“Doe Adar a female dar…” Yes, I know the lyrics actually say, “Doe a deer, a female deer,” but we are just starting the Hebrew month of Adar. Adar is the month in which we celebrate the Festival of Purim where we read The Book of Esther. And, just a few days after we celebrate Purim, we move our clocks ahead as Daylight Savings Time begins.
Time is an amazing thing. It is a gift. Some people seem to have forgotten the value of time. Some take time for granted. In the Book of Esther, we find that we are (or at least were) running out of time, and then, wonder of wonders, the wicked Haman, who tried to put an end to our time, finds he has run out of time.
I’ve thought a lot about time in recent days. It probably had something to do with a couple of visits to medical specialists. In one office, I was kept waiting 45 minutes and, when the doctor finally saw me, she apologized profusely and let me know she was well aware of how valuable my time, not her time, but mine, was. She let me know she would try to do better in the future.
And then there was the other specialist, who kept me waiting two hours beyond my scheduled appointment and, when he entered the room, there wasn’t even so much as an “I’m sorry you had to wait so long.”
At one of the Health Centers, I asked the people at the Healing Service how many of them had watches on. Several raised their hands and I asked what time it was. Again, several responded, calling out the correct time. That’s when I said it was a good time to count our blessings. Here are a few we came up with:
• If you have a watch, you are blessed because there are many people who do not own one.
• If you can fasten the strap from the watch around your wrist, you are blessed because there are people who, no matter how hard they try, cannot perform this feat of manual dexterity.
• If you can see the face of the watch, you are blessed because there are people who cannot see at all.
• If you can read the time, you are blessed because there are those who have such severe dementia they can no longer remember how to tell time.
• And, if you can tell someone else what time it is, you are blessed because there are those who can no longer speak.
Now, let me ask you a question, dear readers. Why is it that we never seem to notice how many blessings we can count from something as simple as a watch? Could it be that we just never take the time?
Time is not only found on the hands of our watches. Time is on our hands. The question is what are we going to do with the time we have? The choice is up to you! Take some time to think about it and don’t forget to set aside some time to count your blessings.
Shalom my friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.

Last Week, Beth and I were in Ecuador visiting a close friend of ours and setting up a mission trip for June. Our church is going to go to Quito, Ecuador in June for a Medical/Construction trip.

My friend there also works with youth who have problems with drugs. This friend, Rolo, wanted us to see a city where he was working. He said it would only take about two hours to get there.

Our plans were to go to a museum located at the equator but, since it was only two hours, we figured we’ll go visit this city and then go to the museum. Rolo’s friend, Walter, was driving and we headed off on our little adventure.

After a little more than two hours in the car, I asked if we had much further to go. Rolo, said “no.” Walter, the driver, said “yes,” about three hours more. I was shocked. Instead of two hours, it was going to be five. We asked them to turn around and head back. We didn’t want to spend 10 hours in the car our only day in Quito. We wanted to see the city. Rolo was upset. He felt he had ruined everyone’s plans, including his own. We turned around. Shortly afterward, the traffic came to a complete stop. There was a major accident. We would have to wait until they cleared the road. After another hour or so, we were back on the road.

After finally returning to Quito, we stopped at the house of Walter’s mother where his three children were. Walter, we learned, had just lost his wife a little over a month earlier to Cancer. The whole family was still dealing with this loss. After visiting for a little while, Beth, Rolo and I decided to walk to the center of town, about 10 blocks away. While walking around the city, where we had a wonderful time, we received an invitation from Walter’s mom to stay for dinner. We had a great evening with Walter and his family, an experience we will not forget.

The following day, we finally did get to go to the equator and had a wonderful time. Later in the day, Rolo and I were talking. He was still frustrated by what had happened the previous day. I asked if he remembered the only thing Beth and I had asked to do.

I said, “We wanted to go to the ‘Center of the Earth’ and see the equator. The one thing we asked to do, we didn’t get to because of the misunderstanding about the length of the trip.”

But I then asked him if he knew my favorite part of the whole trip.

He said, “No.”

I said, “Walking around the city with you and having dinner with Walter and his family. And, it wasn’t planned. It was a total accident.”

Just like John Piper says, “God has no afterthoughts. Every plan is Plan A. If he reverses a trajectory, that was the plan.”

What a wonderful truth. We can trust fully in God’s plan for our lives. 1Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This is an incredible promise. We have never seen, never heard and cannot even conceive of what God has planned for our lives. Bottom line, we can trust God! He has eye-popping, ear-blasting, mind-blowing plans for us, usually where and when we least expect them to be.

Deron Peterson is is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach.

“Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.” Yes, I know, you might be surprised that this rabbi is writing about Valentine’s Day. After all, many people believe that Valentine’s Day is about a saint.

So, why do I feel so comfortable writing about st. Valentine’s Day? Because I happen to know that the original holiday was a Jewish one. That’s right, it was originally called, “Val and Stein’s Day.”

You are probably not aware of the legend of “Val and Stein’s Day.” This may well be because it is something that I recently created, but many people I have shared it with tell me they love the idea, and isn’t love what this day, and every day for that matter, is all about?

The name Val is a French form of the name, Vail, but it can also be a shortened form of the name, Valentine. The name Valentine has a meaning. It refers to someone who is strong. There are several Hebrew equivalents to this. One is Abir, which means, hero, as in “my hero,” and who among us haven’t heard someone in love refer to their soulmate as their hero.

Another Hebrew equivalent is the name Gavriel, which means, “G-d is my strength.” I guess on “Val and Stein’s Day,” we should remember that it is G-d who gives us the ability, the strength to be loving and kind. It is also G-d who gives us the ability to express our love in so many wondrous ways.

In fact, our tradition goes on to say that there are three partners in a marriage – the husband, the wife and, can you guess who the third one is? That’s right, G-d! And, the tradition says the same in regard to a birth as there is the mother, the father and … you guessed it … G-d!

Another Hebrew equivalent to the name Valentine that might give you a bang (pun intended) is the name Uzi. Most of you are probably familiar with the weapon made famous by the Israel Defense Forces, but you should know that the name Uzi means my strength and who among us who has known the joy of love has not had times when our partner has been our strength and times when we have been theirs.

Now, let’s get to the name Stein. As you are well aware, a stein is a large mug used for holding things. On “Val and Stein’s Day,” let this be a reminder to the verse “May your cup of joy overflow,” and that is exactly what true love can do for you; it can make your joy overflowing.

Sometime, in the distant past, someone came up with turning “Val and Stein’s Day” into “ValandStein’s Day,” which, soon became forever known as Valentine’s Day. But I think the idea of merging the two lovers Val and Stein together as one teaches us a very important lesson about love.

Love is a merging of two halves into one whole. May you all come to know the miracle of meeting your other half and becoming one.

With lots of love, Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.

Sometimes in life, things happen that we don’t expect and we get shaken to the very core of our being.

We get caught off guard and events in life just rattle us. It is not a matter of being ready for bad things to happen, but to know where your help and strength comes from when they do. When you learn to rely on God for your help and strength, the devil can’t rattle or shake your life anymore.

HEBREWS 12:27-29

27 This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.

28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

29 For our God is a devouring fire. NLT

The kingdom we belong to, as children of God, is unshakable. So let’s give thanks to God by worshiping Him with fear and awe. The fire of God will devour things in our lives that don’t belong, like poverty, sickness, gossiping, lying. You will not waver and you will not be shaken. You will stay strong and courageous. The only unshakable thing that remains will be you.

PSALM 16:8

8 I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. NLT

PSALM 62:2

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. NLT

God is always with us and right beside us. God, and God alone, is our rock and our refuge. Nothing else will do – just God. We will not be shaken!

When we are continually shaken, it steals our motivation and energy. It is like we are stunned or in shock. We get scared and don’t make any decisions at all, good or bad.

The devil is not just trying to knock you down; he is trying to destroy you. When the devil is trying to shake your life, you will shake his instead because you will trust in God and be unshakable. When the devil shakes, you will be set free from your chains and, then, you will be filled with courage and boldness.

When you pray and worship God, the devil shakes. You will never be shaken, but your circumstances will be and your chains will be. You don’t ever shake or waver. You shake the things and circumstances around you, instead of life shaking you. YOU WIN!  You will stay strong and courageous.

Luke 6:38

38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full — pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. NLT

Although, when God is shaking your life, you win. When God shakes you, it is to make room for you to receive more and more. He is shaking everything together. Therefore, start to stir up those things on the inside of you, and start to say, and start to believe, “I shall not be moved!”

When you agitate someone, you get their attention, so begin to irritate those things in your life that you don’t want and tell them to get out. You will stay strong and courageous.

Pastor Tony Guadagnino

Christian Love Fellowship Church

There is a wonderful joke about a pastor who tells his congregation that his sermon for the upcoming week will be about those who lie. He tells them to go home and study a particular chapter from the Book of Mark.

The next Sunday, the pastor begins his sermon with, “Last week, I asked all of you to study the 17th chapter of the Book of Mark; could those of you who did so please raise your hand?”

And, sure enough, almost every person in the congregation raised their hand, and that is when the Pastor says, “You are the ones I need to talk with today because there is no 17th chapter in The Book of Mark!”

I recently talked to my own flock about those who lie. I asked them what the opposite of lying is and, sure enough, one of them immediately called out, “truthing.”

What a great word, although, if you look it up in the Dictionary or Thesaurus, you probably won’t find it. Instead, you will find that the opposite of “lying” is “standing,” perhaps that is why when someone is known for telling the truth, we call him a stand-up guy!

Of course, the opposite of lying is telling the truth, but, as we all know, “To Tell the Truth” is not necessarily a reality, it is more of a game show, at least, it was a game show.

While I am making light of it, I really don’t think that telling the truth is something that should be taken lightly. In fact, we should be on a steady diet of truth, and by diet, I’m not talking about what we put into our mouths, but rather what comes out of our mouths and what we let into our ears.

I was with a couple of math teachers the other night around dinner time, and it got me thinking about a mathematical equation for the truth I had learned long ago. It is found in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 29a) and the formula reads, “When you add to the truth, you subtract from it.” Wow, how’s that for a mathematical conundrum? And, I will be brazen enough to use a bit of New Math by continuing the equation with, “And when you add to a lie, a small one becomes bigger and bigger.”

During my sermonette last week, I asked, “When you think of a profession known for lying, which profession comes to mind?” (I’ll let you come up guess what they came up with).

And then, I reminded everyone that we are in the midst of an election campaign and in unison everyone called out, “POLITICIANS.”

Maybe, just maybe, that’s because politicians seem to make more promises during a campaign than anyone can possibly fulfill; or maybe it’s just that the politicians really don’t have the power to put their promises into effect. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Do the math and wash … I mean watch … what comes out of your mouth!

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.

In today’s culture, we struggle so much with letting go. The “Self-Help” industry is booming, and yet no one seems to act like their lives are getting any better.

It’s like we bounce from one self-help fad to another, always blaming the last theory or maybe our approach to that theory. It seems to me, however, that what’s really missing is the power to change. I believe that all of us have something about our lives that we would like to change.  But how do we accomplish this change?

There are others who want no part in change, but believe their life would be infinitely better if everyone else would change. We all know people like that, they drift from one crisis to the next, always giving responsibility for their problems to everyone else in their lives, never once realizing that the only thing their problems have in common is them.

But what’s the solution? How does one really change? How does one really “take control of their lives,” as many would say, and make change. Change, of course is the topic of the day. It’s January!

Consider this analogy. Suppose you live in a village where electricity is supplied by a generator on a nearby hill. Each evening, the owner of the generator regulates which houses receive the power. He gives two conditions for receiving power for the lamps in your house.

First, he says, “If you plug the cord in the socket firmly, you will tap into the power of the electricity for your light.”

Secondly, “If I see light in the house, I will keep the power flowing to your house, but if I do not see any light for a while, I will assume you are not home and turn off the power to your house.”

Okay, cute story, but how does this apply to my life? Plugging into the power is the condition of believing in the promises of God. It connects you to the power of God. That’s the primary condition of surrendering to God. If you do not plug in the lamps and there is no light, the power source is cut off. The same is true of our relationship with God. If we are not “plugged in,” by the reading of His Word and prayer, then we have no hope of having the necessary power to bring about real change.

This light in the house is the secondary condition of our attitude towards others. You don’t have light first in order to get power. Your light proves that the lamp is plugged in. And your attitude proves that your faith is genuine – that you are really connected to God as one who is satisfied with all that He is for you in Jesus. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This is what we’re missing. We’re not plugged into the power source.

There is a great God of grace, who magnifies his own infinite self-sufficiency by fulfilling promises to helpless people who trust him. And there is a power that comes from prizing this God, which leaves no nook and cranny of life untouched. It empowers us to love in the most practical ways.

Want real change for 2012? Then, get plugged in.

Deron Peterson is is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach.

As most of you are probably aware, it is traditional to drop the ball in New York’s Times Square. I have often wondered about that. Why on Earth would we want to start the New Year by dropping something, unless, of course, we want to drop some of our old habits. But, I have to tell you that, rather than seeing that ball drop, I would much rather see it lifted higher and higher.

What was it that the old song said, “Your love is lifting me higher and higher than I’ve ever been lifted before.”

A very short time from now, we will be observing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I can still hear the Psalm he quoted ringing in my ears: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: From whence shall my help come.” (Psalm 121:1)

For too long, people had been knocked down and treated like something less than human. For too long, people had been treated as slaves. For too long, people have wandered in the wilderness. They need to be lifted and they need to be lifted higher than ever before. It is going to require G-d’s help, but Martin Luther King Jr. knew something that many people seem to forget. We are G-d’s helpers, or at least, we should be.

That most famous of New Year’s Songs says, “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind…” Well, I disagree. I think we need to bring old acquaintances to mind… and not only bring them to mind, but forgive them and reconnect with them. In fact, I believe we should lift them up.

Ask yourself, “Why am I here?”

My favorite troubadour, James Taylor wrote, “…me and Melissa, well, we fell out of love, ran out of luck, seems like lightning struck. I’ve been thinking of leaving, but I can’t raise a buck. James I’m wondering could I borrow your truck?”

This lyrical request is coming from an old friend who James had long lost touch with. So, you might be wondering how James Taylor answers this old acquaintance’s request. Let me share the next part of the song with you as Sweet Baby James writes: “…that’s why I’m here, got no better reason; that’s why I’m standing before you; that’s why I’m here.”

Wow, James gets it … and I have to tell you that I am lifted every time I hear him sing. The other day, someone asked me what my job as a Chaplain entailed and, before I could get a word in edgewise, someone else in the room said, “He is here to lift us up.” And, at that point, all I could add was, “You, too, are here to lift people up.” May we all use the unique gifts that G-d gave us to lift up someone who is down … and, with each other’s help, may we be able to lift them higher and higher.

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and serves in this capacity in a number of Health Care settings in the area including Advocate Home Care Services and L’Chayim Jewish Hospice in Partnership with Catholic Hospice of Broward County.

We all love new stuff.  We love that new car, new house, new watch, new shirt, or really a new anything. We love to put that word “new” in front of a word because it changes the meaning of what it really is (at least in our own minds, it becomes something special).

That new thing we get as a gift or buy with our own money gets our special attention. We treat those new things with tender loving care (TLC). Since we all say “Happy New Year,” I want to challenge you to treat the NEW decisions you make for your life with tender loving care. This is a new year, and we are going to make new decisions for our lives so we better choose wisely.

I said this last year, and it is worth repeating again this year, so please stop! Stop!  Do not do it! Please do not make a New Year’s resolution. New Year resolutions do not last and we typically do not follow through with them. Almost half of every American makes a New Year’s resolution and only 8 percent of them actually keep them. New Year’s resolutions are really a waste of time and something not really intended to be permanent. If we truly want to change anything in our lives to make things better, we would be better off asking God to help us change the things we want different in our lives.

HEBREWS 4:16

16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There, we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

NLT

God is always working on us to help change the things that we need to change and want to change. It is not just a one-time quick fix; it is something that takes place repeatedly. We give ourselves to God once, but we need to transform and renew our lives for Him constantly.

If we want to be successful on a new diet or getting rid of a bad habit that we have, we really need God to help us. The best thing for us to do is develop new habits in our lives, so we receive the desired results we are looking for.

Making a New Year’s resolution is us thinking there is always a way out, or it is OK if we fail. However, allowing God to help us is the beginning of us starting something new that we are going to be doing for the rest of our lives.

In order for us to change things in our lives, we have to change the way we live our lives. In order for us to change the way we live our lives, we have to change what we say and do. In order for us to change the things we say and do, we need God to help us make our changes permanent and not temporary.

Please do not make a New Year’s Resolution and instead allow God to change the way you think for results that last a lifetime.

Pastor Tony Guadagnino

Christian Love Fellowship Church

On TV, there was a show called Taxi and a character called Simka (a take on the Hebrew word, Simcha … meaning joy). When Simka got married, she  became Simka Gravas. The name Gravas reminds me of Gribenas and I couldn’t help but think of another ethnic delicacy that gave me even more joy … latkes. (Oddly enough, Simka’s husband name was Latka.)

My brother (Rabbi Sheldon Ezring) recently wrote a piece about how our mother used to stand in the kitchen, peeling potatoes and then take out a hand grater as she prepared them along with a batch of onions and eggs. Meanwhile, she would have oil heating in the pan. As I write this, I can hear the sizzling sound and smell the aroma that filled the entire house.

When my father got home from work, we would gather to light the candles on the Chanukiah along with proper blessings and singing of “Rock of Ages.” Then, dinner was served … more latkes.

After dinner, we would play Spin the Dreidel for a penny a spin. Growing up in the midwest, it was usually freezing outside, but as we celebrated Chanukah with the latkes, candles and singing, we felt the warm glow of being together, wrapped up in traditions of our faith.

The last lines of my brother’s writing taught me a valuable lesson I had missed all these years. My brother wrote, “Notice, I did not mention gifts. Gifts were rarely exchanged and of little importance.”

That has sadly changed. Gifts have taken away much sacred meaning of Chanukah and Christmas. Remember, we are not just lighting candles or decorating trees, eating latkes or drinking egg nog. We are creating memories …

Shalom My Friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is a Hospice Chaplain and Member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. He also provides Professional Pastoral Care Services to a number of health centers in Broward County.

I remember the feelings I had when I first found out I was going to be a father.

Most fathers have nine months to prepare. You get the news, you look at the calendar, you figure out the day of the birth and you begin to prepare. These days, you can even find out what the gender is, so you can even prepare by having everything set up whether you are having a boy or a girl.

In our case, all of our children are adopted so we really didn’t have that kind of preparation time. In fact, the amount of time we had to prepare was actually in reverse order of their birth.

With Ana, we had no notice. Someone literally knocked on the door, put her in Beth’s arms and said, “I’ll bring her things tomorrow.” She has been with us ever since. Because of that visit, our lives will never be the same. She completely changed the dynamics of our family forever. For one thing, after two boys, I was not prepared for a little girl.

Isaiah was a little longer. We were notified about five days before he was born and Beth actually was able to be there and see him a couple of hours after he was born. For me, it was a little bit longer because we had to finalize all the legal documents for Isaiah to leave Pennsylvania and travel to Texas. What an exciting time! Samuel and I arrived at the airport a bit early, waiting for Beth to walk through the door with this little boy who would change our lives forever.

The longest we had to wait was for Samuel. In April of 1997, we were notified that we might have the opportunity and then, about four months later, he arrived.

I have been studying for some weeks now Luke 1 and 2 getting ready for Christmas messages. The thing that has impacted me is Joseph. He had made all the right choices and was obviously a Godly man who could be trusted.  Why else would God choose this man to raise His only begotten Son? He was doing all the right things. He had learned a trade. We know he was a carpenter. He was successful enough that he was in a position to get married and provide for a family. He had all the hopes and dreams that a man getting ready to begin his life would have. Then, his wife-to-be shows up pregnant, proclaiming that the baby was God’s son. Now, that’s a major change. How does he respond? Matthew says he took her into his house to live as his wife. Joseph was really an amazing man. So little is known or written about Joseph, but, at the same time, we learn so much from him about what it means to be a Godly father and Husband.

First of all, he put aside all of his pride and rights as a man to follow God’s plan for his life, even though it was a plan that really made no sense to him. Secondly, he cared for a woman that was carrying someone else’s child.

Thirdly, he raised the child as his own, the whole time knowing that this child was the Son of God.

We know that Joseph did teach Him the Word of God because, at the end of chapter two, we hear the story of Jesus at the temple. The passage says that, after three days in the temple courts, the religious leaders of the day marveled at his knowledge of the scripture because he was 100 percent man, as well as 100 percent God. He had to learn the truths of God’s Word. It was Joseph who taught him.

We also know Joseph taught his other children, because the New Testament book of James was written by James, the brother of Jesus.

When we think of Christmas, we think of the baby Jesus, Mary his mother, the wise men, the shepherds and the angels’ announcement. Let’s take some time this Christmas to learn from one of the greatest fathers in history, Joseph.

Deron Peterson is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach