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.