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The impact of a little white lie on NBC...

Friday, February 13, 2015 - 10:27 PM

You’re running late to a meeting, do you send a text saying that you’re stuck in heavy traffic? You forgot to pay a bill, do you claim that you never received it?

Stunning allegations out of NBC in February 2015 took down one of America’s most influential news personalities, and together with him, a dark cloud has been cast over the entire network as well. What started out as a white lie for dramatic effect eventually led to the fall of this powerful celebrity.

How providential it is that the Torah portion this week instructs us ‘midvar sheker tirchak’, ‘distance yourself from lying’.

A new style of Hebrew study that we are developing at ChabadPBG is Hebrew Langage through Kabbalah. Each morning after Minyan at 7:30am, we analyze the Hebrew language in a style that enables us to understand the Hebrew Language through an intellectual, Kaballistic approach.

Take a look at the Hebrew word for Truth , Emet vs. Falsehood, Sheker. Each of the letter forms of the word emes (truth), have the stable support of two legs whereas each of the letter forms of the word sheker (lie) have the unstable support of just one leg.

Encoded into the Holy Tongue, we are exposed to this great secret: Truth will always endure, a lie will never.

Say a lie and you will suffer the consequences. It might be sooner, it might be later, but it simply cannot endure!

In fact, the Torah goes so far as to tell us that if you want a lie to be more credible, inject a little truth into it and it will last much longer!!

The Power of a Snowflake

Monday, February 2, 2015 - 10:43 AM

They said it was going to be the mother of all storms. New York City was in total shutdown: From airports to subways and schools to city streets! But alas, the storm never came.

What was everyone getting excited about? A humble snowflake.

The snowflake is one of the most magnificent of G-d's creations. No two snowflakes look exactly the same. Each one is utterly useless, but amassed in enough quantity, they can shut down the world's busiest city!

I had a similar experience in my home recently when a tiny water leak quickly turned into a flood in the bathroom. The humble water droplet on its own is insignificant, but it’s the world's most destructive force when amassed in quantity.

In the Torah portion Beshalach, we find that the Jews were able to face the mighty Egyptian army, but they literally gave up when faced with the ocean before them!

How often do you doubt the value of a good deed? 'Will it really matter if I do the right thing or not?' 'Will G-d really care if the spoon is milchig or fleishig?', 'Alone in my hotel room, who will even notice whether I lit the Holy Shabbat Candles?'

Everything happens for a reason, and we're encouraged to learn a spiritual lesson from all that surrounds us. Perhaps, the lesson to be learned from the storm that never happened is the power of little things, when banded together.

Since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, we Jews have been working hard to bring Light and Holiness into this mundane world. Each Mitzvah we do, permeates the object with which it was fulfilled with holiness. Though insignificant on its own, our good deeds are added to those of the rest of the Jewish People, not just of our generation, but of all generations together, to form the most powerful force the world has ever known. For we are promised that our actions will cause the ultimate era of peace into the world, the era of Moshiach. All it takes is just one more Mitzvah!