Layaway Angels doing Acts of Goodness and Kindness

A beautiful phenomenon has sprung up across the country the last fewst  days in a totally grassroots, organic way as people everywhere are coming forward secretly to pay off people's bills at their neighborhood Kmart's.

Perhaps they read a story on Facebook or saw it on the nightly news ... and rather than just thinking, "wow, that's so nice" they decided to drive over to their local Kmart and pay off a totally random stranger's bill. Each reported story fueled more stories and more people who decided to do someone else a favor and make their holiday a little bit brighter and easier.

No special rebates or tax write offs involved here. Just being nice to a total stranger.

On Tuesday it was reported that over $4,000 of bills had been paid off anonymously. The most recent report is over $400,000 worth of bills across the country. It's a phenomenon that is growing exponentially. And, every time I see a story on the news I just think to myself what a wonderful sign of Moshiach this is that people everywhere are helping strangers with random acts of love and charity.

I keep hearing the Rebbe's now famous speech on CNN to do acts of goodness and kindness... and this is one perfect example of how people are doing just that, with no other motive other than to lighten a stranger's load and light up their life.

http://youtu.be/MeBYuSxhqUM

"to do things in the realm of goodness and kindness"

They are being called Layaway Angels :)

Sweet... usually we think of angels the way we see them in ads or greeting cards. Fluffy little children with wings dressed in white looking all "angelic" or angels going up and down a ladder or the biblical angels who appeared to Abraham. But, in the real world you too can be an angel also!

No story has come along this year that shows so many people reaching out to strangers doing things in the realm of goodness and kindness as this year's phenomenon of Layaway Angels. I bet Hollywood wishes they would have thought of this one when looking for a good box office hit. Truth is often stranger than fiction and more beautiful, because it is real and often inspiration for the future. Art often imitates life and then we imitate art and on and on it goes.

To really appreciate this you have to have once been in the position that you knew there was no way you could buy your child that toy they wanted so badly or a crib or even clothes for winter and someone suggested you try putting it on Layaway. Go to any big store that has a Layaway counter, it's usually older women and young women, often poorly dressed, nervously holding on to whatever treasure they are trying to buy for someone else and hoping that they will have enough money left over each week to make that payment and make a wish come true for their child or grandchild. They are usually women, though sometimes men, who no longer have credit and their paycheck does not allow them to just "go shopping" so the only avenue left is buying something on sale and paying it off week by week. Sometimes, no matter how much they try and save the money is not there, an emergency came up and if they don't get the items out they forfeit them and sometimes ...depending on the terms of the agreemeent... lose the money they put out and the minimal fees that were charged. It happens a lot. Life happens. Life gets in the way. Emergencies come up and there simply isn't an extra $11.22 for your next payment. Layaway departments are usually the avenue of last resort for people whose backs are up against the wall and who are trying the best they can with what they have to make ends meet.

Been there, done it.... and it's a wonderful feeling when you pay off the balance and you come home with presents for Chanukah or clothes that you could not otherwise afford. One year in Los Angeles I bought my daughters the most beautiful red velvet and pink chiffon dresses on a sale that were a little over the top for Shabbos clothes but they loved them so much. The red velvet, white chiffon dress was my youngest daughter's favorite Shabbos dress. They would fall asleep in them and look a lot like an angels ... my angels :)

You want to help someone... someone who really needs? Trust me, the people trying to save to pay off their presents at Kmart are the most who need a random favor from a stranger.

And, most of all what amazes me is that random, everyday people took the time to "take action" rather than just simply passing the link to the story around them, they took action and inspired their friends to take actions.

Taking action...therein is the magic. "Doing things" .... the key word here is "doing" and my question to you is what have you done lately for a random stranger to make their day a little better?

What can you do tomorrow to make someone's world a little bit better?

It's easy to go online and click on a link and give charity, but it's not so easy to think of a way to do something special that will make a difference in another person's life without them knowing you did it, is it?

The people who took the time to walk over to the Layaway counter, usually in the back of the store near the restrooms and stood in line and asked some overworked employee if they could pay off a bill for someone else are heroes and the type of heroes who bring Geulah a little closer every day. The people who got dressed, drove over to Kmart in the rain and asked to pay off someone's bill who had a lot of toys or baby clothes is an angel indeed, a soldier in the battle between good and evil and a warrior in bringing heaven down to earth.

It's great to be alive this December of 2011 to see and hear these stories and watch the faces of the mothers, grandmothers and their children who heard the news that someone came along and paid for their holiday treasures.

Think what a lesson we are teaching these children in the way of the world or the way that the world should be and one can only wonder how an inspired child will grow up, and continue the chain of doing for others with acts of goodness and kindness and increasing in charity themselves one day.

Beautiful, simply beautiful!

I'm sure there are quite a bit of neighborhood stores where you could easily go to the owner and ask to pay off someone's bill or offer to have money put onto someone's bill for them to use as they need be it for Shabbos or just for dinner. A sheitel for a Kallah, siddurim at a bookstore for bochurim, tuition for a random family at a Day School or Yeshiva. Pay for someone's child to go to summer camp. The list is endless.

You simply have to think where you could go and help a random stranger and play this phenomenon forward so that it doesn't end with this holiday season but continues into 2012 and beyond.

Do it!

Anywhere you live there is some sort of program where you can do something to help someone else.

http://www.wral.com/entertainment/holiday/page/3956064/  <-- Donate toys or coats to others

Donate your reading glasses to the Lions Club----> http://donateglasses.org/

http://ahavasyisrael.org/  <--give to an organization that gives to others

Want to help a bride/kallah?? -----> http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/

Or...go to your local store that has a Layaway department and be an angel yourself!

Go out and do something for someone else and I bet you'll feel empowered and energetic and you'll smile knowing you put a smile on someone else's face today and for a long time to come. That is the gift of giving, the act of kindness stays with someone a long time... like the memory of a little four year old girl dancing around in circles in her pink chiffon little dress.

Little payments indeed bring great celebrations....they bring Moshiach :)

If I haven't inspired you, read some stories and watch the video and do some thing more in the realm of goodness and kindness in your neighborhood today!

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/complete-strangers-touched-altruistic-layaway-angels/story?id=15199745#.TvJOeDWmi8g

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/More-layaway-angels-visit-local-Kmarts/bcgEeINDmkKacy4OPzE3qA.cspx

http://www.ksat.com/news/Layaway-angels-visit-Boerne-Wal-Mart/-/478452/6360122/-/b7hroj/-/

Geulah = Global

All day today I keep thinking on how small the world has become, how interconnected we all are and how walls are falling every day making our world smaller as we move into a more global, geulah lifestyle.

Take the word Global. It means:

Of or relating to the whole world; worldwide: "global economy". Of or relating to the entire earth as a planet: "global environmental change"

The word became a buzz world years back for many and was used in an economic and political sense. The  phrase defined a generation. "Think globally, act locally" went on to define a new movement among many to get involved in making a difference on a small local level and by doing so...in an organic sort of way the world would change one act at a time. Do a good deed, play it forward (pass it on) and that person would do a good deed, etc, etc until the goodness of the first deed in the chain reaction would circle the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_globally,_act_locally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_act_of_kindness

What a beautiful thought, but if you look deeper it shows how we have transformed from the world where we used to live for many generations...since before the Internet was discovered.... to a truly Global World.

If that is not Geulah what is?

There was never a time when a generation thought they had improved upon the generation before them but the lives changed in towns, countries... never on such a global level.

A car goes faster than a horse, but it doesn't go anywhere a horse can't go and there are many places a horse can go that a car cannot go.

One of the best chase scenes I've ever seen is this scene where a man trying to save a horse.. puts his life on the line and takes to the road. A rodeo star tries to save a prize horse that is being shot up with drugs and set it free in a rare "good act" that he needs to do to give the horse a better life. The horse outruns police cars and motorcycles in one of the best scenes in the classic movie Electric Horseman. Obviously as much as a car was a great invention... it didn't change the whole world in the same way say an App on your iPhone allows you to watch in real time your grandchild take his first steps on the other side of the planet.

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEKd4MxenBg  <---- great scene!!

There are Apps for everything...even giving charity. But, the most amazing thing is that you can use an App on your cell phone and in minutes..offline... on your phone anywhere you can give money to charity and it's in their account a few minutes later.

https://mycharitybox.com/

This is truly Geulah, a changed, transformed world where I can do an "Act of Kindness" and give charity from a cell phone in Miami to a Chabad House in the Philippines by clicking on a link on my computer. You can do it too! Where it says "DONATE" just click and donate. Any amount small or large will help people on the other side of the planet who are helping others every moment of their lives. One click, one mitzvah, one good deed helps people far away do a good deed the same day.

http://www.chabadphilippines.com/p/donate.html


It's amazing. There I was about to go to the hospital to watch my child give birth, I wanted to give charity fast and in seconds I gave towards a pre-school on the other side of the world. I have a special fondness for this charity. The mother of the Shaliach there taught my son in LA 30 years ago in school. We moved to Miami, they moved to Miami and I watched her daughter grow up and travel to the other side of the world and I can give money to the Chabad House there in seconds by simply tapping my cell phone.  How far we have come in such little time from the telephone was first created.

They sure have changed a lot since the old days:

Up until a few decades ago we didn't have telephones we carried everywhere, up until a few centuries ago the thought of a telephone was a futuristic idea in someone's head who knew it would be done some day but how they weren't sure. The world has sped up so fast in the last several decades, it changes daily. Last year's cell phone is now obsolete if you want to keep on top of the latest technology. An android phone that is two years old is almost worthless.

Now we can send photos and video in real time to relatives living all across America as a baby is born, as he takes his first steps or sits up. My grandson doesn't like to do "google talk" because he prefers "FaceTime" .... go figure. What a world. Constantly changing and evolving, faster and faster.

When I flew off to California to go on Shlichus years ago I didn't know when I would see my parents again.  Airfare was not that expensive, but money was tight and it was not as easy as going online and getting a special on JetBlue or Southwest Air. Today I can fly from North Carolina to Miami on Southwest for $59, a few months back I got a one day special and flew for $39 on JetBlue. Distance no longer divides us the way it did just a few years ago. And, when I can't hit the road I can Facetalk with my grandson who can give me a Dvar Torah from what his Rebbe taught him in Cheder in Crown Heights, New York. He learns in Yiddish in school and he learns English from his iPad in his spare time. How do you explain an iPad to someone who travels through time from the 9th Century or even from the year 1911 to 2011? What next...time travel?

It is truly a new world, we only need to open up our eyes.

The world, the physicality of the world is changing. The dimensions are changing. Reality is changing before our eyes. What we can do and what we can achieve today on a Global level has been transformed and walls are falling before our eyes.

I can give locally, I can give globally.  I can be the change in the world that I want to see one act of goodness and kindness at a time. One dime at a time or one hundred dollars at a time.

I can put a penny in my favorite charity box online or on my desk next to the computer.

You too can be the change in the world that you want to see... one act at a time. The first act is to open up your eyes. The second act is to .... ACT... Do an Act of Kindness anywhere you want to anyone you want by tapping a piece of glass...forget clicking a button...we are changing faster than even my mind can keep up.

Geulah definitely equals Global in my mind. Give it a try, open up your eyes and do an Act of Kindness.


Be the Change That You Want To See....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrv3hteHglI

Love and Learning in the Days of Geulah

There was a  very popular movie years back that made a lot of money and inspired many with dreams of everlasting love that conquers all. A handsome, rich young man and a beautiful, smart poor girl fall madly in love and despite all the love in the world she gets ill and dies. A friend of mine told me a while back, ever notice all great love stories end sadly with someone losing the other? I wanted to argue that thought, but after ruffling through the movies in my mind it occurred to me Romeo and Juliet was not exactly the happiest of stories. So, maybe he was right afterall.

The greatest Love Story of all is the love that God has for all of us and that is forever. Like a father filled with love no matter what we do... he still wants to forgive us, whether we beg for forgiveness or whether we sit there like stubborn children refusing to say we are sorry. 

When this poster came out to the publicize one of the greatest love stories ever told... everyone made fun of this quote as totally silly and illogical and not realistic. Years later in the movie "What's Up Doc?" Ryan O Neal got the last word on the old joke and when Barbra Streisand bats her eyes and him at the end of the movie and says, "Love means never having to say you're sorry..." Ryan O Neal rolls his eyes and says, "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard..." and they kiss and well the movie ends a whole lot happier than Love Story where Ali MacGraw bites the dust.

Do we really need to say we are sorry other others before Yom Kippur or even any day of the week? How important is it to say you are sorry? Well, sometimes we say we are sorry because we are really the one that needs to forgive ourselves for the foolish things we have done in moments of anger or folly or just plain old tiredness. We need the gift of forgiveness for not being as perfect as we wish we were and no matter how much we work on it the goal of perfection just keeps moving further and further away from us.

As we move into a world filled with Geulah we are redeemed by just by being here and yet it doesn't hurt to ever show your love or respect for someone to ask forgiveness for something you may have done knowingly or unknowingly.

Spreading around goodness and kindness never hurt anyone...and forgiving ourselves is the first step to being happy and moving forward without the baggage of the mistakes of the past.

When you really love someone, you love them no matter how they hurt you and no matter how much you wish you didn't love them....it's hard to stop loving them and hard to not forgive them.  Love just is and love is good and love is kind and love IS patient to quote a friend who likes to quote his bible. 

We need to love each other, all of us.... another Jew, another you, another friend down the street and even the teacher who tells you that he is doing this for your own good. Love means accepting someone at their word and seeing the good in them, seeing through their flaws and forgiving ourselves for not being the person that we wish we could be. 

Sometimes it's just accepting the situation the way it is and not how we wished we could make it.. sometimes no matter how hard you wish for something it doesn't come to be... like at the end of Love Story when she slowly slips away and he is alone in winter without the love of his life. The love stays inside, it doesn't go away and we remember the good times as time goes by.

It's an amazing world we live in today. Years ago people would memorize Torah so that they could walk in the street and learn a bit, today you can be in Georgia and call into a phone number in Michigan and connect to someone in Oklahoma who is learning with someone in New York or Jerusalem and walk in the street and listen to Torah being learned via a cell phone. We've come along way from the old days.... we have come so far that sometimes without stopping and realizing how miraculous our world is and how we are all connected across the world via the Internet and our Cell Phones that we don't realize how wondrous it is and it all seems "normal" to be able to live this way. But, it's not... we live in incredible times and we need to really open our eyes and see how incredible this time we live in is indeed.

So, this Yom Kippur, while celebrating the holiday ask yourself forgiveness for not being perfect. And, give thanks to Hashem who is perfect and knows what is best for us even when we don't understand his logic.

Love means never really HAVING to say you're sorry, but it doesn't hurt to say it to Hashem or to your friend down the block or across the continent on Facebook and it doesn't hurt to forgive yourself as you go into Yom Kippur.

And, while celebrating this day of redemption and moving forward into the coming year with resolutions to do good and spread love around.... remember to taste some honey cake and have a sweet year!

Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of mankind, Yom Kippur is the wedding between us and God so feel the love and feel the forgiveness always.

A Planet Made of Diamonds, Life Imitating Art

I've been reading lately about the Planet that was recently discovered that is said to be made of diamonds. Something about pressure over time and a carbon base and lots of other details that are in the link below, but the bottom line is that where our beautiful planet is blue and made up of mostly water.... this newly discovered planet is made from diamonds.

Makes me think how amazing it is that here is case where life imitates art. And, more so of how sparkly and beautiful that in these days of Moshiach revealing itself we find a planet made from diamonds. 

It reminds me of the story that we used to tell when people came to our Chabad House on Friday Nights around the Shabbos table about the man who was shipwrecked on an island. I'm sure you have most likely heard one or more versions of it. It's a Chelm like tale, told long or with a shortened Cliff Notes version.

The gist is a poor man goes on a journey to find money to support his family. There's a storm, a big storm and he finds himself awake on a beach, shipwrecked. Okay, some people end up in the belly of a whale like Jonah and others like this Chelmite ends up on a tropical beach ala Gilligan but without Ginger and the Captain. He sees in the sunshine what looks to be a big, bright diamond laying in the sand. He gets up, runs over, thirsty and tired and in a rush to stuff the perfect, large diamond in his pocket. As he walks a little in search of food he sees another diamond, and yet another diamond. He stuffs his pockets with these special diamonds, the answer to his prayers for parnosa, for money and riches. Somehow, someway he will find his way off the island, get home to his family and they will be rich like kings. Richer than kings even with jewels galore. Suddenly a man appears and comes to help him, seems it is an island populated by friendly people who want to help him. They see he is weighted down by the diamonds and they tell him to throw them out and make his load easier. He can't, he went on this journey in search of riches and God led him to this island. They feel bad for the misguided soul and explain that on this island what is rich and valuable is chicken shmaltz, chicken fat. He laughs, back home in Chelm that is about all they have, here they have DIAMONDS. Everyone laughs at him and feels sorry for him. Bit by bit, overtime he begins to look at the world through their eyes and begins to crave chicken fat and works hard, makes money and begins to acquire chicken fat, lots and lots of chicken fats. He becomes very wealthy, he has a warehouse filled just with chicken fat. The diamonds get lost in the bottom of his drawers. After all, everywhere he goes he finds diamonds in the street, in the field and on the beach.  Finally.....after much time goes by.... he is rich enough to build a ship, find a crew and set sail back for his home. He fills up his suitcases and boxes with chicken fat as much as he can take back with him. He arranges to come back at a later date and transport the rest of his chicken fat home with him.  He is so excited to see his wife, his family and to show them how rich he became while he was away and how he will now be able to provide a wonderful life for them.  The ship is finally built, it sets sail and after weeks go by he is in sight of the his home town. People see a ship on the horizon they have never seen before and are very excited and run down to the docks hoping it is their long, lost friend who was lost at sea or some new traveler who is rich like a King from the looks of his ship. People look through their telescope and see their old long, lost friend at the Chelm and run to get his wife. As the ship gets closer and closer people begin to hold their nose, there is this HORRIBLE smell they can smell already on the docks before the ship even makes it into port. People run away from this horrible smell. His wife is left at the dock, holding her nose but excited to see her long, lost husband. When he gets off the ship, he tells her how rich he is and how they are set for life and shows her his beautiful ship. She asks how he made so much money. He explains how he was shipwrecked and almost died and how he found the diamonds and walked for miles and miles until he found this man who helped him. He explains how he found a career and prospered and was able to build this ship and come home with his fortune. She begs to see the diamonds. He tells her, "What diamonds, those worthless stones??" He explains how he left the diamonds to make more room for his chicken fat. She screams, "CHICKEN FAT??? CHICKEN FAT????" And, he is confused because he is now rich with chicken fat, while away he forgot the value of diamonds.

The moral of the story being that our neshoma.... soul comes down to Earth to do mitzvahs, to do good deeds. That is the purpose we were here for and sometimes we get distracted by other things that other people value and we become convinced we are here for something else... like collecting chicken fat instead of diamonds.


We all come down to earth, this beautiful planet with the purpose of doing mitzos; good deeds that bring down Godliness onto Planet Earth. We look around, we see the sunshine and the beaches and we spread our arms and look around and smile at the beauty. The snow falls and we suddenly need to take long walks in the snow and wonder what it would be like to ski down frozen slopes at high speeds. Surfing the waves and riding the slopes there is always something to do. We take time away from our goal here and there in minutes and hours that turn to days and weeks. We can get up early and go to the nursing home and visit with elderly people or we can do it next week when there isn't a Dolphins game or a Jets game or a special concert at the park. We can learn some Tanya or we can learn how to snowmobile, the choice is up to us and how much of a balance we want in our lives is our decision. That is the free will that we were all given when we come down to play on Planet Earth. Party hardy 24/7 365 days a year or party here and there and do some mitzvos along the way.

It's important to enjoy the diverse beauty of Earth that the Rebbe referred to as"variegated as to climate and physical features" (Lag B'Omer 3731). We can travel far and wide to see the mountains, to see the oceans and the Great Plains in between but along our way it is important we remember who we are and why we are here. To say a brocho in San Angelo where we  light the Shabbos candles and welcomed in Shabbos in a roadside motel. Saying the brocho at the beach when we see far off in the distance a rainbow or we experience a tropical thunderstorm. On a journey we might have a choice between dancing all night at a disco or spending a few hours visiting a grandparent before going out to enjoy the blues and jazz of New Orleans. Wherever we go we take ourselves and our mission and our purpose. It is so easy get lost at the beach or we can remember who we are and why we are there and sew our lives into a beautiful quilt that was for the sake of Hashem.

Just as we need to open up our eyes and see the beauty of the world, so do we need to open up our minds and know that we are standing on the precipe of a new world order of Geulah and Moshiach. We need to remember why we are here and not get distracted by the ways of the others around us that are not on the same spiritual level and who can only see the goshmious of money spent on foolishness in the same way that the man from Chelm forgot he was there to find his fortune in diamonds not chicken fat.

Okay, sometimes chicken fat does smells good. It entices us to taste a bit of the onions on the challah that were sauteeing in the shmaltz. It smells so good we forget we were counting points on weight watchers and had really, really, really decided last week to start being only a Vegan or giving up gluten which is lurking in the challah. But after a long sea voyage what would you rather have spoiled chicken fat or a bag full of diamonds?

We make a plan on Sunday night for the week and by Wednesday our food diaries have gone from infinite details to "ate lunch, sushi and too many cookies" to giving up Erev Shabbos or preparing a healthy broccoli salad and making two kugels instead.

Such is the nature of human beings, we are so easily led astray by the scents and sweets of the world, by the desire to escape from our problems and dance the night away under the influence of a way too fattening but oh so delicious pina colada. In the morning we wonder why we stayed up so late, why we drank so much and what happened to our Sunday night game plan.

It's good to stop and smell the roses along the way, but drinking a pitcher of margaritas is not necessarily what Hashem had in mind.

In 5729 the Rebbe addressed the Convention of Neshei and told the women to remember to "Turn Away from Evil" and to "Do Good" and it's something that we find ourselves having to do every day in lots of different ways. Go out with a friend and celebrate their birthday and order a Pina Colada and make a brocho and stop at one, sip it slowly, enjoy it. Make a resolution to do something this new year to increase in kindness or goodness, give more charity. Weave the mitzvos into your life and never lose sight of your goals. The women went into the desert with their tambourines, they danced, they didn't forget them at home in the hustle and bustle of leaving Egypt. They took jewelry with them that was later used for the Holy Temple. They carried the sanctuary with them through the desert, they didn't leave it behind like the poor man from Chelm who left the diamonds on the sand to bring back more chicken fat to his family.

Planet Earth is a beautiful planet, made more beautiful by the acts of goodness and kindness and the revelation of Geulah. Out there somewhere is a planet made of diamonds just like the story we have always told about the shipwrecked man from Chelm.

Life imitates art, there is nothing new under the sun and yet somehow it's almost a proof that there is always a little truth in those funky, funny stories of the men from Chelm.

We can only wonder as the reporter who wrote the story about what other wondrous things that lie out there before us as Geulah is realized every day in small ways until we can see the reality of Moshiach in our daily lives.

Maybe on that planet sushi is the monetary measure of their world? Can't you just see it? California Roll is a five dollar bill, but a Dragon Roll is a worth a ten dollar bill.   Who knows?

Wishing you a year of revealed miracles and wonders with some music for dancing, fine wine while dining and the chance to do mitzvos that you can find time for such as giving a friend a ride that takes us out of our way a bit or maybe that was the way we were supposed to go all along? Give a smile with your charity and give the gift of time to a friend who needs to see you and needs to smile.  Those are the true jewels that we mine as we go through our life and present to Hashem.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110825141632.htm

A planet made of diamonds? Who knew? I suppose the man from Chelm knew ....

Had he only kept his eye on the goal line and remembered the rules of the game he might have remembered what was important in life and what was fool's gold.

Keep your eyes and minds open and live in the golden world of Geulah, not in the darkness of depression or addiction to the wrong things. Our turquoise and emerald planet with it's many different lands and climates is a pretty amazing place to live in, don't forget why we are here.

ACTS OF GOODNESS AND KINDNESS

BRING MOSHIACH

Keep it in mind as we enter 5772!

L'Shana Tova

Bracha

John Galliano Found Guilty, A Modern Day Haman?

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8750600/John-Galliano-found-guilty-of-anti-Semitic-abuse.html

John Galliano was found guilty today in France of two counts of Anti-Semitic statements and behavior, he did not appear in court today but during the trial acted contrite and blamed the incidents on a mixture of alcohol and drugs.  

I find it interesting that according to the saying, "when liquor goes in the truth comes out" it shows even more so how he really feels that he made these statements while drunk. 

It's sort of a modern twist on a Purim tale as Galliano is famous for wearing strange hats, askew on his head that give a deja vu feel to what Haman might look like today in 2011. 

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2011/09/08/2011-09-08_french_designer_john_galliano_convicted_of_making_antisemitic_remarks_in_drunken.html

Except today we have video of his tirade and he was soon fired and dumped by the House of Dior who also employs the Israeli born actress Natalie Portman as the face of one of their best selling perfumes. More so, Natalie Portman spoke up when this happened and was thrust forward center stage in this drama in a Queen Esther fashion where she spoke up against his actions and his vile comments against the Jews.

"I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way"

In today's world the woman who wins the Best Actress Award at the Oscars is indeed the Queen of Hollywood. The House of Dior indeed immediately let Galliano go in the same way that King Achashverosh stood beside our beautiful Queen Esther.

I curiously looked through the various Torah readings for the day today to see if there was something in them that would relate to this retelling of the Purim Tale.

I smiled when I saw in Psalm 54, one of the psalms for today the 9th Day of Elul.  We SEE from this how true it is that every day the miracles of the Lord play out over and over and we only need to connect the dots in the days events to historic events or daily Torah readings.

Chapter 54 A prayer to God asking that in His might He save all who hope for His kindness. Read, and you will discover an awe-inspiring and wondrous prayer that should be said by all in the appropriate time. 1. For the Conductor, with instrumental music, a maskil by David,2. when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "Behold, David is hiding among us!” 3. O God, deliver me by Your Name, and vindicate me by Your might. 4. God, hear my prayer, listen to the words of my mouth. 5. For strangers have risen against me, and ruthless men have sought my soul; they are not mindful of God, Selah. 6. Behold, God is my helper; my Lord is with those who support my soul. 7. He will repay the evil of my watchful enemies; destroy them by Your truth. 8. With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to You; I will offer thanks to Your Name, O Lord, for it is good. 9. For He has saved me from every trouble, and my eye has seen [the downfall of] my enemy.

May we always "see" the reality of what is going on behind the scenes and in the news to see the wonders that are playing out constantly every hour of the day.

We live in inspiring times where we move away from Golus and see the splendor of a new age unraveling in front of our eyes if we only practice connecting the dots.

Crown Heights 20 Years After the Riots.... It's A Wonderful World

What I find most amazing about Crown Heights 20 years after the riots, is the only ones talking about the riots are the press and the media. All day yesterday, in front of 770, the news crews were set up trying to interview people or giving  On Air sound bites reminding people about what was 20 years ago. Most people didn't have time to stop and talk, nor did they want to... a few did as there are always people who love to talk on air live.

Mind you the ONLY reason I noticed them, that I saw the news crews was that I was on the OTHER SIDE OF EASTERN PARKWAY coming back from having brunch at Basil, a new wonderful restaurant that serves both the Orthodox Kosher community as well as some wayward Vegans that eat eggs and the local community in Crown Heights that is not Lubavitch... the Caribbean Blacks, Jamaicans, Haitians, Hipsters and white people who wander in who have heard about the food and the atmosphere and incredible service.

To truly open up your eyes and SEE Geulah and Moshiach is to sit a spell in Basil, order a Cafe Con Leche and a croissant filled with Cabernet cheese, Asian pears, walnuts and honey for breakfast and watch the people in and out of the restaurant. Everyone smiles, nods and goes about life as if this is normal and indeed today it is normal. Two sweet, bubbly Jamaican girls were in their yesterday dressed in bright red dresses sipping banana and strawberry smoothies out of a big wine goblet. They told me they were delicious, healthy and not too sweet. :) A couple from Williamsburg was in dressed in some sort of Satymr garb, the woman was wearing a the scarf over the wig thats just bangs that I can't remember what it's called holding her 9th baby while her 8th baby played nearby, we shared mothering discussions while her husband sat quietly eating her food while the two cute girls with the smoothies slowly sipped their smoothie. An Ultra Orthodox man was sitting at the "Community Table" with two non-Jews who were obviously all there on a business meeting. A young Spanish girl wandered in and in broken English ordered two Paninis to go. I sat with my daughter enjoying breakfast and enjoying to me what is Moments of Moshiach happening in real time.

It's a Cholev Yisroel restaurant with trendy food that if I blink twice I will think is back home on South Beach, but it's on the OTHER SIDE of Eastern Parkway and everyone is eating together and enjoying life.

Now if that is not Geulah, I don't know what is.

When we can all get together and live our own lives and dance to our own drummer and eat healthy food, who do not "mind" eating "kosher food" and don't mind sitting together in a spirit of respect and live and let live and wish each other a good day.... that is a Moment of Moshiach.

When I was a girl in school here, my mother sent me a package which went back to the Post Office and I needed to pick it up on the other side of Eastern Parkway. I was told I could NOT walk there even though it was 2 blocks past 770 and I had to take a car service. I paid the driver and thanked him for driving me over and he refused to leave me there. I told him I would call another car service to go back, not to worry. He refused. He told me he'd sit outside, take a break and I should just come out and not stay there by myself. It always seemed sort of stupid and crazy. I mean it was 2 blocks from 770 where I always felt safe, but alas it was THE OTHER SIDE OF EASTERN PARKWAY.  It was like saying you wanted to go fast to Paroah's Post Office back in Egypt... now it's Geulah and Crown Heights has spread out far and wide. My kids live on the OTHER SIDE OF EMPIRE where I rarely walked and they eat on THE OTHER SIDE OF EASTERN PARKWAY.  

The point is in Geulah there should be no sides and no walls, we should be able to open up to the wonders around us and see the smile in another person's heart no matter what their color or background is and this goes BOTH WAYS as I always did. Being the bubbly, sweet Miami girl I am I would smile at everyone, nod my head and they would stare back and glare at me like I was crazy. My friends in school would look at me like I was crazy, the sweet old black lady pushing her grandchild past me looked at me like "girl, don't you know no one looks at anyone here"    I did, it's just the way I always was... but the truth is back then both sides didn't understand each other and there were no "hipsters" or Asians or people who are obviously of mixed heritage which you see a lot in Crown Heights on both side of the religious divide as Lubavitch itself has more people with one parent Black Jewish and one parent White or Spanish or Italian or French.

In Chabad when you convert you are simply another Jew, there is no color or language barrier. When you walk into 770 you see prayer books in Portuguese next to the Russian/Hebrew prayer books next to the French Tanyas next to... etc, etc, etc.  One of my closest friends is from Sri Lanka (we miss palm trees when up north) and another is from India proper, another is American Black and another sweet girl I spent the day talking to is from Guyana, she is so beautiful inside and out... we talked on the first time we both saw snow. We are Lubavitch, we are the faces of Lubavitch. Valley girls mix with Miami girls who mix with Israelis and English Lubavitchers at a wedding in Crown Heights last night.

I talked to the Satmyr girl about babies as easily as I did the two Jamaican girls.

When you don't SEE barriers but you SEE people... that is when you are truly out of Golus.

And, when you can order Chinese food and Sushi on one side of Kingston at midnight and a croissant on the other side of Kingston for breakfast, you are really living in Geulah.

Let the press and the media remind everyone about the riots .. that were mostly people brought in on buses from elsewhere in NYC looking for trouble as the dirty truth about Crown Heights is that the Island Blacks who lived in Crown Heights always next to the Chabad families usually got along. They rarely chit chatted or talked like they do now, but they got along. They respected each other and they LOVED living in Crown Heights.

They did 20 years ago, they still do. They both stayed.... others are beginning to finally see why we stayed, they are beginning to get it. And, they are opening up their eyes and seeing goodness and kindness rather than what they were told by others is a "scary dark place" that was dangerous.

So, may I say... Crown Heights 20 years after the riots is just as wonderful a place to live as it was 20 years before and 40 years before and I know because I lived here a long time ago :) and love it today as much as I did then.

So, next time you are thinking on going to some cute restaurant in Park Slope, stop in Crown Heights and get a table outside if the weather is nice and have lunch at Basil and then to walk off the calories take a walk down towards Eastern Parkway and enjoy the mix of life and love that goes on every day in Crown Heights.

And, then I went into 770 and learned with some friends and continued on my day seeing moments of Moshiach in my life and the lives of others around me.

Open up your eyes, take a walk, give someone a smile and leave the walls of Golus and Exile and a Ghetto Mentality behind!!

9th of Av -- What does your Temple look like? Open your eyes and see it!

Incredibly beautiful picture from the website below. I love it, I really do!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62557394/kotel-western-wall-temple-jerusalem-beit

So, my question to you as you begin to open up your eyes and see Geulah is.... what does your Temple look like?

I find when I talk to people, that everyone has a different image or a different specific part of the Temple that they focus upon.

The dimensions are listed, they are learned and everyone knows what it looks like. But, few can really "see" it in their mind or imagine it existing today. Some do, some who have been able to reach that level of spirituality see it and feel it. Others see it the way it looks in coloring books or the way it looked in a Grade B movie that Hollywood made back when costume epics were popular.

Some people see it from up above looking down and others see it from standing outside looking in, others see it how it must have looked to enter the courtyard and walk in... and look around.

Some see gold and silver... others see white and holiness. Some see the smoke rising straight up towards the sky and heaven... others see the people inside praying.

The Rebbe brought the Bais Hamikdash down to earth for so many of us. It is as real as 770 with every brick in place, ready to descend hovering in the heavens, already built waiting for us to do our part.

A beautiful picture from this website takes us to a different angle and it glows in pink and gold:

http://www.jewish-artist.com/gallery-2.html

In Day Camp we would do Arts & Crafts with children making it real as they built the Temple with sugar cubes or from a pre-made kit. Children are wonderful, they are so touchy-feely and after coloring it in or building it cube by cube it is as real as Yankee Stadium is to a Yankee fan.

http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?nt=bChN&etn=HADIH

So, I ask you ... how real is the Holy Temple in your mind?

It's Tish B'Av, the 9th of Av when Jews everywhere remember the Holy Temple in their own way and wish for the 3rd Temple to be rebuilt. Are you stuck in the past in Golus focusing on the negative or are you focusing today on the next Temple, the Final Temple and how it will look when it is rebuilt?  If you can't picture it ...how can you long for it with all your heart?

Read a bit here today and try envisioning the Bais Hamigdash standing in all it's heavenly glory here on Earth.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs076/1102527936292/archive/1102650317349.html

Once upon the time, the image of the Bais Hamikdash was hard for me to imagine. Some scene from an old movie or maybe perhaps it looked a little bit like "Tara" Israeli style. The Jews like Scarlett would not be hungry again, we would go on and one day rebuild the Temple but it was far away and a bit hazy in my mind. A Passover Seder was real, something you could touch and feel and taste. Sukkos was about a tent you played in and felt the breeze and watched the hanging fruit sway in the wind a bit. The Holy Temple in Israel rebuilt in the days of the "Messiah" were far away and something I could not really identify with back then when I was young.

However, as a young Jewish, Southern Girl I knew that just as "The South Would Rise Again" one day so would the Temple be rebuilt. I longed for long lacy dresses with ruffles and a house with columns and then one day while staring at a picture of the Temple I thought... it looks sort of Southern ;) As I said at the beginning of this blog... we all see what we want to see. To me "Gone With the Wind" was a lesson on surviving exile from Tara and surviving and rebuilding again. 

And, then something changed and I changed in bits and pieces and the words of the Rebbe changed me. He said to learn about the Bais Hamikdash and I did, and it suddenly became a mathematical project. There wer so many columns and so many chambers and as a pre-school teacher I had to teach the children about the ramp and how they walked up the ramp vs walking up steps. With each step in my life it became more real, more of an entity and as real as walking up the ramp into 770 and picking out my favorite siddur and finding my favorite spot and beginning to pray.

When the Bais Hamikdash is as real to you as 770 is to me... then you will achieved what the Rebbe desired and that is to "see" with your own eyes and to move towards Geulah away from and out of Golus.

Why are the Pyramids more real to us than the Bais Hamikdash? Considering we built them both.... why do we not focus on where we went after we left Golus?

What do you see when you close your eyes and think on Geulah and Moshiach? Do you see the Bais Hamikdash? Does it glow in gold or is intricately detailed like an architectual drawing? 

Do you see what's left of the Temple or the rebuilt Temple?

There is a saying, "Change your thoughts, change your Life!" I'd take it further and say "change you thoughts, change the world around you!"

Whether you are an artist or a writer or a cook or a musician you can learn more about The Temple anywhere on the web or in the library or at your local Jewish Bookstore. And, in this wonderful world we live in you don't even have to get dressed and  leave your house to buy some books and learn so more.

http://www.judaica-world.com/catalog.asp?dept=1

If you are musically based, go to www.youtube.com and enjoy the many videos set to whatever music the dreamer enjoys the most. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7tjceIOzQ&feature=related

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37Mp6mhs3A&feature=player_embedded

On the 9th of Av you should imagine the Beit Hamikdash and move towards living a life that is rich with thoughts of Geulah.

IF...in the blink of an eye.... the stock market can fall over 600 points in less than 6 hours and CNN speaks on it as if it is "normal" and Drudge writes an eye catching headline....in that same blink of an eye our concept of "normal" can be lost and changes. One minute it's a far away world from the distant past yet in another minute it can be as real as Shangri La and Xanadu is in our mind. Tara never existed except in the mind of Margaret Mitchell who wrote the novel and yet to many it's more real than the Third Temple. Shangri La and Xanadu never existed, yet the Temple really did exist and will again. Why.... are Tara and Shangri La and Xanadu more real than the Temple...that is the question?

Why? Maybe you have not yet learned enough of the Sichos of the Rebbe about Moshiach? Maybe you only see the glass half full and it's easier to dwell on memories of our times in Egypt building the pyramids rather than what we built once we were in Israel. Maybe...we are too stuck in the past?

In the "blink of an eye" you should be able to see the Beit Hamikdash in your dreams and it should become a reality in your life. Whether you keep a tzedakah box shaped like the Temple or a picture on your wall or perhaps in your siddur... let it be as real to you that you can "see" it and "feel" it as easily as you can picture the pyramids or the "Wailing Wall" of 770!

Enjoy the links I posted and feel free to order one of the prints or read through some of the material. Or click on the following link and hear and learn more about the Temple.

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/live_cdo/jewish/Live-Events.htm

I did, you can do too. What better day is there than Tish B'Av to focus on contemplating on the Temple rebuilt immediately and live a life of Geulah?

Blessed Butterflies

Blessed are the butterflies :)

They catch our attention on sunny mornings when we are preoccupied with problems and often forget to smile. It's hard to look at a butterfly, fluttering about a bush and not relax for a minute and smile. Even if you have no problems, the butterflies bring a smile to the youngest face and the oldest soul.

Oddly though, they don't start out so beautiful. They sit, wrapped up in their little cocoons seemingly oblivious to the world around them. Do we know what they are thinking or if they are dreaming of where they will go and what they will do once they break through from their quiet cocoons? Do caterpillar's dream of dayglow lillies or pink frangipangi blossoms in their sleep?

We expect everything to be instant in this world of ours. Push the button and the television comes to live, move the mouse and the computer screen turns on. If we have to wait too long on our cell phones for something to download we run out and buy the faster version. And, in our rush for immediacy we sometimes don't open our eyes and see the slow evolution of the miracles in nature that are revealed daily.

We see small rosebuds appear and after one long day of rain and warmer temps the rose garden suddenly, magically comes to life. Each living thing has it's own moment in the sun, be it a rose or a butterfly.

In Miami we have beautiful Yellow Trumpet Trees that have many, bright, lemon colored butterflies fluttering about their beautiful blossoms this time of year every summer. They are stunning reminders of the passage of time, as every living creature has it's own beautiful hour in the sun. July is the time for the yellow butterflies on the yellow trumpet trees.

Malka was talking today while we were learning Tanya at how hard and arduous a process it is for a butterfly to break free from it's cocoon and take it's first trip around the neighborhood. It's a multi-step process from caterpillar to cocoon to fluttering around in the sunshine. First they crawl about like little bugs, then they hide away into their own personal little golus and hang from trees branches, often going unseen, camouflaged and waiting to emerge one day into a beautiful butterfly. They have been so cramped up, curled up into a small ball, they emerge wet and wrinkled like a little baby from the womb, slowly they unfurl their wings and take their first flight out into the sunlight. It's awesome, it happens slowly and at the right time when it is meant to happen.

People are like those small, beautiful creatures. Each person seems to have their own timing when they wake up and look around them and make decisions on how they consciously want to live their lives. Some people wallow in depression and struggle desperately to break free from it's evil grasp and others just sort of wake up one day and turn over a new leaf, determined that today will be different. Some are filled with anger and jealousy and long to let go of their anger and live simpler, gentler lives. Some people get stuck in the process and don't move forward and slowly try crawling out of their own exile, golus filled lives. Others, throw the shackles off and scream out and march towards Guelah.

Where are you in this process? Do you go two steps up the ladder, rest, fall back a step, climb three steps higher and eventually feel that you have raised yourself up to the next level where you see things better and are able to make better decisions. Do you long to turn your life around whether it's spiritually or even changing the way you think or eat? What steps do you take? I mean ... you do want to evolve out of that cocoon and finish the process, don't you?

It's something to think on next time you rush into the car or the house with your packages and forget to stop and look at the flowers about you or the clouds or sun about to set as it lingers a moment near the tops of the trees. And, if you are lucky enough to have a beautiful Yellow Trumpet Tree near the driveway, stop and see if there are some cute, little yellow butterflies happily fluttering about doing their part in the process.

Stop rushing about and living on automatic. Remember the beautiful, butterfly and how many steps it had to take before it left it's own Golus and finally, fulfilled it's true purpose.

Take time to stop, look and live and enjoy the beautiful moments of Moshiach around us ... they are there if you just take the time to open up your eyes and live Geulah filled lives.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/animal-planet/28478-ms-adventure-butterfly-and-caterpillar-style-video.htm

(Ps... patiently wait for the silly commercial, good things are worth waiting for...)

When we open our eyes.... what do we see? Do we trust what we see?

Everyone always says to just "open up your eyes" but if you open them with a jaded view on the world and your own distorted set of glasses then you don't always see what really is there, but what you think is there.

My mother needs a new pair of glasses. She went to the doctor, he prescribed them for her and yet she has not started to use them. In fact, she did not even get the prescription filled. Something about the cost, the time and then the honest statement that she is afraid she won't get used to them and be more prone to falling or getting dizzy. To be honest, that is a valid point at her age as she is well into her eighties, however she also needs the stronger prescription. She is alas, comfortable with her old one and afraid of the new one.

This is a common problem with older people, I remember when my father had his glasses redone to the older prescription as he said he could not get used to the newer one. I believe, years back my mother did the same and balked at a new pair although eventually she picked out some new frames and had a compromise done with the prescription.

She also doesn't like her hearing aid. Seems it is WAY TOO LOUD... and she insisted my brother "turn it down" as it disturbed her.

Funny how we are so afraid of change that even a good change makes us nervous.

Except for those few Nachshon types who run out into the chaos of change with complete emunah even when he was afraid to swim, he trusted where God was taking them and moved forward, a biblical trail blazer of sorts.

So, my question is how often do we do this in our lives? How often do we look at the world through the eyes of who we were ten years ago or even twenty years ago?

My mother-in-law lived in America for over thirty years before she stopped counting in German and began to count in English.

We try so hard to live in a New Age world where Moshiach is as real as the fruit on the orange trees and yet, when the first obstacle comes up we knee jerk look at the world through our old Golus eyes and need to be reminded to put on our new glasses with the better prescription and really look at what we see and not what we think we see.

The picture above reminded me of when I lived in California and how it looked on a rare winter day, after a good rain when snow was on the tops of the mountains and the sky was clean and blue and beautiful. Looking out at the road the other day was like a blast from the past, back to the past and the 1980s when I saw this same view several times on a cool, winter day in L.A.

But, this picture was taken not in LA in a place where there are no mountains and definitely not snow covered mountains and it's merely an illusion and my memory playing tricks on me. Of course it's mountains and the sun, late in the day is turning the snow covered mountains that beautiful shade you see so often a half a continent away.

Those are clouds, beautiful, climbing, cumulous clouds far off in the distance on a day when one last set of cumulous clouds tried to form a line of strong, severe storms capable of winds in excess of 55 mph. Tornadoes formed to the south and east of here and these clouds that looked like mountains didn't turn out to be anything but an illusion of a mountain range on the distant horizon.

How many of our problems are really just illusions that we have dreamed up through the lens of how we are used to looking at our lives.   We opened our eyes, we blinked and we saw what we thought was there. Much in the same way that the spies went into Israel and saw one thing but imagined dangers and visions that Caleb did not see, because Caleb was filled with faith not fear.

What looks like a mountain range off in the distance does not even need to be jumped over or gone around, it is not even there, it's just an illusion.

A mirage of mountains that seems more real than a wall of clouds, trying to turn into thunderstorms reflecting the sunlight late in the day.

I saw this beautiful picture online today and I thought... wow, Santa Monica :) I love Santa Monica!

Turns out the picture is not Santa Monica, but Nice, France.

A very nice  picture of Nice, but not Santa Monica.

An old picture postcard of Santa Monica is shown below, since this picture was taken they planted palm trees and on a sunny day in the summer it looks a lot like the picture of Nice...

A newer picture of Santa Monica would show big, new buildings and the mountains and palm trees but I love the way this older picture looks and you get the idea..

When you open up your eyes, what do you really see? Do you trust what you see or do you just go on automatic and think you know what you see?

What do you see in the picture above now that I have told you there are no mountains? Do you believe me or do you think I am making this up to prove a point? Sure looks like a distant mountain range, possibly the Smokey Mountains but no... it's only clouds.

Make sure next time you look at life you look through the new prescription and don't hang onto the old glasses that are dark, dirty and disillusioned.

Is your glass half full or half empty? Are you waiting for Geulah or are you living Geulah?

The choice may be as simple as getting a new pair of glasses.

Wherever you are be sure to open up your eyes to the wonders around you and enjoy the beauty of the world that surrounds you.

Beautiful Story in the NY Times .... acts of goodness and kindness never go unnoticed...

In honor of the Rebbe's birthday there was a parade of Mitzvah Tanks into Manhattan where Chabadniks of all ages had the chance to do acts of goodness and kindness.

The Mitzvah Tanks spread the spirit of Pesach from borough to borough while bringing attention to the Rebbe's birthday as well as his life and the holiday of Passover to places all over the world via wonderful coverage by The New York Times.

When you do things with love and your whole heart, goodness follows and people take notice... 

http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=14198&alias=something-positive-in-the-times

Really great story to read today and a video to watch on a day when everyone is still trying to transition from Passover back to "Normal" ....so sit a spell and watch the video and smile, kvell.... and add in your own acts of goodness and kindness into the mix whether you do it on a local level or a global level, keep the acts of goodness and kindness going...