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52. Birthdays

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You existed before, in your mother’s womb.
There you were comfortable, warm and cared for.

But you left that place behind.
You entered a world, cold and harsh.
The mere act of living became a struggle.
You cried.

Yet, every year you celebrate that day.

Why?

Because the day you were born,
you were no longer the extension of another being.
The day you came to this world,
you were empowered to give the world something
that neither your parents
nor your teachers
could give to you.

Celebrate your birthday.
And take time to think:
Was I really born?
What have I given the world that the world did not give to me?

Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.
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Discussion (13)
March 3, 2012
Windows...
A window...

We can look everyday through the same window but still see a brand new detail every new day,or every new period.A detail never seen before.

This new captured detail we bring inside us, turning it itself into an internal window through which we explore a whole universe of internal experiences...That done,we spring out from this internal journey and become ourselves a window to others .

And meanwhile ,we come back to that same first window , to our former gazing, to suddenly discover another new detail and then come back again to that internal journey through that internal window to afterwards become a window for others and other’s for us ..Eternally...
Carmen
March 3, 2012
Reply to Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
We are all born with individual identity. We gradually forget our past lives which can be brought to the fore.

Our life role is predisposed. When awakened we follow our path. We have a choice.

For majority, the environment plays a major role, in multi-dimensional influence.

Within all living creatures is the instinct for harmony through Natural Law which man ignores, hence suffering.

Birth is the emergence. Birth could be 'still born'. Birth does not give life.

Life is given. Life has no power of giving.

Living creatures have souls. Man is limited to copying God's creations.

Neither plant life or other can be compared to living creatures. The latter have souls.

There is a heirachy of living things.
Man & animals are there as companions for each other.

Plantlife is for food, purification, beauty, cures, gaseous exchange etc.

Entire nature including cosmos is here for our connection. We are made of the same elements as plantlife.

Not sure if this answers all.
Stella H Howell
Wokingham, United Kingdom
March 2, 2012
Re: Was I Born?
The question is "Was I really born?" Or, am I still in the womb, just nurtured by my environment, with no identity of my own.

Because birth means entering life, and life means giving something you didn't get. Just like we distinguish between inert matter and living things: Water, air, minerals etc. just react—something hits them, they move. Living things **go about** living. They're doing something of their own to preserve their existence.

Life as a plant contributes on one level. As an animal on another. As a human being, life means giving something that takes a human being to give.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
March 1, 2012
Extension to my 2010 comment
Thank you Sue for your response.

I was partially referring to the intangible aspect of not being able to pass on 'spirituality' if one is not enlightened. However, I do get your point and agree with the physical side.

On leaving the womb we cry, because at this precise time, we breathe in the AIR of LIFE - at this point our Soul enters our body.

In the womb the embryo does not breathe.
Stella H Howell
Wokingham, United Kingdom
March 1, 2012
To the Editor ONLY
In the last paragraph, after the colon, should the question be WHY was I born? or as it stands, Was I born?

Please let me know either was, as I think this is an especially thoughtful commentary.
Anonymous
Warwick , RI
March 1, 2012
to be born
Brought to life by birth. When we are born we are given the ability to use energy. Everything we give back to the world contains the energy we have received from the world. It is up to us to make sure the energy we return is positive energy regardless of whether it was originally received in a positive or negative form.
Anonymous
Hampstead, North Carolina
March 1, 2012
BIRTHDAYS
i'm with box score -- this is fantastic!! as for giving without receiving - i thought that was the purpose of being!! to give! maybe i believe that when we look into our hearts and reflect, there is an endless supply inside us (inborn, from G-d), from teachings and prayer (Torah, our parents, etc.), to contribute without ever thinking what was 'given to us.'
valerie
akron, oh
March 1, 2012
response to Stella
We are given the foundation- Torah and then life. If we were only able to give what we rec'd then I think that evokes the question of 'was I born'? Because what we 'do' is called living.
Sue Rieber
Los Angeles, CA
March 1, 2012
What have I given?
"What have I given the world that the world did not give to me?"

Perhaps this question has the answer in it: we have to give justly what we feel we are not given.

I am thinking where to put this reminder in order to remind it all the time, but specially to start identifying where is the problem; what I am not given that I have to give more.

Please, direct me to more articles about this; to books, to everything that relates to this idea.

Thank you
Carmen
July 26, 2010
box score
Score this a double; a solid hit up the gap to the fence.

You have indeed given us something to think about here, Rabbi.
Thomas Karp
New Haven, Ct.
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