Emuna

The holy Baal Shem Tov attempted to explain to his brilliant students the depth of the concept of Divine Providence. Despite their magnificent minds and comprehensive Torah-learning backgrounds, they just couldn't comprehend. How can Almighty personally supervise and determines every single detail of creation? OK, He makes the sun shine, but what does He care about a tiny insect or an amoeba?
The same pious scholars who knew entire tractates of Talmud by heart were baffled. The Baal Shem Tov decided to take them to his favorite classroom – nature, out in the woods. There, he could teach them all about Divine Providence. This is the lesson we learn in Today's Emuna Hour.

In one of the most dramatic episodes of the Torah, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. At this very moment, Joseph makes a monumental discovery. He suddenly sees the Divine hand of providence involved in every detail of his life. This is a lesson for each one of us, for posterity.
 

Divine Providence is the Almighty's precision constant supervision and intervention over all levels of creation. This is not only on a wide general scale, but down to the tiniest detail in each of our lives in particular. Both in macro and micro, the Almighty decides the fate of the super-galaxies as well which leaf a silkworm in Japan will eat for dinner. As we shall learn, the awareness of Divine Providence takes us to the highest level of emuna.

Noahides are truth-seeking people who have exchanged former beliefs for the purest form of faith. The Seven Noahide Commandments, the first of which is emuna, are their guiding lights.
Enjoying marvelous spiritual status in this world and the next, Noahides sometimes feel alone. Some seek to convert to Judaism. Others think they must have a house of worship to attend. They need neither. I do encourage them, though, to network and to develop support groups.
As we learn in this brief and encouraging message, the goal and beauty of a Noahide is cultivating his or her own intimate personal relationship with the Almighty. Nothing is more gratifying.

So what if the world is round? It means that if you're flying high, don't be arrogant because tomorrow you might not be on top. And, if you're down, don't be depressed because you'll soon be up again. 

This is the first of our new "Lunchbreak Series", thirty minutes of self-empowerment. Today we learn how to believe in ourselves. The principles we learn in this lesson are the difference between success and failure, happiness and depression. Enjoy this, and go forward with a smile on your face.

Confinement in a jail with an unlocked door is senseless. Yet, people confine themselves to a prison of needless inner turbulence every day. A substantial amount of our suffering in life is self-induced. Therefore, once a person realizes that certain actions induce trouble in life, and learns to refrain from those actions, the trouble disappears. No law says that you have to suffer so much! You can terminate a good portion of the anguish in your life with the ease of walking away from an unlocked jail. Let's learn how:

So many people suffer from stress and anxiety because of overload. Who says that life must be that way, so seemingly cruel and unfair? What law says that you must carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? Here are two minutes of encouragement.

Life's obstacles and difficulties are not punishments from Above. They're part of the Divine GPS that's designed to guide us along a better route that we might not have initiated or even considered on our own.

Why do we have so many difficulties in life? Is this how a loving Father in Heaven should treat His children? Why COVID 19, financial difficulties and all the grief? In answering these questions, we learn two important principles of spirituality: first, the distancing principle; the second, the end-of-year cleanup. Both are the tribulations we all suffer from, but with a closer look, they're a manifestation of the Creator's absolute love for each of us, as we learn in today's lesson.

Today, we begin to learn the three levels of making peace: peace with the Creator, peace with one's fellow human and peace with oneself. One cannot hope of attaining any semblance of inner peace without making peace on all these three levels.
People are surprised: "Peace with the Creator? That sounds weird!" Not at all; if folks would be honest with themselves, they'd see that they harbor all kinds of complaints against the Almighty. "Why did He make me sick?" "Why doesn't He give me enough money?" "Why did He give me such an abusive spouse/boss/neighbor/etc.?" The list is long.
We learn today that in this world, the sweetness and the sting go together, why this is so, and how it's all for the very best.

Certain things are useful, even vital, to carry wherever you go. For health of the body, a rubber resistance band in your travel bag will enable you to do a myriad of exercises on the road with no need for a gym or equipment. For emotional health and for instant stress relief, there's something you should carry around in your mind and heart - the spiritual resistance band.