Question:

There is so much pain and suffering all around me. People in my life, people in my community, people on TV. It's so overwhelming. I want to help people but I have no idea how

Answer:

This is a common dilemma to us all. Usually, when we see somebody else in pain, we try to help a little bit and then we stop. We say to ourselves, "There’s not much more I can do." However, when a person takes on the responsibility of saying, "There is something that I can do to alleviate the pain and suffering in the world," and he goes out and confronts the suffering, then there’s no limit to what he will do or how much he will push himself.

Growing up, there was a story my father and teacher Rav Berg often told that shows us the importance of being diligent in awakening compassion for the world.

"The Ocean of Tears"

In ancient times, two great spiritual masters, who were best friends, made a deal with each other. They agreed that whoever passed away first would return to the other in a dream or a vision. He would let his friend know where he was and reveal the mysteries of the afterlife.

Many years went by, and then one of the masters died. His friend confidently expected that he would appear, as he had promised, but several weeks passed without any dream or vision. Concerned, the friend decided to visit the deceased master's son.

"We had an agreement," he explained to the son. "Your father would never break his word unless something momentous had occurred."

The son said, "I was equally concerned because I too expected my father to come to me. However, knowing the secret art of transporting my soul to the supernal worlds, I was able to visit the Heavenly Court last night and ask what had become of my father.

The angels replied, 'He was here, but he did not stay. He continued walking.' I searched every region of heaven and asked the angels if they had seen him. In each place, they gave the same answer: 'Your father was here, but he continued walking.'

"Finally, I came upon a man who was sitting at the entrance to a forest and I said, 'Have you seen my father?'

He too answered, 'Yes, he was here, but he continued walking.' Then he added, 'You will find him on the other side of the forest.'

"I trekked through the forest for what seemed like days, and finally I reached a place where the trees ended. Stretching out as far as the eye could see, there was a vast, heaving ocean, whose waves were as tall as mountains. My father was standing there, resting on his cane, staring at the ocean. I approached him and took his arm. 'What are you doing here?' I said. 'We were all worried because you did not return to us in a vision or a dream. We did not know what had happened to you.'

"Without taking his eyes off the ocean, my father said: 'Do you know what this ocean is, my son?' I told him I did not, and he went on: 'This is the ocean of all the tears of all the people of the world who have ever cried from pain and suffering. I have sworn before God that I will never leave this ocean until he dries up all their tears. That is why I have been unable to keep my promise.'"

We have to take responsibility for everything that is around us. When we do this, then we stimulate our desire to bring about change. If, on the other hand, we remain cocooned in our own world, emotionally isolated from others, it is impossible for us - and the world - to grow out of our chaos.

True compassion for the suffering of others drives us to continue our work until everyone is liberated. Like the spiritual master who would not budge from the ocean of tears, I challenge everyone to persevere in your determination to confront pain and death wherever it may be. If we are to flush out the chaos from this world, there must be no end to our willingness to help.

Cancer contains the beginning of a period of difficult energy known as the Negative Three Weeks (Wednesday July 20th - the holiday of Tisha B'Av.)

Spiritually speaking, we are without our ozone layer. The normal layer of protection that helps us filter life and make sense of things will be on a bit of summer vacation. It's our opportunity to give our patience muscles a healthy workout.

Why do we have to experience such things? Where's the smooth sailing we all yearn for? What's with all the choppy seas? Let's face it, we've discussed it a gazillion times: we're creatures of habit. As soon as we settle into our habit, we lose appreciation for the positive times and the progress we've already made in our spiritual growth.

That's why the Light constantly gives us opportunities such as these next three weeks to shake things up a bit and really push ourselves to our best level. Sure, it requires a challenge here and a bit of not jumping to conclusions there, but we need this to keep us from falling into a state of stagnation.

The month of Cancer is a time when we have to keep The Rav's message of being vigilant about treating everyone with human dignity in the center of our minds.

Remember it's not just about being nice people. We're protecting ourselves here. The Zohar explains that this time of year is the seed level for dangerous diseases that can, God forbid, come into our lives. Just like there are only certain times of the year that you will actually grow a tomato if you plant a tomato seed in the ground, the same is true for disease.

Forget about all the physicality of it. We know that anything, disease or otherwise, that we experience, begins on a spiritual level. First our soul gets sick. The Zohar explains it's as if a filthy piece of cloth gets glued to our soul. Then in that area of consciousness that we have that dirty piece of cloth attached to our soul, (much like a piece of cloth covering a lightbulb) we can no longer reach the Light. Thus our soul gets cut off from it's source and there is an entry point, a space in which disease can enter.

What's the bottom line? We need to eat an extra bowl of love every morning and be extra careful not to be reactive for the next three weeks.

This way, when it's all over, we can laugh in the face of chaos instead of chaos laughing at us.

Thought Train

Think before you act
keep your life intact
consider before you react
think of what could come back.

In life there are rules
let reactions be your tools
consider what you say
it could be taken the wrong way!

Use your mind
use your brain
keep thoughts running
like a train
think about how you react
keep that thought train on the track.

Share and Care

If you share and care
your friends will be there
if you do, so will they
in their thoughts you’ll always stay!

Make room for blessings is what you should do
if you do that, people around you will too!

Life can be great so make sure you share
just to show that you do care
take an interest in other people please
Share and care, don’t be selfish and tease!

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