Shabbat

Portion AYkev : What do you WANT from me G-d?

Portion AYkev : What do you WANT from me G-d?

Getting ready for Rosh Hashono yet? 6 weeks to go to HIGH HOLIDAYS -

and may we ALL be blesed with a Holy High and Beautiful Holiday Season!

It's probably a GOOD TIME to reflect on the past year and hope for the New Year -

so let's think about this:
At Different Times in their lives Some people ask G-d - or themselves -

What do you WANT from me G-d?

But really - who and what are they saying (usually to themselves)?

Who knows how to separate the ME from the Everything from the "Blame G-d for it" syndrome?

According to the Torah - It really doesn't matter!

We just have a LOAD of GOOD WAYS to bring us

to a Holy High and Beautiful SELF - and Holiday Season!
Rebbi Nachman would say: Come to Uman  and celebrate and LIFT YOU UP:
Sing Dance and Pray with my thousands  .:. Not only for selves - but
For all Israel and
For spirits of all the murdered souls buried there wirh no one thinking of them (Jews and Gentiles)

To bring the lowest spirits in the world - some of the Ukrainians (look up Chmielnitzki)
To the highest spiritual place ... the Jerusalem of on High!

Many from there have converted and are holy in Israel today - and trying to uplift the world!
 
Lithuanian Jews would say to just pray and fast - and do Teshuva - Return to G-d

I Just had great few days with the swetest Litvaks and their kids ..."bein hazmanim vacation" time
And they get their spirit from prayer meditation and sharing

Rabbi  Shlomo Carlebach would say...(did say) ...
 
What can we do? Limited in doing mitzvas as we are ?
.just dance before the L-rd! Give the Almighty a smile!
 
The Torah in our portion says
 
What the Almiggty wants from us Israelites is:

Yirah - the fear of being estranged of Hashem and

the Derech - Going in the way of the Almighty
And
To Love the L-rd so you can save the World
 
Looking Forward to following the Ways of Hashem

Rabbi Andy Eichenholz

Also:
Based on a beautiful Idea from Shlomo Ressler Quoting England's Chief Rabbi :about the SHMA part in this week's portion:
Shma? It means
many things: to hear, to listen, to pay attention, to
 understand, to internalize and to respond. How do we DO THAT?
 
 Rabbi Sacks explains that Judaism is not about obeying laws,
 but about hearing them.
 G-d wants us not just to hear with
 our ears, but to listen with our minds.
(Rabbi Carlebach would always add "with our Neshama - souls).

 The Almighty is 
beseeching us to really listen, not just to His
 laws, but to others as well.

 Listening to G-d is easy,
it’s listening to another human being that takes courage,
 a comfort in our self and defying our own vulnerabilities.
 
Listening is the greatest gift we
 can give to another human being, but it’s also the
 greatest gift we can give ourselves.