Contemplation Themes:

A general assortment of contemplations from various sources.

• To Expound Torah and to Be Torah This is what Rabbi Leib, son of Sarah, used to say about those rabbis who expound the Torah: "What does it amount to- that they expound the Torah! A man should see to it that all his actions are a Torah and that he himself becomes so entirely a Torah that one can learn from his habits and his motions and his motionless clinging to God, that he has become like Heaven itself, of which it is said: 'There is no speech, there are no words, neither is their voice heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

  There is one world, one peace, one heart, one being. Seek to be of this, in love. Through love - to love all, this will convey global peace and healing.

• Peace comes into the world through the individual as well as the presence of other beings not of this world. It is necessary for the person to clear the qualities of personality to become the lens of love and transmitter of peace. Eliminating the negative charcteristics is only a preliminary stage. Beyond that is the clarifying of self. Loss of individuality and the becoming of the transmitter of peace, harmony, joy, and blessings through the personality is becoming of That One, of which one is, but now realizes again, remembers. This is needed for the transmission of health, peace, and joy through daily life. It is here that one starts, with oneself, for all are also part of oneself as well as apparently apart.

• The Suns and the Earth
  Rabbi Mikhal said: "In every generation there are great zaddikim who shirk the work of salvation by devoting themselves to the Torah. As they fulfil the commandments, each of them ponders on what holy place his soul came from, and is intent on having it go home to that place after its earthly journey is accomplished, to rejoice in the light of heavenly wisdom. That is why to such a man the things of this earth are as nothing. And though he is saddened by the misery among men and the bitter exile of Israel, this is not enough to move his heart to dare in prayer what must be dared. All his great longing is directed solely to his own homecoming, as it is written: 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth forever. The sun also riseth and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth.' Suns rise and go down and let the misery on earth endure."

• One must first create peace in oneself if one desires to see peace in the world; for lacking peace within, no effort of this can bring any result.

• One may begin with the simplest processes of body - how to keep the body well, fit and strong. In this one can learn the law of harmony and the laws of breath. These same laws will enable one to understand and utilize the mind; they will also enable one to understand and harmonize with the minds and hearts of others. It is the combination of law - which is universal - and the awakening of love - which distinguishes no self - which brings peace to the individual, the group, or the cosmos.

• More Love
  When Rabbi Pinhas and his disciples discussed wicked or hostile persons, they recalled the advice the Baal Shem Tov once gave to the father of a renegade son: that he should love him more. "When you see," they said, "that someone hates you and does you harm, rally your spirit and love him more than before. That is the only way you can make him turn. For the whole of Israel is a vehicle for holiness. If love and unity prevail among them, then the Divine Presence and all holiness is about them. But if - God forbid! - there should be a schism, a rift appears, and through the opening holiness falls down into the 'shells.' And so, if your neighbor grows remote from you in spirit, you must approach him more closely than before - to fill out the rift."

• If the minds of living beings are at peace, the world will be at peace.

• Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

• The Most Important Quality
  Rabbi Pinhas used to say: "I am always afraid to be more clever than devout". And then he added: "I should rather be devout than clever, but rather than both devout and clever, I should like to be good."

• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the hands of God.

• To Heal the world, heal yourself.

• To bring peace into the world, be of peace.

• Keeping The Law
  Disciples asked the maggid of Zlotchov: "In the Talmud we read that our Father Abraham kept all the laws. How could this be, since they had not yet been given to him?" "All that is needful," he said, "is to love God. When you are about to do something and you think it might lessen your love, then you will know it is sin. If you are about to do something and think it will increase your love, you will know that your will is in keeping with the will of God. That is what Abraham did."

• The peaceful heart is of that One Peace.

• One Light, Love, Being; of This we are, for One Is.

• On the sabbath, when the first chapter in the Scriptures, the story of creation, is read, the hasidim in Bershad sit in a circle all day, and sing over and over: "Sabbath of creation, all in one! sabbath of creation, all in one!"

• We discover peace through (and in) the realization that the whole of existence is reflected in the parts, and from the parts comes the ever-greater whole. We discover the whole world needs the whole world.

• Concerning the words of the prayer: "He who maketh peace in his high places, may he make peace for us . . ." Rabbi Pinhas said: "We all know that Heaven (shamayim) came into being when God made peace between fire (esh) and water (mayim). And he who could make peace between the utmost extremes, will surely be able to make peace between us."

• Rabbi Rafael of Bershad was very eager to make peace. He often went into the homes of the hasidim and addressed their wives, so that the readiness to keep peace with their husbands might grow in their hearts.

  Once, on the ninth day of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, he happened to be in a community whose members had for a long time been nursing a quarrel which grew more and more involved and difficult to end. One of the factions approached him with the request to arbitrate. "But the rabbi," so they said, "will probably not want to bother with our affairs in this period of mourning."

  "No day is better than this," he replied. "For it was because of an idle quarrel that the city of God was destroyed."

• Love for Enemies
  Rabbi Mikhal gave this command to his sons: "Pray for your enemies that all may be well with them. And should you think this is not serving God, rest assured that more than all prayers, this is, indeed, the service of God."