Thank You South Africa

BS"D

"the way the sunlight hit the leaves it really caught my eye..."
those where the word sung by a friend of mine that helped me
understand and live what it means to see and hear the environment
and how it speaks to us, helping us in our service to the Aibishter

the alchemist talks about how everything needs to be honored
everything in creation is speaking to us, and we can tune into
that language and comprehend, respond even

it was shabbat, the first one after pesach, as i found myself
in the company of two sweet south african friends, walking along
crown street. i have yet to get into the meaning of it all, but
it is not a coincidence that we live in the highest sfira,
keter elyone
(lo mikre shares the same letters as rak me HaShem)
so here we are, three girls on crown street, dressed shabbat like
three girls, 6 heels
laughing, well mainly joking at miss r, when 6 heels became well 5
there is not much one can do when all of a sudden you find
your most comfortable heel boots, well, heel less - on shabbat!

well this girl, kicks her shoulder back, straightens her back
continues walking, very well balanced, as if nothing broke indeed.

often times we experience moments where just like that, something
goes off, HaShem throws us a curve ball, you find yourself caught
off guard, thrown off....

what does a yid do?

head held high

shoulder back

keep on walking...

hm,, this sounds very familiar to me now....

http://www.algemeiner.com/generic.asp?id=461

Talmud

BS"D

Hashem rewards a person for each and every step
he takes as he walks to shul.

Talmud - Sotah 22a

Conversation with the Flying Rabbi :: Part One

BS"D

maamar tetzaveh in one hand basking in the sun, waiting for the bus

from spoons comes flying out the rabbi

he stops, looks at me, comes closer and says:

forgive for saying this, did i see you before? in yerushalayim? tzfat?

yechi hamelech. i saw you at the record store down the block i tell him

did you get a cd from me? i speak about the lubavitcher rebbe

no i didn't, but you should know you are famous.

ah, don't say those things to me....

yeah, you are on you tube.

(he turns around)

and you are on the ny times

(he raises his hands puts them on his head, walks away)

ppl are looking.

maamar still in my hand

walks back to me, and says:

i shouldn't be starring, you know ppl think all kinds
of stuff, especially since i am talking to a beautiful
yound lady...i shouldn't be looking....you know ppl
here drive their cars, they look at me and think

what that you are crazy?

(he stops talking, looks at me and walks away)

then he comes back and ask me-what are you reading?

a maamar.

(he puts his hands on his head, walks in spoons and comes
back out again)

i want be married.

good, you should get married.

i was married in israel, she was 22 years younger than me....

nu what are you doing here? go back to israel!

yeah? you think i should? i am saving up some money, i want to get married...

a spoon employee walks back in from his brake upon
hearing this starts laughing, our dear rabbi starts laughing
too and takes it back and says---well, not right now....

why not i tell him, if you want to get married so badly
then you should say, i want to get married now! mamash now!
like we should say we want moshiach now!

ppl looking.

maamar still in hand.

flying rabbi flies back in spoons

then of course he comes back out

so i tell him, why don't you write to the rebbe.

in igros?

yes, ask for a brocha and tell the rebbe - this is what
i will do in return; you have to become a keli...

become a vesel...

yes, take something upon yourself and stick to it.

like what?

dunno. maybe you learn a perek of tanya a day, or put
tfillin everyday. choose something and keep to it.

he's thinking.
then he flys away.

the whole time he was flying in and out, he would look at
the floor or to the side, but never directly, well only at
the first encounter. he also felt like he was distracting
me from the maamar i was reading, like he didn't want to
bother me too much. which i found almost touching in
contrast to his 'wild enthusiastic' self.

what i was going over in the maamar was on the sfira of
tiferes-beauty, how the rebbe reveals in us the eztem of
our soul thus connecting us to the Aibishter, this in fact
is the role of moshe rabbeinu and more so connecting the
yidden to one another.
rabbi ginsberg elucidates how the essential point of the
maamar is the unification of the jewish ppl - where each
soul finds his/her unique voice and yet sings in harmony
with other voices.

as he flew away the last time blond peyos and all, he asks:

at least can i know your name?

Daughter of G-d.

Orah Project

BS"D
they asked me to help out with the flyer
this what i came up with.
tell your friends about these 2 days and
Bezrat Hashem raise some funds.

3 Train

BS"D

mind heavy with images snapped during the day
pieces or fragments trying to rearrange themselves
hopefully filling up this white space with cohesive
sentences more to say on this net superhighway
as i am back on this moving 3 train,
blue siddur in one hand trying to elevate the space & myself
yeah i wanna transcend
reality aint about counting dimes
reason i write this because chazal tell us to live with the times
brake through the new york frame of mind
as i am back to the hebrew letters in this sefer of mine
despite the white, black, yellow faces starring with intent
puzzlement and bewilderment with no end
as he took a seat next to me whispering words cutting
through the tense
gaze
as they are trying to comprehend what is going on here
it doesn't makes sense
everything he is uttering is leaving them impressed
with words and hand movements of snapping kids necks,
and 911 deaths
yeah i was a troop they sent
to iraq in the conquest
why they got rid of JFK and the black power theft
and they didn't tell you, yeah you are next
i hope you rot to .....
little girl crying she is scared to .......
her brother starts hollering -
yo you best stop, cut it out son, i ain't fun!
uneasy feeling lingering in the air
first i thought he is just whatever,
it's a new york city train
no one dared move or make a gesture to offend
trembling sized my fingers, as he moved away one chair,
this guy is for real he ain't playing games
but i continued with my best defense to purify the air
next in line was the tfilla Shma Yisroel
i am a yid don't you know i was put here to stay
though this is not the way i intended to start my day
funny how many things can infiltrate and violate your space
on this new york city train
leaving you with the impression that the world is going insane
reality for me is olam haba thru olam haze

From the Office::Part One

BS"D

just one of the conversations that took
place at work today....at the moment i am
the only chabadnick here...rebbe's shlucha...
more to come....

my colleague said::
I went to a new Chabad class series last night.
Six classes every Tuesday night. It was good, but
Chabad classes really take on a very different slant
than regular shiurim. Its very spiritual, and
"otherwordly" etc. You have to really go for that line
of thinking. But its good.

my response::
from my own experience even if i don't
understand everything at least its like a
seed that is planted that eventually with
more learning and Torah watering it will grow.


chassidus has a way to take a pasuk in
the Tanach and take that with you so when
you step out of the house it becomes a
torch, or a candle, lightouse even, shedding
a new meaning to one's life and surrounding

its like when you go watch a 3D movie
and they give you those special glasses,
all of a sudden everything
is shown to you in a more real way

its like if you look at a tree when
the clouds cover it you wouldnt even
notice anything, but once a sunlight
shines light on those leaves, all of
a sudden the tree assumes a different
meaning, then you start paying attention
to how the leaves are glistening, and
you may even gaze at it longer and
appreciate its beauty,

chassidus has a way of recapturing
that curiosity and innocence towards
life that we had once as a youth
as children even, or i should say while
the mainstream runs after plastic
suregry to stay youthful, we have
chassidus that feeds our ever youthful
neshama - lol

it says that we are called bnai yisroel
after yaakov avinu
why not bnai avraham, or bnai yitzhak?
what was the story with yaakov?
all his children were perfect so to speak
with avraham and yitzhak there was a
good son-bad son business,
ishmael and yitzhak, yaakov and esav
right?
so from yaakov avinu we get the 12 tribes=klal yisroel
so all of yaakov children were holy
because the most natural thing for a yid is to be holy
to be immersed in kedusha
and it wasn't until yosef hatzaddik and
later re introduced at Matan Torah
that we can be involved in the gashmiyut
and blend it with the ruchniyut - we can
be in the world and be holy - we can
be involved in the business and remain -
be - kedusha we are spiritual. all of us.

otherworldy yeah, the world that we will
eventually live with the coming of Moshiach.
what chassidus gives us is a preview sneep peek,
you know....like at the movies....

often i tell ppl life is like that movie Truman Show
you've seen it?
and we all know who the Big Boss is.....

her response::
Beautifully written. You should take my job.
I see what you are saying, and
it is an interesting perspective. Perhaps
I will try to view the class in that light.

Nisht tzniyus kinderlach!

BS"D

11:am truly woke me up.
well for a little bit.
sundy allways tuggs at me why aren't i alert

rabbi paltiel teaching a maamar at chabad central
explaining how all the maamarim are actually all
from the alter rebbe, then suddenly something
made him press that stop recording button and
started registering this in my brain.

the benches on the third shul were all occupied
by hungry crown heights women and shluchos from all
over who came in town for the kinus
the benches by the rebbe's room were quiet empty
with the motion of his hands rabbi paltiel does
welcome ppl to come and sit in that area
BUT not just anywhere...

oh here they come
oops here they sat down
on the middle bench right behind him
not so far away and much more closer than
the rabbi liked
oh here he goes:
nisht tzniyus kinderlach!
you should be afraid of a man
granted you will marry one;
he steps away from them as the girls finally rearranged
themselves while the rabbi continued saying how
these thing should be instinctive in our part.
then he brought it down in a not so serious fashion
making a statement how he is indeed afraid of women...
as all probably know rabbi paltiel is very animated
when he speaks and very passionate especially this
day as he was saying those yiddish words.

it just made me think
how comfortable are we when it comes to tzniyus?
how comfortable are we with tzniyus?
am i so comfortable that i don't even blush when i
am in such vicinity of a chareidi man?
a man?
am i so comfortable that vicinity is not a big deal?
(and i am not talking about rush hour on the 3 train.)

.....
midnight i walked home on crown street, a cop apparently
stationed around that area for the kinus walking toward
my way, almost scary looking he was mamash bundled up
all the way. but i kept my head lowered and he said
something to me, through his ski mask cap sounded like-hello-
it's not a brainer really
but what rabbi paltiel said rang so sweet in my ears