I was not planning on writing a blog, but as usual, I am always troubled about how we celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut? Maybe, I should call this a guide for the Perplexed. What should be such a simple thing, is so complex is beyond my understanding. The issues go deeper than just saying/singing Hallel with a blessing or not. In our street in Jerusalem, we have a balcony/courtyard Minyan and the discussion of Hallel came up. Some of the Hareidi neighbors had not given too much thought to this as the Haredi Shuls or Community have ignored this. So, we have a large part of Am Yisroel who does not show public recognition of the Gift and Miracle that God has allowed us to return to our land after 2000

Who of us doesn’t need a second chance?” Reb Shlomo Carlebach often used to these words regarding the holiday we are celebrating — Pesach Sheni. The custom today is to eat some matzah. Quoting Reb Shlomo,” it’s a holiday of the second chance. And, um, I mean, just the words, “second chance,” is already like — unbelievable words, right? That means it’s never too late. You can always fix it. You can always fix it” So, ingrained in the the holiday of the second chances, that a group of Reb Shlomo leading students are putting together an evening of inspiration on Pesach sheini which falls out on Thursday evening 7th May. Link to Event https://www.facebook.com/yeshivatsimchatshlomo/ https://w

The Sweetest of the Sweet: Reb Shlomo's Teachings K’doshim - Creating Space for Children What makes one person more holy or less holy, great or not great is not how much they know. The thing is always how much do they know where they are. There is a saying in Pirkei Avos, Eizehu Chacham Hamakir Es Mekomo, Who is clever? One who knows where he is. The deepest secret in life is to know exactly where you are. Featured Video : Reb Shlomo sharing Fascinating Stories of great "Netziv" Reb Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin What you could've been WHAT YOU COULD BE / What is the deepest redemption? THAT GOD SHINES INTO YOU THAT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE / YOUR PLACE IN THIS WORLD - The Heilige Ishbitzer says tha

One of the Key principles and challenges is to acknowledge the role of God in the world. For reasons beyond our understanding , God allows evil, wars , disease, sickness and now the Coronavirus. There is a lot of suffering . We have to believe that Hashem is running the world and this is for the good. Just as we accept the Holocaust and the state of Israel, was God’s hand, so is the Coranavirus which does not distinguish between good and bad. There may be a silver lining to our personal, national and world challenges. One area is for us to be more caring and sensitive to the suffering to others. Israel’s survival has been through pain, many wars and too much terror and we first we remember t

On my Pesach blog, I suggested that we ask an extra question when asking Ma Nishtana? Well, there is no bigger question than How can we still believe after Auschwitz? I want to share some questions raised by Rabbi Elazar Schach where he said in a Shiur he gave in the Ponevezh Yeshivah in 1991. “Surely He (God) is a merciful and Compassionate King. Is it not strange that He did such a thing to us? Did He do it for no reason? Was a human being, a barbarian like Hitler, yemach shemo, really strong enough to destroy six million Jews? I ask you: what is a Jew meant to think when confronted with the horrifying facts of the Holocaust?” The above extract, I read in a book by Rabbi YY Rubinstein – ca

A few brief words from Melinda Ribner about the month of Iyar. The Hebrew letters for the name of the month Iyar spell out the initials of the verse, "Ani Yud Yud Rofecha" - "I am God your healer." What a powerful mantra to meditate upon. Try it. Take a moment, even right now, be with your breath as you take a few slow and deep breaths. Repeat this mantra to yourself with each breath. Know this as the truth. God is your healer. God is healing you right now! All healing comes from the experience of our connection to God, the Creator of all life, the Source of all blessing and love. In order to heal, to become more whole, we must go beyond our habitual ways of thinking, feeling, and living. We

The featured video - Holy Hunchback Rav Kloinimus Kalman - Rabbi Shlomo's Stories (in memory of the 6 Million for Yom Hashoah) I want you to know, it says “Vayehi Bayom Hashmini.” It was on the eight day. How does time work? Everybody knows there are seven days in a week, and then again seven days and again seven days. What’s the 8th day? And what is the holy of holiest all about? You know friends, in a crazy way, we all want everything, but you know what we really want? We want something which we don’t know about. We have a feeling there is something in the world, which we don’t know of yet, and that’s the deepest in the world. Okay, I know that I need my money in the bank, I need this more

Not sure if this is a book Review or Life Review. Anyway, as Tzvi Fishman says – I hope it is a Rave. A word of caution. I did not pay to read or buy this book nor is the author paying me yet to write this review. Tzvi as a gesture of desperation or goodwill allowed us to download PDF versions of his books. See. https://www.tzvifishmanbooks.com/ Anyway, it made a jolly good read and a good way to pass the time at Home (during Covid-19) This is the story of how Barbie girl Ken became Tzvi. How this American pseudo Goy discovered his Jewish Heritage. How a Jewish ignoramus discovered the truth of the Torah that God is a Zionist, and the Torah is the ultimate Zionist guidebook in his first n

This is a true story that occurred in 1970 years ago, about an Arab Bakery in Yafo, that closed on Pesach and continues to close on Pesach. Here is the Story in Video form While this story is very cute, there is a deeper underlying message here. We all can make a difference. When we see something that bothers ourselves or something that is needed fixing. Don't just shrug your shoulders, but assess the situation, be creative a make a difference and take Action. Too many times we think the problem is bigger than ourselves. This applies to all the big things aswell as the small things in our family, our community, our town and in business. Let's make the world a better place. The venue is Yefet

Featured Video : Reb Shlomo Carlebach - Rosh Chodesh Nisan / Pesach Reaching Within Me & When in My Own House פֶּסַח Parshat Tzav- Shabbat Hagadol going out of egypt and seder table Dear friends “ad 120 b’simcha” Shalom Uvracha mi'Yerushalayim! We dedicate our learning today for all who need quick refuah, parnassah- successful livelihood and ‘Yiddishe nachas’. May Hashem answer all our prayers l’tovah! May we all come closer to Hashem b’ahavah ub’simcha. Amen. We humbly ask everyone- please continue to daaven for the unity of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. (and those suffering from the Corona Virus) We pray that this month of Nissan - be a month of joy and unity and great miracles for all of

Stories on pesach Reb Zvi Elimelekh of Dinov (a grand nephew of Reb Elimelech of Liszensk)'s custom was to visit someone's house on the first night of Passover in order to see how he was making the seder. So he stopped in front of one Yiddele's house and Iistened to the Yiddele read from the Haggadah. He was chanting, "In regards to four sons the Torah speaks: One who is wise, one who is wicked,. ." and every time he would read the word "one" he would shout out in a loud voice "O-N-E" as if he were saying the Sherna. Afterward, Reb Zvi Elimelech recounted his experience, saying that this little Yiddele was making such a holy prayer from the "four sons" - by the way he was saying "O- N - E-"