Maybe something in your life isn’t going well. You’re struggling with a relationship; you’re unemployed or you hate your job; you can’t seem to lose weight and get in shape. Whatever the issue is, Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of a new month in the Jewish calendar) reminds us to NEVER give up, because things can get better. Perseverance and optimism are keys to simcha (Jewish joy), which we can learn by thinking about Rosh Chodesh and the cycles of the moon.
Tag Archives: Chabad
Jewish Meditation: an Oxymoron?
The positive psychology movement has identified meditation as a key technique for increasing happiness and feelings of tranquility. But observant Jews don’t meditate, do they?
There are some excellent books and articles written by Rabbis and Jews about the traditional approach to simcha (Jewish joy). Most of them, unfortunately, ignore meditation as a tool for centering oneself and becoming happier. This seems to be part of a larger trend of marginalizing meditation, a practice that was once widespread among Jews.
How Can We Be Happy After a Terror Attack?
It’s a little strange to manage a blog about simcha (Jewish joy) in the aftermath of a devastating terror attack. What is the appropriate response the day after the massacre that took the lives of five Israelis at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood yesterday?
My immediate response was to wake up and pray this morning. To wrap myself in my tallit and bind myself with tefillin, just as the victims had done shortly before they were massacred (it’s important to note that one police officer was also killed and others were wounded).