tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97871452009-06-19T14:45:13.418+10:00The Baal Shem Tov taught: "In every experience, in everything that we see or hear, we can find a teaching that will better enable us to fulfill our life's purpose". In the spirit of our Chassidic Masters, I try to delve a little deeper into science, current affairs, human relations and everyday events and to show how, when viewed through the prism of Torah and Chassidus, they add meaning to our lives. I invite you to comment on, argue with or broaden the themes discussed here. BZMmileckib@gmail.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-17903538491052584192008-12-01T10:14:00.001+11:002008-12-01T10:17:30.853+11:00

A few days have passed since the tragic end of the Siege of Mumbai Chabad House. For most, it will likely soon be relegated to "old" news, forgotten as one of the many similar stories of terror that we are now "used" to. Not for me. And, I hope, not for you either.Together with people of good will everywhere, we mourn the deaths of the almost 200 innocents, including two Australians, brutally

BZMmileckib@gmail.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1163721569991788762006-11-17T10:56:00.000+11:002007-01-03T12:45:01.461+11:00

Last week's TIME magazine featured a fascinating debate between the well-known atheist biologist Richard Dawkins and the famous mastermind of the human genome project Francis Collins, entitled "Science versus G-d". In shule last Friday night, I summarized the debate while adding a few insights of my own.On further review of the article, I found Dawkin's concluding remarks of great interest:"When

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1150378280144283542006-09-15T23:24:00.000+10:002007-01-02T21:54:47.464+11:00

A few days ago a congregant wrote saying that there had been a family discussion regarding the appropriateness of praying for one's national team and wondering whether I had an opinion on that.Well, as a Jew I decided to answer with some questions of my own, "First you tell me why everyone is getting so excited about a bunch of people fighting over an inflated piece of leather. Is this a reason

BZMmileckib@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1150425570514360772006-06-09T12:27:00.000+10:002006-06-16T13:00:09.253+10:00

On Shavuot night I participated in a panel comprising Chemi Shalev (Associate Editor Australian Jewish News & Ha'aretz writer), Jeremy Jones AM (Director AIJAC) and David Bierman (Former Director Israel Govt Tourist Office), on the subject of "The New Israel andi its Future Borders". The following is the text of my presentation:I have been asked to speak tonight on the subject of “The New Israel

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1114071816898959252005-04-21T18:22:00.000+10:002005-04-21T18:23:36.903+10:00

he preparation for Pesach, more frenzied than that for all other festivals combined, finds its culmination as family and guests gather around the seder-table. Tranquility and calm replace the mad rush of the previous weeks. Seder (order) has been restored... or so we think. Just as we are ready to commence this much anticipated meal, a tiny squeak is heard from the direction of the youngest of

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1113445764837418332005-04-14T10:55:00.000+10:002006-06-15T23:01:39.776+10:00

After being threatened with legal action, I have removed the comments section from the blog site for the time being. In doing so I erred on the side of caution. My intention in publishing the article and inviting comments was to bring to the attention of the KA the depth of feeling in the community, not to embark on a protracted legal wrangle which would also involve the shule.I urge people who

BZMmileckib@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1112931273434910722005-04-08T13:29:00.000+10:002005-04-08T13:34:33.436+10:00

It seems to never end.Throughout the United States, school yards are bloodied with young corpses.In another American city, a teenager trashes her newborn child in the bathroom and returns to the high school Prom. No child is going to ruin the best year of her life.Nor are we immune in Australia. A ten year old boy pushes a six year old over a precipice – for fun and a thrill.Children murdered.

BZMmileckib@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1109899904260001022005-03-04T12:24:00.000+11:002005-03-04T12:31:44.273+11:00

Moses descends the mountain, sees the golden calf, and smashes the holy Tablets, placed in his hands by G-d A-lmighty Himself.After eighty days of negotiating, pleading and begging, the Israelites are given a second chance. A new set of tablets replace the first, shattered set.But whatever happened to the broken pieces of the first Tablets? Were those holy pieces of stone, carved with G-d's own

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1109302472565893552005-02-25T14:34:00.000+11:002005-02-25T14:34:32.570+11:00

It was just after the Exodus that Moshe commanded the Israelites in the name of G-d to give the half shekel contribution, "the rich shall not give more, nor shall the poor give less, to atone for their souls".The Midrash records that as Moshe was puzzled by this command, G-d pulled out a fiery half-shekel coin from under His Throne of Glory and announced, "This they shall give".But what is so

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1108696573008019132005-02-18T14:13:00.000+11:002005-02-18T14:16:13.013+11:00

Those in shule last Friday night heard Major General Uzi Dayan, a nephew of the famous Moshe Dayan, and a formidable military man in his own right, speak on the Security Fence.Actually, he was supposed to speak on the Security Fence. Instead, the General chose to speak on what he called the bigger strategic issue. Terrorism, he explained, was not an existential threat to Israel. There would be

BZMmileckib@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1108696692893167352005-02-11T14:17:00.000+11:002006-10-10T13:09:18.660+10:00

When the Jewish People were offered the Torah on Mount Sinai, they responded, “We will do and we will understand.”But what is more important, unquestioning doing or meaningful understanding?The two parashiot that refer to the giving of the Torah are Yitro and Mishpatim. Yet there is a difference between them. Whereas Yitro primarily discusses the Great Sound and Light Show that occurred on Mt

BZMmileckib@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1107486938268166102005-02-04T14:11:00.000+11:002005-02-04T14:48:40.370+11:00

Fire and Water: the two staples of human life and development. Without water, nothing can live; with water, the possibilities are endless. This is why so much effort and money is being invested into discovering whether there is or was water on Mars. And fire: at the very onset of civilization, what distinguished Man from all other creatures was his mastery of fire. Fire is energy in its rawest

BZMmileckib@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1105073016588744582005-01-07T15:32:00.000+11:002005-01-07T15:43:36.590+11:00

I received this week a letter from a survivor of the Tsunami who was deeply shaken by his experience. He asked me what can best be described as a number of theological questions. Although I am currently on vacation, the questions are so significant , and are so widely relevant, that I have decided to respond right away. Below you will find both the original question and my reply, although to

BZMmileckib@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104646934048911212005-01-02T17:18:00.000+11:002005-01-02T17:22:14.050+11:00

Please use this forum to add your suggestions for articles, shiurim or sermons. I would really like to hear from you. To do so, click the Comments link below.

BZMmileckib@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104465419716242892004-12-31T14:49:00.000+11:002004-12-31T14:56:59.716+11:00

As Jews we seek guidance from the Torah in trying to make sense of the events around us. So as we struggle to come to terms with the greatest natural disaster in modern history - perhaps even since the Flood - it behooves us to look into the weekly parasha for spiritual direction. And indeed we do not have to look far. In Chapter 9, Verse 10 we read that Pharaoh’s daughter called him Moshe, “for

BZMmileckib@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104114061567031492004-12-28T13:13:00.000+11:002004-12-27T13:23:06.523+11:00

A few weeks ago I spent two days in Melbourne where a function was held in honour of Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner's eightieth birthday. Rabbi Groner is the head of the Chabad in Melbourne. Amongst the anecdotes that were told, I found the following particularly poignant. In 1994 the Yeshivah institutions in Melbourne were facing bankruptcy and the Commonwealth Bank was threatening to foreclose

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104324015905634552004-12-27T23:27:00.000+11:002004-12-29T23:46:01.783+11:00

Rabbi Benzion Milecki The following is a talk which I gave in New York in Sivan 5754 to the International Convention of the Lubavitch Womens Organization. One day, as the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was leaving his room, he heard his wife say to her friends, Meiner Zogt (literally, "mine [referring to her husband] says"). Said Rabbi Schneur Zalman, "If by virtue of one

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104112753888369222004-12-27T13:54:00.000+11:002004-12-27T13:03:07.893+11:00

As the Christian world gears up for one of their most important holidays, it is worthwhile contemplating the Jewish attitude towards Christianity. With a background of the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Chmielnicki genocide and numerous other pogroms and edicts of expulsion, let alone the Holocaust, it is not hard to understand why Jews would have a very ambivalent attitude towards Christianity.

BZMmileckib@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104116100606426242004-12-27T13:45:00.000+11:002004-12-30T01:45:57.373+11:00

The dreidel has evolved from the humble clay or wood version that we many of us hand-crafted as children, to the "hi-tech" multi-media version, replete with lights and musical accompaniment, that can be now be found on shop shelves and in many homes. Move aside plasma screens, the dreidel is the way to go. But as in Judaism in general, embracing the future never comes at the expense of forsaking

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104114975342000422004-12-27T13:29:00.000+11:002004-12-27T13:40:15.223+11:00

It had all the markings of Greek tragedy. The degrading spectacle of a highly successful lawyer, politician and NSW Supreme Court judge stripped bare in front of the entire country. By the time the cross-examination was completed, it became obvious that His Honour was in very deep hot water. He was able to converse with a neighbour and hospital staff, yet he couldn't remember going to his office

BZMmileckib@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104113501472583212004-12-27T13:05:00.000+11:002004-12-27T13:11:41.473+11:00

It was reported last week that St George Hospital, after a successful application to the Supreme Court, had turned off the life-support of a man who they believed to be in an irreversible coma. The application by the hospital and doctors had been strongly opposed by the patient's family who believed that he should be given every possible chance of recovery. After the machines were disconnected,

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104132348694523692004-12-01T18:23:00.000+11:002004-12-27T19:19:09.190+11:00

Society is faced with a growing acceptance of homosexual behaviour. Judging by the coverage in the media - especially in the weeks prior to Sydneyís Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - it is definitely "in" to either be gay, or to actively condone and support those pursuing homosexuality as an "alternate" lifestyle. At the very least, a smile or a wave in their direction has become mandatory in polite

BZMmileckib@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104215689305428272004-10-28T16:32:00.000+10:002004-12-28T17:34:49.306+11:00

For us Jews the Torah is not merely one of many Creation Myths - perhaps a little more sophisticated, but nevertheless on a par with the Aboriginal or ancient Babylonian or Greek Creation Myths. Nor is it the Authorized History of the birth and development of our illustrious nation, similar to those commissioned by great leaders the world over. It isn't even a Book of Morals and Eternal Truths,

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104125482962747812004-10-27T15:20:00.000+10:002004-12-27T16:31:22.963+11:00

The highlight of Jewish sport this year was most certainly Israel's first gold medal at the Athens Olympics We were all so proud of Gal, we were all so proud of Israel, and we were all so proud that an Israeli Jew won gold. But far more important than the gold medal, were the golden words that came out of his mouth. "I felt all of Israel -- and the 11 slain Israelis from the 1972 Munich

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9787145.post-1104216104637244312004-10-14T16:37:00.000+10:002004-12-28T17:41:44.636+11:00

In parashas Lech Lecha we read about the first Jew, Abraham. However, before coming to grips with the meaning of being Jewish, it is worth comprehending the Torah's view of non-Jews. In last week's parasha, Noah, a non-Jew is called a Tzaddik (righteous man) and perfect. Furthermore, at the end of the parasha of Bereishis it is stated, "And Noah found favour in G-d's eyes." Clearly, being

BZMmileckib@gmail.com0