Parshat Pinchas - When Words Become Flames

Religion is not a check-list.  Too many people today 'do their tasks' in terms of religious observance – they go to prayer services, do some studying, keep their home observances.  And they check them off their daily to-do list so that they can have peace-of-mind that they are getting into Heaven.  Great.

But that is not religion.  That is dogma.  And maybe it isn't even that.  Maybe it is just a bunch of empty habits.

We are not Spiritual Monkeys.  God does not need us to do things on an empty form level, with some silly notion that the motions themselves will please God and earn us our ticket past the Pearly Gates.  No, God is a bit deeper than that.  And so are the Mitzvot – the Spiritual principles and observances of the Torah.

A real religious action should create, well, a "religious experience".  In other words, it should get you high!  It should create a feeling, and a powerful one at that.

But even deeper, when all those observances combine, they should create a fluid energy, kind of like when a crush on someone turns into love.  Real Spirituality begins when the relationship jumps off the pages of written guidance, moves beyond individual moments of connection, and transforms into a fluid experience of chemistry, energy, and a flowing intuitive relationship.

Attached please find a Shu-Shine for the Torah portion of 'Pinchas' - "When Words Become Flames"

May we each be blessed to feel the True connection in each Mitzvah, and ultimately reach the place where they all combine into a genuine Spirituality that fills each moment of our lives.

With Love and a Smile,

~Shu