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 ;)