AM Inspiration

there is something that i have noticed among people since I have been here. It probably exists everywhere i just didn't  notice, It might be that i myself am lacking in this area and the mirror is reflecting my own deeds.  I have noticed an indifference towards judasim. People just do not care anymore about the sanctity of Shabbat. It is a well known reality in my program that many people in my class study on shabbat. I could never bring myself to do that. Besides, I asked my rav and he said no. Recently, I was talking to a guy in my class and he casually mentioned that he studies during davening. He gathers notes, he highlights. He has no problem with this. All this came out after I was going down on him for not learning on shabbat instead of studying.  Today I came into school and told my friend, its gonna be a long day! I woke up hungry and that is never good on a fast day. She looked at me funny "oh, your fasting day?" like it was a surprise. O...

The last post got me thinking about the heart on a different level.  We often refer to the heart as the source of our emotions, our spirituality. In essence it is our life source on so many levels.  A defective heart has catastrophic ramifications. Someone who is emotionally stunted will have difficulty with relationships. A spiritually defective heart will have a hard time connecting to G-d, to one's own spirituality. No one needs me to go into the myriad of problems that come about for a person that has a physical defect.  We all do things to make sure we keep "heart healthy." We eat our cheerios, exercise. We carefully guard who we let in and who we don't. Spiritually, the Torah gives us guidelines. What will keep our hearts healthy. Clearly, keeping the mitzvos all 613 of them, maintain the strength of our heart, it allows for us to maintain a relationship with G-d. But there are certain mitzvos we know that define us as Jews. Certain mi...