As a Kohen I feel I have a huge responsibility to my fellow Jews and everyone in general. As such, I have been trying to find Kohanim who want to “grab-hold” of their responsibilities and ”do what a Kohen should be doing”.

Do you have the same desire, or do you simply go through the motions to claim your heritage? I apologize for the tough love, but where have we gone to? Their are many who are doing the service of HaShem, but why aren’t we living up to the blessings that were given to us?

I humbly applaud my fellow Kohanim who are doing what they can; because you’re doing an excellent job. We just need more involvement from everyone.

The majority of modern day Kohanim feel they’re still obligated to serve the people in some capacity, and these are the struggles we encounter on a daily basis. When you ask people what the Kohanim did in Yisrael, they say we conducted the services at the Temple (sacrifices, incense, etc.), and that’s all they know. Unfortunately, today’s society doesn’t realize we were counselors, financial advisors, natural physicians, judges, lawyers, and teachers in any number of subjects imaginable. The Temple courts were the educational center of the universe, as was outside of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. If you needed some assistance, you came to the Priests & Levites. Latter developments and a quest of knowledge would form the Prodigies of the Kohanim, the Rabbanim.

Yet the question remains, who helps the Kohanim today? The tribe of Levi was given no inheritance in eretz Yisrael, for HaShem was and is our inheritance. Humm, does that mean if a Kohen struggles it’s because HaShem isn’t providing for him? Theoretically you could say that the Holy One takes care of the Kohanim, so we don’t have anything to worry about; and on one side that’s true, but HaShem takes care of us all. The point I’m trying to make is that we provided our services in obedience and enjoyment to the Holy One, and these services were performed without thought of how we would eat, or have a roof over our head; because we believed that our people would believe in HaShem and be obedient to him. In all honesty, we (Kohanim) don’t function well in the corporate world & with normal work. Even though some become successful, many of us struggle because we are geared to bless and solve problems that are brought before us, not hustle in the corporate world to move up the business ladder; because in our eyes we’re already at the top of that ladder.

I know this struggle seems like a simple one to fix (i.e. - just suck it up and work in the real world), and in theory it is simple, but we’re blessed in a way that when we have to focus on “the real world”, we neglect our duties as Kohanim. I know this may seem arrogant, and that is not my intention; and if I was reading this I would say “you’ve always had everything handed to you and have never worked a day in your life”, and in many aspects, that’s exactly how it is; but when our sustenance stops, all we have is our blessings and no way to share them. Our initial response is always: ”why doesn’t anyone come to us for assistance anymore?” At that point, we try and find an avenue (career, etc.) where we can be a blessing and share the love of HaShem, but it becomes troublesome to us because we’ve never looked at blessing people as a job; it’s always been an honor to serve, rather than employment.

Please, the next time you encounter a Kohen and/or Levite, ask them if they are doing ok in every area of their life. If they aren’t, be a blessing to them; because you never know what blessing HaShem has prepared for you for your assistance.

Shalom Aleichem.

To start off with, the term Jewish (or Jew for that matter) comes from the Hebrew word Yehudah (Judah). Jewish (or Jews) would be Yehudim. The name comes from the tribe of Yehudah, the kingly tribe. It is used collectively to identify all Jews today (ancestrally), but it was used to identify the two tribes that stayed faithful to Hashem (Yehudah & BenYamin) when the 10 tribes went north and called themselves Yisrael. Consequently, Hashem called the northern tribes “lo ami” (not my people) because of their disobedience, and as such, the 10 “lost tribes” have become spread across the whole earth. (However, HaShem promises to gather all who have been scattered and return them to modern day Yisrael. What a glorious day that will be)

Interestingly enough, Yehudah means “praise of G-d” or “praisers of G-d”, depending on who you ask. So, inlight of that, the Yehudim are to be the “praise of G-d” and the “praisers of G-d”. “A light to the world”, so all may see the majesty and glory of HaShem.

So, does the word Jewish mean you are an ancestor of Avraham, Yitzhak, & Yaakov? Does it mean you are pleasing to HaShem, and ancestry is of no consequence? Or is it a combination of ancestry, culture, and faith? Thoughts to ponder….

The first video is about Jewish Customs, the second is “If I forget thee O’ Jerusalem”.

In the Tanakh and the B’rit Hadashah, as well as other religious writings, four things are constant regarding life after death, and they relate to a person’s state of being and their location:

1) one is as if they were asleep,

2) one is in a place of torment,

3) one is reincarnated, and

4) one is taken to Heaven.

The question would be: “who is headed where and why”? We can dig even deeper and ask how the Resurrection of everyone plays into this. HaNavi Daniel said that “the graves will be opened at the last trump and the wicked will continue to do wickedly but the righteous will know and understand”. This is a beautiful story in itself and I’ll elaborate on it at another time.

So, my curiosity here is to talk more about reincarnation. Do you believe it’s possible? In the Brit Hadashah, it says “Hashem isn’t willing that anyone would perish but that everyone would repent”. That would be nice if the Holy One allowed people to be reborn to correct the mistakes that were made. But if you were already faithful to the Holy One, what would be the purpose of being reincarnated? I say this to “get those light bulbs clicking” in your minds.

There is evidence of people knowing past events when they were never there and had no contact with any educational input that would have given them the knowledge of the particular event, etc. Some psychologists have theorized that memories can be encoded in a person’s DNA, and the information being seen is merely a memory from an ancestor’s life. That’s an interesting theory, but there has to be more. So, add your comments (click the comment button above and a text box will open) and tell me what you think about reincarnation; and if you have a story to share, please share it. The videos below are by Rabbi Eliyahu Kin who is talking about reincarnation (video 1) and the resurrection & judgment day (video 2) from an Orthodox and Kabbalistic point of view. The videos are long, but very interesting. Feel free to comment on the videos as well.

This website is dedicated to the memory of my best friend who passed away on Oct. 31st, 2008. His memory will always be a burning flame in my mind.

Theodore Edward Hatfield, Born May 29th, 1972.

My dearest friend passed away after a year long battle with a cyst in his brain. He was never one to complain, even during the hard times of life. I’ve known Ted since I was 4 and he was 5. He was always there for me, and he was the kind of person that would help anyone. He was a “free spirit” in the full sense of the word, and he definitely lived life to the fullest. There were many times growing up that I received the spankings from my Father for what Ted had done. None-the-less, Ted was and is a true friend. As the saying goes, “you might have a lot of acquaintances, but you can only count your true friends on one hand (and you usually have fingers left over)”. There are many things that I could say about my friend, but words can never explain or express what my true feelings are for my buddy.

It’s in situations like these that we yearn for our Creator, hoping there is life after death, and holding on to that hope that we will be reunited with our family and friends in the world to come. I have selected a song to honor my friend, and it is Yedid Nefesh. Even though it is traditionally a song for Shabbat, if you read the words, you can see that it speaks clearly about life, death, comfort, and hope. May my friend be at peace, may his family be comforted, and may the mercy of Hashem be upon us all. Amein

The instrumental rendition of Yedid Nefesh is from Klezmerica

Please feel free to comment and share a memory of your friends and family who have passed on. May the Holy One comfort you in your time of loss, and may you rejoice at the rememberance of the good times you shared with your loved ones. Likewise, please enjoy the website and interact frequently.

Shalom Aleichem,

Tekoa Shalom