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Mendel Kaplan
Rabbi Mendel Kaplan is the founder and spiritual leader of Chabad @ Flamingo in Thornhill, Ontario, he also serves as a Chaplain of the York Regional Police Service |
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Latest Comments:
I believe that spirituality is a relationship/connectiveness between me and G-d, other people, and my interaction with the world. However, if the hole in my gut is empty it is impossible to have this connectiveness. Paradoxically, my relationship with G-d was the only way to fill up the hole, not alcohol, drugs, money, food, or anything else. I am grateful to be sober. My parents relationship with alcohol had nothing to do with my alcoholism. Instead it was the "me " generation and not knowing how to deal with my emotions appropriately that led me down this path.
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I know a family whose father was an alcoholic and his 7 children drink sometimes but none are alcoholics. Therefore that idea that "alcoholism is in the family" is not true. No alcohol or drug is a good idea to reach a high spiritual sense. Those who trust in Hashem with all their heart and soul, and truly seek Him with love, will have a very high sense of His Precious Presense. Without drugs. I came to this lecture from a question that Rabbi Freeman asked about Marijuana use. I could not believe that Judaism agrees with the use of narcotics. If it was so I would not want to be a part of it. I have seen too much suffering because of drug and alcohol abuse. Maybe we need another teaching on this subject. Thank you Chabad.org for your teachings. Now I can have a peaceful day and future happy learning with Chabad teachings. May Hashem keep on blessing all of our Rabbis and their families.
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If you cannot open your heart without drugs or alcohol there is something wrong with your heart that drugs and alcohol will never fix but will only make worse.
Most societies that allow the use of psychedelics for spiritual means treat them like Jews traditionally treated Kabbalah...with great respect and not a little fear. They allow them only to certain people (stable, mature enough), at certain times and often under close supervision. Just as Kabbalah teachings were only allowed to mature, married men of stable temperment.
Kabbalah's own teachings state that 3 out of 4 Rabbis who tried for enlightenment failed...they became heretics or went mad...only Akiva survived unscathed. Likewise for those who fool around with psychedelics. The delicate and complex miracle of the human brain and mind is not something to stuff full of chemicals just so you dance better or feel closer to G-d. Many don't survive it unscathed.
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It is important to understand that like stated alcohol can be good or bad. Some things are always good, some things are always bad, and some things can be either depending on their use. Giving to deserving charities is always good, stealing is always bad, plants and their products can be either depending on their use. Marijuana, mushrooms, wine, and other substances can be used to enter more deeply into this world too. His only argument when it is boiled down is intent and circumstance. If you need to be open hearted, joyful, or be really into dancing or singing with a group, mushrooms can help produce those effects much like wine. If some other substance motivates you and opens your heart, within the parameters of halacha, it is not a sin and not condemned by Judaism. Using plants and other creations can absolutely elevate the body's sensitivity to the spiritual, if fact many Jews have returned by that path. I love his shiurim by the way. Thank you Chabad.
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There have always been alchoholics among the Jews, they just tended to fade away into "Gentile" society rather than remain in the community or else were hidden and their behaviour covered for. Moreover, many societies that claim to have low levels of alcoholism really just have low levels of "drunks" while functional alcoholics blend in and go unnoticed amid the frequent "social drinking" at meals and celebrations.
Another factor is that a predisposition to alcoholism is inherited, with some ethnic groups more highly represented than others. Jews, until recently, had low levels of intermarraige and so less likelihood of getting these genes in their pool. That is changing!
Having said that, the previous comment has some truth. Alcoholics tend to come from families with extreme or hysterical attitudes to alchohol , either overuse, or strongly anti-alcohol. However that may not be the cause but simply a result of the previous generation's response to alcoholism in the family.
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I learned a lot from this audio lecture. I think that Jews as a group have a low alcoholism rate. It may be that as children we saw how our familys used alcohol for family celebrations.That stays with each generation. Great lecture. Thank you.
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Kabbalah on Drugs and Alcohol
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The murky world of addictive narcotics can be dangerous. Yet some spiritualists maintain that it is necessary for the release of one’s inner soul and spirit, and it is the only way to experience a transcendental sense of spiritual consciousness. Is that true? Or do drugs simply play with our imagination, inducing nothing but hallucination and a patently false sense of spirituality? | |
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