Get to Heaven Keep the Seven

Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).

This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!

Sunday, June 11, 2017

A song is born and a wedding is  canceled

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Your Value as a Human and a wedding is canceled

Without the value and power that our Creator has given us we are nothing. We are dust and ashes. With the value and power that is the gift to each one of us by our loving Father and King, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, we are remarkable beings. The entire world was created for us.

This view of humanity can instill in us both humility and positive self-esteem. Our value is given to us by Hashem, no human being can take it away. We do not need any mortal's approval or appreciation to claim our value. It is a given.


Speaking of being kind and considerate, I have tried to indvidually write to each person who said they were coming to my weddding on June 23rd,that it has been cancelled and not to come. In case I didn't get through to you, I am putting on my blog on the side of caution as I don't want somebody to show up to a wedding that isn't taking place.

However, let me assure that your Mazel Tov was not wasted. The Talmud teaches that all prayers have an effect like water indenting a rock. Maybe your Mazel Tov was the secret one that craked the heavens for G-d to send me a loving mate.

If however, it didn't, don't be afraid to keep your eyes open to recommend someone that wants to walk in G-d's ways and to live with love in the Land of Israel. And I will keep your mazel tov on hold for the next time when it really works.

Your friend
Love Yehuda Lave

 

Louis Armstrong Benny Goodman Danny Kaye Laurindo de Almeida Nestor Amaral in A SONG IS BORN 2

Ever wonder what happens when you forget history, or are nationally arrogant?

 

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.


DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.


Rusk responded "Does that include those who are buried here?"

You could have heard a pin drop 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American.


During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims.  What does he intend to do, bomb them?'
 

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 


'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply Emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day. They can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.  We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~


A Royal Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.  At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, the English learn only English.  He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' 

Without hesitating, the British Admiral replied, 

'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's, South Africans, and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~


AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE... 

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to  locate his passport in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically. 

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." 

The Englishman said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." 

"Impossible.  You English always have to show your passports on arrival in France !" 

The English senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.  Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Gold Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

2CELLOS - Thunderstruck [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Travels North and South, and a Special Blessing from my friend Yehudit Rose in Israel

 

When RabbiElyakim Levanon, the head of the Hesder Yeshiva in Elon Moreh, welcomed us, he asked how many of us had previously visited the town. A few hands went up. The rabbi smiled and told us there is a special blessing the rest of us should say. The blessing is recited when visiting a place in the land of Israel that had been settled by Jews, destroyed during the time of the Temple, and then rebuilt. He mentioned that Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, zt"l, the Chief Rabbi of the British Mandate, used to say the blessing whenever he visited a new town in the land. Rabbi Levanon recommended that before we leave, we go to a synagogue and say the blessing.

At the end of our drive through Elon Moreh, we stopped at the Beit Midrash, the yeshiva's synagogue, to say the blessing. "Blessed are you, Lord our God, who has removed the limits of the widow." Widow is the word used in Eicha (the Book of Lamentations) to describe the destroyed city of Jerusalem. By extension, it refers to all the towns and cities that have been destroyed, whether by Babylonians, as in Eicha, or others. In removing the limitations on these places, God has allowed Jews to return and rebuild.

Elon Moreh is built on Mt Kabir, one of the mountains in the Shomron that surround Nablus. This is the town that in the days of our forefathers was called Shechem.

The book of Genesis tell us that Elon Moreh is the first place Avraham Avinu stopped when he came to the land from Haran. According to some traditions, this is where he stood when God told him to look out over the land. Everything he could see, God would give to Avraham's descendants. Yakov, following in his grandfather's footsteps may also have stopped in Elon Moreh as he passed by Shechem.

Modern Elon Moreh was founded in 1980. The Hesder Yeshiva was one of the first buildings. As at all hesder yeshivot, its students spend two of their five years there serving in the military. Rabbi Levanon explained to us that his yeshiva places special emphasis on the study of practical halacha—how religious principles are carried out in day-to-day life.

But none of that history mattered when we walked to the observation point because when we stood there, the view captured us. It's mid May, the fields of the Arab farmers in the wide Tirzah Valley are still glowing bright green. Unirrigated areas are already turning yellow or tan. On the other side of the valley, the mountains of the Shomron are tan and brown, disappearing into the distance. Our guide said that on a clear day, you can see Mt.Hermon. This day the Hermon's snow covered cap hid itself in the haze. The valley stretches around Mount Kabir where we stood to beyond where we can see—all the way to the Jordan River in the east.

Tirzah Valley was the highway the Tribes of Israel used when they walked from the Jordan River to Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eval when on first entering the Land under the leadership of Joshua. I tried to imagine what that must have looked like—the people must have filled the valley. It would have been more than 600,000 men, plus their wives and children who were not counted in the census. And they would have brought uncounted numbers of sheep, cattle, goats, and donkeys. The stragglers would probably just be getting their feet wet in the river's mud when Joshua reached Shechem. The leaders would have been directing six tribes up onto the slopes of Mount Gerizim and six of them up Mount Eval, while the Cohanim were setting the Holy Ark down near Shechem. The noise of their passing would have been heard for miles.

I thought, I could sit here on the bench in the shade all day. If I lived in Elon Moreh, I wondered how much work I would get done. With that view outside my window, I'd probably stand there transfixed every morning until my alarm rang, reminding me it was time to leave the house.

I had the same feeling this week, standing on the porch of the small house Rabbi Ari Abramowitz built for himself in the Judean Desert. The house stands up the hill from Ivei Hanahal, at the end of a packed dirt road. From one side of the porch you look back at the yishuv of Ivei Hanahal, a town inhabited by forty-two families. Looking east from the porch, you see the desert mountains marching off towards the Dead Sea, a vague shape of darker blue against the backdrop of the hazy blue Mountains of Moab in Jordan. The house is built almost on the edge of the steep drop into Wadi Arugot, the largest river valley in the Mountains of Judea. The wadi, which at this time of year is dry except for a narrow steam in its bed, winds around the house, giving a spectacular view of the desert. Ari can't see this view from his bedroom. He has to get out of bed in the morning and go into his living room to look at it. I am sure that was a deliberate decision when building the house.

Don't look for the site on a map. Ivei Hanahal is too small for Google maps to find. Forty-two caravans, a stuccoed shelter for the soldier on guard duty, and a beautiful playground for the children doesn't rate one of Google's little red teardrops. They place the symbol for Wadi Arugot in the middle of an empty space, about halfway between Hevron and Mitzpe Shalem. You can almost find it more easily in the Bible.

Ezekiel (47: 6-10) prophesied that the water from the Third Temple will flow through the desert in such quantities that the Dead Sea would become a fresh water lake, with fish swimming in it. The local interpretation is that Ezekial was talking about Wadi Arugot.

Ari was one of the co-founders of the Land of Israel radio network, along with Jeremy Gimpel. The English language network describes itself as devoted to "broadcasting the truth and beauty of the land of Israel and the Jewish people." (website: http://thelandofisrael.com/). The radio station's headquarters are nearby. They are building a retreat center there, with eighteen small suites and conference rooms. They plan a swimming pool, to be surrounded by bushes, trees, and flowers. Here, in the middle of the desert, with the help of volunteers from Germany, they have just finished planting 500 olive trees, and envision planting a pomegranate orchard and a vineyard.

While we sat in Ari's living room, he talked about building the house. He recently had heard about the blessing one says when visiting a once destroyed place that has been resettled by Jews. When he moved in to his house, he said the blessing, "…who removes the limits of the widow."

I mentioned to Ari we had recently recited the blessing in Elon Moreh. Then I told him what Rav Levanon had said about Rabbi Kook's custom of saying it when he visited somewhere new in Israel.

"Rav Kook did that?" Ari asked.

I nodded.

He smiled. "I'm going to do that now too."

 

שבת שלום מירושלים

Judy

 

See you tomorrow

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

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