Jewish – Christian Anti Terrorism Training in Houses of Worship took place with several prominent Rabbi’s from the New York area and well known Pastor Ken Pangano of the New Beth El Church in Louisville Ky. Recently Pastor Pangano has been all over the national news scene for his open stance on allowing guns in his church for self protection.
The Tzedek Anti Terror Task Force which was founded in 1996 by activist Rabbi Gary Moskowitz came together in Havurat Israel the Synagogue of Rabbi David Algazi Queens New York with Pastor Pangano, Rabbinic intern Stuart Rosenberg who’s a well known martial arts expert and president of Philadelphia Detection Systems Inc. a Philadelphia based security alarm firm and David Goldenberg a former NYPD officer and special weapons and tactics trainer.
The group met to discuss Homeland Security issues facing religious communities and particularly houses of worship. The group believes Clergy need take a stance and lead the way toward responsibility to defend their flocks. Rabbi Moskowitz and Tzedek have developed a complete course to train community leaders and clergy on how to organize, defend, and implement a local security team in their community. It’s a religious edict from the Torah “Guard your Soul” states Rabbi Moskowtz.
After the general meeting the group got down to some serious combat shooting training and gun defense skills which requires a minimum of a 50 hour course to learn the basic skills. Tzedek is a lot more than the average Rabbis but almost every person involved is a serious martial arts instructor, former military or police officer or in the field of professional security. Rabbi David Algazi mentioned in his capacity as a Rabbi ”I’m not yet comfortable myself with firearms however I know people are out there that want to kill us and I feel that training to use a firearm and establishing a local security team is an act of preserving life”.
Pastor Paganno a former marine, who now serves as a police chaplain, NRA handgun instructor, and full time pastor started an open gun policy in his church as way to protect himself and his flock as well as a way to draw people into his church. In Kentucky hand gun laws are liberal and law abiding citizens have the right to openly carry a firearm. Pastor Paganno said he wants people to feel comfortable with guns and realize good religious people with guns is not a contradiction and people have nothing to fear. Many people see the religious as sheep who won’t defend themselves but people should know we are the sheep dogs. Rabbis and Pastors must work to protect their flocks said Pastor Pagano. We all know police are great but they usually don’t come until after the fact “That’s why we carry guns because we can’t carry police officers.”
Many people are in the US are unaware about the easy availability of firearms in the State of Israel. Nearly everyone interested in the preservation of the Second Amendment in America points to Israel as proof of how ordinary citizens, armed and trained, are a deterrent to crime and terrorism. Tezdek believes proper security, education and training will send a strong message to every criminal and make our clergy and congregants much safer.
Stuart Rosenberg is the Regional Director for PA, NJ, DE. and can be reached at (856) 380-1999. We are available to all faiths for security consulting, firearms training and self-defense courses for clergy, houses of worship and religious communities. The National Director Rabbi Gary Moskowitz can be reached at (917) 916-4681.
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Concentration Meditation is the foundation and first meditation taught to beginners and one of the most important meditations for novices and advanced practitioners alike. Learning to focus the mind from external and internal distractions is the key to being successful in any type of meditation.
No matter what we’re involved with in our daily lives concentration is an extremely important skill. Each of us need to focus on so many things in our daily lives whether it’s work, study, prayer, meditation, exercise, staying mentally sharp, teaching, chores, etc… Focusing and holding your concentration for various time periods is a must. Advanced practitioner of meditation also need to develop solid concentration skills for spending longer time periods to focus on their “mantras” (key words or phrases to help in spiritual/mental cleansing).
The first exercise I teach is a counting meditation where we count backwards from 100 to 1 out loud in a slow rhythm maybe one count per second. We sit in a comfortable position preferably a half-lotus position with left foot under and the right foot on top with the sole pointing to the sky. Keeping our back straight, head straight we place our left palm over our right spaced about 1 inch apart and position out hands just below our navels. Sitting cross legged or in a chair is also acceptable if one’s not comfortable in the half lotus position.
As we count aloud we focus on each number in our mind and if we happen to make a mistake we start over. We make no exceptions to this rule because we’re taught never to cheat ourselves and in this we stay honest to our goals. No one will ever know if you cheat but anyone who doesn’t practice sincerely is only damaging themselves by cheating and we can’t cover that up, your soul always knows the truth.
Idealy this meditation should be done twice a day for a month to build up your ability to focus, since it’s a very short meditation it’s easy for novices to do. If you find your mind drift off or miss the count start over as explained but don’t worry about doing good or bad because good and bad is not important at all and leads to distractions that are not helpful. There’s no judgements our progress, just use the experience to learn from.
BTW it’s good to find a regular place to mediate instead jumping from place to place, however I will do this meditation anywhere I feel I need to focus before a stressful situation or a place I know I’ll need to be on my toes.
Practice this for a month and post any questions you may have here and I’ll answer them ASAP.
If you want martial arts or meditation training or have question about this or advanced meditation practice you can reach me through my school American Hapkido & Martial Arts.
Shalom,
Stuart Rosenberg
Popularity: 19% [?]
Filed under Sinmoo Hapkido by Master Rosenberg
This is an interesting concept in Jewish mysticism called “Tikkun olam” (”world repair”) has come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice. The phrase has origins in classical rabbinic literature and in Lurianic kabbalah, a major strand of Jewish mysticism originating with the work of the 16th-century kabbalist Isaac Luria.
The term “mipnei tikkun ha-olam” (perhaps best translated in this context as “in the interest of public policy”) is used in the Mishnah (the body of classical rabbinic teachings codified circa 200 C.E.). There, it refers to social policy legislation providing extra protection to those potentially at a disadvantage–governing, for example, just conditions for the writing of divorce decrees and for the freeing of slaves.
In reference to individual acts of repair, the phrase “tikkun olam” figures prominently in the Lurianic account of creation and its implications: God contracted the divine self to make room for creation. Divine light became contained in special vessels, or kelim, some of which shattered and scattered. While most of the light returned to its divine source, some light attached itself to the broken shards. These shards constitute evil and are the basis for the material world; their trapped sparks of light give them power.
The first man, Adam, was intended to restore the divine sparks through mystical exercises, but his sin interfered. As a result, good and evil remained thoroughly mixed in the created world, and human souls (previously contained within Adam’s) also became imprisoned within the shards.
The “repair,” that is needed, therefore, is two-fold: the gathering of light and of souls, to be achieved by human beings through the contemplative performance of religious acts. The goal of such repair, which can only be effected by humans, is to separate what is holy from the created world, thus depriving the physical world of its very existence—and causing all things return to a world before disaster within the Godhead and before human sin, thus ending history.
While contemporary activists also use the term “tikkun olam” to refer to acts of repair by human beings, they do not necessarily believe in or have a familiarity with the term’s cosmological associations. Their emphasis is on acts of social responsibility, not the larger realm of sacred acts–and on fixing, not undoing, the world as we know it.
The phrase “tikkun olam” was first used to refer to social action work in the 1950s. In subsequent decades, many other organizations and thinkers have used the term to refer to social action programs;tzedakah (charitable giving) and gemilut hasadim (acts of kindness); and progressive Jewish approaches to social issues. It eventually became re-associated with kabbalah, and thus for some with deeper theological meaning.
Thus, over time tikkun olam went from being part of the religious technology of medieval mystics to a standard part of the vocabulary of contemporary North American Jews. Its goal shifted from dissolving history to advancing it.But the phrase “tikkun olam” remains connected with human responsibility for fixing what is wrong with the world. It also appears to respond to a profound sense of deep rupture in the universe, which speaks as much to the post-Holocaust era as it did in the wake of the expulsion from Spain and other medieval Jewish disasters.
Contemporary usage of the phrase shares with the rabbinic concept of “mipnei tikkun ha-olam” a concern with public policy and societal change, and with the kabbalistic notion of “tikkun” the idea that the world is profoundly broken and can be fixed only by human activity.
However, except within traditionalist Hasidic communities, the use of “tikkun olam” rarely reflects the belief that acts outside the realm of social responsibility for example, making a blessing before eating effects a cosmic repair; that tikkun repairs the Divine self. Eating Kosher food repairs the world and elevates the fallen Divine sparks that fell and are embedded in certain permitted foods, so when a Jew eats he elevates the fallen divine sparks. Also doing certain mitzvot (commandments) described in the Torah with particular physical objects (lulav for example) effects similar elevations in the different aspects of the world, earth, plant, animal and human kingdoms.
Tikkun olam, once associated with a mystical approach to all mitzvot, now is most often used to refer to a specific category of mitzvot involving general work for the improvement of society—a usage perhaps closer to the term’s classical rabbinic origins than to its longstanding mystical connotations.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Filed under Judaism-Torah-Halacha, Spirituality by Master Rosenberg
There’s a lot of philosophy in each of these nine rules which I will post one at a time. Doju Ji says unless you learn and practice the following 9 rules you’re not really doing Sinmoo Hapkido. What he means is that the body, mind, spirit all must be trained, neglecting any one part is neglecting the whole. It’s like partially cooking a cake where on the outside it may appear done but the inside is still unbaked batter. Sinmoo strives to develop the whole person and these rules are very universal for a human being to grow. Sinmoo is not a religion of any type just a method or philosophy of personal development. We believe in order to make the world a better place we must make ourself better people so in turn you will help and teach another and increase positive energy into the world.
1. Proper Diet
2. Healthy Sex (adults)
3. Beneficial Meditation
4. Controlling Anger
5.Controlling Sadness & depression
6.Controlling Greed & lust
7. Proper intake of water
8. Proper intake of air
9. Proper intake of sunshine
Sin Moo Hapkido is an art which focuses on the development of the higher mind in order to be more physically effective. The martial artist is limited when using his physical ability alone. The physical aspect of the human body has an inherent limit to its development. Therefore, a martial artist who concentrates solely on physical training will experience restrictions in his overall development. Eventually, he runs into barriers or levels off, and is unable to progress further in his training. But, with the unification of mental, spiritual and physical training, one can overcome any personal physical limitations.There are three aspects of our teachings: physical, mental and spiritual, and there are three rules for each aspect. These aspects are not separate from one another, but are interconnected and effect each other continuously. Don’t think of these teachings as three separateones, but rather, three teachings integrated into one whole. To be weak in one area means you are weak in all areas. Your mind, body and spirit work together , and require equal consideration in your training.In order for us to have maximum potential for the flow of ki (adrenaline) power, we must follow these nine rules. Each rule is a link in a chain. Not following one, weakens the whole chain. All rules need to be followed completely in order to develop to your maximum potential.
Dojunim Ji spent many years teaching his original art of Hapkido, but was not completely satisfied. As physical and dynamic as Hapkido was, Dojunim felt it was incomplete. With many years of research and study, Dojunim Ji was able to innovate Hapkido. The addition of Sin Moo practice and philosophy revolutionized the way a person trains in the martial arts. Sin Moo training goes beyond standard physical training. Sin Moo Hapkido, a higher level of Hapkido, takes us further on the quest for the ultimate training in the martial arts.
You can learn Sinmoo Hapkido at Master Rosenberg’s American Hapkido & Martial Arts Studio in Pennsauken New Jersey.
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Filed under Sinmoo Hapkido by Master Rosenberg
Rambam’s (Maimonides) dietary guidelines – sefer Hamada, Paragraph Two – The Book of Knowledge
One should not eat until one’s stomach is [very] full, but one should [only] eat until one’s stomach is three-quarters full. Nor should one drink water during a meal, except a little mixed with wine, but once the food begins to digest one should what one needs to drink, but one should never drink too much, even when the food digests. One should not eat unless one has checked oneself to make sure that one does not need to relieve oneself. One should not eat unless one has first relieved oneself, or until one’s body gets warm, or unless one has worked at something else first. The general rule of the matter is that one should always answer one’s body. In the morning, one should work until one’s body gets warm, then one should wait until one’s soul has settled, and then one may eat. It is good to wash in hot water after having worked, then wait a while, and then eat.
Reduced Calories
Modern research and Oriental medicine both stress the value of eating only until 2/3 full. In fact, studies show that animals that eat a 2/3 calorie restrictive diet achieve maximum lifespans and strengthened immunity. Overeating is a leading contributor to many of our “modern” diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, degenerative diseases, accelerated aging and heart disease. Societies that eat a caloric restrictive diet while maintaining adequate nutrition, such as the the Okinawans of Japan, have the highest lifespans in the world and enjoy reduced morbidity from many diseases. They eat up to 40 percent fewer calories than Americans and 17 percent fewer calories than the Japanese average. Almost all longevity practices utilize this principle of limiting calories. When you eat 1/3 less calories you will need to maximize each calorie (otherwise you will feel hungry and fatigued) in order to maintain adequate nutrition. You accomplish this by eating nutrient dense foods and forgoing less nutritious junk foods, which are appropriately called ‘empty calories.’ By this method a person gets all the nutrients and vitality they need without getting hungry or gaining weight. There are many modern approaches for accomplishing this. Most count calories and analyze the calories of all foods eaten. In this article we are just mentioning these systems. If you wish to follow these systems you will need to be under the guidance of a professional trained in calorie restrictive diets. Here our goal is to illustrate the benefits of eating less but better foods. The simplest manner of accomplishing this is to eat 3/4 full and only healthy foods.
Overeating also causes other health problems such as the disruption of the digestion by putting great strains on it and damaging the digestive organs. It is human nature to want to feel satisfied with a particular taste. This is why it is very difficult to just have a tiny taste of something. When a person overeats they tend to sample a greater variety of foods and flavors in their diet. Even though the person is satiated, he still needs to sample “enough” of this particular food. We all have experienced this. After a meal we feel stuffed, not being able to have another bite of the meal, but when dessert comes out we all of a sudden have room for a nice helping of sweets. This kind of eating, which is very popular in the West, overstresses the digestion leading to unhealthy food byproducts which can clog and damage our bodies.
Simply eat when you are hungry, eat only nutrient dense foods and do not eat too much. Following this principle will lead to a bodily state that the Rambam calls “listening to ones body to achieve maximum health.”
Drinking During Meals
Many are shocked to read that the Rambam discourages drinking during meals, thinking that this is some backwards, ancient idea. In fact all Asian medical systems advise against drinking during meals. While they do drink tea prior to a meal, please keep in mind that the size of a Chinese teacup is 2-4 oz! Drinking (excessive) water during a meal dilutes digestive enzymes necessary for proper digestion, causes bloating and interferes with the digestion of the solid foods. According to Oriental medicine this is a weakening of the “digestive fire” and of the “warmth” the Rambam says to cultivate prior to eating. Wine has a warming nature and thus if mixed with water can aid digestion and mitigate the negative effects of the water. Rambam recommends to add enough wine to the water so that the water develops a muscatel flavor.
The body contains a digestive vitality or “fire,” which in modern terms is related to the metabolism. By warming the body(discussed in detail later in this article) this digestive fire is stimulated, boosting digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. It also protects the body from the possible negative consequence of eating, namely the production of phlegm, which in modern terms may be translated as free radical oxidizing damage.
Bowel Health
The Mishna Torah is a sefer whose every word is analyzed and relevant; there are no superfluous words. This being the case it is very significant that the Rambam discusses bowel health in four paragraphs of this section (see paragraphs 1, 3, 15, 16). Obviously, bowel health must be of paramount importance in one’s physical and spiritual pursuits.
Constipation and holding back one’s bowel movements is detrimental to one’s health. The gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the colon, is essentially one long tube. If waste matter accumulates to a point that it backs up in one place the rest of the tract will also stagnate and get stuck. This will impede the stomach’s ability to digest efficiently and move the food (called ‘chyme’) into the small intestines. The result is food sitting in the stomach longer than necessary, which then starts to rot and leads to phlegm and food stagnation, which over time will harm the body and cause disease. Food that sits in the stomach too long can also damage the lining of the stomach leading to ulcers and hernias. Furthermore, slow digestion wastes the energy of the body. Instead of this energy being used in productive service it is being used to digest food and detoxify noxious wastes, leading to fatigue and weakness.
In this section the Rambam is discussing the need to be vigilant and check to see if a person needs to relieve himself, and if he does, to not push it off for later. By holding back one’s bowel movements a person is literally retaining waste matter in his body. This will poison the body if left in the colon too long. Habitual holding back of the bowels will lead to habituation, where a person will come to ignore his bodily signals and thus lose touch with his body language. Holding back bowel movements will also lead to slackening of the intestines and hemorrhoids.
There are many lymph nodes in close proximity to the colon which can become polluted if excessive waste matter is retained in the colon. Do not think of the colon as a simple storage area. It is the home of many neurotransmitter nerve endings. In fact, there are more neurotransmitters in the gut than in the brain!
Autointoxication of the colon is a major cause of disease. In the naturopathic healing systems autointoxication is considered the primary cause of all disease, also called the “primary disease” of the body. A sluggish and toxic colon can lead to a variety of serious illness.
The Rambam is teaching us the basic axioms of proper health: wholesome, nutritious foods coming in and healthy, regular waste matter going out.
Four ways to warm your body
Warming the body stimulates the metabolism and readies the stomach for eating and digesting. There are four main ways in which to warm the body prior to eating:
- Physical work – Exercising, walking, working, deep breathing, stretching, massage
- Warming foods & drinks -Green & black tea, herbal tea, vinegar, salty soups, wine, condiments, spices
- External warmth – Hot packs, sunning, heat lamps
- Chewing food completely and slowly
Summary
In order to keep ones body in optimal shape: Do not over eat, over drink, keep the body warm, keep regular bowel movements and maintain regular daily physical exercise.
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Filed under Health-Food-Fitness, Judaism-Torah-Halacha by Master Rosenberg
