Emuna Beams

Love is like atomic power. The positive aspects of love can illuminate the world but its negative aspects can destroy the world. In today's lesson on Chapter Four of "Orchus Tzaddikim" (The Ways of the Righteous), we learn an important lesson for life. There are seven main types of love. Each has a misplaced application as well as a positive one. We also learn important holistic health advice when learning the proper way to love ourselves.

This week we learn the ability of powerful prayer. It can rejuvenate and illuminate a soul as well as invoke tremendous Divine abundance.

Chutzpa is the Hebrew word for audacity. When we activate our chutzpa in the right place, we gird ourselves in strength and are able to take a bold stand against evil. On the other hand, chutzpa in the wrong place sends a person into a self-destruct mode. Today's lesson on Chapter Four of Orchus Tzaddikim - Ways of the Righteous - teaches us to differentiate between "holy chutzpa" and the unholy type.

I was alone in the Negev Desert, a prime place for personal prayer. I was facing a hill. Upon it was a majestic creature, an Israeli desert wolf (Canis Lupus Arabus). The didn't budge; it just gazed at me calmly. Suddenly, it gave a proud howl that echoed across the desert. It seemed to say, "I'm the chief of this region." I tool my Land-of-Israel reed flute out of my backpack and started playing the melody that the wolf seemed to inspire. The melody came out with a native-American flavor. Enjoy it, and may we soon see the days when the wolf dwells with the lamb (Isaiah 11:6), amen!

Today's lesson teaches us the secret of effective prayer and how to avoid the negative elements that hinder us during prayer.

Would you do whatever you want behind closed doors if you knew that no one would see you or catch you in the act? Would you allow your spouse to see your computer's or smartphone's surfing history? There's a healthy type of shame that indicates to emuna and spiritual intelligence. This is the subject of today's lesson on the "Gate of Shame", the third chapter of the classic "Ways of the Righteous."

Our host tonight is 7th Degree Blackbelt Taekwondo Master Sunny Levi who is also a Certified Emuna Coach. With her group of "Personal Prayer Bootcamp" graduates, she holds a lively Q&A session with Rabbi Lazer Brody. Anyone can relate to the amazing questions asked here. What should we pray for? Are angels real? Can a person truly overcome PTSD? How does a woman rid her life of anxiety? And, much more...

Wherever I go here in my cherished homeland, be it the desert, the seacoast or the field, I sense a different melody. Strangely, if I'm playing a beautifully crafted Native American flute produced from the finest North American cedar, nothing happens. But if I take a simple flute, like the one King David played made out of a Land-of-Israel reed, it plays by itself. Here's the melody that echoed from the ruins of the Holy Tabernacle in ancient Shiloh. It reflects a haunting sadness in the beginning but finishes with determined hope in anticipation of our rebuilt Holy Temple, soon, amen!

I don't know how to express my concern for my beloved country that is now the victim of unprecedented intramural hate and discord, so I invented Old Charlie. He's the type of leader we need.

The pro and anti-judicial reforms factions, as well as Israel's different political parties, are at each other's throats. It's no coincidence that the crescendo of this huge crisis is happening during the week of Tisha B'av. Can Israel survive this internal existential challenge?

Where does Moshiach get his power from? How will he conquer the world? What will change in our lives once he arrives and is in our midst? Rebbe Nachman reveals these deep secrets and more.

Humility is a wonderful trait, the opposite of arrogance. One who attains humility saves himself untold grief and circumvents many of evil's ensnarement. The Almighty cherishes every morsel of effort that a person invests in seeking humility, as we learn in today's lesson on the classic book of ethics, "Ways of the Righteous."