Lazer Beams

Our Way

When things don't go our way, it's because our ego is getting in Hashem's way.

Hashem does everything for the absolute best, so let's put our own sorely limited intellect aside and let Hashem run the world.

"Ratzon", Will

Our ratzon - the will, efforts, and yearning to seek Hashem - is a prime vessel for the Divine illumination of emuna just as a crystal goblet is for a fine wine. We wouldn't want to pour a thirty year-old Chateau de Rothschild Cabernet wine in a broken or dirty glass, for the wine would either spill on the floor or become ruined. A fine wine necessitates a whole and immaculately clean goblet. By the same token, without proper vessels, a person can't receive Divine illumination. Hashem doesn't want to spill His "fine wine" on the floor – we must be able to contain it. -from the "Garden of Yearning"

29 Iyar: A Special Day to Pray for our Children

Today (Monday) is the 29th of Iyar according to the Hebrew calendar. Jewish tradition teaches that today is an opportune time to pray that our children grow up in health of body, mind, and soul. The best known prayer that our people have been using for hundreds of years is "A Parent's Prayer" composed by the holy Shl"a, a 17th Century Scholar and Kabbalist who is buried near the Rambam in Tiberias. As a service to our readers, Artscroll.com sent us a PDF with the prayer in Hebrew and English, which you can download here.

We've often said that the most important part of raising happy and successful children is praying for them. The 5 minutes that you take to say the Shl"a's prayer will be one of the best investments you ever made.

Lazer's Singapore Interview

Robin Stienberg, editor in chief of National Critic's Choice, interviews Rabbi Lazer in Singapore. We hope you'll enjoy this, and wish you a wonderful new week.

UK, We're on Our Way...

The Emuna Tattoo

My cherished and esteemed friend Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein from New York City is probably America's #1 rabbi for saving kids that have gone haywire and bringing them back into the fold. He's also one of America's best rabbinical speakers. In the clip below, he's telling a true story he heard from me. You'll love this:

Modeh Ani - the Jewish Spark

I now understand why Shlomo Artzi - back in my army days - was my favorite singer.

Shlomo, a so-called "secular", happened to meet Chassidic composer and arranger Muna Rosenbloom in a studio where both of them were recording. Muna was arranging a song with words by Rabbi Nachman of Breslev - "as long as the flame flickers within us (allegory for the soul), we can rectify". Shlomo said, "Hey, I know that song from my grandfather," who was a Yiddish-speaking religious Jew. He then grabbed the microphone and sang the melody in such a moving way that no one had dry eyes. All Jews - like Shlomo Artzi - have that spark within them; witha bit of emuna and fanning, the spark becomes a flame that reaches the heavens. Enjoy, and have a great Shabbat!