Examples abound:
1] Food. Everybody knows that it is unhealthy to be overweight and yet people still eat that extra piece of cake. Is it worth it for "a second on the lips and lifetime on the hips?" No. But the momentary desire for the cake conquers all. Even the mind.
Disconnect.
2] Crime. People know that crime doesn't pay for various reasons. 1] Eventually they may get caught. 2] They live in fear. 3] Their conscious bothers them constantly. 4] It's wrong to be a criminal and people who have a soul don't want to do what is wrong. Yet the world is filled with criminals.
Disconnect.
3] Marriage and family. "Who is more important?" you ask a man. "Your wife and kids or the Jets?" "My wife and kids, of course", will be the answer that is immediately forthcoming. "So why do you spend Sunday in the den with the Jets while ignoring your family? All week long you are too busy working so you can at least give them some time on Sunday."
Disconnect.
4] Religion. An Orthodox shul I know of is filled with Yom Kippur faster's who then break their fast on ... unkosher food [at least some of them]. "Do you believe in G-d?" You may ask them. "OF COURSE", they will answer. "That is why I fasted and married Jewish."
"Why then are you eating lobster on Motzei Yom Kippur?"
Since this is a Torah blog I would like to share 10,000 other examples but I don't want to hit too close to home....
OK. One more...
Is it "nice" to promptly return phone calls [an oft repeated theme here on Mevakesh]? An act of RESPECT for the caller? Of course. Yet ....
Is it right to talk during davening? If a person is in shul, he knows that the same G-d to whom he is davening requests full, undivided attention. Yet...
Do we believing Jews really think that our money is OURS? No, of course not. Everything we have belongs to Hashem, we will proudly declare. Yet, when being asked for tzedaka we sort of feel that we are sacrificing our OWN money. Don't we?
Everybody knows that one is obligated to love his neighbor as himself. How often do we? How often do we even think about it? How often [PLEASE FORGIVE ME - I REALLY LIKE HAVING FRIENDS AND DON'T WANT TO OFFEND:-)] do we really think of others and their needs independent of our own? How much sleep do we lose worrying about ourselves and how much sleep do we lose worrying about others??
Disconnect.
Did I say one example? Sorry, I pashut got carried away.... And a little more in number 5.
5] Middos: We KNOW that jealousy, anger, arrogance, laziness, selfishness etc. etc. are terrible middos and yet aren't many of us afflicted with some of those [including the "etc."] spiritual maladies.
Disconnect.
I know people who live with SEVERE LEVELS of disconnect. People who can give deep shiurim on matters that in their personal lives they fall terribly short of personifying. People who seemingly understand it all and can explain it all and yet they fail miserably at practicing what they preach. Some such people even have good, honorable intentions but there is that disconnect that I sometimes can't comprehend. "THIS person did THAT?"
Of course the bottom line for us, tyere yidden, is to try to "reconnect" ourselves in those areas where we suffer from "disconnect". Actually, Judaism has a word for it.
Mussar.
Hatzlacha!
Love and blessings:-).
