Along with prayer, what do we do?!?

Prayer is SO important, but what else can we do when it seems the world has gone INSANE? How can you NOT feel helpless? I personally turn to HaRav Avraham Yitzhak Kook, THE Torah Giant of the Land of Israel (and the founder of the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva) during the years of the British military occupation, who said:

"-The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.
-They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.
-They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom. "
(Arpilei Tohar p. 39)

The Shofar has sounded....NOW is the time for action!
Hanoch

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Permalink Reply by Tammy Russell on June 11, 2009 at 7:46pm

A thought has been with me all day since reading your wonderful quote this morning Hanoch. I have been thinking about how people are called crazy by some if they say that G-d has spoken to them, the thought I have had is G-d speaks to everyone in some form or another it's up to us wether we listen or not. I say WE LISTEN. I have and I am blessed to have wonderful people in my life and I feel so much more at peace with my life than I have in many many years. Just stop and listen.

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Permalink Reply by ronald wayne copeland on June 12, 2009 at 8:22am

I listen to talk radio quite a bit during the day trying to catch news of Israel and I can.t help but think of a deeper meaning that's hidden to most people. The news out of DC is alarming and a bit crazy. the watchmen who warn us of impending trouble. responsible leadership is another mater, who leads?

Tammy Russell said:

A thought has been with me all day since reading your wonderful quote this morning Hanoch. I have been thinking about how people are called crazy by some if they say that G-d has spoken to them, the thought I have had is G-d speaks to everyone in some form or another it's up to us wether we listen or not. I say WE LISTEN. I have and I am blessed to have wonderful people in my life and I feel so much more at peace with my life than I have in many many years. Just stop and listen.

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Permalink Reply by Melanie Carroll on June 21, 2009 at 7:44pm

Wonderful quote Hanoch and an important question - Along with prayer what do we do?

Prayer is never wasted and is always to be done, indeed everything we do should be a prayer/an act of prayer.
But you know words without form and actions are ultimately meaningless - thats why prayer requires action and change in the heart, mind and soul so that it is more than just formless words.
(see Allens post on 1 john for a little taste of why i think and understand words are more than just words or sounds, indeed go to Genesis 1:3 and see Words are active, amar/dagbar logos/rhema are active principles. Word and therefore speach are acts, and they create, they can also destroy and are not to be undervalued or overlooked.)
In this respect though we are required also to make actions beyond the action of our prayer - it is our responsibilty to speak out loud, to speak out against the wrong and injustice and madness and not just accept it silently - this is a start.
To stay silent is to be complicit.

Of course after the words there are more actions, with the words are acts of choice - the words though and the speaking of them are the start. That's Torah!

I often hear people use a common misquote - 'all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing' often ascribed to Edmund Burke. Though a misquote the intent is nontheles true, but I much prefer the actaul words of Mr Burke and they are just as true for todays situation.

‘Whilst men are linked together, they easily and speedily communicate the alarm of any evil design. They are enabled to fathom it with common counsel, and to oppose it with united strength. Whereas, when they lie dispersed, without concert, order, or discipline, communication is uncertain, counsel difficult, and resistance impracticable. Where men are not acquainted with each other’s principles, nor experienced in each other’s talents, nor at all practised in their mutual habitudes and dispositions by joint efforts in business; no personal confidence, no friendship, no common interest, subsisting among them; it is evidently impossible that they can act a public part with uniformity, perseverance, or efficacy. In a connection, the most inconsiderable man, by adding to the weight of the whole, has his value, and his use; out of it, the greatest talents are wholly unserviceable to the public. No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours, are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.’
Edmund Burke – ‘Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents’ – worth reading!

Here as Hanoch says is where we start, grouped together and willing to speak out! The Shofar has sounded and we are all called to be prophets in this time and speak out against the wrongs and evildoers as HaShem has commanded - for I am convinced we all of us here are hearing his voice calling our names.

So ok thats my thoughts, sorry if I got on a soapbox - did you know they are slippery things to stand on sometimes!
You know my feeling and thoughts on anything I say - they are just mine own thinks (though i hope theres a little bit HaShem in them sometimes but I make no claims!) and therefore as likely to be wrong as right, there is no intent to offend (if there was I'd tell you straight!) and feel free to set me straight, agree or disagree with me, that's your right to and I'll defend it to the end!

Best
Melanie