Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I'm Subbing!

Hi all,
Chaya Sara is not going to be having access during the first few weeks of the summer so her sister will be subbing for her!!
The blog will still continue and I'll try to do a good job...
PS If anyone has any thoughts/comments/ideas for new posts, please let me know!
Enjoy your summer!

Friday, June 26, 2009

What do mugs and ppl have in common?? A lot!!

There was a couple who used to go England to shop in a beautiful antique store.
This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea cups.
Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked, "May we see that?
We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, the tea cup spoke.
"You don't understand,"it said, "I have not always been a tea cup.
There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay.
My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over .
I yelled out, 'Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone,' but he only smiled,
and gently said, 'Not yet!'"Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy!
I'm going tobe sick!', I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly, 'Not yet.'
"He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then....then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at thedoor. 'Help! Get me out of here!' I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his headf rom side to side, 'Not yet.' "When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute,the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better,' I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh,please; stop it, stop it!!' I cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!' "Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven.. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. "Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, What's he going to do to me next? An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I did. "I said, 'That's not me; that couldn'tbe me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!' "Quietly he spoke: 'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but ifI had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"
Hashem knows what He's doing in each of us. He is the potter,and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will. So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this:
Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down, andhave a little talk with the Potter!!
i love this so much thanks sooo much shoshana for this thought provoking really cool post!! it fits in so perfectly with lasts post.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

hashem said no for a good reason

Hashem Said No!!!
I asked Hashem to take away my bad habit.
Hashem said, No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.
I asked Hashem to make my handicapped child whole.
The answer was No. His neshama is whole, and his
warmth and love for others is more whole than you will ever know!
I asked Hashem to grant me patience. Again Hashem said, No.
Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is learned.
I asked Hashem to give me happiness. Hashem said, No.
I give you so many blessings; and you will choose to see all my good.
Since , Happiness is up to you.
I asked Hashem to spare me from hardships and pain. Again i was told No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you so much closer to me.
I asked Hashem to make my neshama grow. Hashem said, No. You must grow on your own! when you overcome your strong desires you get closer to me!!
I asked Hashem for all good things that I might enjoy life. Hashem said, No. I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.
I asked Hashem to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me. Hashem said...Ahhhh, finally you got it!!!! take all my love that i give you and give it to others!!
we must realize that Hashem has the broadest picture and knows how to make each and every situation fit into our neshamos!! we see from here that you got everything you needed just in a diff. way than you expected! Hashem answers every tefilla, we just have to open our eyes and see him!!
thank you chanala for this post!! i love it!!

Do you want to know how to bring more goodness to the world???

I dreamt that I went to Shamayim and a malach was showing me around.We walked side-by-side inside a large work room filled with malachim.My malach, stopped in front of the first section and said, "This isthe Receiving Section. Here, all the bakashos to Hashem said during davening are received."I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many malachim sorting out all the requests that were written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.The malach then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.Here, the brachos and yeshuos the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."I noticed again how busy it was there.There were many malachim working hard at that station, since so many brachos had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station.To my great surprise, only one malach was seated there, idly doing nothing."This is the Acknowledgment Section," my malach quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed."How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked."So sad," the malach sighed. "After people receive the brachos that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."How does one acknowledge HaShem's blessings?" I asked."Simple," the malach answered. "Just say, "Thank you, Hashem.""What brachos should they acknowledge?" I asked. You can say thank you Hashem for anything,"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep ... you are richer than 75%of this world."If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are really so lucky ."If you woke up this morning in a good mood ready to use all your energy to make others happy. Then you are def. richer than a millionare! "If you have never experienced the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you are unique to all those in doubt and despair."Ok, what now? How can I start?send a thank you to the acknowledge dept. Attn: Acknowledge Dept.: Thank You Hashem!"Thank you Hashem, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with."

may you use your time here in this world to become closer to hashem and thank him for every time something good happens, i got through to my friend i was trying for soo long... thank you Hashem, I went to an inspiring class thank you Hashem, I had a great time talking to my friend she put me into such a good mood.... Thank you Hashem! Then Hashem will give us more and more reasons to thank him!!
when your friend says thank you to you for being so helpful, im sure it makes you want to do more for her, bec. she appriciates you!
Hashem works the same way, when you say thank you to Hashem it only makes Hashem want to do more for us!

In chumash devarim parshas ki savo pasuk mem zayin it talks abt how hashem will send us enemies... it goes into sept. 11 and one of the reasons why it happened!
you will be shocked to know that in the pasuk it says;
tachas asher lo avadita es hashem elokecha bisimcha....
bec. we did not serve Hashem with simcha/ joy and excitement....We were'nt happy, we did not realize how much good we had. Therefore Hashem will send an enemy to you....who will destroy your tall buildings.... to really wake us up...(my birthday is sept. 11 so it makes me feel that i have a message to share with all of you!)
so hashem woke us up already... lets show Hashem that we dont need any more wakeup calls!!
my idea:
lets try when we hear abt a simcha, a healthy baby, or someone gets engaged, or we walk into a simcha lets say one short perek of tehillim to thank Hashem that we are going to a house of simcha, and not chas veshalom....
then hopefully the tehillim list will get shorter bec. we wont need pain to turn to Hashem we will have simchos and exciting things to thank Hashem!
At my sisters vort we had the Sefer Tehillim divided up so whoever came said a short booklet to thank Hashem that we are coming to a house of simcha!! Ofcourse we finished the tehillim a few times! whoever came thought it was such a great idea to open up the gates for hashem to send us more brachos!!
then Hashem will see how we really do want to be close to him in good times and beezras Hashem he will send us many more brachos!!
I'm already waiting to hear the good news.....
Then we will be zoche to go to yerushalayim with too much thanks on our lips!!!AMEN!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

we are all going though real challenging times HELP!!!!

Why does Hashem give us pain?? we all like to go through life without any extra pains to carry on our back, why do we NEED the pain??
there are sooo many answers Im only telling one of the hundreds so keep looking and asking and finding out since there is soo much to know!!
Pain is really a gift from hashem:
We must always remember that any time you are in pain hashem is crying with you in your pain!! He is hugging you and holding you throughout the whole thing!!

Hashem is extra close to us when we feel like we cant anymore!! The only thing we could really could do when we are in pain is call out to Hashem cuz noone else can help us. OS we become closer to Hashem and we see him helping us so much more!!
LOOK FOR EVERY TIME SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENS AND SAY THANK YOU HASHEM I DONT DESERVE ANY OF THIS GOOD JUST CUZ YOU LOVE ME YOU ARE GIVING ME THIS GOOD!!! THE MORE YOU SAY THANK YOU TO HASHEM THE MORE HASHEM WILL GIVE YOU REASONS TO THANK HIM!!!
one more thing that may be hard to hear but we need to know this!!
pain erases our avieros that we do when we do avireos we think ok big deal i just did this small thing but when it comes to hashem he does not forget anything!! the pasuk says YISURIM MIMARKIM AVONOS SHEL ADAM !! pain erases aveiros the bigger the pain the moe aveiros you erase! Believe me you would so much rather get the pain in this world rather than the next bec here its bits and pieces and there its much more painful!!! since we have to pay for it no matter what!!
Rabbi ephraim waxman told my family after my brother was niftar that if you go through pain and you say HASHEM I ACCPEPT ALL THIS PAIN WITH LOVE!! ITS AS IF YOU FASTED 300 YRS OF FASTING!! (WOW YOU WILL LOOSE SO MUCH WEIGHT!!) THATS HOW HUGE IT IS TO GO THROUGH PAIN AND NOT BE ANGRY AT HASHEM!! EVEN IF YOU DONT FEEL IT STILL ITS A HUGE THING TO SAY IT!!
just to help you see where I am coming from I have had many difficult challenges in my life.

those of you who know me personally know my eye story in your sleep but for those who never heard it its a real strory that happened to me 2 yrs ago. Hashem almost took away my eye sight I almost became blind from the lense solution!! can you imagine the fright of almost loosing your eye sight in your right eye!!! I said to hashem either take my life or pls let me see I will not be able to make it through my life without my eye!! I begged and davened to the most loving father in heaven to pls have pure rachmanus on me and pls give me my eye sight!!
I was only able to see dots of grey white and pink i could not images or pictures only dots!!
you should never ever know of such a frightening moment!! i thought my life was over!!
i could not see my hand in front of me, i could not see the floor to my room.....
i rem. that Mrs. Minzer (aim habyis in seminary) told me that if ppl use their eyes in wrong way Hashem could send them back without eyes a second time!! so when i almost lost my eye sight i said Hashem pls let it erase all the bad that my eyes saw in the past!! pls erase those avieros!!
when i put the medicine into my eye i felt like i was putting sand into my eye, i started to scream''MOMMY ITS THE WRONG MEDICINE PLS TAKE IT OUT!!!!!!!" SHE SAID IM SO SORRY THIS IS THE RIGHT MED. FOR YOU!! I HAD TO PUT IT IN EVERY HOUR, I THOUGHT MY LIFE WAS GOING TO END FROM THIS PAIN!!
IT WAS SUCH A CRAZY LIFE LESSON FOR ME! I HAD TO PUT THIS INTO MY EYE EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SOOO PAINFUL THAT IS THE ONLY WAY I COULD GET BETTER!
IN LIFE HASHEM DOES THE SAME THING TO US HE GIVES US THINGS THAT WE DONT LIKE AND THAT IS THE ONLY MED. THAT COULD CURE YOU! ONLY HASHEM IN HIS INFINITE WISDOM CAN KNOW WHY YOU NEED THIS PAIN RIGHT NOW !!!
I went into my room and said," I know you are holding my hand through this extremely painful time. I will continue to praise you for all the people you sent into my life and i will daven for all those who are in soooo much pain!! "I cant thank you enough for giving me my eye sight for free!! i paid 3,000.00 for my eye!!! HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY?? NOTHING???? OH WOW YOU SEE HOW MUCH HASHEM GIVES NON STOP!!
if you trust in hashem and in the dark times you still love him, he will reward you!!
Guess what i saw the reward in front of my eyes!!!
my eye got better faster than the doctors ever expected!!

I WENT TO TEACH PPL ABT THE GREATNESS OF AMEN AND AT THE END THEY ALL DAVENED FOR ME!THE POWER OF AMEN IS SO GREAT IT OPENS UP ALL THE GATES OF SHAMAYIM AND IT SENDS DOWN ALL THE BRACHOS FOR YOU !! IT IS SOOO EASY TO DO AND I GOT TO SEE RESULTS SOO QUICKLY!!!right after everyone finished answering amen to each others brachos about 500 brachos. i felt diff. i thought maybe i was just imagining things!! when i came into the doctor he could not believe his eyes!!
the nurses were all standing around with mouths dropped open!!
if you trust in our creator our father and concentrate on all the things we ,well go much farther than we thought we could!!
we need to realize that Hashem is the only address that will fully be able to change your life for you!!
waiting to hear your comments

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hashem loves us!

Hi,
This is Chaya Sara's sister writing - Baruch Hashem I just gave birth to a precious little baby boy a little over two weeks ago and I wanted to share some thoughts with you...

A newborn baby is such a HUGE miracle!! When you look at them, you see perfection. You see innocence and purity. I look at my newborn and think, he is so pure and I wish he can remain that way. He is pure potential - whatever is put into him is what he will become! He doesn't know anything - it is up to me to fill his heart with love for Hashem, love for torah and mitzvos and love for othert people!!! And I daven and cry that I will do my job properly and he will grow up to be a person who always has Hashem in his life...

It's amazing how I feel sooo much LOVE for my tiny newborn when he didn't do anything to deserve my love!! all he really did was cause me pain/make me lose some of my energy while I was pregnant (not that I'm complaining chas v'shalom...), cause me more pain when I gave birth to him and now he keeps me up at night & just takes & takes & takes...he says, feed me, change me, hold me, bathe me...but I just love him no matter what! no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he screams, no matter how many diapers need to be changed...and no matter how many times I have to change my linen (because of a little squirt or because he made through his diaper while he was on my bed...) I still just love him sooo much!!
And this is all just to show us how much HASHEM LOVES US!!!!! No matter what we do, we are Hashem's children!! It says in tehillim, Banim atem laHashem, you are Hashem's children! And when you look at a parent's love for a child, you can begin to get a glimpse of Hashem's unconditional love for us! Not because we deserve it, but for no reason at al!!! We didn't earn

Hashem's love, it's just that Hashem loves us because we are His children - that's all!!!!!


Here's another thought - I was in middle of feeding my baby when he fell asleep. I wanted him to wake up so I can finish feeding him and so he won't be hungry but what can I do, he fell asleep?! So I started to tickle his toes. Sometimes that works but this time it didn't and he just continued sleeping...so I opened up the snaps on his stretchie, cuz sometimes the exposure to cold air wakes him up. But that didn't work either. So I picked him up and started to burp him, tap, tap, tap n his back. That seemed to do the trick! He woke up and was about to cry, but I quickly fed him.
So here's what I was thinking...When I was patting my son on the back and he woke up, he must've been thinking, "What is my mommy doing to me?! I'm trying to sleep and she's slapping me!! I'm tired, I want to sleep...."
But then, just as my son was about to open his mouth to cry, he realized he was getting the most delicious food ever!!
Hashem is trying to wake us up so He can give us all the beautiful gifts He has in store for us! But we are asleep, busy with all the distractions of the outside world!!! Hashem wants to give us all the sweet rewards a life of Torah and mitzvos has to offer, but we are too busy with so many other things to notice the beauty so Hashem says, I'll wake you up slowly, with brachos, good news, stories of inspiration, little everyday miracles...but we don't get it! We are waaaay too busyfor Hashem and His messages. So Hashem says, then I'll have to wake you up using a different method...and then comes the tap, tap, tap - hardships and pain, all just to get you to turn to Hashem!! And once you open up your mouth and turn to Hashem, He will fill your life with sooo much bracha! All He really wants from you is for you to live with Him every day of your life!!
Think of ways to bring Him into your every day life, talk to Hashem at any moment cuz He's always there for you and always available; He's never too busy to listen to you!! And then you will see that your life will be sooo much more fulfilling and so much more meaningful because there is nothing as sweet as a life of closeness to Hashem!!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Everyone can change no matter how broken you feel!

Someone sent a letter to her counselor and she wanted me to see it so she sent me a copy of it. I want you to read it so that you can see how everyone can change no matter how far they have gone! At any moment you can decide to invite Hashem into your Neshama and live for real!!!!
Dear counselor,
I just want to thank you for all you have done for me.I remember those hopeless nights when I would bitterly cry myself to sleep. I wished I would never wake up again. It’s funny, almost. There I was, the girl who had everything- Smart, fun, popular and wacky. But it was all a sham. I lived a double life. On the outside, I was always happy and content, breezing through high school without a care in the world. But on the inside, there was only darkness and despair. I had so many questions; so many things didn’t make sense to me. I hated myself and I hated the whole world. I was so confused. I davened to Hashem to help me make sense of it but the darkness only got stronger and stronger. So I just slowly stopped believing that he was there at all. I despised Judiasm, it was a cage for me, a bunch of torturous rules that I didn’t understand. I was so depressed. And nobody knew, not even my parents. I didn’t trust them to understand. It was just me, struggling alone in that wild tornado. There were times when I really thought I would have a nervous breakdown. In school, I was constantly yelled at. I was always acting up and getting myself into trouble. It got to the point where I was always assumed to be the source of any commotion and was embarrassed in public for things I had never done. They couldn’t see that the crazy things I did were in order to distract myself from the horrible darkness that would creep up on me whenever I was alone with my thoughts. They never realized how starved I was for warmth and love. At night, when I could no longer run from myself, I used to dream of peace, and imagine fantasy lands where I was loved. I dreamed of running away, far from my home and the religion that I so despised. And the next day, I would paste the smile on my face and pretend everything all over again. I must have done a really great job of it, because nobody ever dreamed that beneath my carefree exterior my heart was dying a slow death. Do you know what it’s like to have to pretend day in, day out that you are the happiest girl when inside you are shattered in to a million and one pieces? I gravitated to the internet, immersing myself in it to numb the pain I was in. And so I slid, closer and closer to the point of no return, with nobody to catch me.
You saved my life. You understood the things that nobody else could. I can’t get over how much you care about me. You lead such a busy life but whenever I talk to you, I feel like I’m the only thing in the world that matters. I’m not embarrassed to tell you about issues that I have- you are the most understanding person in the world. For real. I guess because you went through it yourself you always seem to know exactly what I’m talking about. You never judge me; you just love me with unconditional love and accept me just for the way I am. My teachers thought I was a troublemaker and my parents had visions of a role model student that I knew would never come true. But you think I’m special just for the way I am. I’m starting to think positively about myself for the first time in my life. You guided me to see how Hashem is really there every second of my life holding my hand and surrounding me with his love. You opened up a new door for me, and I can see that Judaism is not a cage- it is wings on which I can soar. I love being Jewish now- do you get it? I LOVE BEING JEWISH! I never thought I would in a million years. It’s a whole new life that I’m living now, so full of sunshine and joy. I still cry though, for all those kids out there who are still stuck in the darkness, who hate themselves, who don’t know of Hashem’s great love for them. I’ll bet half of them are pretending like I did and some kids probably don’t even realize that their missing anything. I’m not the only one with questions- everybody needs answers. You gave me the gift of being able to love the life I’m living and to love the purpose for which I was created. I wish you could give that gift to every other Jewish teenager in the world. There is just no other gift quite as exquisite.
When I smile now, I feel it down to the bottom of my heart and when I laugh, it’s a real laugh that bubbles up from inside of me. I’m beginning to find peace, with my father in heaven, with my life, and most of all with myself. Nothing changed around me, the problems in my life did not disappear, only I changed inside and that is all that matters. The fantasy land I imagined is open before me. Thanks to you I’m beginning to leave my dream.

I also want to show you the things that gave her strength to start all over again.
If you see someone in pain pls look at her and love her, understand her, encourage her and then you can help more ppl.
pls comment on this since many ppl. will gain from your ideas.

whats up with the seven fat cows???

I just recieved this beautiful e mail to help us understand a really cool torah thought that I bet you never thought about in this way.

One of the many lessons that I have learned and want to address is: What is significant in having seven years of plenty fallowed by seven years of famine in Egypt? What can I learn from this to apply to my life?

I know that Hashem always has a master plan and everything works out, even if I don’t see it, and may never see it, but, if I know that it is true I can confidently say, Hashem gives me a tool box for every challenge before the challenge begins. So what was the years of plenty/wealth? They where the tool box given from Hashem, to prepare and stock up for the years of famine, so when the years of famine come the Mizriyim will be prepared and ready to deal with the challenge head on and not die of starvation.

However, there is one important key about human nature which is that people don’t generally see the years of plenty as a tool to use those years to stock up. Instead they live in the moment and never believe that the years of famine will come around. Then, when the years of famine come they are stuck. We see from the Torah that people tend not to notice the years of plenty but, only the years of famine from the fact that the Torah writes “ The years of famine began” but fails to mention that the years of plenty began.

When a person has good she must always remember to use it and cherish every moment because it will not last, as Chazal say “the world goes round and round.” The trick in life is to use those moment toward the future and think into the future. This way when the going gets tough she will have to resources to get through it. A person will not be successful if they don’t plan for the future but live in the moment, the right here right now attitude. A person must plan for the future as Shlomo Hamelech said: “Who is smart? The one who sees into the future.”

There was once a study done on ten children, they were each given his own bag of candy and then placed in a room. They were each given the option to either to eat the candy or wait two hours and at the end get a second bag. Seventy percent eat the one bag right away. All the children where tracked, and the ones that waited for the second bag were found to be very successful in their career. We see from this example, how hard it is to plan for the future but, how beneficial it is.

Another example in our Parsha where there was planning for the future was when Yosef had all of Egyptians have a Bris, so when we go to Egypt no, one will question the custom. This lesson of planning for the future carries over to every aspect of ones life. For example, school, diet, money, job, buying a house and so on. I would like to address two areas to apply it to my life now.

How can I plan for the future, so that when a challenge arises I will have to tool to cope? Now, school is over and I am entering a world where I won’t have an environment with constant inspiration at my finger tips. How will I insure my closeness with Hashem and continue learning if I’m not in classroom anymore every day? Where will I get inspiration from day to day? If I act now and take all that I am learning and save it, I will have it to pull out whenever I need to use it, so that I won’t be dry of spirituality. These last twelve years I have been in school have been the tool box, but, only if I use the tool box and recognize that it is a tool box. This is one example of using the idea of the seven years of plenty before the seven years of famine. Using the seven years of plenty before the famine so that I will be ready for the famine.

The second way that I can apply the same concept of thinking into the future is, there are many people that I meet in life everyday. New people, I have many interactions with many different people and I will never know if and how I will see them again and what significances they may play in my life. Therefore I can never make enemies and have to make sure to always give a proper impression, one that I would want to leave. The lady that I meet in the store might be my mother-in-law. Someone may call a person in the community and ask about me, this is also an example of planning for the future and not just living in the moment.
So I leaned from Chumash to always plan and think into the future because I can never know what Hashem will give me.


May you start to see how much good you are given in this world. And see that you have had so many fat cows in your life, not in your dreams.....

Sunday, June 14, 2009

This was an e mail sent to me by B'yachad. I think its soooo cool if you read it with your heart, and an open mind, you can learn some great new ideas!!
In what way can we grow that we actually can feel a real change inside ourselves??
AWARENESS is the key. It’s the first step to create balance in your life.
When you are aware of what’s going on, where you are, what you are doing, and what you are thinking, it is only then that you have more freedom to choose. Making wise choices depends on how much awareness you bring to the moment.
Rav Shimshon David Pincus explains: Pretend it’s Rosh HaShana (the New Year). What do we do? The VERY FIRST thing to do is to KNOW that today is Rosh HaShana. We must be aware that it’s a special day.
Let’s say a Jew is driving on the highway. He realizes that the sun will set soon and he didn’t pray Mincha yet. He pulls over, gets out of the car, and prays Mincha. Of course, it’s very noisy with all the cars passing by. It wasn’t his greatest prayer because of the distraction around him, but he figures that tomorrow he can pray another Mincha and it will be better than today’s. Now pretend it’s Yom Kippur. This same Jew is in a synagogue. It’s time for Mincha. He’s been there all day, fasting and praying. He’s very weak and tired. He says, “Well, if I don’t pray well during Mincha, I’ll have another chance tomorrow.” Does this make sense to you? NOOOOO!!! Why? Because today is Yom Kippur. The power and essence of this day atones for all the mistakes he made throughout the whole year. A prayer on Yom Kippur is VERY different from a prayer on every other day of the year. If he is aware of this, he can make a good choice and pull his strength together and pray to Hashem from the bottom of his heart, with as much effort and concentration as possible. If he doesn’t know this, then he loses out big time!!!!
When you have awareness, you will be amazed at how much you can change the quality of your life.
How much of the time in your day are you fully present? For example, when you eat, how much of the time are you really there, with your attention on eating? And how much of the time is your mind wandering to past memories, present worries, and future dreams? Are you tasting the flavors of the food and chewing intently and enjoying the aroma of the food? Are you thinking about eating in order to nourish the body and be healthy to do the mitzvot (commandments)? Do you realize what a gift it is to eat and enjoy the food??? All Hashem asks is say thank you not mumble it so under your breathe that you dont even know if you said it or not!! maybe once a week you could jst take a bencher and read it in english. You will see what you are really saying and feel so much luckier abt how much you have!!!

When you sleep, how much of your energy is being given to the problems of the day and worries of how things will work out? And how much of your energy is directed at experiencing a deep, restful sleep and recharging the whole system so that you can be healthy to do mitzvot and get closer to Hashem?

When you have a conversation with someone, are you maintaining eye contact and listening to them and trying to understand them? Or are you thinking of what you’re going to say next? Are your eyes wandering to what’s going on around you? Are you fully present?

We are out of balance because we are not awake. We’re not there. Increasing awareness can help us get back in balance (emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically).

Unfortunately, many people in this world are on autopilot. They are not thinking. They are not seeing. They do the same things every day, a routine, and they don’t include thought in it anymore. It’s automatic. Is this life? Can we call that “living”? If you want to feel alive and happy and like there is meaning in every second of every day, then AWARENESS is the key.

Be present in your life. This is called mindfulness.

In certain divisions of Hewlett-Packard, after going through training sessions of how to stay mindful, they started doing things to help wake themselves up. For example, some people made a screen saver which would say, “Wake up!” or “Breathe…Smile…Relax” in bright colors. One person found a “WHOA!” sign and put it in the corridor so that when employees pass by, they would see it and remember to slow down and find their balance. Some people set their watch to beep every hour. When it beeps, it reminds them to wake up and be mindful.

The first step is awareness---to know where you mind is going. Where are you directing your energy? Without knowing this, you cannot redirect your energy and focus to something else because you have no clue that you need to!!!

Rabbi Yissocher Frand teaches that during the times of the first Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple), the people also did things by rote. Bringing sacrifices became a habit. This was the challenge of that generation.

When bringing a sacrifice to Hashem, so much thought and emotion is involved. If someone brings a sacrifice to atone for his mistakes, then he is supposed to look at the animal being slaughtered and burned on the Mizbeyach (Altar). He is supposed to feel that it should have been him, but it’s happening to the animal instead. He is supposed to do teshuva (return to Hashem) and work on himself to be better. If he brings a sacrifice to show thankfulness to Hashem, then he has to recognize the great kindness that Hashem did for him and truly appreciate it. Basically, their mind has to be there. They have to be focused. It is not a time to space out. At the time of the 1st Beit HaMikdash, the people bought the animal, brought it to the Kohen, and told him to sacrifice it. It became a habit. They left the intent and thought out of it. And what was Hashem’s reaction? “Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me?” says Hashem. “I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle; and the blood of bulls and sheep and hegoats I do not want.” (Yeshayahu 1:11) There was no spirituality involved, so Hashem didn’t want such offerings. There was no thought, no feeling.

Hashem wants us to LIVE. When you’re saying a blessing, are you really there saying a blessing? Where are you when you’re talking to a friend? Where are you when you’re watering your plants? How about when you’re cleaning for Shabbat? What about when you’re walking down the street? You are where your mind is. So the question is: WHERE IS YOUR MIND? Bring it to the present moment and LIVE
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Friday, June 12, 2009

Does every dot really count?????

Some of us saw this e mail. However i recieved it again today,for whoever never saw this its just such a powerful message!

Dear Rabbi, Why does the Jewish religion seems to obsess over insignificant details?How much matza do we have to eat, which spoon did I use for milk and which for meat, what is the right way to tie my shoelaces? if i ate meat i have to wait a few hours ..... and many many more.... whats up with all these small things they seem sooooooo insignificant!!
It seems to me that this misses the bigger picture by focusing on minutiae.Is this nitpicking what Jews call spirituality?(I actually already sent you this question over a week ago and didn'treceive a reply. Could it be that you have finally been asked a question that you can't answer?!)Rob
Answer:Dear Rob,I never claimed to have all the answers. There are many questions that are beyond me. But it happens to be that I did answer your question, and you did get the answer. I sent a reply immediately. The fact that you didn't receive it is itself the answer to your question. You see, I sent you a reply, but I wrote youremail address leaving out the "dot" before the "com". I figured that you should still receive the email, because after all, it is only one little dot missing. I mean come on; it's not as if I wrote the wrong name or something drastic like that! Would anyone be so nitpicky as to differentiate between "yahoocom" and "yahoo.com"? Isn't it a bit ridiculousthat you didn't get my email just because of a little dot? No, it's notridiculous. Because the dot is not just a dot. It represents something. That dot has meaning far beyond the pixels on the screen that form it. To me it may seem insignificant, but that is simply due to my ignorance of the waysof the web. All I know is that with the dot, the message gets to the right destination; without it, the message is lost to oblivion. Jewish practices have infinite depth. Each nuance and detail contains a world of symbolism. And every dot counts. When they are performed with precision, a spiritual vibration is emailed throughout the universe, all theway to G-d's inbox. If you want to understand the symbolism of the dot,study I.T. If you want to understand the symbolism of Judaism, study IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!you will find so many cool answers to your questions it will blow your mind!!
lets all start to see things with a clearer mind. we dont see the full impact of the small things that we do, every dot makes a diff.
how small is a dot?? yet look how far it goes gets us, on the internet with out dots we cant travel around the world in the comfort of our homes!!
so the next time someone asks you to do something and it seems sooo small run do it you have no clue how far reaching that act can take you!!! TINY EXAMPLE,
YOU NOTICE SOMEONE WALKING AND HAS REALLY HEAVY PACKAGES AND YOU JUST WALK OVER TO HER AND HELP HER. HOW HARD WAS THAT??? WHO KNOWS WHO WAS WATCHING YOU, MAYBE SOMEONE FROM THEIR CAR WHO LOOKED DOWN AT SOME FRUM PPL.... AND NOW CAUSE SHE SAW YOU SHE WILL SEE PPL IN A NEW LIGHT AND YOU WILL NEVER KNOW!!
THIS COULD BE A RIPPLE EFFECT!
SMALL SHORT TRUE WELL KNOWN STORY TO SEE THE POWER OF SMALL ACTS...TOLD OVER BY RABBI PAYSACH KROHN
I DONT HAVE ALL THE DETAILS, BUT THIS IS THE BASIC STORY ANYONE CAN FIX IT IF THEY KNOW THE PERFECT VERSION.
A MAN WAS DAVENING AT THE KOSEL THANKING HASHEM WITH ALL HIS HEART FOR ALL THE KINDNESS HE RECIEVED. A BYSTANDER WHO WAS NOT RELIGIOUS WAS JUST AWED BY HIS SINCERITY. AN AWESOME THOUGHT FLASHED THROUGH HIS MIND SINCE I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A JEWISH SCHOOL AND DONT KNOW MUCH ABT JUDIASM HOW ABT. I GO AND DONATE MONEY TO A YESHIVA AND HELP SPREAD THIS MANS GOODNESS AROUND THE WORLD!
SO THIS BY STANDER(JOEY) FLEW TO TEXAS (I GUESS HE LIVED THERE )AND WENT OVER TO THE HEAD OF A YESHIVA AND OFFERED THEM A HUGE AMT. OF MONEY!!! THE PRINCIPAL WAS IN TOTAL SHOCK!! WHAT IS THIS FOR???? JOEY WENT ON TO DESCRIBE HOW HE WATCHED SOMEONE DAVEN AND HE WAS SO INSPIRED HE DECIDED THAT THERE SHOULD BE MORE INSTITUTIONS THAT DO SUCH GREAT THINGS!!
ONE SMALL THING HE DID NOT EVEN KNOW HE WAS BEING OBSERVED BY ANYONE LOOK WHAT BECAME OF IT!
PLS LET US KNOW WHAT ACT YOU DID TODAY IN A SMALL WAY SO WE COULD ALL LEARN FROM AND BE INSPIRED.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Hashem is holding my hand

Hi there! I’m a teenager, just like a lot of you guys. Most of you probably don’t know me- I live out here in Columbus, Ohio. But I recently had a crazy, life altering experience that Chaya Sara asked me to share with all of you, so here goes!
You know those moments in your life that are frozen in your memory forever? Sometimes you have a terrifying experience just a few seconds long and it keeps replaying over and over in your mind for days. Well, as I’m sitting here I can see the entire incident playing out before me in slow motion, each detail excruciatingly clear. I can still taste the fear and my stomach is churning at the memory. I don’t want to overburden you with background details so suffice it to say that my older sister is has just gone through a very stormy and turbulent divorce. She came home to us together with her daughter, a perfectly scrumptious 2 year old. This adorable child is the light of her life. I hate to play favorites, but somehow she managed to steal my heart like none of my other nieces can. Anyway, down to the story, it was a regular Sunday afternoon. I was outside in front of the house, when I suddenly heard terrified screaming. I turned to look and my blood ran cold. My X-brother-in-law was speeding down the street with my sister hanging on to the side of his car for dear life. It took me only a split second to realize that my dearly beloved, heavenly adorable niece was in the car BEING KIDNAPPED!!! I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move. I could only stare in sheer horror as my sister was shoved to the side, almost being run over in the process, and the car disappeared down the street. My sister was shrieking hysterically, as you can imagine. My father had the presence of mind to jump into his car with her to chase after her X husband. My mother was screaming and crying in shock. And me? I was just about too traumatized to do anything but stare numbly at the empty spot on the street where my niece had stood just a minute ago.
And then suddenly, amidst the terrifying chaos I made a dive for the only secure thing in the world that still existed for me. My siddur. I yanked it open to perek chaf. Sobbing I repeated the words over and over again without stopping. “Yaancha Hashem biyom tzarah.” The minutes that followed were absolutely the scariest ones of my life. But I wouldn’t stop saying tehillim, not even for a second. I somehow had the feeling that my words were going to save us. My legs quivered like jelly but deep inside I was calm with the knowledge that Hashem was taking care of us. In those horrible moments of sheer desperation, I somehow felt him closer to me than ever before in my life. After what seemed like an eternity but could only have been a few minutes, the phone rang. I grabbed it instantly. “Sara Miriam”, my sister sobbed, “we have the baby!” I can’t describe to you the relief that those four words brought to us. It was like having a rush of cool water poured on me in the midst of a fiery heat. My family screamed with joy but I just whispered “Thank you Hashem. Thank you for listening to me.”
I’m sure you can imagine why I’m so traumatized every time I recall this experience. Even now, I am shaking. Yet at the same time a feel a reassuring squeeze on my hand. It is the hand of my father in heaven who will never ever let go. And I want you to know, that no matter what kind of crazy things are happening in your life, Hashem is right there beside you. Just reach out to him, let him take your hand, and you will see his miracles unfolding before your eyes.

what is real Beauty??

This is sent from a web site called guard your eyes.com
Sometimes when we're out there in the big world surrounded by all the temptations wherever we seem to look, we cry out in our hearts "Dear Hashem , where are you? I can't see you, I can't feel you! All I see is a beauty of a different kind, wherever I look!"... But then the answer comes to our hearts from Hashem, "My son, does there exist any beauty besides me? I am in the beauty you see as well!". For Hashem is indeed everywhere, and He - and only He - is the source of all beauty. The beauty that we see and crave here on this world is truly only a mere shadow of a manifestation of Hashem's beauty. We need to train our minds to realize that there are no two types of beauty. There is only one source of beauty in the world. But, Hashem has decreed that in order to merit perceiving His true beauty, we must first learn to turn our eyes away from the physical beauty that is only his creation, and instead turn our hearts to Him - to the SOURCE. In His great wisdom, Hashem determined that only one who is ready to give up the physical manifestations of Hashem's beauty should be worthy of experiencing the true beauty of Hashem's , in a much more sublime way.
If you take a look at a precious little 3yr. old, who just got his upsherin. Think about how lit up his face is!! Why? Because he was just carried out of yeshiva wrapped up in a tallis, feeling the sweetness of Hashem's torah enveloping him!Are you getting that warm feeling!!
Every small mitzvah that we do, lights up our neshama and that light radiates from our faces!
Now lets take look at a 3yr. non jewish little boy coming out of public school, does his face light up???
I think you can now understand the true meaning of beauty,and the concept that real beauty is only from Hashem!!
May you be zoche to look into Hashem's magnificent world and find his signature of true beauty!
When we see beautiful things we must remember this beauty is from Hashem!!

Monday, June 8, 2009

hashem sends us warm kisses from heaven

This e mail was sent to me by a program called b'yachad and i thought it was so sweet and a warm message for us to feel Hashem all the time whichever corner we turn , he is right there.
I was walking home from work this week. I usually take the same route. This time, a moment before I turned the block, a thought popped into my head, “How about walking another block and then turning?” So I went with it.

After reaching the corner where I planned to turn, I did. Halfway through the block, I heard a woman screaming in Russian. I turned in the direction of the scream and saw an older woman trying to hold up an old man. In their front yard, he was leaning against a fence with his legs bent, and she was desperately trying to lift him on his feet. I ran over and asked if she wanted help, not knowing how in the world I’d have enough strength to pull him up.

I looked into her eyes and sensed fear and panic and worry all at the same time. She put his arm over her shoulder, and I did the same on the other side. We both tried --- but we couldn’t do it. All of a sudden, I saw two more girls passing that block, so I asked for help. We pulled our efforts together, but we still couldn’t lift him. Eventually, we saw a man passing by and asked him for help, and he picked the old man up by himself and seated him on a bench. And we were all relieved!

After a few minutes of conversation, this old Jewish couple blessed me, and it turned out that we all knew each other!!! It was just in those moments of panic that we weren’t thinking about recognizing each other or making the connections. I found out that the old man has difficulty walking. He went out into the yard with a little stool to sit by the flowers. When he sat, the legs of the stool broke, and he fell forward right onto the fence. She saw him through the living room window and ran out to help.

While walking the rest of the way home, I remembered my thought of taking a different route home. All I could feel was how SWEET Hashem is. Making an assumption based on timing and how everything happened, I think that I had the thought BEFORE the old man fell. We’re always taught that Hashem prepares the solution before he sends the problem. He’s the One who put that thought into my head. On top of that, I believe with all my heart that Hashem heard the woman’s desperate screams and expressed a lot of mercy. BARUCH HASHEM!

These are Hashem’s kisses.

You can beat the Yetzer Hara

i just read this e mail sent to me from guard your eyes.com and i really thought it was cool so i wanted to share it with you!
Sometimes we are like a Dovid, standing up alone against a great and powerful Golyas. The special Jewish Neshama that wants to serve Hashem, is pitted against the powerful Yetzer Hara who seems so much stronger than us. It can look like there is no way to win this battle, in the same way that that there was no way Dovid could vanquish the mighty Golyas. But he did!!! In his eyes there was no way to win, but when we ask Hashem to fight our battle anything can be done!!
He did, because he came with Bitachon - because he came in the name of Hashem.
If only we could see how our little actions affect all the upper worlds... If only we could see what pleasure we give Hashem when we try to serve him even though he seems so hidden from us... If only we could know how our daily battles affects all of Klal Yisrael...
We must believe this, even though we don't see it. All Hashem truly wants from us in this world is "Emunah". Hashem wants our heart to call out to him with all our pain and all our emotions!! Just sit down in your room and start telling hashem how you want to beat your yetzer hara and ask him to help you!!
You can Fight the Yetzer Hara. Tell him, like Dovid told Golyas, that although he is stronger, we are coming to fight him in the name of Hashem . Just sling some stones of Tefillah and Emunah at him and he will fall with a mighty thud!
pls write any ideas that you have for me
if you put it onto the comments then i will look at it and see if its rlly good well put it up onto the site!!
thank you so much for coming and wanting to grow!!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hashem is playing hide and seek with us

We sometimes feel like Hashem is playing hide and seek with us.
we must realize that he never ever ever hides from us!!!
I just spoke to a girl who told me that she was trying so hard to find hashem and to let him in to her neshama and no matter what she did she could not feel him.We decided to do an exercise where every night she would start sitting on her bed (from Rabbi Wallerstein)and before going to sleep to have a short conversation with Hashem. The cool part is that hashem has all the time in the world for you to jst sit and talk with him anytime. so she started jst telling hashem thank you for this small thing that worked out... and then it continued on into her day where she started looking for hashems pats of love every few min. and she told me how when she started thanking hashem for things that went right she suddenly started seeing him more and more!! she could not believe how simple it was!! from one day to the next she just feels so diff. and so much happier!!
Hashem is right outside our door waiting for us to allow him in to our homes and hearts, once you let hashem in you feel so much freer cuz hashem is taking care of you!!
we need each and every person to look out one drop more for hashem so that he could finally reveal himself to us once and for all!!
Here is the short chorus of Pruzansky Oh! hashem every step i take you guide every day i know your standing by my side. You open up my eyes when i am lost and cannot see its all in your hands wherever I am your watching me!!
So here an awesome person from OhrNaava Sara who is an elderly woman sent this to me to see how she views the world could really take us far!!

One day as I was sitting on my recliner looking out my window at a
beautiful cloudless sky and appreciating the breathtaking view I was
suddenly filled with a burst of inspiration. I thought about the
awesome reality that Hashem who is the King of all Kings and the
Creator of all universes and of all mankind is always available and
always waiting for us to communicate with Him, to notice Him, to relate
to Him, to acknowledge Him. To take the time out of our day and call
out to HIM “Heneni, I am here. I have come to talk to you. To sing your
praises. To beseech your kindness. To ask your advice. To trust your
reality. To speak my heart. To reveal my soul. To express my innermost
longings. To depend on you. To love you. To know you. To make YOU a
conscious part of my life.”
Instead, many of us are lost in the maze of this Galus, each one of us
suffering our very private, very own personal Chevlay Moshiach. Each
of us is waiting for our very unique salvation. The tzoros of Am Yisroel
are beyond the measure of endurance. The rope feels so tightly
entangled around our necks. We are challenged as a nation and we are
challenged as individuals. We are all looking for ways to survive. We are
all investing a tremendous amount of effort in attempting to better
ourselves. All this, while it appears that YOU Hashem are in hiding.
Yes, though it truly does appear so, I am totally aware that you are
peeking out from behind the crevices. Whether we consciously hear
YOU or see YOU, YOU are always so very much there. And it is our
choice to talk to YOU, intimately, openly, honestly, lovingly and
trustingly.

pls write your comments of how you are growing so other girls can learn from you and your strength.