God/Hashem is not physical and exists outside of Time.
You think you are alone in the world. You’re not.
Experiences distributing books.
Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Jew2u podcast. I hope by now that you are lighting Shabbat candles every Friday night and you've installed Mezuzahs on your doors. That's the least you can do! And remember what Abraham charged every Hebrew 3,000 years ago to do: 1) learn something new everyday and, 2) do good all day long.
Today I'd like to get a little personal with my own lifestyle to demonstrate how Hashem can enter your life. Some may call it coincidence (and it might be) but I call it God-incidence. It's very difficult for a Jewbie to understand the concept of God being everywhere all at once because it's outside our frame of reference. Nothing is everywhere all at once...except God. That's what makes God, God.
God, or Hashem as most Jews refer to Him, is not physical and exists outside of or beyond Time. This is a well known Jewish philosophical concept. Some even say Hashem IS Time, but I don't want to pursue that line of thought right now. Now that you know the concept it will probably take you a while to wrap your head around it. But once you do it will be life changing.
Up until now you've understood that you are walking around on planet Earth totally alone. You have family and friends but when you shut the door behind you you think you are alone, no, you KNOW you are alone, but YOU'RE NOT. Even though you're not talking Hashem knows your thoughts. You think no one knows what you are thinking but there is one being who knows your very thoughts.
I've been working for many years to learn something new every day and to do good and kind things all day long and I'm pretty good at it. It's made me a happy fellow on the outside. I make people smile just by doing and saying nice and appropriate things. I try my best not to be mad or negative, not to complain or write negative reviews. But recently it has “dawned” on me what a SEWER my mind is!
In my head I'm saying to myself things like, “That woman sure likes her food,” or “How could that guy be so stupid,” or “what the (curse word) is that person doing?” I never curse, out loud. In my head I'm always cursing. So outwardly I'm clean. Inwardly I'm really really dirty.
I never judge anybody outwardly. Inwardly I'm judging all the time. If judging people outwardly is not a good thing according to the Torah, why would judging people on the inside (where I think I'm all alone) be a good thing? IT'S NOT!
In the style of Pirkei Avos (the study of Jewish wisdom of our Fathers): Judging people on the outside but not on the inside is not nice. Judging people only on the inside and not on the outside is not so bad. Judging people on the inside and outside is wicked. Not judging people either on the inside or outside is holy.
Because I spent decades thinking I was alone I allowed my inner thoughts to run wild. And let me tell you, my inner thoughts are really really wild. Sometimes I shake my head and say to myself, “STOP IT! How could you think those things?” I really don't want to put myself in those dark crappy places and they seem to happen all by themselves but now I'm consciously trying to stop them. I'm getting better at it a little bit at a time.
Thirty seconds of negative or dark thinking is better than two minutes of negative thinking. I hope someday to shorten that space of time down to two seconds of those thoughts before washing them away. Now my question to you is, “Is spending shorter and shorter time in a bad headspace better than longer and longer periods of time in a bad headspace?” I think we both know the answer. It's rationally correct whether you believe in Hashem or not.
People who don't control their thinking very well end up doing bad things. They are mad all the time. They take their anger out on others. I've come to realize that my negative thoughts have made me angry and I need to get a better handle on it. Outwardly I'm very calm and quiet. Inwardly there is a lot of turmoil. I don't take my anger out on others but I do take it out on myself in terms of health difficulties. So you see, Hashem has many ways of communicating to us.
Remember as a kid your parents taught you about the good Angel who sat on your right shoulder and the bad Angel who sat on your left shoulder all day every day trying to convince you to act good or bad? That's the Christian concept. But Jews have had the concept of yetzer tov (the good influence) and yetzer hara (the bad influence) for over 3,000 years.
Where you put your head is where you are and who you are. People doing negative things and have negative thoughts inwardly end up addicted, outwardly in the real physical world, to bad things. People who own guns for self defense hope they never use them (and most don't!). People who own guns as a tool to enhance their power over others will always use them in dangerous ways. Where you put your head is where you'll act in the world and what your reality will become.
And you think you are alone in the world. OK. Run with that. Knock yourself out. But what if you are wrong? Have you ever considered that? All those negative thoughts and theories swirling around in your head you think they have no power because they aren't verbalized? Maybe yes, maybe no.
Let's take the opposite. Let's look at Mother Teresa, the epitome of goodness and love. She spent her entire life helping the poor, ministering to the invalid, doing good every moment of the day. Now suppose she dies and eagerly awaits her meeting with her Creator. But it turns out there is no Creator. She just lies dead in the ground turning to dust. So, OK, there is no Creator but that doesn't erase the fact that all her days she was a comfort and star of hope to so many people all around the world. Not such a bad thing after all, not such a bad life and she's well known well after her passing.
Now let's come back to you. Is it so hard to clean up your act? There might actually be a God you will be facing some day. Do you really want to face him with the bona fides of eating steak, drinking vodka, and walking beautiful beaches? He might be a tad unimpressed with that.
So you can, actually have it both ways. You can believe and you can not believe if you are not quite certain. I am and you will be. There is a big downside to one and only a tiny downside to the other. You can clean up or stay dirty. Your choice. But I think you'll find that the more you clean up the happier you'll become, mostly in little ways that will make you smile and laugh, like was that coincidence or God-incidence. And as your life enhances into the good the more you'll know Hashem really is.
A few years ago I wrote a book entitled, “Return To Judaism, A Starting Point For Non-Religious Jews.” I would put 10 of them in a container that said “FREE.” They were located by the door of three bagel shops on Long Island where all the free handouts were located like real estate booklets, Jewish periodicals, Pennysavers, etc.
People would read the title and either take one or not. No one handed them out. Whether any person actually returned to Judaism, I have no idea. My guess is at least one and maybe more. But that's not the issue here. I've had some interesting experiences I'd like to share.
When I would approach a shop owner to get permission to leave the books I got various reactions. Most would just nod their head with no enthusiasm. But some gave me emphatic “Nos.” Their stated reason was that they didn't want to aggravate their gentile clientele. Apparently that was more important than bringing lost Jews back into the Tribe.
The Torah states that one of the best mitzvahs (a commandment from Hashem to a Jew) is to bring a floundering Jew back into the fold. He LOVES that. My book does that but also the shop owner who allows it visibility also partakes in whatever benefits accrue from the person's return. The Torah also says, “Those who Bless the Jews are blessed.”
I also received a couple of nasty reactions, one threw the books away after I left. It turns out they were Arab owners. Apparently Arabs really like bagels and bagels are a good business and I'm sure they liked the Jewish money that also came through the door. And the Torah also says, “Those who Curse the Jews are cursed.”
I was in Savannah for a week and found a couple of good locations. But at one stop the Manager told me the shop was corporate owned and it would have to be approved which I knew probably wouldn't happen. Corporate owners have protocols that include having no extraneous stuff lying around.
Better that their customers should be deprived of various offerings around the community as they eat than to provide current happenings and educational materials. The funny thing is that while I was leaving and we both were offering our polite good-byes she said, “I'd really like to read it. Can I have one?” She was very enthusiastic when I handed her a copy. Did Hashem send me in there just for her? Coincidence or God-Incidence?
I was also in Atlanta for a couple of weeks. It takes a lot of time on the internet to locate appropriate businesses. And every day I have to check the book container so that they don't run out of books. That takes a lot of time so I try to find places that are fairly close together geographically. I checked out five locations to leave 3 book containers. I was only successful at two of them so I was not too happy with all the rejection and facing the prospect of going back online to find one more place.
On my way home I knew I needed to stop at a supermarket for some food. Just as I turned into the shopping center, right there on my right, was “Bronx Bagel.” I had seen it in my research but discarded it because in Florida we have a corporate owned Brooklyn Bagel which won't allow the books. In my mind I transposed Bronx into Brooklyn and my own little fallible feeble mind I never considered it.
I parked and quickly met the owner who happened to be there eating. He eagerly took one of the books for himself and was very enthusiastic about giving the books a nice visible spot in the shop. That location turned out to be the best one in terms of volume of all three places. Coincidence or God-Incidence?
Currently I'm back on Long Island. I found myself in a similar situation as Atlanta. I had one more book container and picked out two locations. The first one was a Jewish deli on a main road in a good location people-wise in terms of numbers. I just had a feeling it was not the right place because it was typical New York, fast-fast-fast, people grabbing food to go, and out the door. So I walked out and went to my last stop.
I was not thrilled about this location because it was a little bit out of the way. Are there even Jews out there? Well, there's bagel shop so there must be a few of them (unless it's Arab owned!). So I trudged all the way out there, walked in, and there was a “different” vibe than the norm. All of the help was Mexican (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and anyone looking remotely like an owner was not around. They had a good selection of bagels, lox and other Jewish salads behind the glass.
There were some free materials at the front of the store on the window sill so I decided to leave a book container there with only six books and not the usual ten. I hate to leave the books without getting permission but I knew I'd be back the next day to see if any books were taken and I'd try to find the owner at that time.
I drive back the next day and from my parking spot I can see the book container was gone from the window sill. That's a bad sign. I walk in and walk all the way to the back where the ordering and paying counter was and there was a guy, young but confident, and figured he was the boss. He was.
I said to him, “I left some books here yesterday in a small container, do you know what happened to them?”
He responded, “Oh I thought they were free, should I not have handed them out?”
“Well, where are they?” I asked nicely.
He pointed to the side and said, “They are all gone. There's the empty box.”
Oh, that's great. I have more in the car, I'll put more in the box now.” So he took the initiative to move the book container to a more visible place in the store, right where you order and pay!
I come back in, fill the book container, and he said to me, “I read the Torah several times per week but I'm a Christian.” Whoa! What did he just say? I know many Jewish people who rarely, if ever, read the Torah. And here's this Christian guy, probably in his early 40's, Latino/mix looking, with a bagel business. I knew there was something unusual about this place.
This kicked off a fifteen minute conversation that was stimulating for both of us. He had a real Jew standing in front of him willing to share religious insights with him. I'm no theologian but I'm pretty good at the basics. He really knew his Torah and I was able to give him some insights he didn't know. He told me he attends the local church almost every week. But we connected like brothers.
And his small Mexican staff? They were competent, spoke English well, but more importantly all smiley and happy. Who wouldn't want to return for breakfast or lunch?
His location has been about average in terms of books going out, which actually surprised me (especially six that first day), but there must be some floundering Jews up there that Hashem knows needs some Jewish educating. This experience with Mo and Mo's Bagels contrasted to all the others I've had was quite amazing and enlightening. Coincidence or God-Incidence?
And I made a new friend!
Shalom!
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