Birthdays

Everyone loves a birthday both the young and the old; there’s just something special about your special day. How very true that is; that was the day when G d gave us his kiss of life and from then till the day we depart this world it’s up to each of us to leave some type of mark on this planet. We each have different abilities and features; there are no two people created by G d who are alike. It’s a very big beautiful exciting world out there. There are so many amazing places to visit and glorious sites to capture, it seems a shame to waste our G d given special identities on doing nothing. If each of us set out on a journey to do something unique to make our world somewhat brighter, just imagine how very bright the world would glow. Cures for more diseases would be discovered, new ways of education would be developed, agriculture, the environment, space travel would become more advanced. And most of all just maybe us people could learn to love one another in the way G d meant Reply

Source What is the source for this distinction?

(Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) Reply

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... Reply

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. Reply

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. Reply

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. Reply

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. Reply

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.' Reply

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. Reply

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 Reply

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. Reply

Birthdays What an inspiring start to my day, which is my Hebrew birthday! Your questions are particularly appropriate as today I am 60 years old and 60 is the age of sagacity-wisdom. You have given me two important questions to meditate on.

thank you. Reply

Birthdays I comment on your last two questions. "What have I given the world that was not given to me" & "Was I really born"?

One gives what they receive, either in spiritual or worldly context. How therefore can one give if they do not receive i.e. do not have enlightenment for instance? Or did I misunderstand the question?

If one is not really born, then please kindly enlighten me and tell me the alternative.

We are not actually born at the time of conception!

Take care. Reply

Birthdays Thank you for this inspiring thought - and sent on the one day I actually share with my mother - our Hebrew birthday! Reply