Making the desert bloom-- the fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecy and we bury another soldier, this time after 37 years

Can't see images? Click here... Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works  with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement Breathe Serenely Master the art of breathing serenely. Since you are continuously breathing the entire day, this is the most powerful and effective tool for creating the peaceful feelings that are conducive for patience. As soon as you begin to feel impatient, let the feelings you experience be the start of your focusing on the gift of oxygen. As you exhale, feel all stress and tension leaving. As you inhale, feel the fresh oxygen traveling from head to toe relaxing every muscle and every cell in your entire body. As you breathe, repeat the word, "Patience." Say it with gentle and soothing patience. As your brain is conditioned to associate slow breathing with patience, the very act of breathing slowly will continuously enable you to be more patient. Love Yehuda Lave Israelis Use Technology to Make the Desert Bloom When many Jews returned to the Promised Land in the 1800s it was dry and barren. But Israelis are finding unique ways to make the desert bloom and prosper. Flowers in the Negev Who could imagine that one day the Negev Desert would ever be like this, such is the blessing of Hashem that after two thousand years of desert land today Israel is a nation blessed like the earth, Baruch Hashem! Flowers Anyone? Isaac Mozeson   Importantly, the Torah view of EVIL is about a human with Free Will choosing wrongly, NOT an independent force, or a "fallen" condition of man, something one can claim to the judge or The Judge: "the devil made me do it." The once-dominant religion of Zoroastrianism had a powerful, adversarial deity behind all EVIL. Christianity's Satan is merely a demigod, a fallen angel -- but still powerful when mixed with a bottle of rum. The godless, clueless social scientists who feel that Dr. Ben Carson should have become a thug because of his environment are today's Devil Worshipers. Environment is a hindrance to Free Will, not an all-powerful arbiter of behavior. שטן Satan is only a verb in the core of Torah, not a proper noun, a being or scapegoat. (Job is a late literary work; there is no theology, no Mosaic Law after the Five Books of Moses.) Yehudit Liora Katz adds a significant word to reiterate this point about EVIL as Free Will misbehavior. Choosing right or wrong, life or death, is dramatized by the facing hills of Mount Gerizim, the fertile Hill of Blessings, and the barren Mount Eival, the Hill of Curses in Deuteronomy 11:29. Spelled differently, הר עיבל this Mount EY(V)ahL sounds much like עול [A]hVeL, "wickedness" or "unrighteousness..." , EMeTological source of EVIL. We bury another soldier--this time after 37 years, opinion on how we should save our lives by Shalom Pollock Zachary Baumel Israel returned home for proper burial. Israel announced Wednesday the body of Brooklyn-born IDF Sgt. 1st Class Zachary Baumel, a tank commander who went missing in action in the 1982 First Lebanon War after having been captured during the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the Bekaa Valley, has been returned home for proper burial. IDF Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said the body was returned through a "secret intelligence operation" but declined to provide details on how his remains were retrieved. "Zachary's bones which were brought to Israel were positively identified," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement Wednesday evening. "With them were also found his tank jump-suit and his tzitzit. Soon Zachary will be brought to his eternal resting place with a Jewish burial. The above is the main headline in Israel today, despite the fact that we are only days away from a very hotly contested election. The story made me think of a few things; If this had been the US or any other country, would the fact that the remains of a soldier brought home after thirty-seven years been an item that causes an entire country to drop everything and unite in an outpouring of relief and pride, along with a tear? Would it have immediately shoved all else from the front pages? I don't believe so. Is there another place anywhere where a few bones can produce instant unity and emotion as it does in our little Jewish country. Zacharia's father passed away ten years ago after spending twenty-seven years traveling world in search of some stone that has not been turned for his son. He died tragically not knowing that there was indeed a stone out there that only the combined assets of Israel's intelligence/military finally uncovered after so long. His memory is also alive in Israel. Zacharia's parents brought him to Israel from the comfort and security of the USA to bring living to  a higher level and meaning. Zacharia was happy and flourished in the Jewish homeland... and then ultimately gave his life for it. Should his parents have not left the USA for embattled Israel knowing that there is a theoretical chance that serving in the Jewish army means being exposed to the Jews' enemies.? I too made the choice that Zecharia's parent did. I too served in the IDF. I too could have been called to my maker in the process. I too would have been found with my Tzitsis.  Worse, the same is true for my sons. What thoughts run through my head? Regrets, fear, guilt, anger..?  Tzitit. This small item made a huge impact on me.  This is the difference between just defending one's country and something higher yet. Rabbi Akiva and Bar Cochba were killed by the enemy in the land of Israel -  with their tzitsis. The same is true for those in the army of King David and Joshua. That is how Jews lived and died - as Jews fighting for a Jewish land. Do we consider their sacrifice a mistake or senseless? Tragically, in the diaspora, many Jews fought and died for foreign countries, often fighting on either side of the trenches while suffering from anti-Semitism in their own trench. The rebirth of our Jewish country ended that painful anomaly. Young soldiers tragically give their lives for their countries in many places. This is unbroken history.  Dear Zacharia died in a Jewish uniform fighting for his people against the enemy of his people. In historical terms, this is a revolutionary concept.  Still, every Jewish soul is an entire world and never just a statistic.  The leadership of Israel, in the IDF and elsewhere must memorize the words of General Patton to his troops; "I don't want you to die for your country, I want you to  make the bastards on the other side die for theirs." Sadly, the very unJewish rules of engagement that Israeli soldiers are bound to (pun intended) cost precious lives. Former IDF chief and current candidate for Prime Minister, Benny Ganz said, "I prefer to endanger my troops rather than the lives of enemy civilians. That is the moral choice"  That's no Patton, or King David or Joshua, and it is not at all Jewish. How dare he! But this well reflects what is so very wrong today amongst the " moral elites". As a parent, I would have to ask myself if I have the right to send my son to this army - Jewish or not. What a tragic situation for a Jewish  parent and the Jewish people! This insanity must change and I believe it will. The days of the Ganzes and the very non-Jewish thinking elites are numbered. ( It is not just the "Left" that is infected with this amoral, non-Jewish thinking. Bibi freed thousands of terrorist killers. Over a hundred Jews have already been killed by them.     Bibi's response to Hamas murder is striking at empty structures and paying millions to them in protection money..)  This is looking increasingly crazy to more Israelis This election, I believe will be part of the slow process of turning the insanity around.  www.shalompollacktours.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Golan tour - April 7 Galil tour - April 22 - Pesach See you Sunday, Shabbat Shalom Love Yehuda Lave Rabbi Yehuda Lave 2850 Womble Road, Suite 100-619, San Diego United States LIKE TWEET FORWARD You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us. Unsubscribe