Shavuot & the Instruction Manual for How to Live Your Dream Life!

This episode, “Shavuot & the Instruction Manual for How to Live Your Dream Life,” is a special episode celebrating the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Next week, we’ll return to our mini-series by The Rabbi Who Got Rich on Sunday, entitled “Generating Leads—the highest quality for your business!”

I’m Rabbi Dave, and welcome to today’s episode about the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and its message about living your #dreamlife.

Shavuot Meaning

On the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai and received the entire Torah (Bible) from the Almighty Creator. This episode will not focus on that incredible experience—hearing the voice of the Almighty and being in his presence—but on the tremendous gift, the Torah.  

In Hebrew, driving instructions are called “Torat Nehiga.” Torat means Instructions, and Nehiga means Driving. The Torah is often called Torat Chaim. Once again, Torat means Instructions, and Chaim means life. Thus, the Torah is the instruction for life—not any old life but a dream life.  

Now, if the creator of a car writes an extensive and detailed manual and the creator of an airplane writes an even more in-depth manual, wouldn’t the creator of the universe write a pretty sophisticated manual as well?

Before sharing a few examples of instructions for living the dream life, let’s dive into our story!

Shavuot – Instruction Manual Story

One of the six hundred and thirteen commandments in the Torah is to put a mezuzah on your doorway.  A mezuzah is a small box with the prayer “Hear O Israel” written on the parchment inside the mezuzah.

Once in Europe, there was a town with a lord who was the ruler and a Rabbi who guided the Jewish community. The two were good friends.

The Lord showed his admiration for the Rabbi by giving him a large and very precious jewel as a gift. In return, the Rabbi gave the Lord a small silver-cased mezuzah scroll.

The Lord was furious.  I gave you a precious gift to express my friendship, but you insulted me by giving me a small silver box.

The Rabbi explained, my Lord, please let me explain.  I appreciate your gift and your friendship, which is beyond measurable value.

Your gift requires me to spend a lot of money on security and the proper environment to protect it from thieves and the elements.

The gift I gave you with the words of the Almighty inside will be on the doorpost of your castle, and rather than needing protection, it will protect you!

So what message is in the mezuzah, and how does it protect us?  

Instruction Manual – for life

When we read a story in the Bible, the story is just the surface. Every commandment and story has many layers of depth that provide compelling instructions on living a dream life. One of my mentors, Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory, used the stories of the flood, Abraham and the Angels interrupting his discussion with the almighty, and the splitting of the sea as examples of “stories” that are here to teach us something of great significance beneath the surface of the actual story.

On a deeper level, these very significant messages are instructions for living. For instance, the commandment of the mezuzah is an example of a powerful tool for living, used every time You walk through any door.

Meaning of the Mezuzah

The Torah contains one prayer in its entirety, while all other prayers are made by human beings using phrases from the Torah. That prayer is known as “The Shema,” and it is what is written on the scroll in the mezuzah.

Please forgive my loose but accurate translation of “The Shema,” which starts off with, “Listen, Israel (The Jewish People), Hashem (the merciful creator) is our judge, Hashem is one.”

In other words, here comes my message, so listen up!

What’s the message?

“Love, the Lord your Lord, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might.”

This statement has five levels. Below is a brief introduction. For a more in-depth exploration, I suggest this article.

How to live your dream life?

1. With all your might – use your physical and material blessings as an expert.  Don’t waste them on frivolous pursuits.  Use them to the max.
2. With all your soul – In this instance, we are talking about what your soul desires and that is love.  Love is more important than any physical or material pleasure.
3. With all your heart – the word heart in Hebrew is spelled Lev with one letter bet. But in this prayer, it is spelled using two of the letter bet meaning that there are two interconnected levels here. Using all your heart means creating meaning with your life by spending your most valuable commodity, your time, and making the world a better place. 
4. The higher of these two levels is enabling others to also create meaning with their time!
5. Love your Lord.  The highest level is when you choose to find out why you were created by the Almighty and put in this world at this time.  What are you meant to do?  What is the ultimate contribution you are uniquely capable of achieving to bring creation to perfection and completion for all time? My podcast: Discover your Strengths, Unique to You, in Order to Accomplish Your Goals is a good place to start this journey.

Instructions for life

The mezuzah is placed in the doorpost on your right as you enter.  The custom is to kiss the mezuzah.  Why?

Not because it is a good luck charm.

When you kiss the mezuzah, you are pausing to remember what is written inside.  Regardless if there is an actual mezuzah there, as you step into any new room or new environment in life or in your side hustle or business, ask yourself, what is my purpose here?  Which of the five levels? How can I take this level to the max?

As my favorite concrete example, when you come home from work, and you had a hard day of challenges, kiss the mezuzah.  Leave those challenges at the door and step through to the love of your family and the higher levels of pleasure you can accomplish.  Don’t worry, the challenges will still be there waiting for you when you go back to work tomorrow.  But, in the big picture of enjoying your loving family all the way up to walking with the Almighty Creator as a partner, those challenges are irrelevant to your higher purpose. Now, after you kiss the mezuzah and reflect on its message, you are ready to live your dream life, starting with this Shavuot!

Weekly Podcast Challenge

We hope you found today’s episode, “Shavuot and the Instruction Manual for How to Live Your Dream Life,” inspiring and actionable. You can’t move up a level until you master the one below it, and there are a lot of counterfeits and FEARS (False Evidence Appearing Real) along the way.  So, choose a material or physical pleasure and make a plan to become an expert.  If you have that covered, focus on love, or doing meaning, or creating meaning for others or finding out your purpose in creation.  I can imagine that you’ll need guidance so please reach out with questions, and I’ll point out additional resources to help you!  Here is a full session I once gave on finding your unique purpose.

Choose one and share your progress with me through social media using our dedicated hashtag #richrabbichallenge, or email me with your updates—I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for tuning in to The Rabbi Who Got Rich on Sunday. If you found value in today’s episode, be sure to subscribe for more insights and strategies to help you thrive. And don’t forget to share this episode with a friend or colleague who could benefit from “Shavuot & the Instruction Manual for How to Live Your Dream Life.” Our next episode will be the 9th in our mini-series about generating leads and will focus on how to maximize your Email Marketing.

Visit my website, https://therabbiwhogotrichonsunday.com, to access content-rich articles, including guidance and tips on living the dream life.

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