my thoughts on America

i am not a Rav or a great learned person or anything like that but it disturbs me to see all the anti-America, Yidden leave the US articles that I see around this part of the blogosphere.  America gets compared to Germany of the thirties and forties. I think that these are false claims, jumpings to conclusions, histaria and same old Yiddish reactionary mindset. Yes if G-d wants that the US should turn against yidden, G-d forbid then it would be so. But why would G-d want that? Do Jews know a G-d who wants to hurt them and make them suffer? G-d forbid? No, G-d is Merciful and kind to all especially his One Nation on earth. Historically I think that the argument makes no sense either. The world in the forties was a G-dless world. America is a G-d fearing country with morality ingrained in the society from its founding. I heard once from a Mashpia that the Rebbe once said, that had the Jews in Europe been involved in spreading the shevat mitvos bnei Noah the seven Noahide laws the Holocaust could or would have been prevented. When a Yid hears that the country is going to turn on him it makes him immobile, helpless, mute. This comes from centuries of tortures against the Yidden. So its natural for a Jew to feel that the world is going to collapse around him. I think that our mission now is for Jews to be strong. When a Jew opens him mouth loud and with pride the world listens. Stop with the scare tactics which hurt our nation. Inspire Jews to live live Jews and to finish off our avoda here in the US to bring the Moshiach down here into the world be poel mamash.

just thoughts from a one man who doesn't believe that reading the newspaper headlines will show you the truth of where we are holding.

RABBINICAL LEADERS SHOCKED AT LIFE SENTENCE REQUEST FOR RUBASHKIN

NOTE! PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS ASAP!!!!

B"H

April 12, 2010   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                           

Media Inquiries should be directed to pr@justiceforsholom.org

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

  RABBINICAL LEADERS SHOCKED AT LIFE SENTENCE REQUEST FOR RUBASHKIN

  Jewish Leaders Urge Community Members to Voice Outrage to Justice Department

  NEW YORK – American Jewish leaders are expressing shock and outrage at the federal government’s recommendation that Sholom Rubashkin be sentenced to life in prison for his role as an executive with the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. It is the latest example of a prosecution that has repeatedly targeted Rubashkin for unfair treatment compared to others who have been accused of employing illegal immigrants or compromising the security of a bank loan.

 

Supporters of Sholom Rubashkin are being urged to sign an online petition at the “Justice for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin” Web page at http://justiceforsholom.org and  call or e-mail Department of Justice Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison (202-514-3465 ; oipl@usdoj.gov and cc pr@justiceforsholom.org), to protest the recommendations of life in prison for Sholom Rubashkin.

 

Those interested in  assisting the “Equal Justice for Sholom Rubashkin” campaign, or in receiving   call to action alerts should e-mail their contact info to info@justiceforsholom.org, or text message ICARE to  347-948-JUST (5878).

 

Jewish rabbinic leaders have signed a proclamation, urging their Jewish brethren to contact the Justice Department on Rubashkin’s behalf, calling it a “sacred obligation of every individual to participate in this mitzvah.”

 

The sentencing recommendation submitted by prosecutors to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa is inconsistent with sentencing of other corporate executives convicted in comparable cases. For example, Mark Turkcan, an official First Bank, was recently convicted of bank fraud involving a loss of approximately $35 million, and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. And Cathy Gieseker was sentenced to nine years in prison for bilking 179 farmers out of more than $27 million. Her motive, unlike Rubashkin and Turkcan, was greed.

 

Rubashkin was originally indicted for employing illegal immigrants, an offense that has been punished with probation or a short prison term. After seven superseding indictments, prosecutors chose to proceed to trial on alleged bank fraud charges in an effort to increase Rubashkin’s punishment, even though interest was paid on all of the money drawn by the loan and the bank has acknowledged it received approximately $21 million in profit from the interest payments.

 

The bank loan was not paid in full because of the government’s raid on Agriprocessors, which caused the company to declare bankruptcy. The bank “called” the loan when Agriprocessors could not continue to make its payments. The May 2008 raid included a military style raid and more than 600 federal agents. It was widely criticized for the extreme tactics utilized by prosecutors and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The raid destroyed the company and had disastrous lasting effects on the community of Postville and the kosher meat industry.

 

Prosecutors and the U.S. Probation Office have calculated the total offense committed by Rubashkin at level 45 under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Because the federal Sentencing Table caps at level 43, the Probation Office has calculated the total offense at level 43. An offense level of 43 is punished with a life sentence under the sentencing guidelines, which the Supreme Court held as no longer mandatory.

 

 Rubashkin’s attorneys have asked the court to impose a sentence no greater than 72 months, noting his positive history and character, his extraordinary family circumstances, and the arbitrary nature of the now-advisory guidelines used by prosecutors. They emphasize that Rubashkin’s conduct was not done for personal gain, that he did not intend any loss to the bank, and that a 72-month sentence would allow the Bureau of Prisons to place Rubashkin in a facility with experience in effectively and humanely incarcerating observant Jewish inmates.

 

 In Rubashkin’s bank-fraud trial, prosecutors were allowed to present inflammatory evidence regarding the employment of illegal workers, even though the judge had previously ruled that such evidence would prejudice the jury and had severed the immigration and bank fraud charges for that reason. The charges regarding harboring illegal immigrants were eventually dropped.

 

Rubashkin supporters argue That prosecutors have subjected Rubashkin to more severe restrictions and potential punishment than other employers whose work premises were raided by ICE and who were found to have hired larger numbers of illegal workers. The country’s largest meatpacker, Swift & Company, was raided in six different states in December 2006, and almost 1,300 illegal immigrants were arrested. No corporate official of Swift & Company has been prosecuted.  RCI, International, a restaurant janitorial service operating in 17 states, was raided in 63 locations in February 2007. Its owners, who paid their employees (all illegal immigrants) in cash, were found to have defrauded the United States of more than $18 million in taxes. Its chief operating officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The owner of a Massachusetts manufacturer of leather goods and handbags raided by ICE in March 2007, when 326 illegal immigrants were arrested, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Just some thought of mine for a change.

I was speaking with a few friends yesterday. One of them said to me that his roommate gives him doubts in his coming closer to yiddishkeit. He tells him how, can you do Torah and Mitvos if you don't even know why you are doing them? The Torah says not to eat milk and meat together, right?  It says do not cook a young goat in its mothers milk. But what about chicken which doesn't make milk, why can't we eat chicken and milk together? Since you don't know then why are you doing it?

So I told them that not eating chicken and milk together is a Rabbinical prohibition put in in order that we don't come to transgress the Torah prohibition...

But besides that point I said to them, if this guy doesn't do things without first understanding then how can he go on living without knowing the purpose and meaning of life? How can one do anything like wake up in the morning, eating and drinking or working if he doesn't know why and to what end it is all for. Such a life is the life sufficient for an animal but not a human. A human has to know why he is alive. A person must know that it is G-d Amlighty who gives him life and gives him a reason to live in this world. So let us all wake up from this dreamy state of Golus and welcome Moshiah Tzidkenu, today mamash!

Lost Generation

The World does not want this to be the lost generation. the world wants Moshiach Now!

Sign the petition for Shalom Rubashkin today.

http://justiceforsholom.org/

America stands for Justice and the way that Shalom Rubashkin has been treated thus far is the opposite of justice.


Sign the petition for Shalom Rubashkin today.

Sholom with his autistic son, Moishe, 16, and two youngest children – Menucha, 8, and Uziel, 6

Protection against terrorists - the Rebbe's advice (video)

With so much violence going on around the world, we have to know how to protect ourselves from any harm. Check your teffilin and mezuzos!

We all need to add in deeds of goodness and kindness in order to expel the darkness in the world and to bring Moshiach immediately!

How can ‘evil’ exist if G-d is Omnipotent? A Chassidic Perspective.

One of the fundamental difficulties in theology is the question of how evil can exist if G-d is all powerful. Seemingly, if G-d is the boss, there shouldn’t be anyone that could go against His will. And yet the Torah tells us that many have succeeded in doing just that: defying the will of G-d! How is it possible for anything to go against the will of G-d… isn’t G-d the one who is actually creating everything? Why would G-d create something that He doesn’t even want. And if G-d doesn’t want evil, why does it exist?
The main problem is that we need to find a way to show that everything in the world is, somehow, in line with G-d’s will, even when it seems to be going against his will on the surface. To address this riddle, we must first make a distinction between two different ways you can want something. The first way is straightforward: you want something for the thing itself. The second way is that, while you don’t want the thing itself, you do want it for the sake of something else. A common example of this distinction is money. When you think about it, people do not desire money for money’s sake. They desire what money can get them: food, cars, and clothing, for instance. The food you want for the food itself. You actually want to eat the food. But if we were stuck on an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean all alone, what good would a sack full of dollars do you? It would be worthless in that situation, because the money itself has no intrinsic value.
So too with the ‘evil’ in the world. G-d does not desire evil for the evil itself. Rather, he desires that evil exist only for the sake of something else. What is that something else, you ask? The sages state that ‘G-d desires a dwelling place in the lower worlds.’ Let us just take it as a given that, for reasons unknown to us, G-d derives great pleasure from the righteous abstaining from doing evil. Thus, while it is true that G-d does not desire there to be evil in the world for evil’s sake, He does want evil in the world in order to bring out the true greatness of the righteous. In chassidic lexicon, the desire you have for the things you want for their own sake is called ‘pnimiyus haratzon,’ or the internal will, while the desire for the things you want for the sake of something else is called ‘chitzonious haratzon,’ or the external will.
With the above distinction in mind, we can understand how evil exists in the world even though G-d doesn’t really want it to exist. G-d wants to test the righteous in order to give them reward, thus He wants evil to exist even though he does not want evil itself. In other words, what G-d really wants is for the righteous to abstain from committing evil acts and to generally destroy evil forces in the world through good deeds. In the meanwhile, however, evil does exist. But G-d does not continually create the evil in the same fashion that he creates good things in the world. Rather, the way He enlivens the bad can be compared to how one would nourish an enemy he keeps in prison. You would never give food to your enemy face to face; rather, you throw the food over your back to your enemy, because you don’t really want to feed him. G-d enlivens evil things in the world in the same fashion.

intelligent design video

G-d’s hiding place: 'Yedias HaMetzius'

In my last article, we discussed the idea that G-d has hid himself from us using the divine power known as Tzimtzum. The Doctrine of Tzimtzum is invoked by the Jewish Sages to resolve many theological riddles, such as the mystery of simultaneous human free choice and G-d’s omnipotence. Today I would like to address, to the best of my knowledge, exactly where G-d is hidden.
To address this question, let us first make a distinction between two general ways we can have knowledge of a thing’s existence. These two manners of knowledge are known in Chassidic terminology as ‘yedias hamehus,’ or essential knowledge, and ‘yedias hametzius,’ or existential knowledge. Yedias hamehus means that we can observe an entity directly with one of our five senses. For instance, we know that, say, an apple exists because we can see it, touch it, taste it, and smell it. This category of knowledge is very basic, and therefore some theorists believe that young children only believe in the existence of things that they can see. That is why children are so entertained by the ‘pick-a-boo’ game, because it plays with their sense of existence: one moment, you see your parent’s face, the next you do not, and the next you see it again. To a child’s young mind, it is as though your parent is jumping in and out of existence right before their very eyes. The second, more subtle type, of knowledge, ‘yedias hamehus,’ means that we know a thing exists only because we see the effects of the thing but not the thing itself. An example of this is gravity: no one has ever seen ‘gravity’ directly; we only see its effect upon objects: namely, the tendency of things to fall to the earth. Even though we have no direct evidence of gravity, in the sense that we cannot touch or see ‘gravity,’ nevertheless, we know that something must be causing things to fall to the Earth. If one accepts that all things have a cause, then one is forced to accept that gravity does indeed exist, in spite of the fact that we cannot see it. Though these two manners of knowledge are quite different from each other, they both enable us to know that something exists. Furthermore, yedias hamehus is a more advanced level of knowledge than yedias hamehus.
With this distinction in mind we can begin to unravel the mystery of where G-d is hiding from us. Though we do not have direct knowledge, yedias hamehus, of G-d’s existence, we do have yedias hametzius that He exists. In other words, we cannot sense G-d’s existence directly with one of our five senses. We do not see G-d with our eyes, nor can we touch him with our hands. Nevertheless, we can still ascertain G-d’s existence on account of His effects on the world. And because it is more intellectually challenging to understand something’s existence without direct, sensual knowledge, this is referred to as G-d’s self ‘concealment.’ Perhaps this is why we have been commanded to pray so often: it is difficult to know something when you cannot see it, and to fully appreciate the effects of G-d in the world may take a lifetime of intense prayer and meditation. Nevertheless, we shall attempt to cover the basics.
Firstly, all things must have a cause. Just as we reason that gravity must exist because things fall, so too must there be a Creator and ‘Master of this house.’ This argument applies not only to living things, but even to inanimate matter, such as dirt and rocks. Chassidus teaches that even a simple rock is dependent upon the Creator for its moment to moment existence. Were it not for this ever-present life force, the rock would revert back to the naught and nothingness as it was before it was created. Nothing is to be taken for granted. In my next article, I will showcase how life itself provides even more evidence for the existence of Hashem.
Finally, in the days of Moshiach, we will actually perceive G-d with our very senses! As the verse says, ‘all flesh shall see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ Our very flesh will be able to sense Godliness directly. May we merit to Moshiach now.

Yesh Din V-Yesh Dayan Music Video

This song has a catchy tune. Hopefully it will help to wake us up that Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish People because God Almighty gave it to the Jewish People. Every bit of it.

The UN Watch Video exposing the UN's Anti Israel Bias.

The director of UN Watch speaks out against the UN's anti Israel bias. This video is a few years old already but it's very relevant and it's also very widely watched. The UN was established in order to uphold human rights but it has not lived up to its mission thus far. The world has to come together to make sure that the UN does what it was meant to do, to insure real peace in the world by protecting justice and righteousness and rooting out evil and injustice.

Where is G-d? The doctrine of Tzimtzum.

Most people contemplate, at one time or another in life, why things are they way they are? In particular, many ask, ‘If G-d truly does exist, then why don’t we see him openly? Why don’t we see miracles all the time, for instance?’ Seemingly, the real force behind this line of questioning comes from a simple idea: if G-d is all-powerful, then how can there be any space for us and our free will? In other words, if G-d is in control, then how can we have free choice? In order to answer such questions the famous Kabbalist, the Ari Zal, introduced a concept known as the Doctrine of Tzimtzum.
Tzimtzum means concealment. The Kabbalists explain that in addition to G-d’s divine power to create from naught, he also has the power to conceal Himself from the created. As G-d says in the verse, ‘On that day I shall surely conceal Myself.’ Think of it as a kind of Divine self-restraint. G-d ‘holds himself back’ from revealing his presence, thus giving us space to have our own sense of self. This should answer the questions mentioned above. Even though G-d exists, it does not immediately follow that His existence should be readily apparent to us, since He concealed himself using the power of the Tzimtzum. Upon closer inspection, however, it seems that the essence of the question still remains. The question now becomes, ‘Why did G-d conceal Himself?’ To answer this one, we shall need to resort to analogy.
The Rebbe Rashab gave a famous tale to illustrate G-d’s concealment: There once was a father and a son. The father wanted to arouse the son’s inherit love for his father, but so long as the father was around and openly close to the son, the son could not fully appreciate his father. So the father decided to conceal himself from his son. At first the son was bewildered: ‘Where is my father?’ The son set out in search of his father. He traversed down all the paths his father used to frequent in order to find him. All the time, the son’s certainty that his father loved him never wavered. This certainty helped him to search more, and though he could not see his father, he knew that he was right on his trail, as though his father had just disappeared beyond the horizon.
The father is G-d, and his son is us, his creations. At first, the father openly loves his son, which signifies how our souls stood besides G-d in heaven before the creation of the universe. G-d concealed himself in order that we should love him that much more when He finally reveals himself to us. Thus the Jewish sages state that, ‘One is required to say, ‘for my benefit and pleasure did G-d conceal himself from us.’’ The paths that the son travels in his search are the Torah and Commandments, which are called ‘the paths of G-d.’ Just as the son was certain that his father loved him, so to we must be absolutely certain that all things come from G-d and everything is for the good. We may not yet comprehend the good, but good it is. In Chassidic circles, serving G-d with joy is of utmost importance. Finally, though G-d is concealed from direct observation by our five senses, we can arrive at knowledge of his existence though careful contemplation. Thus it is as though our ‘father’ has just disappeared beyond the horizion; though we cannot see him directly, we are certain he is there.
One more thing: the above quoted verse, ‘On that day I shall surely conceal Myself,’ is citied by the sages as proof that the story of Ester has a source in the written law. They draw this conclusion from the fact that the name ‘Ester’ and the word for conceal, ‘Aster,’ share the same root letters. The Purim story of Ester has great relevance for our time. It is unique in that, of all the books of the Torah, G-d’s name is never mentioned in Ester. In fact, there are no revealed miracles in the entire story. This represents the great concealment that G-d has wrought in Ester’s time and ours. Yet it is known that, of all the books of the prophets and writings, only the book of Ester will not be annulled after the Moshiach comes. This is because it is specifically through the concealment, or Tzimtzum, that we come to experience the ultimate revelation: G-d’s Essence. Happy searching!

Has America Lost its Soul?

There are more and more stories coming out each day that The Great American Empire has reached its' peak and is now all of a sudden on the verge of collapse. How did we get to this point one may ask? Well, with the advent of new technologies and a much faster world, the country has lost its' sense of morality and the values that it was built on. In the eighties, nineties and the early zeros we jumped from making money - and lots of it - to forgetting right from wrong and left from right altogether. Lying lawyers. Cheating businessmen became the status quo. We went from internet bubbles to mortgage bubbles. Now we realize that there is no more cheating and lying that can save us. We have a huge debt on the books and people want to know, "how does one go about making an honest living like people used to?" How do we build a country with wholesome family values. Where children are taught right from wrong? We have to rebuild this nation anew. Who will show us the way? I think Sarah Palin had one good idea. Lets use this countries' great G-d given natural resources. We will make energy, hire many people with different types of jobs. We will not send out jobs to China and India; we will hire people who live here in America. Let's go back to making things that last and not things which are cheap, made in other countries and are worth little and break fast. There are many things to work on. The world is ready to live a G-dly life. We just need young people and old to realize that the world is ready to live a Moshiach reality.

Interesting video of "Why Support Israel"?

Goodbye, Google Buzz

Goodbye, Google Buzz

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Happy Rosh Chodesh Adar - when we enter Adar we increase in simcha - joy and happiness. And simcha breaks all boundaries. A short story.

A great chossid once told a story to the chassidim that late one night, while he was learning, all of a sudden he felt a presence of another person sitting right next to him. The chosid became anxious, extinguished the candle that he was learning by and went straight to bed. "Why did you do that?" the chassidim asked. "Maybe it was "Eliyahu Hanovi." "It was not, answered Reb Shlomo. "Eliyahu Hanovi is always happy and this person was full of sadness. So I knew that he came from the side of evil (sitra ahra)."

Sarah Palin's Common Sense Speech at the Tea Party

some points from the speech:

drill here, drill now to help economy and make jobs
fear of G-d will help America to prosper!
do not make friends with terrorists
don't be afraid of what the popular media thinks and says

Two great stories of the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka that were heard recently

The Rebbetzin, Chaya Mushka enjoyed flowers all her life. When it came to be her and the Rebbe's 50th wedding anniversary Nishei Chabad sent a big bouquet of flowers to the Rebbetzin and included with the flowers a card addressed to her with requests for blessing for women who were married but weren't able to have children yet and were asking for brorchos for children. They brought the flowers to the Rebbetzin and took out the card to take to the Rebbe. The Rebbe looked at the card and when he saw that it was addressed to the Rebbetzin he said “this is addressed to my wife please take it to her” The man, Mr. Halberstam said that these were requests for blessings. So the Rebbe said, “she too can bless”. Then the Rebbe said further that Chassidus explains that there are two kinds of light, memale kol almin and soviv kol almin, a light that fills the worlds and a light that “surrounds” the worlds. When the Rebbe blesses his blessing are a level of memale and a person has to do something in this world like a good deed in order to get those blessing to manifest in this world. When the Rebbetzin blesses her blessings are on a level of sovev and when she blesses a person does not even have to do anything and the blessings materialize in the world.


The first story might help us to understand the second story.

There was a lady who lived in Crown Heights above the old Albany Bakery and she realized that every morning at the same time a car would pull up to the bakery with the Rebbetzin in and her driver. The driver would park, come out of the car into the bakery and buy bread and pastries probably for the Rebbe. The lady lived above the bakery and when she had guests over at her apartment she would close the blinds or divert them away from the windows in order not to disturb the Rebbetzin. One day a lady came over who had been married for eight years without having been blessed with children. So the lady of the house said “I usually don't do this but this is an exceptional case” she told her to go outside and stand on the sidewalk where the Rebbetzin's car would arrive shortly. The Rebbetzin's car pulled up and the Rebbetzin opened the window slightly and gave a glance at the young lady who had positioned herself next to the Rebbetzin's window. Nine months later the lady gave birth to a beautiful baby.

These stories were heard in numerous places including from Yosef Paltiel's shiurim, check them out at insidechassidus.org

The Physical is Connected to the Spiritual and why learn Chassidus Chabad?

Many people ask why should I, or any other person, learn Chassidus? Firstly, Chassidus was not around until relatively recently and secondly, when a person learns Chassidus the more learned he becomes, the more “bittul” (nullified, void, negated, humble) he becomes. When a person learns nigleh the greater he becomes, the more important, big and respected he is. When a person learns chassidus the opposite happens. So what is the advantage in that? The Lubavitcher Rebbe addressed this question in a sicha in 1952.
We can see the answers to this question from a disease that has unfortunately become strong relatively recently in the course of history. The Rebbe did not even want to say the name of the disease because it is so destructive. When it comes to a regular sickness, the way to cure a person is by strengthening the body. But when it comes to this disease the way to battle it is to destroy it or cut it out of the body. So if a person would come along and claim that he does not want that this disease be destroyed but that he wants that this thing should remain in his body because after all it's a part of him and it adds to him, we would tell this person that this particular sickness has to destroyed.
It used to be that when people learned Torah they felt nullified to G-d Almighty naturally because they saw the G-dliness behind the words of Torah. But a new phenomenon has occurred in more recent times. When a person learns nigleh of Torah, like Jews always have, he builds up his ego and “feels” himself to be a real something. This "something"is not a good addition but an aberration that should be eliminated because it is not a healthy trait. The way to fight this disease is to learn Chabad Chassidus, which shows and reveals the G-dliness behind the words of Torah.
So this answers both of our questions. 1) Since this spiritual disease did not exist in previous generations therefore the cure “Chassidus” was not needed, as it is known that G-d sends the cure before he sends the decease. 2) The reason why learning Chassidus makes a person less of a “something” is because this is precisely the cure which is required for our times and our generation and our problems.

Have a great week everyone!

If You Don't Point at Yourself, the Demons Can't See You.

My friend once asked me, "Hey Big Benny-ya-min, what do all the spiritual realms like briah and atzilus really mean? What are they? Whats going on up there?" My answer is as follows: There is a great general principle in chassidus, which details the difference between our physical world and the more heavenly realms. Down here, in our world, the existence of the universe is readily apparent and obvious, while the existence of G-dliness is not so obvious. By contrast, in the 'heavenly realms,' the existence of G-dliness is obvious, while the existence of our world is not so obvious. [Now, that is not to say that we cannot observe G-dliness at work in our world, it is just not so obvious, and requires some careful contemplation to arrive at the conclusion that G-dliness exists. Similarly, the angels and demons, who reside in the heavenly realms, may have to struggle to see that you and I exist.]
Keeping this general principle in mind, we can understand many different Jewish commandments and customs. For one, it is known that when teaching how to ritually slaughter an animal, you should never use your self as an example. In other words, you should not say, 'Cut from here to here,' and point to your own neck. I asked my Rabbi why you shouldn't do that, and he said because the 'Shaydeem,' or demons, won't see you and bring harm. You see, the 'Demons,' or destructive forces, find it difficult to perceive our existence in much the same fashion that we have difficulty perceiving their heavenly realms. Typically, the demons can't see us, but when we point at ourselves we give away our position and then they can see us.
Why does pointing at oneself make us visible to the demons? In the spiritual realms where G-dliness is readily apparent to all, no one would ever 'point at himself.' Being so close to G-d makes one very humble. Furthermore, since nothing truly exists besides G-d, all of the angels feel very strongly that they don't have a separate identity to themselves. They feel the way a tiny candle feels when it is brought near by, and unites with, a large torch. The flame is there, but it is buttle b'metzious. In other words, the angels and demons would never point at themselves because they don't really feel that they themselves actually exist as entities independent from G-d. The act of pointing at oneself implies not only that you exist, but that you exist as a different and independent entity unto yourself. Therefore, only someone from our physical realm, where G-dliness is concealed, would ever point at himself and thereby claim that he exists, and thus the angels or demons can see you. And this, perhaps, explains why one should never use your own body as an example when you teach someone where to cut a neck for ritual slaughter... because you would be pointing at yourself!
Pointing at yourself is important in another way. But first, a slight preface: Jews don't believe in evil, right? Well, the sages never said 'there is no evil, period.' If you pay close attention, the phrase they use a lot is that 'no bad or evil descends from above. [Ein Rah Yored M'l'maylah] The bad in our world did not come from above; rather, we messed up and brought it upon ourselves. How did we bring it upon ourselves? The Alter Rebbe, in chapter 11 of Iggeres HaKodesh in Tanya, says that anyone who is sad or down shows on himself that he has bad and lacks of any good. In the origional, he is, 'mareh b'atzmoh sheyesh ra.'
In other words, the whole concept of 'pointing to yourself' is an attribute to be abhorred. This practice is the source for our feeling bad. The more we exist as separate entities, as big egos, the more pain we feel, because we become so focused on ourselves and we loose our connection to G-d, the true source of our life and livelyhood. But the more we worry less about ourselves, and worry more for our fellow Jews and for the Shechinah which is in exile with us, the less we feel ourselves and the more we feel true connection to our Higher Power.
This brings to mind some chassidic stories I recall. A chossid went to a Rebbe, and said, "How do I learn to deal with all the troubles in my life?" The Rebbe told him to go see a certain great Jew who was extremely poor, and was sick very often. When the chossid met this special Jew, he said, 'Special Jew, my Rebbe sent me here so you could teach me to rejoice in my sufferings. How do you do it?' To this, the special Jew replied, 'I don't know why the Rebbe sent you here. I haven't suffered a day in my life."
The other story that comes to mind goes a little something like this:
A great disciple of a chassidic master was knocking on his masters door. The master seemed to be a little late answering the door, so the disciple knocked and repeated, 'Its me! Its me!" Later on, at a special dinner, this disciple was accused of stealing some nice silver dining ware. In fact, some of the guests held him down and threatened to lash him with a belt. To this, the disciple responded, 'It wasn't me! It wasn't me!' They found out, in the end, that the disciple did not, in fact, steal the silverware. Later, the Chassidic Master informed his disciple that his initial claims of 'Its me its me,' created a spiritual blemish that had to be rectified by screaming, 'its not me! its not me!.
Ok ok, one more story and then I go to bed :). A great man once merited to see where the souls go to after they leave their physical bodies. The man saw the souls in heaven and the souls in purgatory. [Jews do not believe in hell, so he didn't get to see those ones]. In heaven, all the souls were seated at a table upon which was a great feast. But the utensils the souls were using were so long that they could not feed themselves. Yet the souls were fat and happy, nonetheless.
In purgatory, it looked exactly the same: souls sitting around a great banquet with forks to eat with that were too long to feed oneself with. Here, the souls were famished and starving. The great man said to his guide, 'Why are the souls here starving, while the souls in heaven are so well fed? After all, everything is the same both in purgatory and heaven, in that the utensils are so long that no one can feed himself!' His guide responded, "Yes, it is true, a soul in either realm cannot feed himself, but in heaven, we have learned to feed one another." BOOYAH

Yud Shevat

Yud Alef Shevat the Rebbe took on the position of Rebbe officially in 1951. The Rebbe came late to the farbrengen to 770 which was very unusual. He had spent the time with his mother Rebbetzin Chana. The Rebbe said a few sichos until a chosid stood up on a table and demanded that the Rebbe say a maimar. So the Rebbe calmed him and started with The Friedeker Rebbe's maimer that he had prepared for yud Shevat.. Basi Legani .. And then the Rebbe started Basi Legani Ahosi Kala.. After the first ois they sang negunim and the chosid Rabbi Nemtzov stood up and said a loud shechianu to which all answered a loud amen.

We are the seventh generation. Therefore it has fallen into our hands to bring down God's presence into the physical world. All sevenths are beloved by Hashem not because of their great service or greatness but simply because they are the seventh from the first. And so it is with us the seventh generation of Chabad Rebbeim. May the Rebbe lead us out of Golus now.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

Oprah Winfrey Book Club for Jews!

As is well known, Oprah Winfrey has a book club, in which she showcases a new book that she likes every so often. In fact, with an endorsement by Oprah Winfrey, an author may be catapulted from obscurity to stardom faster than you can say, 'Oh my gosh did you see Oprah yesterday?!' Being an accomplished Kabbalist myself, it is my desire to 'elevate' the sparks trapped in Oprah's book club. So I decided to start my OWN book club, specifically tailored to Jews and the imminent arrival of the King Moshiach. Brace yourself, world: here comes Benny's Bodacious Book Club!
The first book to be showcased in Benny's Bodacious Book Club is a book about a startling trend in warfare in recent history. As is well known, one of the key signs heralding the coming of the King Moshiach, a.k.a. the Jewish Messiah, is the end of war. "And he, [the king Moshiach,] will judge many nations... [and as a result] They shall beat their swords in to plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore." That was from Isaiah, the prophet [not your alcoholic roommate at Yeshivah University.] Furthermore, the Rambam codifies this matter as law. But war is still around, right?
Perhaps not, says John Mueller, author of 'The Remnants of War,' our first book in Benny's Bodacious Book Club. In this book, Mueller, a political scientist, advances the theory that war has been in steady decline in recent history, and trends show that it may be at an end. Indeed, major war between developed nations has not been witnessed since World War II.
In his words, "The most notable and striking statistic in the history of warfare is zero: the number of wars conducted between developed states since the end of World War II. This is a massive shattering of historical precedent for these once-war-like countries; indeed, they have now been at peace with each other for the longest stretch of time in their history. "Given the scale and frequency of war during the preceding centuries in Europe," notes Luard, "This is a change of spectacular proportions; perhaps the single most striking discontinuity that the history of warfare has anywhere provided." " ( Page 81, emphasis is mine.)
Indeed, it seems one need only open his eyes and see that the world is a lot safer than it used to be. The only wars left, Mueller contends, are wars predicated by small bands of criminals which could easily be policed by disciplined armies of America and the like. Mueller takes us on an exciting ride through history, showing how the popular conception of war has changed over the ages. Interestingly, war was once considered to be a desirable, purifying, and fun enterprise, that is, until the anti-war movement and the horrors of Wolrd Wars I and II.
In my humble opinion, this would support the theory that World War II and related events constitute the ‘birthpangs of Moshiach,’ the terrible events that will take place shortly before the Moshiach arrives. And with war on the decline, look out for King Moshiach to put it permanently to rest. So go ahead and buy one of John Mueller’s ‘The Remnants of War’ to put in the bathroom, because Benny’s Bodacious Book Club said so! That way, the next time someone asks you to convince them that Moshiach is already here, you'll have something better to say than, 'Because Rabbi so and so said so.'

The 24th of Teves the Alter Rebbe's yartzheit.

The twenty fourth of Teves is the Alter Rebbes yortzeit. The Alter Rebbe's father was a chosid of the Baal Shem Tov but the Baal Shem Tov told his father not to tell him that he is a chosid. He wanted that the Alter Rebbe should come to chassidism on his own. Also the Baal Shem Tov did not want that the Alter Rebbe Should see the Baal Shem Tov. He wanted that the Alter Rebbe should be mekushar to the Maagid of Mezritch.

The Alter Rebbe was married already and he followed the path of avoda as taught by the Shaloh but at a certain point he felt that he was not satisfied with his service of G-d. At that time there were known to be two great centers of Torah, the Vilna Gaon in Vilna and the Maagid in Mezritch. It was also known that if you want to learn how to learn (nigla) you go to Vilna and if you want to learn how to serve the Aibishter you should go to Mezritch. The Alter Rebbe said that to learn he knows how to but to serve G-d he could improve on so he set out for Mezritch. He stayed there for a short time and he liked it but did not see anything there which should compel him to stay so he decided that he will go back. He was getting his horse and carriage ready to go. When he was there in Mezritch the Maagid gave his son Avraham the Malach to learn with Alter Rebbe. So now the Malach said to the Alter Rebbe "when you whip your horses you should whip them until they know that they are horses" and another version is "you should whip your horses until they cease to be horses". When the Alter Rebbe heard this he said that there is something very deep behind this and that he must go back and learn what it is.
The horses represent the body of the person or his animal soul and one must not let his animal soul take control of what the person must do or think but the body has to be made known that it is only a "horse" and to obey it's owner. This way the body can accomplish very great things but only when it knows who it's master is. The second higher level of service is when the body and animal soul itself are transformed and become G-dly themselves and desire nothing else but G-d.
So the Alter Rebbe made a u turn and went back to Mezritch and became the greatest disciple of the Maagid.

Hundreds Protest Global Warming - This is just too funny

Hundreds Protest Global Warming - This is just too funny! A good friend sent this to me and when I saw it, it made me smile.

Father Avraham Makes Up a Minyan

    An amazing story:

    The city of Hevron, many years ago, did not always have ten Jewish adults, but for the Jewish Sabbath and for the holidays they always managed a minyan.

    One, on the day before Yom Kippur, a count was made, and it was discovered that some people had left for Jerusalem that day, and there were only 9 adults for the holiday. For the first time in history, there would be no minyan in the synagogue on Yom Kippur.

    They waited until the last minute, hoping that perhaps a nearby Jewish farmer would show up, but no one came.  Many Jews preferred to spend the day in Jerusalem which was only a few hours away.  It offered them an opportunity to spend part of the day praying a the Kosel Maarovi, (the wailing wall).  The remaining nine people were very upset at not having a minyan, and many actually cried.

    Just as the sun was about to set, which meant that the holy day was about to start, they noticed a person approaching from a distance.  He was old, with a long silver-white beard.  They all rushed to meet the new arrival, quickly took him to the nearest residence, and serviced him a hurried meal.  However he did not eat the meal, claiming that he had already eaten the seudah hamafsekes, (the last meal that one partakes of before the start of the holy day).  The old man thanked them and blessed them.  With joy in their hearts, they started for the nearby synagogue.  They spent all that evening and the next day praying to the L-rd and thanking Him for providing them with a tenth for the minyan.

    When they finished the services for the next evening, each man was anxious to have the guest in his home for the evening meal.  They seldom had guests and wanted to observe the great mitzvah of hachnasas orchim.  They had no alternative but to cast lots to determine who would be the lucky one to have the guest at his house.  This was soon done, and the lucky person to win the mitzvah was the cantor who was known to be a great tzaddik.

    The cantor rushed home with the guest following him.  As they reached the door, the cantor stepped aside to give the important guest the honor of entering the house first.  To his great astonishment he discovered that the guest, who was walking behind him just a minute before, was not there.  The whole congregation started to look for the guest.  They searched the yard and the street, but it seemed that he had disappeared.  They were all dismayed that the guest had left without partaking of their food.  That night the old man appeared for the cantor in a dream and revealed to him that he was father Avraham who was laid to rest in the me'aras hamachpela, the double cave located nearby.  He had come to complete the minyan for Yom Kippur.

    The congregation was very happy, blessed G-d for the great miracle, and thanked Him for His kindness to them.

-(Seforim)

From: Torah thoughts Book Three, by Leo Gartenberg published in 1966.