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...

Finding Miracles In Adar and Focusing on Joy and Purim

This blog is entitled "moments" as there are moments in our life when we see where the pieces are all coming together, where we hear the soundtrack of creation while watching a dogwood tree open up and the beauty that is sometimes partially veiled but there always.

It's not called BLIND ME IN THE EYE, it's about finding the silver lining or seeing the glow and beauty of miraculous moments that are happening all around us, every day and every night whether we sleep through it or take a walk in the rain.

This week has been one of those weeks. Thousands of people have died in a cataclysmic event in Japan that stirs even the hardest soul to watch a little bit longer at their TV screen or computer monitor and wonder on the fragility of life. If a 9.0 Earthquake does not wake you up.... what will? "Nature" has a way of getting us to ponder deep things that do not normally arise while getting our children ready for school or cleaning the house for Pesach. And, in today's world what happens on the other side of the world is as important to us economically, financially and emotionally. That is a perfect example of how different our world is from any other time in history....ever.

We know within an instant these days of an earthquake. Some people have an App on their smart phone that shows them a figure faster than an AP writer can write a story. Our world is small, we are all on this ship together and the diversity that once divided us has been erased with the hugeness of humanity visible for all to see on their TV on the station of choice that is all showing the same real drama of tidal waves washing out villages and villagers running from the waves. We feel the woman who lost her daughter, we feel for the old man who lost his family, we cheer for the child who was reunited with his parents.

It is a Messianic world we live in where distance does not exist in the way it did years ago and neither does anonymity.

On another part of the planet, a terrorist... a murderer.. a maniac killed six members of a family brutally in Israel and we are as affected as if it was someone in our own family. People are stunned, saddened and looking for words to put their feelings into some form that helps make sense of it all.


I want to talk here about something that seems to have gotten lost a bit over the last week when while we were focusing in the news on so many stories that are hard to process individually let alone all together at the same time....   ITS ADAR!

Adar is a time for Joy! This is the second Adar of the year, and therefore it is a time for double joy!

Yet, how do we go about our preparations for one of the happiest days of the year when our hearts feel heavy from the tragedy in Israel and the triple tragedy that Japan is suffering from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

I had that feeling on Thanksgiving when the story was coming out of the terrorists in Mumbai and I had a house filled with people and I tried to believe all would be well.

All was not well, but there was a great miracle and a small child was saved and it says in the Torah if you can save one life and you save the world. That's how it is paraphrased, the real story is below from www.askmoses.com

http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/192,2230417/From-where-does-the-saying-Save-a-life-save-a-whole-world-originate.html

If  a victory against evil was the saving of Moshe Holzberg's life in Mumbai.... how much more a miracle was it that three of the Fogel children survived the terrorist attack. How miraculous was it that the two little sleeping children were not seen by the terrorists and the daughter did not come home earlier from her Bnei Akiva meeting while the terrorists were still there?

I'm sure you remember the story, we all do. We can see it in our heads and feel it in our hearts. It was a story told around the world, not eclipsed by the a 9.0 Earthquake and the loss of life that will probably total up to 10,000 people.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/05/earlyshow/main4649757.shtml

So, when I think on this current tragedy my mind can only think that somehow, three lives were saved miraculously, a triple miracle.

This is not Av, it's Adar and we expect miracles.

But, where do we focus our energy and what do we look at?

I watched the footage of the Fogel family playing with their kids in happier times and all I could do was smile, despite my heavy heart or first reaction not to watch it because it will upset me. This is one of the most compelling videos I have ever seen for many reasons. Watch it, please.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142918

It shows a family that plays together, enjoys life and laughter. Yes, the people in the video playing together were also killed together. That's true, but where do you put your focus...on their death or their life? This is a family that was taken out of Gush Katif, which was considered to be not a safe place to live (sic) and moved as part of an olive branch for the peace movement. I remember being home that day, staring at the TV, watching the Israeli Army taking apart homes of Jewish Settlers and there was an anger inside me of wanting to scream "Stop!!!" so loud that they would hear me in Israel and yet I knew if I was standing there screaming it would make no difference. And, all I could think of was all the times the Rebbe screamed and screamed about not giving back one inch of land and all the meetings he had with Israeli leaders and how wrong this was, how very, very wrong. It's a moment in time I will never forget.

And, to compound a tragedy of terror by Palestinians against Israeli settlers living in Israel we have what I believe is a partial blame that can be placed on a government that removed this beautiful family from their lives in Gush Katif. Somewhere, deep inside there is still anger and I try to fight it, push it aside and not dwell on it as anger will eat you up alive.

It's Adar and it forces me to look for the good, for some joy, for some reason to find the lesson in this.

Three lives were saved. Two young boys were grow up, learn Torah, do mitzvos and their sister will go on to become a mother and a woman and somehow they will go on. People will daven, they will light shabbos candles, they will learn in their merit and do mitzvos in their memory. It will not bring them back to life and yet this video brings them back to life. It teaches us how a father should play with his children and how a family should laugh and celebrate life and live in the future not be bitter about the past.

We cannot understand everything that happens, we can't. Many things are beyond our realm of understanding and sometimes we just have to accept there is a reason even if we cannot see the reason clearly. Much like we stood at Mt. Sinai and we said we would do and take on the Torah, we must believe and not lose our emunah. I did not say we need to forget, we never should forget and we must learn from history.

There are lessons being shown us today from Japan to Israel and back again.

Lessons to learn, mitzvos to be done and there is time to mourn and a time to cry and a time to dance and feel joy. We need to err on the side of joy. Serve the Lord with Joy! One of the oldest and best quotes anywhere to live your life by.

It's Adar! Purim is almost here. Nissan follows Adar and Pesach follows Purim.

We must not give in to sadness and bitterness, anymore than the Fogel family did when they left Gush Katif, they found a way to live somewhere else, to enjoy life, to bring more children into the world, to keep on going and their three surviving children who miraculously were saved and are alive will go on.

It's all in where we focus our energy and our thoughts.

I see a happy, beautiful family, living, laughing and loving together with Shalom Bayis and Torah being the center of their lives. They had no control over how many hours they were meant to live their life or how they would die.. but they had a choice in how to live and they chose well.

Life is precious, choose well and wisely how to spend your time this Purim. Show the people you love some love, dance, sing, be joyful and be a part of one of the greatest stories in the history of the world let alone Judaism.

Dance like there is no tomorrow! Hug a stranger! Give a gift! Give a smile! Be joyful and thankful for all you have and all the possibilities there are out there waiting for you because where there is life there is hope ...and joy.

Kids with Signs Making a Difference One Honk at a Time :)

I don't have any nice pictures of the teenagers who inspired this post, because I saw them on Shabbos walking home from Shul and my handy, dandy camera was tucked neatly away in the drawer getting a much deserved rest.

There is a Church next to our Shul on a road with many Churches, sort of a spiritual street in a sense but very busy. They have what seems to be a great youth ministry there as they are always working on some project or another, often on Saturday and I notice them on my way to Shul in the morning. They are always having a Bake Sale for some cause or a Rummage Sale or holiday project so it's not an uncommon sight to see them holding up signs with an arrow or some such direction pointing into the driveway which is somewhat hidden by the curve of the street.

This past week they caught my eye on the way home from Shul. There were at least 20 teenagers standing with signs trying to catch motorists attention. It looked more like a Pep Rally than anything else. They were jumping up and down, trying to catch attention it seems of motorists speeding by on their way somewhere else. I thought to myself with a smile, what dedicated kids they are trying to hard to be noticed.

As I got closer the signs read variations on, "Honk to Stop World Hunger!!"  "Stop World Hunger Today, Honk!!" I was surprised, I thought for sure they were selling something.... and seriously how can honking stop world hunger I pondered? My second thought was what a wonderful group of kids who are giving their time to a cause rather than doing something superficial or meaningless. But, no one was honking and it seemed sort of sad.

Suddenly, one young man started to hop up and down ferociously... he looked almost like a Jumping Jack. I didn't know guys could jump so high, maybe he does gymnastics... then the cute blond in a sweat shirt and jeans starting jumping, so did the funky looking boy with a mass of red hair. And, suddenly someone honked. And, then.... another person honked. The more the cars began to honk the more the kids began to jump about, excited that people were beginning to notice and the more they jumped and pointed to their signs the more cars honked. And, I smiled and giggled a bit thinking of all the causes I was involved in when their age in high school and how we really did feel we could change the world at that age. If we could only bottle that energy and sell it to all the burned out souls who have given up and don't believe that one person with a sign can make a difference, let alone twenty.

As I passed through the crowd I smiled and noticed the only one not jumping was an older, tall, thin man in a gray jacket smiling quietly, knowingly. He was obviously their Group Leader, he had this look of satisfaction that only comes from seeing a plan come together. I smiled a "good work" smile and he nodded back.

As I watched the cars honking, here and there I thought "so now what?" 

And, then I thought on how many people may go home and give charity to their favorite cause or bread bank or donate their extra clothes to Good Will. I wonder how many of those drivers might google "stop world hunger" into their browsers and think on a way for their Church or Synagogue group to do a project of their own. Who knows? The seed has been planted in some one's brain and if only a few of those people passing by and honking do something it will still be better than if no one had seen the signs. And, if the first person who honked who immediately forgot all about it after entering the high way a mile or two down the road did nothing but honked, he may have inspired the guy who honked behind him to go home and donate a lot of money before April 15th to some group he might not have donated to earlier. 

With the Chaos Theory in play, one of those kids may go on to do great things to help feed the world or stop starvation. Or a small child in the back seat of her parents car staring back at the teens may think on what it will be like to be a teen like them and trying to help others in the big world. They may ask their parents if they are going to do something to Stop World Hunger. Hey, they inspired me to write this blog entry and how many people will read this post and think on doing something. And, lastly I remembered my older daughters holding my youngest babies as I stood with friends outside of a grocery store while my friends and I handed out pamphlets on Lighting Shabbos Candles.

My son quoted Margaret Mead to me the other day in passing and I am going to pass along the quote here as it definitely applies to this and to many other things.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has"

I've often been asked if I think singing a specific song really makes a difference or if holding a yellow flag makes a difference? 

I think so. How many Jewish kids or any kids listening to Matisyahu rapping wondered what he was talking about when he sings about Crown Heights and the lyrics "and I sing to my God songs of love and healing and I want Moshiach Now!!" wonder, "whoah, what's Moshiach???" You don't have to learn a new language to understand there is a purpose behind this specific song that was most likely his most popular song. How many CDs did that song sell? How many times was it downloaded on ITunes? How many times was it passed to a friend or heard in a car driving by a street corner with a bunch of kids holding up signs asking people to "Honk to Stop World Hunger?"  Could have happened, the rock station up here plays Matisyahu a lot and he performs regularly at the local college... as a matter of fact he has davened in the Shul where I daven so it is totally possible that could have happened. Who knows??

What I do know is that my son is right to quote Margaret Mead and NEVER should a Chabad Shaliach or any Chabanik use that overused phrase I have heard way too many times combined with a tired shrug. "It is what it is" because that is not an acceptable answer. 

When Chassidim come to a wall...they don't give up and go "wow, look at that wall! Oh well, it is what it is, let's go home, at least we kinda tried."  They jump over the wall...they find a way. "It is what it is" is not something that was a part of the Rebbe's thought process, almost unimaginable to even think a Chabadnik would say it and yet I have had more than a few shrug their shoulders and look tired and burned out.

Luckily, I get inspired by kids with signs and signs in the local bank at the start of winter asking people to drop off their old coats and sweaters to the homeless. A woman at Weight Watchers is attending a class on food consumption at a college here, she went home and looked through her cabinets at all of the processed food she spontaneously bought at the market that she doesn't really want to eat as it's not in her food guidelines and boxed it up and took it down the block and across the street to a local park where the Homeless live and she left it there with a hand scribbled sign that read, "Please Take and Enjoy!"

What difference can a sign make??

A lot of difference in my book.

What difference can a song make??

Probably even more as songs are passed around today the way baseball cards and love notes were when I was in High School.

Enjoy the music and try to live more in accordance with the message of the song and do Acts of Goodness and Kindness and you can never go wrong!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChV5BZ8SmS0

http://www.stopthehunger.com/

Sometimes, not only do you have to stop to smell the roses, you have to slow down and honk and go home and give some charity and pass along the message and the mitzvah!