| The
Baal Shem Tov Music room |
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| Featured CD: Ancient Hebrew Lore |
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| Songs: |
| 1) The
Ancient Hebrew Lore |
| 2) You Open
Your Hand |
| 3) The Ooy
Veigh Blues |
| 4) The Baal
Shem Tov Blues |
| 5) Evdoo Es
Hashem B'simchah |
| 6) Feeling
Good |
| 7) Tracht
Goot V' Zicher Zein Goot |
| 8) The
Mezuzah Man |
| 9) Write
Them On the Doorposts Of Your House |
| 10) The
Mezuzah Jew |
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The Ancient Hebrew Lore
© cohn 1999, 2000 |
| Music and Liner Notes by Tzvi Meir: |
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| 1) The Ancient Hebrew
Lore |
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| Jews agree that the Ancient
Hebrew tribes were slaves in Egypt. Moses led them across the sea and into the
Desert. After traveling for forty days, they reached Mt. Sinai where Moses gave
them the Law. The Hebrew tribes traveled together in the desert for forty years
and then went into Israel. Later, the tribes were forcefully removed from their
land. The Jews of today are a continuation of those Hebrew people. |
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| King David in Psalms told us how
G-d really works. "You open Your Hand and fulfill the will of every living
being." Our Will is our thoughts in combination with our feelings. Most
importantly, the stronger our feelings associated with particular thoughts, the
stronger our Will and the more likely those thoughts will be fulfilled.
So King David is telling us to be careful about what we think because G-d
actually fulfills our Will. This one phrase of King David is one of the
three most important prayers in the entire Jewish liturgy. In fact in the many
hours of prayer every week, there are only three short prayers that we must
concentrate on the meaning in our minds when we say them or they must be
repeated. These three prayers are: Shema Israel; the first paragraph of the
Amidah (18 benedictions); and this phrase "You open Your Hand..." found in a
Psalm 145:16, commonly called Ashre. |
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| We have been living as Jews all
these years and still one tragedy after another besets us. Oy Vay. Yet we still
we live as Jews. Oy Vay. We so want to see G-d because seeing is believing. At
least hear from G-d. And did G-d actually show himself to the Jews at Sinai?
Well that was a long time ago and who knows? So we continue living as Jews
while we cry those Oy Vay blues. And as we know from King David, G-d actually
fulfills our collective Will. So we must be very careful about thinking
those Oy Vay blues. |
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| 4) The Baal Shem Tov
Blues |
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| The Holy Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer
ben Sarah, known as the Baal Shem Tov, came in the 1700's to teach that God is
active in all there is and that we all have holy souls and should live
our lives with a Joyful attitude. Using his power as a miracle worker and
healer, the Baal Shem Tov started a movement spreading these ideas among the
then downtrodden Jewish people. His teachings continue until today and are
accessible through the telling and listening to the Baal Shem Tov
stories. |
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| 5) Evdoo Es Hashem
B'simchah - Serve The Lord With A Joyful Attitude |
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| Our Sages have beseeched us
throughout the ages to "Serve The Lord With A Joyful Attitude." The underlying
reason to serve G-d with a joyful attitude is because G-d will give us whatever
we project through our will. Therefore if we maintain a joyful attitude (being
b'simchah) we'll receive in accordance with the thoughts that make us feel
good. And vice versa. |
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| Still the Jewish people have
been overcome with the reality of their living conditions and couldn't figure
out how to live life with a joyful attitude. The Baal Shem Tov and later the
Tzemach Tzedek (the third Lubavitcher Rebbe) said "Tracht Goot v' zein goot." -
Think good and it will be good. Unfortunately, people didn't know how to think
good when faced with such adverse conditions. More recently, the last
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory said
"Tracht Goot V'zicher Zein Goot", Think good and it will surely be good. This
is a sacred promise and instruction from the Rebbe. Since he was a Tzaddik (a
Jewish saint) and did innumerable miracles, we take his promises and
instructions seriously. But the Jewish people are still overcome with their
living conditions and just don't know how to "think" good. There is only one
way to live with a joyful attitude and that is to have good thoughts, those
that make us feel good. Our heart, which is directly connected to our soul,
knows if our thoughts are in accordance with our soul's desire. If our thoughts
are in accordance with our soul's desire, we feel good. And if not, we feel
bad. The heart is a sixth sense for knowing if we are on our own personal path
of our souls desire or not. The only good feelings that last are those that are
in accordance with the Holy Torah. |
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| 7) Tracht Goot V' Zicher
Zein Goot - Think Good and It Will Surely Be Good |
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| Just listening to this song helps
awaken our hearts to the fulfill the words of the Holy Rebbe "Think Good and It
Will Surely Be Good" . |
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| Now that we know how to direct
ourselves along the path of our soul's desire, we must take action. As Jews,
the most powerful, meaningful action is to join together with other Jews in
accordance with an instruction from our holy Torah. A Mezuzah is a directive
from our ancient lore that every Jew (men, women and children) is obligated to
perform. Also, the Mezuzah is extremely powerful since it projects spiritual
power that protects us wherever we are. There is very little to do to fulfill
this most important ancient custom. Just put up a kosher Mezuzah on the
doorpost of our house, or our room, etc. By working together, we can help every
Jew live under the influence of a Mezuzah and thereby do our part in unifying
the Jewish people. |
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| 9) Write Them On the
Doorposts Of Your House - (Deuteronomy 6:5-9) |
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| By listening to this song based
on the exact words in the Holy Torah requiring a Mezuzah on our doorpost, we
are strengthened to perform this commandment of the ancient Hebrew lore.
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| When it comes to the Jewish soul,
there is really no difference between Jews. We can't really define our
essential selves as Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Chassidic, Agnostic,
Atheist, Jewish Renewal, Jewish Reconstruction, etc. etc. Instead, we can
simply put up a Mezuzah (nearly all Jews accept this ancient commandment) and
call ourselves a Mezuzah Jew. By spreading the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov
throughout the world, i.e. by telling his stories, we can fulfill the final
goal of bringing the Messiah (as told by the Messiah himself to the Baal Shem
Tov) in the Holy Epistle. |
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