First posted on The Times of Israel at: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/anti-demon-laser/

Baal Haturim Deuteronomy: Vaetchanan

Anti-Demon Laser

Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in, can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer. -Barbara De Angelis

We are all chased by demons at some point in our lives. Either real ones, or metaphorical ones. They may gnaw at your consciousness. They may invade your dreams. They may dominate your nightmares. However, when they intrude upon your daily life, it becomes a dangerous threat.

The Baal Haturim on Deuteronomy 6:4 provides a prescription for the banishment of demons. It is the age-old prayer of “Shma Israel”. It is the prayer that our Patriarch Jacob is said to have recited upon his emotional reunion with his long-lost son, Joseph. It is the prayer that countless Jewish martyrs throughout the ages stated with their dying breath as they were hung, flayed, burned, shot and gassed to death. It is the rallying call of the Jewish faithful to our one God.

The Baal Haturim explains that when a person recites the prayer of “Shma Israel” with earnest concentration, not only does it ward off and protect a person from demons, it actually causes demons to flee from that person.

May we choose to focus and concentrate on the important and meaningful moments in our day.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the Zlatkin family on their return to Israel. Godspeed.