Rabbi Lazer Brody, a Jerusalem-based spiritual guide and life coach, said he knows the secret to happiness and is eager to share it with anyone who wants to hear it.
“If you feel a lack of satisfaction, if something is wrong, it means that the soul is lacking and we need to give the soul what it needs… that’s emunah, that’s a connection with Hashem, the creator,” said Rabbi Brody who will be in Toronto June 8 at Chabad Flamingo to deliver a lecture titled “Hashem Rofecha: Holistic healing using Torah as your guide.”
“Understand that I am not talking about religion. I never talk about religion. I won’t tell anyone to keep Shabbat or keep kosher or do anything else. But the point is, your soul needs a connection to the Creator. You’re a tiny part of the Creator. Once you’re connected with the Creator, he’ll take you where you need to go,” he said.
The American-born Rabbi Brody, who spreads this message – based on the works of Rabbi Shalom Arush, an Israeli Breslov rabbi – throughout the English-speaking world, spoke to The CJN about his own path to becoming a ba’al tshuvah and guiding people to lead happier lives.
“I grew up in a very Zionist home… We grew up with a very strong Jewish identity,” said Rabbi Brody, who serves as the spiritual guide at the Chut Shel Chessed yeshiva in Jerusalem, which was founded by Rabbi Arush.
“As long as I can remember, I always dreamed about being in Israel. That’s what led me to learn agriculture.”
After obtaining a degree in agricultural studies at the University of Maryland, he moved to Israel in 1970, bought a farm, joined the Israel Defence Forces and served in an elite infantry unit.
During the Israel-Lebanon in 1982, in his role as a reservist, he was involved in a near-fatal mission in Beirut.
“The PLO was shooting at the Israeli forces from the Russian embassy… The government decided to do a commando mission… it was almost suicidal,” he recalled.
“Against all odds, we made it out. As it was, only eight out of 12 of us came home alive. But on the spot, I decided that I had to change my life and I really felt like a divine hand pulled me out of the inferno… There are many people who make foxhole vows and forget about them, but I kept true to my word.”
He said he went to Jerusalem and enrolled at Aish Hatorah for nine years of day and night learning. In 1992 he was ordained and he has been working alongside Rabbi Arush for the past 16 years, translating many of his books including the bestseller, The Garden of Emuna.
Rabbi Brody has also written self-help books in Hebrew and English, and recently published Six Days to the Top, a motivational book meant to help people reach their full potential.
Rabbi Brody, who takes a holistic approach to healing the body, mind and soul, said, “People are on pills, people are sick, people are not feeling good and there’s stress and anxiety. The human body is not built to handle stress and anxiety… We have to see that our bodies are suffering from stress and anxiety because it is something we’re doing wrong.”
He said the missing piece to the puzzle is emunah, the pure and complete faith in Hashem and learning to keep outside variables from determining our happiness.
“What western society wants, the bank account, the car, a house in the right neighbourhood, a spouse with the right status – if you still feel something lacking, a particular item you can’t put your finger on… you have a type of malnutrition in your soul.”
He said he doesn’t believe someone can be truly happy without a belief in God.
“I don’t believe there is such a person. We’re talking about a true sense of inner gratification that doesn’t depend on anything external to be happy.”
For more information, visit www.breslev.co.il