Sweetest Friends, Ahhh, the world we livein today can be quite confusing at times. We all want to connect to somethingspiritual and pure. And in our deepest heart we feel and want to believe thatGod and our Torah offer that peaceful opportunity to us. But then someone withthe title "Rabbi" or someone claiming to be a representative of Godcomes along and hurts us with uncompassionate words or downright hatefulattitudes.  And something in ourheart both breaks and becomes strong. Our heart breaks because the Soul insideus has been hurt by the false-interpretations of HaShem's ideas. And it becomesstrong, because something defiant and pure is born inside us; the unwaveringvoice of our True Spiritual Self.  But where do we go fromthere?  How do we find our way in a world so confused about what God wantsfor us? Give a listen to thisweek's 12-minute Shu-Shine for some guidance about how to honor that HolyChutzpah voice inside you!  With love and gentlefire, ~Shu 

JamShalom Daydreams

The Art of Holy Chutzpah - Parshat Pinchas

Sweetest Friends, There is so much happening beneath the surface of our day-to-day lives. There is so much hidden depth to our Mitzvot and our Torah. There is so much hidden inside each and every one of us! We are living in the Era of revealing the hidden. We are all members of the generation of Mashiach - of the redemption of the world!   Take ten minutes to grab some insight on seeing beneath the surface, and vibing life on the most real of levels.  Shabbat Shalom, and Tons of Love! ~Shu

Seeing Beneath the Surface - Chukat-Balak

Hey Sweetest Friends -  So in honor of all the Holy Chillers around the world who are throwing down for Phish’s SPAC/July 4th run, here is a special PHISHabbat Torah!   It straddles a line between the very serious and the very lighthearted, but it does so for very deep reasons.  Because Simcha - True Joy - is the only tool that can repair the hatred and darkness that still poisons our otherwise-beautiful world. What do the Torah portion of Korach, Phish’s Wilson, Islamic terror, and the Redemption of the World have in common? Put another way, how do we turn our personal faith and joy into an antidote against the hatred and darkness, lighting up the world in loving perfection? The answer is YOU.  The answer rests within everything that hurts you when things are dark, because the only reason it hurts you is because you are so full of the repairing light!!! Give a listen to this week’s 9-minute Shu-Shine for some insight regarding how to destroy the selfish darkness of Wilson and Korach, with the shining wisdom of the original Helping Friendly Book - our Holy Torah! With Tons of love, ~Shu

Korach, Wilson, and the Third Temple

Hey Sweetest Friends -  Do you know that the biggest false-idol is that all too many people bow down to these days?  It is the idol of “my dreams are not meant to come true”.  It is the idol of “humble resignation”.  It is the idol of “Plan B”. Do you know what it takes to make your deepest dreams come true??  I will tell you.  Believing in them!!! Give a listen to this week’s shu-shine, and get some invigoration to believe in your dreams with all your might!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Believe in Your Dreams - Shlach Lecha

Hey Sweetest Friends -  God sure feels like a mystery to us sometimes.  And now, on the eve of once again receiving the Holy Torah, we reach deep inside and wonder how to best connect.  How do we become a vessel for the deepest light?  How do we become a reflection of Heaven on Earth?  How do we open ourselves up to a genuine friendship with the Creator of the world? Give a listen to this week’s Shu-Shine.  It’s 20 minutes in length, but boy oh boy is it worth it! With Tons of love, ~Shu

Shavuot - Receiving the Love

Hey Sweetest Friends -  The world is SO full of beauty.  We only need look out our window, and a million songs of poetry and sublime beauty fills our ears and eyes.  We only need look at the fingers of our hand, or experience our connection with a loved one, to know that the number of blessings and the beautiful architecture of our world is a Divine gift. Yet sometimes life doesn’t make sense.  While we hope and pray to have each and every day filled with blessing, we live in a world that is not yet perfected.  There is sadness in our world.  There is tragedy.  And when that aspect of life touches us, we suddenly find ourselves confused by this incomprehensible side of a Loving God. Here is a meditation for when life doesn’t seem to be making sense: God desires order in his world. That is clear. That you can count on.  So too, does He desire order in your world. You can count on that, too.  True, sometimes, despite your best efforts, your world may not go the way you hoped or anticipated.  Know this: That when the world behaves in a disorderly way, this is an exception, and He has a very good reason for it.   Give a listen to this week’s Shu-Shine for some deep reflections on how to embrace the aspects of life that are beyond our minds and hearts to understand. And may we all be blessed to have our days filled with joy and health and blessing, lending the strength of blessing to those who need our support.   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Embracing the Unknowable - Parshat Shmini

Hey Sweetest Friends -    If you want to open the doors to your dreams, and/or to changing the world, you need to believe in yourself, believe in the wisdom of those who have gone before you (so that you can stand on their shoulders!), and believe in the power of God that you can manifest through perfect faith!   Give a listed to this four-minute mediation and grab the key to opening the door of genuine belief in the miracles that are in your hands.   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Perfect Faith - Parshat BeShalach

Hey Sweetest Friends -    Life is full of challenges.  But too many times, we kind-of schlep ourselves out the door to face them. But that is NOT the way!  Nope!  In this weeks Torah portion HaShem reveals to us the biggest secret:  A challenge is a stage of transcendent growth – a time when you are stepping from all you were until that moment, into something you never knew you could become.   And we have to ‘come’ to those moments; we have to step right up to them and grab them by the shoulders and tell them how it’s gonna be!!   Give a listen to this yummy five-minute shu-shine and grab some inspiration to embrace the challenges of this moment and bow them to your dreams!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Owning Your Own Challenges - Parshat Bo

Hey Sweetest Friends -    Thanks to my dear friend David Montag, I am re-emergin with a few new shu-shines!   We stand at the crossroads of our future.  Right now.  And our future calls to us.  It begs us to redeem it.  In this moment, with perfect faith in all we can be and all the world has to offer, we can redeem a future spectacular in every way.  But should we doubt ourselves, God, or the world…  well then… the future can only be as grand as you dream it to be…   In the Torah portion called “Names”, we learn about the unusual name that God gave himself when asked by Moses: God called Himself the ‘God of Dreams’.   And next week, in the Torah portion called “And I will appear" we are given the keys to personal redemption, so that we can make our newly awakened dreams come true.   May we all be blessed to dream the greatest dreams – for ourselves, all those we love, and the world — and then redeem our deepest potential to make those dreams come true!!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

The God of Dreams - Parshat Shmot

Hey Sweetest Friends -    Thanks to my dear friend David Montag, I am re-emerging with a few new shu-shines!   We stand at the crossroads of our future.  Right now.  And our future calls to us.  It begs us to redeem it.  In this moment, with perfect faith in all we can be and all the world has to offer, we can redeem a future spectacular in every way.  But should we doubt ourselves, God, or the world…  well then… the future can only be as grand as you dream it to be…   Last week, in the Torah portion called “Names”, I recorded a meditation about the unusual name that God gave himself when asked by Moses: God called Himself the ‘God of Dreams’.   And this week, in the Torah portion called “And I will appear" we are given the keys to personal redemption, so that we can make our newly awakened dreams come true.   May we all be blessed to dream the greatest dreams – for ourselves, all those we love, and the world — and then redeem our deepest potential to make those dreams come true!!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

On Personal Redemption - Parshat Vaera

Hey Sweetest Friends -  God always wants to send us the greatest blessings.  But we have to want those blessings, too. “Crazy”, you say.  “Of course everyone wants God’s blessings!” But sadly, all too often in life, we see people fail to seize the blessings being offered to them.  Just think about how many times you wanted to help lift a friend out of a difficult place in life, and they refused to accept your helping hand… Listen to this three minute Spark of Light to gain some inspiration regarding how to seize the blessings of HaShem, and put them to work in the places in life where they are needed most!   Sending everyone blessings for the highest weekend/Shabbat and most amazing week to come!!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Seizing the Blessings from HaShem

Hey Sweetest Friends -  It’s great to study spiritual subjects.  It’s great to keep religious observances.  But in the end, it has to translate into our character.  It has to transform us in positive ways. God doesn’t need Spiritual monkeys doing tricks in front of Him.  And while it is true that simply doing certain Spiritual actions can have a positive effect, even if you don’t understand them, that really isn’t the highest level. Because until our Spiritual studies and observances begin to change who we are and how we behave, we haven’t gotten to the deepest depths yet.  And we haven’t yet revealed that power that is in each of our hands to change the world in beautiful ways.  Take 15 minutes to listen to this week’s Shu-Shine, and grab some insight into the magic of shining your inner light, and turning religious observances into a social revolution!   This week’s Shu-Shine is dedicated to the speedy and complete recovery of Avshalom ben Chaya, HaCohen – a very Holy Brother.  Please have him in mind in your prayers this weekend.   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Conversations in the Fields

Hey Sweetest Friends -    Our world was once the Garden of Eden.  But through the mistakes of humanity, that Garden was shattered. The beauty of life is that so many of the aspects of the world around us are still intact elements of that Divine and wondrous garden; love, laughter, family; beautiful flowers, sunsets, gentle animals; ocean waves and mountain vistas.  The list is truly endless.   But there is work to do in this world.  And we are each soldiers of God, on a mission to repair our fractured world.  Through action; through inaction; through words; and perhaps most powerfully – through prayer.   Give a listen to this weeks Shu-Shine when you have 20 minutes to spare, and discover some insight and inspiration for your Spiritual battle to help return our world to the Divine garden it is meant to be.   With Tons of love, ~Shu

Soldiers of God

Hey Sweetest Friends -    This Shabbat we start the Torah again.  It’s all about new beginnings!  But what a sad story – the shattering of Eden. But then HaShem tells us that the blessing of Shabbat is all about the good things to come. And the key to that lies in our taking responsibility for the choices we make, and in believing we can – as we learn – make things right.   Here’s a three-and-a-half minute Spark to fan the flames of beautiful days ahead!   With Tons of love, ~Shu

The best moments lie ahead

Hey Sweetest Friends -  We are on the bridge between Yom Kippur and Succot!  We are about to leave our homes and go out to live in a simple shelter for seven days!  Why?!?!  What meaning could there be in such a crazy and strange practice??  Why leave our beautiful homes and ‘go granola’ for a week?! What would you say if I told you that doing so is the secret to raising the banner of HaShem in the world, pointing everyone’s eyes upwards towards heaven, and inspiring others (and ourselves!) to remember what is most important about this special life we live! Here’s a 15-minute meditation on this week’s Torah portion that reminds us to raise our hands to Heaven!   Tons of love, ~Shu

Lift your Hands to Heaven

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