Things have been hectic and I haven't posted in a while.
During that last month of the year, it's hard to concentrate on business as usual.  Indeed, the whole point of gearing up for the new year is to try and see to it that things should not be the same old same old next year.

At any rate, I heard a "vort" from a chasid today.  He told me that the numerical value of "shanah tovah" (a good year) is the same as "tov hanira v'hanigla" (revealed and obvious good.)  The reference is to the chasidic concept that everything that happens is good.  Only, there is good that is obvious and good that is hidden.  While hidden good is actually a more lofty and sublime form of good than obvious good, we mortals nonetheless wish each other the kind of good which we can see.

I haven't checked the sums to make sure that they add up but I invite you to do so and let me know if it works out.

This Shabbos there was a Shabbaton for the Gan Israel Day Camp here in Milwaukee.  The counselors asked me if I would tell the kids a story.

There is a reason that I made my career in adult education.  I tried my hand at teaching kids.  It's not my strength.  I don't like teaching students who have to ask for permission to go to the bathroom.

At any rate, five or six minutes is about my maximum for holding a room full of kids.  Even then, I was relying on the counselors -- a group of 18 year old Lubavitcher girls -- to handle any discipline issues that might arise.  Remember, these kids had been bribed with sugar all day.

The story I told them is a tale of Rabbi Akiva from the Talmud.  This is a story that I tell my own kids all the time.  It's about how Rabbi Akiva was traveling and came to a town to stay for the night but they wouldn't let him in.  The Talmud tells us that whenever anything like that would happen, Rabbi Akivah would say, "Everything that G-d does, He does for the good."  This case was no exception.  Rabbi Akivah said, "Everything that G-d does, He does for the good," and went to go sleep out in a field outside of the city walls. 

Now, Rabbi Akivah had three things: a donkey, a rooster and a lamp.  Soon, a lion came and devoured his donkey.  Rabbi Akivah said, "Everything that G-d does, He does for the good."  A cat came and ate his rooster.  Rabbi Akivah said, "Everything that G-d does, He does for the good."  A wind came and blew out his lamp.  Rabbi Akivah said, "Everything that G-d does, He does for the good."

In the morning, he discovered that during the night, a band of marauders came and attacked the town.  Had he been allowed to sleep there, he would have met the same dismal fate as the townspeople.  Had the marauders heard his donkey bray or his rooster crow, he would have been spotted.  So too, if they would have seen his lamp.  All of the seemingly unfortunate events that happened that night -- his not being let into the town, his donkey being eaten by a lion, his rooster being eaten by a cat and his lamp being extinguished by the wind -- quite literally saved his life.

So, what's the moral of the story?  Don't worry about what looks like a bad luck or a tough break.  Don't get stressed when you think you've suffered a setback.  Relax and remember that G-d is in charge and He's working things out for you just fine without your getting all bent out of shape.

This is the most important thing I could think of to tell the children.

I was speaking to a friend about faith and its place in everyday life.

He told me that many ideas to which he had held fast early on in his spiritual journey, he now dismissed as false, even damaging beliefs that had led him away from real growth.  Practices that he had once revered as a zealous devotion to spiritual ideals, he now saw to be superficial, sanctimonious and immature.  Particularly, he expressed a disdain for a way of life that he felt had drawn him into a delusional, religiously themed fantasy world.  As such, he had been re-examining all of his beliefs but did not wish to throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

"Do you know what I think is the difference between fantasy and faith?" I asked him.  "A fantasy is an idea that you use to get away from the world.  Faith is an idea that gives you the courage to live in it."