Just another blah blah post

It's now Erev Shabbat here and we are gearing up for another heatwave. Most of my fellow congregants will be sweating in their jackets and ties. I refuse, and will don a short sleeve shirt and some trousers.

Ive nothing big to say, which is the major reason why I havent been good at blogging constantly. I dont have Rebbe Lazer Brody's gift for bringing anything that is important and readable every day, so I will just drone on until Hashem graces me with a great story.

One thing, I noticed in my city of Baltimore, I was disgusted to see in the free newspaper boxes a paper with a big ugly giro and the words PIG OUT written in big bold red letters.

This is Eisav (Esau) saying Pour that red red thing down my throat! Nevertheless there is a bright side....if the culture is so disgustingly low today, then Moshiach will definitely come to put things right.

Meanwhile, I did some hitbodedut during lunch time and came in to the office dripping with sweat. Looking forward to next week when it should get back into the 80's.

When I get my act together, I hope to get some baby pictures up.

Meanwhile Shabbat Shalom!

After Tisha b'Av

Ah, it's the day after Tisha b'Av. My break-fast last night got rid of my throbbing headache, and I started to feel more like a human being again.

Anyway, we need to reflect on what we went through yesterday. I and all of us need to be more tolerant when relating to our fellow Jews. Sure it sounds nice from the pulpit, however what will happen when it's hot, Im tired from work, and I need to do some last minute Shabbat shopping at the local kosher mart?

People darting around, cars cutting corners, speedy dashes to the exit, Jews blocking my way with their carts, while their little kinderlach dart hither and thither?

Yeah, have to quieten that Nazi inside me that says "Those silly people, dont they know how to shop in a civilized way?"

This is what we fast for, so we can overcome our arrogance and our burning desire to be the king and have everybody get out of the way for me!

May Hashem help me and all of us as we prepare for Ellul and Rosh Hashanah.

Building Emunah

Many times, we wonder why things happen to us. We have no clue what the answer may be. For a massive example, we will never be able to comprehend the Holocaust, no matter what terutzim and "proofs" we come up with. That question will only be answered when Moshiach comes, speedily with our days.

There are also other little questions that we have no answers to. Questions like:

1. Why does Yankel have a skin disease? He learns and is very kind. What has he done to deserve this?

2. I want to visit Sarah at the hospital. I have only 3 hours to do this mitzvah before I have to work. There is a traffic jam, and thus I am unable to visit her.

3. The boss is acting strange to Richard, despite countless hours of dedication to his job, the boss decides to promote Tom, who spends too much time chatting with co-workers and is obnoxious around the office.

WHY?

Hashem has 2 systems in which we need to relate to him: deah(knowledge) and emunah(faith).

In a deah system, we know and understand clearly the reason why Hashem is doing a certain thing. For example we saw Hashem take us out of Egypt thousands of years ago. We know that if I go to work and do what I have to do, I will get my paycheck. If not, then face consequences!

However, we also were put into this world to develop emunah (faith) in Hashem. Emunah only can be developed when the brain kicks out, and says "This does NOT make sense!"

When things dont make sense then our job is to say "This is for the good. I dont know why, and I dont know if I will ever learn it for a while. Therefore, I must stop trying to figure out what's the deal here....and realize that it's for the best."

Stories abound about deah coming out of an emunah situation. The classic one is the guy who misses his plane and thus a key business opportunity where he could make millions of dollars. 2 days later, he finds the plane has crashed in the middle of the ocean leaving no survivors. Before the crash, he had to rely on emunah to see it for the best, and now he has deah post-crash.

Obviously this doesnt answer the horrible question of why the other people had to die and he survive. Or why some people survived the holocaust and a few escaped. That is in the Emunah realm!!!!

Our job is to

1. Use deah when we know the answer.

2. Use emunah in the rest of the 99% situations that Hashem gives to us where we have no solutions.

Use these situations to build emunah, and have faith that Hashem will give us the answer when it's the right time!

Unburied Treasure - Overcoming your natural language!

I just heard a most amazing shiur by Rabbi Michalowicz (the Rav of the Westmount Shul and Learning Centre of Thorn Hill, Toronto) on why it is soooo hard to keep Torah and Judaism. It blew my socks away!

You can find his classes here:http://www.westmountroutes.com/classreview.html

The class this post is based upon is Class 19 (Mother Languages of the Body and the Soul) on this page: http://www.westmountroutes.com/Mesilas%20Yesharim.html. It is based on the Mesilat Yesharim with the Bilvavi's commentary.

I highly recommend you listen to it!

To start, why is Judaism so hard? Why dont I need a Rebbe to teach me how to eat, sleep, and go to work. However I do need one to constantly remind me to learn Talmud, to control my anger, and to watch my diet?

Have you ever tried to learn a new language? I sure have! It's so hard to think, to feel, and to behave using the new language, things that come natural when you talk in your native language.

I vividly remember the frustration and pain of learning Hebrew (and I still cant understand how to listen to Israelis speaking!) I tried listening to tapes, to understand what the morah (ulpan teacher) was trying to say, but I couldnt get it! Nothing penetrated!

When I tried speaking in Hebrew to people, it was very hard to colour in my thoughts to the new language. After about 2-5 mins, the conversation reverted naturally back to English, or I forced it back to English, or else I tried to kill the conversation as quickly and politely as I could.

Well, it's the same with Judaism. Our Mama Loshen (Mother language) is the language of the Physical World. The Spiritual Language is a second language to us!

For example, Shabbat - Rabbi Michalowicz describes it so beautifully. We love the food, the sleeping, and the conversation. We go to a quick minyan close to home as possible, rush through the services (Im guilty!) and go home, run through Shalom Aleichem and Eishet Chayil, and then we eat and eat and eat! Oh yes, we talk about Obama, politics (so much fun) Paul the Octopus, the World Cup, and say/get familiar with the latest loshon hora tidbits about the Rabbi, how he is so extreme, and that the chazzan sings out of tune and is only up there to be the star.

Mama Loshen!

However deep within us is our Neshamah, our soul. What we forget is that this Neshamah has a mother language of it's own. It's mother language is to be kind, think about other people, to learn Torah, to daven with passion and intensity, to think before making a decision. You get the picture.

The mistake that we have been making for the past 2,000 years is that we are trying to keep Judaism by forcing our bodies to give up their mother language! To force them into shul and learn Torah, pray, diet, etc! Naturally a rebellion is staged with the victory of the body!

However all we really need to do is grab a good ol' shovel, and start digging. Enjoy the body, enjoy the food, try to learn Torah, try to be kind....keeping the status quo you have been living for now.....with one addition: Find some time in your day, get the spade and dig for the ultimate treasure.....your Neshamah.

Once you uncover your Neshamah, you suddenly become fluent in the Mama Loshen you knew all along, and all of a sudden, it's much much easier and fun to be in Shul than to be eating!

Im not there yet....however I plan to spend less time worrying and more time digging for the Neshamah!

When many Jews find the Neshamah they had within them all the time, then Moshiach will definitely come!

Hatzlachah!

A new beginning

Hello,

It's been 2 years since I added anything on this blog, so I hope to get things rolling again. In the meantime, I had a new baby girl and hope to add pictures of her to this blog, plus some movies as well.

I also apologize for all the blank pictures out there. I guess things change in 2 years and files get lost as time marches on.

Anyway, I pray that this time, I can fulfill the mitzvah of marbiz HaTorah as best as I can!

Cheers!

Ebay

Recently, I have just started to use ebay to get rid of all stuff I do not need.
You see I have all this stuff that is just taking up room in the flat, and it is too expensive and precious to just chuck into the landfill.

I realize that ebay is a perfect proof that 'one guy's trash is another guy's treasure'.

I also use this as a way to practice how to do business with integrity. It is so hard to resist glancing at the bidding right at the final crucial end of the bid to see if my Tony Robbins CD's have gone up in price.

Things that I thought were not very valuable turned out to be far more valuable than I thought!

Nevertheless, as beautiful a tool ebay is, it has major pitfalls. For starters, you have to say the truth and mention all the scratches, dings, and blemishes in the object you're trying to sell. This can come back to haunt you later if your ebay ratings plummet! More serious is that you fail the crucial test of 'Did you do your business deals with integrity?'

Finally, when all is said and done, the stark fact that our stipends are decreed on Rosh Hashannah hold true even with ebay. That means that all our money, whether it comes from the job paycheck, ebay, multi level marketing (NOT RECOMMENDED), rental property, stocks and other financial instruments - ALL THAT is determined on Rosh Hashanah!

So it's exciting to see how the bids turned out, YET we have to remember that Hashem decreed that money for us anyway, and if we wont get it on ebay, then we'll get it in a birthday present, a tax break, or a holiday bonus - or finding the same amount of money on the street (and there's no return address or clues to return the money to)

Chag sameach!

Im back with a new movie!

wowzers! It's been since Chanukah since I last entered the blogosphere!
Shame on me! Well I need to get back into business - well Pesach is coming and I have a real nice 3 minute clip I got from Aish.com on Pesach. Enjoy it, it's only 3 minutes and well worth the time to view.

Hope to see you soon!
Cheers!
Robert

To make Aliyah or not

As an orthodox Jew in America living in the End of Days, I keep thinking that we need to get out of this country as fast as possible and make it to Israel.

I am all for it.

I want to do it.

I think it's the only place for a Jew to live.

Jews here are caught in the 'hey buddy, dont get bent out of shape' culture where the hemlines get shorter, and 'slumming it' is a cool thing to do. We forget so rapidly that there is a schedule, a cosmic timetable to history. Just as a caterpillar has x amount of time to be a caterpillar before it suddenly enters a cocoon and then emerges as a beautiful butterfly.

For 5768 years, humanity has been in the caterpillar stage, and we have become like the Big Green Caterpillar, so big and fat, especially gorging all those pizzas, lollipops, and burgers in the good olde US of A. However whether we like it or not, we will eventually enter the cocoon and have to break out of our old caterpillar shell (hmm change ourselves, do teshuvah, etc) or else the governments will force us to do so, G-d forbid.

And the end, humanity will enter the beautiful butterfly stage, with Moshiach, speedily in our days.

Israel is a mess, however Israel is the only place to be if you want to be really close to Hashem.
Israel is a proving ground. I failed after 3 years, however it is for the best.

The Melitzer Rebbe, shlita, understands clearly why we cant simply drop the job, get on the plane and move to Israel.

First shalom bayit (peace in the home).
Even though Hashem wants us to make aliyah, nevertheless I think He would rather us happily married in the Diaspora rather than marital discord in the Holy Land! If the spouse is not ready to go up, then you are not yet ready. End of story.

Also, we have to think about $$$. Once you do get the job, you will probably have to learn to live on much less, deal with a much smaller house/apartment, and trash a huge percent of your paycheck to a now defunct government.

Nevertheless, I want to move. Im ready to leave my Honda Odyssey and move on. However I am not ready to leave my lucrative job right now, and more importantly, my wife is not ready to move yet.

So there you have it. Yes, Hashem wants me to end up in Israel. However right now, he wants me here in the United States.

We'll ramble on more about this subject. I congratulate and envy the brave people who have made the jump, and pray that their aliyah will bring the Redemption now speedily in our days, amen!

OK, time for Robert to take the mickey out of himself today.
Why?
Coz I feel like it, that's why!

Here are some things that I like that are going to make people either shout or point fingers at me.

Here we go:

1. I love Richard Wagner's music! Yes, Im a frum Jew who loves Hashem, and Yahadut. However I just enjoy that powerful Germanic sound!























courtesy of cbc.ca

2. I love driving aggressively. However I am working on this one! It's not easy to break an addiction (see article below)














courtesy of motorcycle.com

3. I am a Mummy's boy.

4. I am a big Neil Diamond fan.

5. I am discovering the appeal for love songs, especially since Im married to a wonderful Jewish queen!

6. I want to buy a pink and grey Brompton folding bicycle because, I just LOVE that pink colour!




















Courtesy of southdownsbikes.com

7. I am a big softie who loves to think he is a Labrador puppy.
























Courtesy of susanalabradors.com

8. I have terrible table manners and eat my food way too fast!
























Courtesy of TimesRecordNews Wichita Falls Online

9. I consult my rabbi so many times, the Rebbitzen starts to worry her husband is not spending enough time with her ;)

10. I always ask my wife permission for anything.

11. I cant cook anything that cannot be cooked in a microwave.


















Courtesy of iomfire.com

8TH DAY CHANUKA!

OK, it's the 8th day, the number 8 being the supernatural number, above nature, transendential.
No post today, Im just gonna give you some light to end Chanuka on a strong positive note!

Cheers!

The Speeding Addiction!

Yikes, I forgot my camera today, so I will have to show the 7 and 8 candle pictures tomorrow. Meanwhile, I hope you are having a wonderful Chanuka. My wife has a fever and is relaxing today in bed. Let's pray that she gets better soon!

(update) - got the camera, and my wife is getting much better, Baruch Hashem!


I want to talk about driving for today. It is such a big spiritual test, and one that I find tremendously difficult to pass. Drivers in the USA do all sorts of annoying things like blocking the left lane.

Jeremy Clarkson, the fantastic host of the British car show Top Gear says that speed is like a type of drug, a fix that one needs. Like a smoker who craves his cigarettes, a chronic speeder is addicted to that fantastic feeling of freedom and joy that moving fast generates in him, and when a guy blocks his way, he is denying the speeder his fix. This obviously gets the speeder furious, and road rage ensues.

This is a major battle for me. I am a chronic speeder, and need to break this addiction. There are times when the roads are clear and we can enjoy the route. There are also times when we are forced to slow down, during those infamous traffic jams on our interstate highways. The worst situation for me is when the motorway is not crowded, but all the cars are scattered over the road so there is no way to pass. Why dont they get out of the way, so they can continue their pace, but let us move on???

The job therefore for me is to
1. Stop asking those questions like "why dont they just move over, blah blah blah?
2. Stop talking to people about American drivers.
3. Constantly think about the good things this country has to offer us.
4. Realize that driving is only a teeny tiny part of life; the most important thing is to be close to Hashem and to maintain our relationship with Him.
5. Play relaxing music or a Torah shiur instead of rock or techno!
6. If I get angry, pull over at the next opportunity, stop the car and just stay put (count to 10, breathe, or just do nothing) for 1-5 minutes, and then start all over again

One thing I noticed is that once I start to drive aggressively, I suddenly go into speed mode and it is much much harder to slow down and be a mentsch again. Therefore, it is wise to stop and breathe so I can slow down. Once I am back in mentsch mode, then I can start the car and drive on.

If you have any tips on how to overcome the speeding addiction, please send them to me.

It is said that our life tikkun (the purpose of our lives) lies in the very things that are very difficult for us to do. Perhaps this area is one of my tikkunim, one of the reasons for What Am I Here For Anyway!

Cheers for now!

More Photos

Good morning! Happy Chanuka.

Since I dont have the WWW at home, I will have to put day 5, and 6 here together. Here they are:

Since day 4 was Shabbat, and I lit the chanukiah at somebody else's house, and I forgot my camera, we dont have day 4. Nevertheless I think the 2 above pictures make up for it.

Anyway, the chanukiyot are getting brighter and we pray that Moshiach's light is getting brighter every second now. Yes, we have a Damocles nuclear sword hanging above our heads, and the USA is going bananas, and Europeans are learning how to say rude things to us again. However Hashem is the Ruler and we trust in Him. Think about it....isnt it amazing that we have got to this point in history. We nearly destroyed ourselves in WW2 (if Hitler got the bomb). Then the Cuban Missile Crisis, then the rest of the Cold War, then the Gulf War, then India and Pakistan. We could have got nuked then...but Hashem protects us in His secret ways.

Anyway, at the risk of being naive, just hug your brother, overcome a negative character trait, or just thank Hashem for one thing He has given you, and you are on your way to happiness and not just survival but a thriving new member of Hashem's people! Yes and that includes people who are not Jewish too.

Cheers for now!

OK, I am settling down in Baltimore and am enjoying my marriage with Yelena every day, B"H!
I am now working for a nice computer training company in Hunt Valley and have a wonderful office. I have a fantastic view of the rolling hills, as you can see in this picture:



















I also will show you some Yelena pictures as well! (More to come, because I just love photographing her!) She is so photogenic, unlike your's truly who runs like a cheetah on amphedamines away from a camera!


















I also have found a wonderful little Sefardic shul near my house. IT's called Bet Ya'akov and I will put in a link to the shul's website. It has a fantastic Aron Kodesh, which I will also show you in this photo:



Anyway, that's it for now. Expect more cool pictures, and thought-provoking articles to come IY"H soon!

Shabbat Shalom!

Living in 2 worlds

Things are not what they were a decade ago. Life is rushing forward at a breakneck pace and it seems that Moshiach will appear any minute now!

And yet life goes on, I go to shul, get to work, and live my life as usual.

What do we do? Should we ditch everything and move to Israel and hunker down in kollel learning Torah non-stop until the big day, join the IDF and start defending our Holy Land, or just hang out in our nice corner of Galut and drive the nice car, eat the nice meal in the nice house, and commute to the good secure job every day?

Well, I am no Rabbi, however Hashem has blessed me with a good common sense that has helped me alot. It seems to me that we are living in a unique chapter in history where we have to be living in 2 realities or worlds.

We must not quit our day jobs at all, unless you have a better one waiting for you in Israel. We still have to live our lives, doing our best performance at work, gaining new job skill. More importantly, we have to work on improving our relationships, our Yiddishkeit, and Torah learning.

YET, we must remember that the world we see right now will end and a new glorious era will usher in a world where we will not have to worry about finances, wars, and evil any more! We must look forward constantly to that day, and yearn for it with all our heart and soul, as though it will come NOW!

So as the wise proverb says, keep your head in the sky and your feet firmly rooted on the ground. And keep talking to Hashem and pray for what you need so you can serve Hashem better. Remember, Hashem and the Divine Court love happy smily people, not complaining grouchos (more on that subject in a later post)

There is one thing, I believe that will bridge today's world with the world of Moshiach: Treat people with respect, and do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you! Forgive anyone who angered or upset you, start talking to people you have not talked to. I am working on my driving for example!

So dont make snap hasty decisions, keep a connection with your Rebbe or trusted advisor, and start to be nice to people. Keep the course, and IY"H, Moshiach will come and say Hi to you!

Cheers!

It's been a long time!

Good morning!
It has been a long time since I updated this blog. After my father created an incredible blog on his Indian trip, I thought, it's time to dust this thing off and start anew.

Many things have happened in my life including:
1. Getting married on August 28, 2007
2. Moving to Baltimore
3. Finding a wonderful new job in Hunt Valley

Hashem has been blessing me with so much!

Will talk more later, just want to get this blog back in action again!

Meanwhile, let the lights of Chanukah warm you up!




Cheers for now!

To Be Zealous

I wrote this blog earlier, however I would like to repost it for Parshat Pinchas


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!

I AM ENGAGED!

Here is the lady I have been praying for all these years:



I know I have been amiss for a while, because I have been focusing lots of time on shidduch hunting and car buying, but now

With The Help Of Hashem YitBarach, I AM ENGAGED to my Jewish Russian Queen

The Beautiful Yelena Kaz of Baltimore.

Now I am working hard to get married IY"H. In the meantime, I have some pictures and an engagement ring movie to show you. If you cant play the movie, that's because YouTube is processing the movie right now.



Here's my bride and I mugging for the camera. Sorry guys, I am not very photogenic like my kallah is ;)

You need engines and flaps to fly a jet plane brother!

Hello people,

Why is it so important to do personal prayer? Why do I have to take about 15-60 mins of my precious time and go into a field or park and speak to Hashem? Do I not do this during Shacharit, Mincha, and Ma'ariv (Arvit) in a minyan? Also people are going to see me as ridiculous?

Well Rebbe Lazer Brody gives excellent answers in his CD's and blog. However I can give you a parable. Suppose you have a big jumbo jet, you need the big Rolls Royce or Pratt and Whitney engines to get that big beast airborne. However without flaps you aint gonna get anywhere brother!

The Anshei Knesset HaGedola (Men of the Great Assembly) created the traditional prayer service at the start of the 2nd Temple period. There are no prayers more potent and powerful than those. They are the engine, the fuel to get us airborne and flying.

However I need a direction, I need to know my goals, what I really want in life, and how to ask Hashem what I specifically need. Plus there are things on my mind I need to vent out. INstead of hurting other people, and transgressing laws of loshon hora, hurtful words, and the like --- say the same stuff to Hashem instead. Personal prayer is the flaps, the rudder, and ailerons that direct the aeroplane to it's correct destination.

In conclusion, you need the jet engines of Jewish Tradition and the community, and you need goals and personal prayer to steer you in the correct direction that Hashem wants you to go.

Dont worry America. Israel is behind you!

From Arutz 7 (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=120700)
Israeli Security Firm to Outfit Surveillance at D.C. Airport
11:47 Feb 01, '07 / 13 Shevat 5767
by Ezra HaLevi

An Israeli security company based in Ra’anana has been chosen to outfit Washington D.C.’s airport with digital surveillance systems, Israel21c reports.



NICE Systems was selected by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to supply the company’s NiceVision Digital Video Surveillance Solution as part of a Closed Circuit TV core systems upgrade at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

"Because NICE has been providing security surveillance systems for airports around the world for years, they allow us to meet these challenges and provide our client with the best suited digital video technologies available," said Gunvir Baveja, President and CEO of eVigilant, system integrators for Reagan National Airport.

The planned security upgrade will involve the decommissioning and removal of existing video servers and recording systems currently maintained in the airport operations computer room and its replacement with NICE’s high-resolution digital video recorders.

The NiceVision Digital Video Surveillance Solution is capable of sustaining numerous cameras while providing the infrastructure and integration potential to support video content applications. This means threats can be identified and tracked as images are analyzed in real-time.

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