I’m not an Orthodox or observant Jew. I’m a spiritual Jew who tries to be somewhat observant–or, I should say, I used to try to be somewhat observant until secular life got in the way. When my work life and my husband’s work life and my children’s extracurricular activities took over our life, our Jewish life fell by the wayside. We stopped attending Friday night or Saturday services. We stopped going to adult ed classes through our synagogue or Jewish renewal chavurah.

As my husband became less interested in Judaism, which is another story, I also found it hard to make myself go to services and classes alone. I’d always had a partner with whom to do these things. It felt lonely to go by myself.

So, I opted to do what other people–and my husband–were doing. I took my children where they wanted to go or waited around for my children or worked late on Friday evenings. I carted my kids around on Saturdays, or I worked or did chores or ran errands.

We have kept our tradition of having Shabbat dinner every Friday night (almost…if we are home) and lighting candles and saying blessings for the candles, the wine and the challah, but the kavanah (intention) has fallen by the wayside, and we never bookend the Sabbath with Havdallah anymore like we used to do.

Tonight, my son pointed out that the meal I was eating wasn’t kosher. We don’t keep kosher. However, it would have been very easy for me simply to have made one food choice so that my would have been kosher. At that moment, I realized how far removed I have become from my religion.

I also realized the choices I can make every day that will bring me closer to my religion. I can easily (and sometimes not so easily) make large and small choices every day that will increase my Jewish practice, thus making me a better Jew. This also will help strengthen my Jewish identity, bring me closer to God and strengthen my sense of spiritual connection.

So, I ask you: As a Jew, how assimilated into secular culture are you? What choices can you make that would move you just a bit closer to Judaism?

Despite the fact that the terrorist attack in Mumbai last week has been likened to the attack on New York on September 11, 2002, the response by the Chabad community worldwide has been nothing like that of the United States after that horrific event. In fact, it has been just the opposite. Rather than asking the world to take revenge on the terrorists, Chabad has requested that the Jewish world in particular respond by performing “mitzvot,” or commandments. These include acts of loving kindness, giving charity, lighting Sabbath and holiday candles, saying prayers, and studying Torah (the Old Testament or Bible) among other things. Even 6,000 college students united to take part in an emergency “Mitzvot for Mumbai” campaign launched by the Chabad on Campus International Foundation.

This community is not only mourning the death of two people who have been called “tzaddikim,” righteous ones, well loved and doing much good work in Mumbai, but also is having to deal with the fact that they are a terrorist target,. Yet, they are neither striking out in anger nor cowering in fear. Rather, they are reaching out and asking people to respond with love and good deeds in a time when hate and aggression seems the preferred emotion and action to take.

When the Chabad house was attacked on November 26, Chabad Emissary Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife were murdered. The Holtzberg’s son, who celebrated his 2nd birthday on that day, was saved by his courageous nanny. Interestingly, Rivkah’s parents requested that in her memory, Jewish women should light Shabbat (Sabbath) candles each Friday. In this way, just when the world seems darkest, women, who traditionally have the role of lighting Shabbat candles each Friday night, help bring light into the world. The hope remains that if enough women light candles each Friday, and if enough Jews fill the world with Torah and mitzvot, they also can fill the world with enough light so that terror and darkness have nowhere to hide.

Yet, everyone can learn a lesson and use Chabad as an example. If enough people in general – Jews and non-Jews alike – do good deeds and say prayers, we can accomplish the same thing. We can shine enough light into the world to create change in a very different manner. We can bring about change via an outpouring of love and light and good deeds.

Now, isn’t that better than taking revenge? I think so.

(Note: For information on Shabbat candle lighting as a spiritual practice, check out my booklet, The Priestess Practice. Or read my book teaser.)

Interestingly, his remedy for this situation was one that could have come right out of the book The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, or any similar book, like Ask and It is Given, by Esther Hicks (one I prefer)…or even my booklet, The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation, a shortened version of my forthcoming book. And I’m always so pleased when I find lessons in conscious or deliberate creation, otherwise known as the Law of Attraction, within Judaism. Here’s what he wrote:

In difficult times our Rebbe, of blessed memory, would consistently quote the saying “Tracht Gut Vet Zayn Gut – Think positive and it will be positive!” always adding that it is the very positive thought that creates the desired outcome.

He quoted the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Manachem Mendel Schneerson, world leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, who, by the way, spoke above in Yiddish. And the message comes through loud and clear: Thoughts are creative. What you think about is what you get. What you focus upon expands.  

 A huge part of creating what you want using the Law of Allowing (LOA) comes down to using your thoughts creatively. Then you have to combine your thoughts with the feeling of having already manifested, or created, that thought on the physical plane. You also have to take action and a few other steps (I suggest seven) as well. For example, thinking of what you do not have and feeling that lack manifests itself in lack, while avoiding “negative” thoughts and focusing instead on what you want and how good it would feel to have it manifests that which you want. At least that the basic principle behind LOA. (I believe there’s much more to it than that, but that’s the law in it’s simplest form.)

(For the best information about LOA – other than what I provide – go to www.abraham-hicks.com. This particular page will give you the basics of LOA; look on the right side of the page – and don’t be put off by the information on the left side of the page.)

Notice the last part of what Rabbi Friedman says: “It is the very positive thought that creates the desired outcome.” The thought itself is creative. It has the ability to create something. A positive thought creates a positive outcome. Therefore, a negative thought creates a negative outcome…and so on and so forth.

So, as we move into the New Year, we would be wise to focus upon our thoughts and to notice, to become aware or conscious of, what we are thinking. We humans think an enormous number of thoughts each day, most of them repetitive and negative – or at least not focused upon what we truly want to create in our lives. We have to learn to train our thoughts on what we do want to create - a difficult lesson.  We have to become very conscious, like master meditators who notice every thought that enters their minds. We have to notice our thoughts and choose them carefully. We have to choose only thoughts that create the things we want in our lives.  Then each one of those thoughts has the potential of manifesting those desires.

Become conscious of what you are thinking about – the stock market plunging, the safety of your money or your job, your ability to pay your mortgage, that odd pain in your back, the fear you have of someone hurting you, that presidential candidate getting elected, global warming… Are these the things you want to create in your life or in the world? Positive thinking does not, however, mean that you ignore problems – like a pain or global issue. It just means you focus on the positive or on what you desire rather than on what you dread. Train your thoughts on a solution or a positive outcome, and that is what you will create.

According to Jacobson, “This means you are absolutely necessary. You are indispensable to G-d’s vision of the world, chosen to fulfill a mission in this world that you and only you can accomplish. Like musical notes in the grand Divine composition, each of us has our unique music to play.”

As I was driving to class that morning – prior to reading this essay, I had been having a conversation with God. I had asked what I should do if my book proposal was turned down by the agent currently reviewing it. I was ready to just throw up my hands and go back to writing articles. (Well, not totally…but I was feeling a bit lost, like another rejection might be telling me I was not on the right path.) The Still Small Voice I heard told me to keep moving forward, keep moving towards my goal, because this was my soul’s purpose. I listened, but I was still a bit unsure. After reading Rabbi Jacobson’s words, however, I was convinced.

In fact, he shed a new light on my feelings of self doubt and my lack of self worth. First, I thought, “It doesn’t matter what I do or if I do anything at all. Just being born is enough to show that I matter.” Then, I thought, “Well…we do each have a purpose, and I am pretty sure I know what mine is. So, I should, indeed, keep plugging away at getting a book published. I don’t have to worry about how good I am as a writer or speaker or how much I know or what my credentials are. I need only do what I am supposed to do here.”

What freeing thoughts! If I stop worrying about what others think of me and of what I write and say and instead simply remind myself that I am fulfilling my mission and that is all that matters, suddenly I don’t need approval from outside. It’s enough to just do what I know I am meant to do.

That said, I am still struggling with the need to have an agent or publisher approve of my writing and what I teach through that writing. I still need to have people ask me to come speak and teach to them. Despite this, I realize that I need to just keep plugging forward. Whatever I do that allows me to fulfill my mission here in this life I was given, is all that is expected of me. I just need to keep working towards the goals that are aligned with my soul’s purpose.

Somehow, that perspective helps considerably. It gives me permission to be me, to do what I do, to simply keep moving forward. It stops me from judging myself against some external scale. I can rest more peacefully knowing that God is well pleased with me. I’m doing what I came into this world to do. And, the fact that I am even alive at all means that who I am and what I do matters. So, even if it seems like I’m taking small steps or dealing with obstacles or road blocks, the truth remains – I’m making progress. I’m making a difference.

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