When You Have Overpraised...

In the Guide for the Perplexed, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon explains that it is a Sin to overpraise HaShem. His saying has a resounding support in the Talmud:

A certain person, reading prayers in the presence of Rabbi Chaninah, said, 'God, the Great, the valiant, and the Tremendous, the Powerful, the Strong, and the Mighty.' The Rabbi then said to him 'Have you finished all the praises of your Master?'

So what is the problem with the Rabbi? Does he dislike people from praying vigilantly to God? No! What Rabbi Chaninah means is this:

'If it is not because of the praises for God is written in the Torah and if it is not selected from the Prophets by the Men of the Great Assembly, we will not be saying all the praises,'

However, this make us further confuse, what on earth have I do wrong praising Lord Almighty?

The answer require a lot of thinking. Let's give it a parallel situation, a king that owns 600 silver coins is being praised by his subjects for having 600 bronze coins. Is this not a humiliation? The point of this situation is that, we cannot sufficiently praise HaShem and I do not even know is the word 'Praise' applicable to HaShem. However, I think it is okay since the Men of the Great (who are prophets) used the word 'Praise' in the Siddur.

The main point is this, as a man, what do we know about the Creator? We know naught because we cannot comprehend the true essence of Him. We can only feel a tiny minuscule spark from Him and no more. Subsequently, prayers that we utter everyday, if it is not written by Moshe Rabbenu, Tzaddikim, David HaMelech, Prophets, and the Men of the Great Assembly, prayer will be blasphemous as we do not know what ist he Real Essence of God is. If not for God to Reveal Himself in Horev, we will never know that God has so many 'attributes'; such as mercy and anger. What we can see is that the Torah speaks the Language of man. That's why anthropomorphic action are ascribe to God by God Himself. Who will dare to Praise Him Merciful if He Does not Say so in His Torah? Do we know the degree of 'mercy' that God Possesses with our limited mind?

So the lesson is, don't overdo with Praising, or else we will be Blaspheming God for we will never truly know how Great God Is! The True Essence of Him will never be comprehended.

While You are Out...

Many of us are familiar with the 'While you are out..." phone messages, those sticky notes that reminds you who's who called and so on. However, in real life situation will there be a "While you are out..." messages? I am talking about real life situation here and the answer is a resounding yes.

What on earth am I talking about you might asked. The issues at hand is very simple, do you have a a way to return to your Creator's "Messages" that he left for you while you are no longer mindful of Him or perhaps (G-d Forbids), you have forgotten Him.

In the generation of Noach, HaShem Has Hold the "While you are Out..." Messages long until it can pile the whole universe. In patience, HaShem Waited for those that will review his "Messages" someday but He Has Waited in vain. Only Noach favours Him and no one else and until the last moment when the rain is falling, if the people repent, G-d Would Have Stopped the rain and turn it into a rain of Blessing instead.

So what's happening actually?

G-d Did Leaves us (all of us) "while you are out..." messages. However, it is up to us whether we want to return to have a look. G-d is Always Waiting us to review the messages, Waiting for us to do Teshuvah.

So, did you view your "While You are Out..." Messages today? The sooner, the better. :-)

Patience...

Sometimes, Life require more patience than you can give. This is when the real test come. Everyday, we struggle with people who misunderstood our meaning and possibly, actually we are the one who should take the blame. Communication is the vital part of getting message across, so if the line is not clear, have you put in enough patience?

think about it.