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!