There is a G-d

I found this incredible video on Reb. Lazer Brody's site. This is an amazing boy who recorded this song between chemotherapy sessions. This song was also recorded before his Bar Mitzvah. May Hashem send him a complete refuah shleimah!
The video can also be found here

Work -- WHY?

Work

After talking about ridiculously expensive automobiles yesterday, let's get back to the theme of this blog: What are we doing here?

Uh and by the way, while we're here, why do we have to work.

Here's an answer given by Yanki Tauber of Chabad.org
Article appears at http://www.chabad.org/magazine/article.asp?AID=466991

Why must everything be so difficult? Couldn't G-d have designed our lives so that we wouldn't need to encounter disappointments, challenges and toil every step of the way?

This must be one of the oldest questions ever asked. The answer--that an "easy" life would also be a meaningless life--is probably just as old. And so is the parable told to illustrate the point:

A wealthy nobleman was once touring his estate and came upon a peasant pitching hay. The nobleman was fascinated by the sight: flowing motions of the peasant's arms and shoulders and the graceful sweep of the pitchfork through the air. He so greatly enjoyed the spectacle that he struck a deal with the peasant: he would give him a gold coin every day if the peasant agreed to come to the mansion and display his hay-pitching technique in the nobleman's drawing room.

The next day, the peasant arrived at the mansion, hardly concealing his glee at his new line of "work." After swinging his empty pitchfork for an hour, he collected his gold coin--many times his usual reward for a week of backbreaking labor. But by the following day, his enthusiasm had somewhat waned. Before the week was out, he announced that he was quitting his commission.

"I don't understand," puzzled the nobleman. "Why would you rather swing heavy loads outdoors in the winter cold and the summer heat, when you can perform an effortless task in the comfort of my home and earn many times your usual wages?"

"But master," said the man, "I'm not doing anything..."

The new $8 million Maybach Exelero

This nice sports car can be yours for only eight million dollars.
Hmm, just enough to keep a yeshiva going for 100 years!
Hmm, just enough to raise an army to get Ollie out of office!
Hmm, well I do like that nice premium leather interior with the matching crash helmets.

Hmm, that's gonna take a huge chunk of Olam Habah from me, so I'll settle for a Bugatti Veyron at about $1.3 million, what a deal!

Meanwhile I will keep driving my 1993 Mazda MX-6 happily. It's got 180,000 miles on it, and still going like a tiger. No it wont even eat the dust of these 2 mentioned cars, however one thing Im sure. When I am in the Beltway, or on Rockville Pike and surrounded by traffic, I am confident that we will be traveling at the same speed together. SLOW!

Ladies and gentlemen, these cars are gorgeous, however put your money where it really matters - helping people and increasing your Olam Haba! Just think how much it will cost to insure my Exelero. One ding could cost you the price of a new Lexus.

Hashem The Ultimate Grandmaster and Strategist

US, do not mess with Israel!

You keep sending money to the rogue Palestinian yobbo state of hooligans?
You keep telling us to give up our precious land and settlements?
Well you got our Tattie in Heaven rather disappointed in you, and this buddy has now happened to you:

"Israeli industries are benefiting in the wake of the increasingly destructive weather patterns striking coastal areas of the United States, offering hurricane protection and fresh citrus.


Israeli citrus farmers have benefited from the wave of freezing cold weather that struck California recently, destroying 70 percent of its citrus fruit."

Click here for more exciting info!

Now as I explained in my earlier post, I have the power to choose good or bad. However whatever I do, Hashem will always win! He thinks trillions of moves ahead of us! He is the Ultimate Grandmaster and Strategist!

So never give up hope! Keep strong emunah (faith) and we'll come out the Ultimate Winners and Beneficiaries! AMEN!

I have no control!

Microsoft Corp was created by Hashem to demonstrate to me that I have no control.

Let's face it, Hashem controls the world whether I like it or not. Ok, what's the deal?

I was working on my computer when I found out it was acting weird. I went to the Task Manager and found out that the CPU rate was jumping from 20% to 90%, and then it hit 100% and hung there for about 2 minutes.

Suddenly a popup box told me that Windows was updating my computer and showed me the ubiquitous Time Left bar. When the process was finished the computer then had the NERVE to automatically close down my programs and reboot without MY SAY IN THE MATTER!

Thank G-d I was not doing anything crucial. Nevertheless it is annoying!

The truth is IT IS A TEST. It is a crystal clear example that I have no control.

There are two items that can make us angry: the automobile and the computer.

Both of these tools gives us tremendous power: The power to travel long distances, the strength of a powerful engine at my beck and call - or the ability to connect to the world and be able to publish my thoughts through the internet, to create my own podcast! WOW!

However these power trips come to a crashing halt when there is a traffic jam, the cops pull me over, the program crashes, or Windows reboots my computer without my say!

We pretend we are godly beings as we drive our fancy cars and work on our awesome laptops. Nevertheless Hashem is quick to send us a traffic jam or a program crash in order to remind us that we really have no control.

Yet we do have control in one area -- THE POWER TO EITHER GET ANGRY OR TO REMAIN CALM - in other words, the power to choose the good moral path or the bad stressful path.

The choice is yours!

When you hit your next traffic jam, encounter the cop, or experience your next computer mishap

STOP, TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND WAIT FOR 5 SECONDS

Then continue.

You will find yourself a much happier person! Hatzlacha!

Trust in Hashem

Good morning!

Sorry I have been so slow updating this blog. It is not easy to find a subject that I can discuss. Every day I keep hitting all the favourite blogs and wonder "When is that bloke going to put up something new?" Now I realize it is very difficult to keep updating a blog and the people who manage to do it regularly have my admiration.

OK, Im still trying to figure out what Im doing here. One thing is to have more trust in Hashem. Why is it so hard to trust Him? We know that people are fickle, they say one thing and do another, so why do we run to flesh and blood and not to Hashem?

Well for one thing, we are so frightened of responsibility in this generation. We think that if Hashem is THERE and EXISTS, then gee golly that means no biking trips on Saturday (uh Shabbat) and wow, not going to the Ha'andi Indian restaurant that I so love, coz they serve treife meat, and the walls of their pots and pans are saturated with pork, shellfish, and other treife flavouring. Oh yeah, and that means having to figure out how to tell the boss I need to split at 2pm on a winter Friday afternoon and discuss how the sun goes up and goes down, and here's the kicker: I cannot carry anything in my neighbourhood, until somebody climbs up some telegraph poles and ties some string around them that encompasses the area.

Ladies and gentlemen, I wont get into the reasons for these mitzvot. Im not qualified. However at the end of the day, IT IS WORTH IT! BECAUSE:
1. I belong to an incredible community of beautiful Jewish people, and I cannot imagine starting my day without davening with them in shul.

2. When I know that everything I do, even the stupid mistakes - is because ultimately, Hashem wanted that to happen, that relieves me from the feeling that Im Stupid! Yes I botched something up and next time I'll learn better. However with this precious insight, I dont have to waste valuable energy fretting over my stupidity because Hashem wanted it to happen that way anyway!

3. It is fantastic to know that there is a perfect Being who I can rely on, who isnt fickle and will always support me through the thick and thin.

4. Hashem is also testing me to make sure that I am not a 'fair weather friend' - that I will only like Him when He is good to me (If only we had the appreciation) however when things go bad, that's the BIG GAME...when the shidduch rejects me, or I get teased by my friends, or I dont get the honour I want...then Hashem is testing me to see if I thank him. If I show that I want to thank Him even in the rough times, that is a sign that I am not a fake fair weathered friend and this gives Hashem the greatest pleasure. This results in a sweetening of the bad times, and future blessings!

5. Hashem does not expect us to become Instant Tzaddiks. It took me 2 years to start keeping kosher properly. It took me a year to be Shomer Shabbat. Just one little mitzvah is all you need to do. Just keep looking up. Remember that if you are on the bottom floor but your eyes are looking upwards, that is far far better than being on the penthouse suite on the roof but looking down and saying "Ho hum, life as usual"

Trust in Hashem, keep praying and do an extra mitzvah like lighting candles, a romantic Friday night meal, giving a dollar to charity, or eating one kosher meal a day. Believe me, it gets easier every day!
Shabbat Shalom!

To Be Zealous

Here's some insights on Zealousness that Hashem blessed me with.

OK, how do I know if I am a true Zealot, a Pinchas in training...or am I a fake, a self-righteous angry man?

Well, it depends who you are zealous for.

If I am thinking of my own honour, my own self-aggrandizement, then I am fighting for ME ME ME. My mind will be
muddled and confused, and trillions of angry thoughts will fly in my mind.
If that's the case, stay home, do not dare to lift even a speck of dust against the police, you will be creating a
massive Chillul Hashem.

However, if that same sin was performed on your own turf, say a bunch of hooligans destroyed your prized roses, you
would NOT be angry at all. Rather you would feel massive sadness, and you would cry Niagara Falls, seeing
how the noble human being could crash to such lowness and sub-bestial disgrace! However your mind would be clear and
tranquil. Then you can start qualifying as a Pinchas in Training!

Now if those hooligans start grafitti-painting the Kotel R"L, and you were not 'honour sensitive', however you feel
burning wrath, not for your sake, but for G-d's sake, then you are a true zealot. Pinchas HaTzaddik will be proud of you!

By the way, for the record I, Robert A. Solomon would fail this test!

You would then be doing a great Kiddush Hashem as you fight for His Honour and Glory. People will tell by your calm, noble deportment that you are genuine, and not a
self centered ball of anger and flame. However please try to keep within the law as you can!

Now how can you tell?

My humble guess is how you are behaving.

Imagine a big ugly drunk fighting. He is slashing, punching, and kicking in all directions. He is clumsy and scattering
his brute strength all over the place like an incandescent light bulb.

Now imagine a Martial Arts Grandmaster like the Aluf Abir or The Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster. He will be focused and clear-minded
like a laser beam. His energy is strong, and his passion is strong, but it is focused and concentrated!

Pinchas was such a grandmaster. Pinchas was FURIOUS no doubt, but it wasnt his own honour! It was HASHEM'S HONOUR!
So despite his blazing fury over Hashem's honour he still managed to have the clearness of mind to:

1. Ask his Rebbe (Moshe Rabeinu) for the halacha. An angry person for his own honour will not do this
2. Calmly walk through Shevet Shimon's territory avoiding the security guards
3. Aim the spear at the right spot!
4. Dispatch the bodies in a proper way, and then walk away and leave the spotlight.

So if you are angry, and yet be able to think with clarity and logical purpose, then get on the plane.
However if you are just 'pissed off', you are better off davening to Hashem, speaking to Hashem the way
Rebbe Nachman taught us to do, and to keep learning Torah!