are….problems.
But that is life; and, until Moshiach arrives, problems will continue to disrupt our lives.

And so much of life depends on how we deal with problems.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, was brutally imprisoned – for spreading Judaism and helping Jews – by Stalin’s regime.

Yet, years after reaching freedom, he would occasionally try to recapture the horrible experience, mentally transporting himself back to the gulag and its pain.

Why? Not because he enjoyed the pain and suffering. But because he valued the character, the strength of Principle, he encountered within himself. The Rebbe never looked for pain, but when it came his way he didn’t waste effort on blame and self-pity; he faced it with dignity, and it became a growth experience.

Today, Thursday, 12 Tammuz (June 20) is eighty-six years since the Previous Rebbe was finally given the wonderful news of his freedom from Soviet prison.

It’s a day when we celebrate freedom. It’s also a day when we remember the pain. And it’s a day when we search ourselves to find our own inner strength to help us survive, and grow through, life’s pain.

Because that is – in the final analysis – true freedom of character and soul.
L’chaim.

Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Yanky and Rivky Klein

This email is In Loving memory of my dear father
R’ Yerachmiel Binyamin Halevi ben R, Menachem Klein OBM