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12 HASHALOM February
2017
February 2017
HASHALOM
13
BUBKES
It’s time for your annual spiritual
Somebody on Oprah once said that the start of a new school
grade is a great time to get your medical checks done, to make
sure that you and your children are fit and proper for the rigours of
the year ahead. Now, as we know, Oprah was never blessed with
children. If she had been, perhaps she would have understood
how ridiculous this well-meaning advice was, and sent the
thoughtless culprit packing from her set.
Firstly, the so-called authority on family wellbeing picked possibly
the single most manic period of the parental calendar (with the
possible exception of the Jewish New Year chaggim – it’s touch
and go). Who has time for doctor’s waiting rooms when you
have stationery to buy, lift schemes to organize, extra-murals
to coordinate, and intractable children to beat out of a mostly
nocturnal, lazy-morning holiday routine?
As a second point of order, the checkups themselves have
become something that can defeat the most orderly mother’s
calendar (and bank balance.) Gone are the days of popping into
your GP for an annual physical. These days, in South Africa at
least, we’re also expected to schlepp our
children from medical pillar to specialist
post, including regular examinations by the
optometrist, audiologist, dermatologist, and
dentist. Sometimes also the orthodontist
and – depending on your persuasion – the
gynaecologist. And that’s not counting the
psychologist, play therapist, occupational therapist, speech
therapist, homeopath and crystal healer (which, incidentally, is
not covered by medical aid).
Parents spend a LOT of time and money on making sure their
children are physically healthy and in perfect working order. But it
occurred to me as I was coordinating our 15 yearly appointments
(everything multiplied by three children) that few authorities
impress upon us the importance of making sure our kids are
spiritually healthy and in working order.
Hashem
blessed us with
both bodies and souls. Of course it’s important to take care of our
bodies, but let’s not forget that at the end of the day they are only
vehicles (sacred and attractive though they may be) for our souls.
When you think about it that way, it’s frankly weird that we place
so much emphasis on an annual physical, without even thinking
about administering an annual spiritual.
So I’m here to help you out. I’m now practically an expert on
how to run a checkup, having spent a large portion of this
past school holidays watching innumerable episodes of Doc
McStuffins (Disney’s doctor for toys, for those of you who
haven’t had the pleasure. She doesn’t appear to have an official
medical designation, but I assume it would be something like a
dollologist). By the way, this procedure is as effective on parents
as on children.
The first thing Doc always does is check your eyes. It’s very
important to make sure your eyes are working well: can you see
the good in people? Can you see the potential in situations? Can
you see opportunities clearly? If you can’t, you need to exercise
those eye muscles! Oprah recommends keeping a gratitude
journal, recording the good things in life for which you can be
thankful (see, her show is usually filled with sensible advice). This
is a sure way to 20:20 spiritual vision.
Next, Doc checks your ears. Most of us don’t use these organs
enough, so it’s no wonder they get weak and out of shape.
Luckily, there’s an easy workout you can do every day without
even leaving the comfort of your desk/easy chair. The next time
someone talks to you – in person or on the phone – listen to
them. Actually hear what they are saying. Repeat it back to them,
if necessary, to make sure you understand them. Audiologists
don’t always tell you this, but that’s how we develop wisdom –
which is more powerful than the most state-of-the-art hearing aid.
For the parents of young kids who’ve been subconsciously
humming the Doc McStuffins song for the last few minutes, you’ll
know that the next line is “find out how much you’ve grown (
Time
for your checkup!
)”. This might be the most
important part of our spiritual health check,
because if you’re not growing spiritually,
you’re basically flat-lining through life.
Admittedly, we may not desire our posteriors
to get any bigger; but we should always
strive for our spirits to spread and expand.
Think of ways you can grow your
neshama
(soul) this year. Maybe
it’s one extra
mitzvah
you can start doing. Spend a little more time
doing something you love, or make time for some
one
you love.
Speaking of love, Doc’s penultimate examination is to listen to
your heartbeat. This is great advice if you know how to do it
properly: I suggest you put down the plastic stethoscope and
really
listen to your heart. I mean really listen. It’s like a walkie-
talkie with
Hashem
on the other end. You’ll be amazed at what
you might discover.
The dollologist promises to “fix you up, ready to go”. This is all
fine and well if you’re a toy whose tail can be glued back on or
your stuffing simply re-stuffed. Even if you’re a human being who
needs a spot of surgery, that is relatively straightforward. But how
do we “fix ourselves up” spiritually? Our skin may be fixed with a
plaster, yet our souls require a Master. Our bodies need balms,
but our
neshamot
need psalms.David says
Hashem
“heals the
brokenhearted and binds up their sorrows,” like one would wrap
a physical wound (Psalm 147 ). Sometimes the line between the
physical and the spiritual isn’t so clear-cut.
To conclude the ditty, “It’s okay if you giggle; this will only tickle a
little (
Time for your checkup! Time for your checkup!
)”. Because
laughter really is the best medicine, for the body and the spirit.
On that note, I wish you and yours a healthy and
happy
year
ahead. With thanks to Oprah and Doc McStuffins. Until next time.
By Lauren Shapiro
JEWISH WORLD
The US abstention from a recent vote against Israeli settlements at the
UN Security Council topped the
Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual
list released Tuesday of the 10 worst outbreaks of Jew-hatred and
anti-Israel incidents.
The Jewish human rights organization ranked the Obama
administration’s move as the
top case
, charging that it erased Jewish
history.
“The most stunning 2016 UN attack on Israel was facilitated by
President [Barack] Obama when the US abstained on a UN Security
Council resolution condemning Israel for settlement construction. It
reversed decades-long US policy of vetoing such diplomatic moves
against the Jewish State,” wrote the center.
The organization added: “It also urges UN members ‘to distinguish, in
their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and
the territories occupied since 1967,’ effectively endorsing BDS.”
UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn along with former British politician
Baroness Jenny Tonge ranked
second.
According to the ranking, “antisemitism in the [Labour] party has greatly
escalated.
Corbyn, who previously called Hamas and Hezbollah his ‘friends,’ also
promoted his strategy adviser Seumas Milne, a Hamas proponent.”
France earned the
third spot
for “singling out Israel. Amid a backdrop
of devastating and murderous Islamist terrorist attacks, continued
targeting of French Jewry and reports of the refusal of some Muslim
police officers to guard synagogues, the French government became
the first member of the European Union to implement the requirement
of labels on all Israeli goods produced beyond the Jewish state’s 1967
borders.”
Fourth place
included a list of BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions)
actions targeting Israel.
“Leaders of the German Teacher’s Union (GEW) local in Oldenburg have
called for a total boycott of Israel. In September, the Oldenburg GEW
local published a pro-BDS article by Christoph Glanz, a public school
teacher and fanatic opponent of the Jewish state.
Glanz, who has tried posing as a Jew to avoid charges of anti-Semitism,
recently called for the eradication of the State of Israel and relocation of
its Jews to southwestern Germany,” notes the list.
Also included in spot four were the United Church of Christ, which
overwhelmingly voted to endorse BDS, as well Ryerson University in
Toronto, where the student union voted to endorse the BDSmovement.
The head of the far-right US-based National Policy Institute, Richard
Spencer, garnered the
fifth spot
for being “America’s 21st century
Nazi.”
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian
terrorist organization Hamas ranked
sixth.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center cited past comments later retracted by
Abbas in which he referred to false claims that Israeli rabbis had called
for the poisoning of Palestinian wells.
“Just a week ago, a group of rabbis in Israel announced, in a clear
announcement, demanding their government, to poison, to poison,
the water of the Palestinians. Is this not incitement? Is this not clear
incitement, to the mass murder of the Palestinian people?” Abbas had
initially said.
The list also pointed to a Hamas TV program that aired a play in which
Palestinian children dressed in military fatigues and armed with guns
and knives “kill” those acting as Israelis.
The explosion of antisemitic attacks in the Netherlands catapulted the
country to the
seventh slot
. At a high school “some of the graduates
broke out in song with the lyrics, ‘Together we’ll burn Jews, because
Jews burn the best’- a chant sometimes heard in the country’s soccer
stadiums,” wrote the center.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom was ranked
eighth
for
worrying about terrorists and not their victims “Commenting on the
violence in Israel of knife-wielding Palestinian terrorists, and measures
taken by Israeli police in their wake during the so-called ‘Knifing
Intifada’, Wallstrom, called for an investigation into what she called
‘extra-judicial killings’ by Israeli police,” she was quoted as saying.
The
ninth slot
covered antisemitism in the sports arena. Outbreaks of
antisemitism were cited in the US, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, the
United Kingdom and Poland.
The
last spot
went to Poland for its persecution of “prominent historian
Jan Tomasz Gross, who documented Polish participation in the murder
of Jews in wartime Poland.
He is in the crosshairs of Polish authorities who are considering
charges that could put him behind bars for three years for ‘harming the
country’s reputation.’”
UN vote tops Wiesenthal list of top10 antisemitic,
anti-Israel cases in 2016
By Benjamin Weinthal – JPOST