Broken...Yet Holy

Rabbi Jacobson says, "We all make mistakes, we all break things in our life, but life also breaks us". We've all been broken in one way or another. Different people react in different ways to this hurt. Some stay broken and some grow. The miracle is that the more broken you are the more whole you have a chance to become. The Rabbi's teach that there is nothing as complete as a broken heart. Why is a broken wall the holiest place on earth for the Jew? Why do we stand and pray at a broken wall when there are so many beautiful spots to chose from? Because beloved it is a picture for us of a bigger reality. The reality that the world is a broken place and it's full of broken people whose job is to mend what is broken. In this sixth week the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 60 tells of G*d's even greater consolation and of the vision of the world's Redemption.
Enjoy the teaching below
Shabbat Shalom~Shana Tova~Elisheva

Ki Tavo: On Being an Am Segula
    ~by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin HaKohen Melman
What does it mean to be called the Chosen Nation? Actually, the term used in Ki Tavo is Am Segula, often translated as "treasured nation." But whether understood as chosen or as treasured, it seems to be frequently misunderstood.

It does not imply supremacy or arrogance. Rather, it embraces the idea of service. As Israel is a mamlechet kohanim, a nation of priests, Israel is a kohein, or holy servant, to the other nations on Earth.Why is the Dead Sea dead? Because it only receives. It never gives out life sustaining waters. Thus the salts accumulate to toxic levels. Sea salt gives life, but only in very small quantities.

The Golan, by contrast, is bursting with life and vibrancy year round. Its fresh, living waters sustain and replenish Yam Kineret, the Sea of Galilee, whose waters sustain all Israel. And the Torah emanating from Yerushalayim and Tzfat, and indeed from all the heights of Torah, water and give spiritual nourishment to all Israel and to the world at large.

Israel now has the opportunity, our parsha is telling us, of being a catalyst for blessing for all the nations of the world. Indeed, this is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic blessing that "all the nations will be blessed through you." Israel, in a sense, now becomes the yeast for the whole world. As yeast is the catalyst in baking, so too is Israel that transforming agent of change which has the awesome capability of uplifting all of humanity. Just as yeast is among the least of the ingredients, so too is Israel the least populous of the nations. Just as yeast is less than tasty when eaten as a meal in itself, so too does Israel shine less when consumed solely in a self-absorbed disinterest with the fate of humanity.

Israel is the yeast/catalyst in the rising pungent ferment that is humanity. The more we consciously incorporate Judaism into our lives, the sooner we help elevate all humanity, including ourselves, to achieve the end stage of glorious redemption and peace, and thereby fulfill our true destiny as an "am segula," as a Catalyst Nation.

When we want something good for someone we often say, "do this as a segula." Or sometimes it is said, "say this prayer at the kotel for forty days to find your soul mate as a segula," or "recite this psalm on behalf of sick person as a segula," or "wear this amulet as a segula." So clearly, at least in the folk mind, a segula has the sense of being a catalyst, of bringing about positive change.

As we immerse in our own Teshuvah, to bring about positive change, let us remember that we are not perfect creatures either. We all make mistakes, but the point is to learn from them,  to become better people because of the mistakes we have made, that's the way we grow!