The Story of Bats - They Fall not Fly

Did you ever try hanging yourself upside down? It’s fun for a few seconds, but after a while it will become difficult because the blood will rush straight to your head. There is one mammal, one animal, that sleep upside down: bats.

The reason is fascinating. The only mammal in the world that can fly are bats. But while bats can fly, they can’t take off. Technically they are mammals and not birds, or insects, so they can’t just take off and fly. Birds can take off from a dead stop by simply flapping their wings, and raising themselves, but bats can’t.  Birds’ wings are long and feathered and can generate enough thrust to achieve liftoff, but bats’ wings are basically large, webbed hands. Once airborne, a bat can use these webbed hands to sustain the flight over long distances and steer seamlessly, but they have a problem: they can’t do the necessary flapping to take off.  Bats also cannot run so it would be almost impossible for them to take off from the ground.

So what do bats do if they can fly, but can’t take off? The answer is they don’t take off -- they fall down!

Bats sleep upside down. Their claws effortlessly “click on” to the branch they want to hang from, and they enjoy a peaceful, relaxed rest. (Because they are so compact, the circulation is also not a challenge.) When they wake up and want to begin their “day,” bats do not need to generate lift to begin flight. They just drop out of their bed, open their wings and off they go. In fact, the momentum generated by their fall becomes the impetus that allows them to fly!

Creating the Thirst

Now we can understand the words of the Talmud about repentance. When I repent out of fear, my sins are considered mistakes. Because as it turns out, I did not understand the implications, hence I transgressed. So it is considered an accidental fall. I hurt myself, but it was an accident. It was not malicious. It was ignorance. G-d forgives mistakes.  

But if I do teshuvah with love, with enthusiasm and excitement, when I find a passion in my relationship with my soul, my G-d, my spouse, my authenticity—says the Alter Rebbe—then I discover that the very falling down is what allowed me to fly!

Because the very downfall creates a thirst, an honesty, humility, yearning, authenticity, pining, that allows me to connect with my own truth, with other people, and with G-d, in a way I could have never achieved before. Knowing the pain of darkness, is what fuels my passion for the good and the true. 

Joke fearing burglars

For 20 years a woman had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there,  he did find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house. "I am pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 20 years to meet you."

Is there anyone else up there?!?

Well, there is this well-known story of Mr. Steven Abramovitz who visited the Grand Canyon, and of course crossed over the fence to get a far more closer and awesome look at G-d?s wonder. He leans over the tip of the cliff, slips, and falls down toward the abyss. Franticly, his hands flaying back and forth, trying to grab onto anything, his hands close around a branch. There he is hanging in midair, with no foothold to climb up or down. In desperation he calls up to Heaven, ?G-d, please save me! I will do whatever You tell me to do in order to survive. Please G-d, please save me!? Suddenly he hears a booming voice emanating from Heaven asking him, ?Are you willing to do whatever I tell you to do in order to survive?? ?Oh yes, dear G-d,? replies Mr. Abramovitz, ?absolutely anything!? ?Very well then, the voice from Heaven continues, ?Mr. Abramovitz, leave go of the branch!? Mr. Abramovitz, in total horror, blurts out, ?Is there anyone else up there?!?

The mouse who was afraid

There is a legend which says that there was a mouse who was very afraid of cats. She wished she could become a cat, her wish came true and she turned into a cat. Then she saw a dog and became afraid again and wished she were a dog. Her wish was granted and she turned into a dog. Then she saw a lion and she was terrified by his power and strength and wished she could become a lion so that she would not have to be terrified of the lion. Her wish was granted and she became a lion. Then she saw a man with a gun about to shoot her with his gun. You can imagine what happened next. She wished she could become a human and she did. But when she was sitting in her house she saw a mouse and she was scared of the mouse. The little mouse frightened her.

Elephants in Circus

Did you ever go to the circus? Remember those huge elephants that weighed several tons who were held in place by a small chain wrapped around one of their huge legs, and held to the ground by a small wooden stake? If those huge elephants wanted to, they could walk right through those small chains and that small wooden stake like a hot knife going through butter. But they don’t. Why is that?

When they were little baby elephants, they were chained down by those same small chains and the small wooden stakes. But to them, as babies, they couldn’t move. They tried and tried and tried again and could not release themselves from those chains and stakes. And then, an interesting thing happens. They stop trying. They gave up. They developed a belief system. 

Now, as adult elephants, they don’t try because they are programmed to believe that there efforts would be useless – in vain. They simply don’t try because the memory of trying as babies is their main program.

And as huge, adult elephants, they don’t even try. So they’re held in prison by their beliefs.

The same is true with the elephant in each of us. 

Fearing G-d

And so Lord our G-d, instill fear of You upon all that You have made, and dread of You upon all that You have created; all your creatures should fear you, and all creations should prostrate themselves to You… —High Holiday Amidah.

A strange prayer, would you not say? We are told all day that fear is our greatest enemy. One of the great mantras of Eleanor Roosevelt was, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” People spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to therapy and rid themselves of their fears.we all come to shul on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Mature, intelligent and successful people. And what do we pray for? “And so instill fear of You upon all that You have made, and dread of You upon all that You have created.” Just yesterday we paid the therapist $245 to get rid of fear, and today we are asking G-d to instill fear in us? Is this normal? Are we trying to impose neurosis on ourselves?

The answer is both simple and profound. Generally, fear could be very destructive. Fear often paralyzes people; it keeps them stuck in a quagmire. But there is one form of fear that is both necessary and very positive: fear of G-d.

A human being is capable of falling very low. And we must know that G-d is concerned with our behavior each moment and craves us to behave morally and kindly. G-d loves us and empowers us to live great and extraordinary lives, and He anticipates that we make the right choices every moment of our lives. Every person needs to ask himself or herself one question before they do anything: What does G-d think about this? Does He approve? If the answer is yes, go right ahead. If the answer is not, you need to reconsider. This is the right way to live.

And if you truly fear G-d, you are more likely to be fearless in other areas of life. The less you fear G-d, the more you will fear other things in your life. You will fear people, you will fear public opinion, you will fear peer pressure, you will fear yourself, you will fear your mother in law, you will fear the mouse in the house, you will fear what this one says or that one thinks.

The more you fear G-d, the less you will fear everything else. Because if you are truly G-d-conscious, you answer only to one authority. You are not for sale. The sole barometer of your decisions in life is what G-d thinks of them.

So when the Baal Shem Tov was a boy of five he lost both of his parents. He was orphaned from both his father and mother. The last words spoken to him by his father before his passing were: "Yisrolik, fear nothing but G-d alone."

Fear of G-d is one fear modern psychology would do well not throwing out the window.

Story/Joke Quaterback - Sid Luckman & His Shtetel Minded Father

You know the story about Sid Luckman. Sid was one of the best Football Quarter Back players ever. Born in Brooklyn, he became a 6-time All-Pro Football QB. He led the Chicago Bears to 4 NFL titles and is shrined in the Football Hall of Fame.

His parents were immigrants, and they knew nothing about football. They came from the Shtetl.

And so, when he was about to play in his first professional game, he thought that it would be only appropriate to invite his parents to watch him play football and get a little bit of “nachas.”

He didn’t want them to be placed up in the stands somewhere, where they would be completely lost. So he had them sit on the bench with the players. In the middle of the game, Luckman drops back, and a line backer comes through the line, and starts to chase him.

Sid is fast. He scrambles with that ball; he’s running down the sideline with all his energy and might, and a couple of huge 6-foot tall, muscular, powerful fellows are running after him...

He runs right in front of his parents. It looks like he is running for his life. At which point, his father yells out in great fear:

“Sid, give them the ball, I’ll buy you another one...“

The trouble with phobias

Simon has a problem. In fact he’s had a problem for so long that it’s
beginning to worry him to death. Finally, he decides he has to do something
about it and goes to see Dr Bloom, his local psychiatrist.
"Oy, doctor, have I got a problem," says Simon. "Every night, when I get
into my bed, I think there's a crazy person under it ready to do me some
serious harm. I'm goingmeshugga with fear. Please help me."
"Don’t worry, Simon," says Dr Bloom, "I can cure you of your fears, but it
will not happen overnight."
"So how long will it take, doctor?" asks Simon.
"Well," replies Dr Bloom, thinking, "come to me twice a week for 3 months
and I’ll rid you of your phobia."
"And how much do you charge a session, doctor?" asks Simon.
“My charges are £100 per session," replies Dr Bloom.
"But that will cost me £2,600 in total," says Simon. "I’m going to have to
think about it and let you know. I can’t easily afford that kind of money."
Many months later, Simon meets Dr Bloom in Waitrose supermarket. "So why
didn't you decide to let me cure you of your fears?" asks Dr Bloom.
"Well," replies Simon, "As I told you then, your fees were really too high
for me. And then my rabbi gave me the cure for nothing. I was so happy to
have saved all that money that I went on a week’s holiday to Tel Aviv."
"So how, may I ask, did your rabbi cure you?" asks Dr Bloom.
"Easy," replies Simon, "he told me to cut the legs off my bed. It’s now so
low that nobody can possible get under it."

Parrot in Freezer - Joke

David received a parrot for his birthday. This parrot was fully grown, with a bad attitude and worse vocabulary. David tried hard to change the bird's attitude and was constantly saying polite words, playing soft Israeli dance music, anything that came to mind. Nothing worked. He yelled at the bird, but the bird got worse. He shook the bird and the bird got madder and ruder.
Finally, in a moment of desperation, David put the parrot in the freezer. For a few moments he heard the bird squawking, kicking and screaming and then, suddenly, all was quiet. David was frightened that he might have actually hurt the bird and quickly opened the freezer door.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto David's extended arm and said, "I'm sorry that I offended you with my language and actions. I ask for your forgiveness. I will go to synagogue with you every week to pray and I will try to modify my behaviour."
David was astounded at the bird's change in attitude and was about to ask what changed him when the parrot continued, "May I ask what the chicken did?"

nightmares

Why is it that most people who have nightmares never end up completely escaping the perpetrator during their dreams? In the nightmare you always think you found a good hiding place, but the gunman suddenly discovers you, he pulls the trigger and ---- right at that very moment you wake up in a frightening sweat.
Why don’t you ever actually have a dream in which you manage to escape from the horror and you are fully safe and secure, forever after?
The answer is of course simple and profound: The perpetrator in your dreams is none other than – you yourself! There is no REAL perpetrator in your dream; it is just a side of yourself which you have been repressing. And you can never run from yourself… because the self always comes with you. Therefore, you can never fully hide from the inner perpetrator exposed in the dream.

HOW TO STAY SAFE IN THE WORLD TODAY:

HOW TO STAY SAFE IN THE WORLD TODAY: Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20 % of all fatal accidents. Do not stay at home because 17 percent of all accidents occur in the home. (that's 37 % already) Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14 percent of all accidents occur to pedestrians.(now that's 51%) Avoid traveling by air, trains or buses, 16 percent of accidents involve these forms of transportation. (that's 67%) Of the remaining 33 percent, 32 percent of all deaths occur in hospitals. Above all else avoid hospitals. You will be pleased to learn that only 0.01 % of all deaths occur in a synagogue, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is in Synagogue. Torah Study is even safer. The number of deaths during Torah Study is too small to register. For safety's sake, go to Shul as often as possible, and attend Torah Study. It could save your life! Author Unknown PS: You don't have to be Jewish to go to shul. You may not understand what the old guys are saying but sometimes they serve wine in paper cups.