Searching Our Hearts...

בס''ד

The long hot summer is almost over. Families are returning from vacations and children are preparing to go back to school. And we the Jewish people are also starting to prepare for our new year, not by partying, but by searching.  

Tonight starts Rosh Chodesh Elul, a month before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. 

Why is this month so special to us?  According to Jewish tradition, the World was created by Hashem on the twenty-fifth of Elul. This is according to the opinion in the Talmud of Rabbi Eliezer. Elul is called the month of repentance, the month of mercy and the month of forgiveness. 
  

The word Elul also means search.The time of the year when we search our hearts. It is a time to take a good look in the mirror and see what we don’t like about ourselves and prepare to make changes. 

Elul is spelt in Hebrew אלול [alef lamed vav lamed] and is an acronym of Ani l’dodi v’dodi li..I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine.  Shir HaShirim 6:3.  My Beloved is Hashem and I is the Jewish people.   

We learn that from the beginning of Elul until Yom Kippur, Hashem is the closest to us. It is a time for us to do teshuva, to repent and ask Hashem and those we have hurt for forgiveness.   

Starting in Elul, Sephardic men wake up earlier in the morning to recite Selichot before Shacharit.  Ashkenazi Jews will gather to recite Selichot at midnight, the last Moetzi Shabbat before Rosh Hashana.  

We include Tehillim 27, in our davening,[prayers] from Elul until Hoshana Raba... One thing I ask of the Hashem, that I seek-that I may dwell in the House of the Hashem all the days of my life, to see the pleasantness of the Hashem and to visit His Temple every morning.   

The Shofar, the ram’s horn, is blown from the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, and until the day before Erev Rosh Hashana.  The custom is to blow four sounds from the Shofar every weekday morning. The Shofar is not blown on Shabbat.  

May the month of Elul prepare us to enter the Rosh Hashana with a new perspective in life and to meet our challenges. 


Wishing everyone a year filled with Brachot. May you be sealed in the Book of Life.   גמר חתימה טובה

Until next time...feel free to comment and share.

Miriam           

Tish B'Av...A Day of Sorrow.......

בס''ד
During the long hot days of summer, six weeks after Shavuot, is a mourning period known as the Three Weeks. A time of sorrow for the Jewish people. 

Tish B’Av starts on Monday evening July 15^th and ends Tuesday evening July 16^th. May this be our last sorrowful Tish B’Av. Waiting for Moshiach....when will we be ready for you to come?

For more information: Aish   The ninth of Av
                             Chabad The ninth of Av overview 

The day of sorrow,

the ninth of Av.

The blackest day,

we Jews know.

Hashem commanded us to fast

and to give up our comforts.

We read Megilla Eichah

And say kinot.

Why do we have this terrible day?

Is it because we cried for nothing so long ago?

Hashem said “you want to cry,

I’ll give you something to cry about.”

So many tragedies have struck

the Jewish people on the 9^th of Av.

Many were murdered on the 9^th of Av

in pogroms and the Holocaust

for no other reason than they were Jews.

Moshiach, Moshiach, where are you?

“Come now, come now,” the people beg.

For we suffered all our history.

And bring glory to this nation.

Wishing you an easy fast!

Miriam

Where is the Promised Peace?

בס''ד

Next week will be the 8^th anniversary of the expulsion of Israeli citizens living in Gush Katif. Over 8,000 Jewish residents were forcibly removed from their homes and land. Twenty-one communities made judenrein..[free of Jews]. Beautiful homes, manicured gardens, field of produce, schools, community centers and Beit Knessets were all destroyed on orders of the Israeli government.

And today, do we have the peace that was promised by abandoning our land? The answer is NO NO NO.... all we have is missile terror, kassams, mortars and grads. Our beautiful land is now used as terror camps by Hamas. By abandoning our land, we gave the terrorists the opportunity to come closer and fire rockets deeper into the South of Israel.  Some peace...right!

A few days after the disengagement, I wrote a poem called Gush Katif.

Gush Katif

Gush Katif

paradise on earth.

In one week

destroyed and no more.    

This beautiful land

so full of Kaddosh

With honor and bravery

the residents settled the land. 

Over thirty years ago,

our brave IDF

reclaimed our land

in a victory so bold.

"It's the law

I'm just following orders,"

our soldiers told the residents.

"You need to leave right now,

or we will move you out

one by one."   

As the proud residents were being carried out

tears from both soldiers and residents

flowed all around. 

On some yishuvim

one last mincha was recited in the Beit knesset

and with dignity, tears and heads held high

they temporally said good-bye.

The  expulsion was the law
of a cruel government.
When Moshiach will come
our beloved land
will be in our hands once again.
 

Netivot, August 2005.

I would like to recommend a very special book that is very appropriate for this anniversary.     

Shifra Shomron, who at the time of the expulsion, was a teenager living with her family in Neve Dekalim, put her thoughts and feelings on paper and wrote Grains of Sand: The Fall of Neve Dekalim.

http://myvoiceinisrael.insightonthenews.net/?page_id=20 

Reading this book you smile, laugh and cry. You feel the author’s pain. This book should be a reading requirement for every high school student.

The story starts off introducing an everyday family, parents, 2 teenage children living in Neve Dekalim going about their daily lives before there was any talk about disengagement. We learn about the mortar, kassam and rock throwing terror the families had to endure and when the first rumors that P.M. Sharon wanted to expel Israeli citizens out of Gush Katif. Life becomes an emotional merry-go-round..no one wanted to believe such a horrible deed could ever happen.

The one line in the book that I’m sure was on every child’s mind..the teenage boy in the story asked his father, if the expulsion really happens, what is going to happen to us, where will we go, how will we live? This fear, I’m sure was worse than any fear of missiles.

Shifra, thank-you for writing this marvelous book...I'm only sorry that because of an Israeli government this is a true story and not a figment of your imagination. 

Until next time, feel free to comment and share.

Miriam                     

      

  

           

From Two to Twenty...

בס''ד
Moetzi Shabbat and Sunday on the Jewish calendar is the 17^th of Sivan. And why am I telling you this? Well because, my husband Avraham and I will be celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary.

We were married on 17^th of Sivan 5727 corresponding to June 25^th 1967, at the Young Israel of Chomedey in Chomedey, Quebec. For those who do not know where Chomedey is, it is a suburb of Montreal.

Believe me, when I write that back then it never occurred to me that we would be blessed with 3 amazing kids, 2 daughters and a son, 2 super son-in-laws, 13 precious Sabra grandchildren, 6 who are 10^th generation Israeli, make Aliyah and live on a Sephardic yishuv.

Oh yes, another fact that I would have never believed would happened is that I would have a pet dog. Truthfully, I am a little afraid of dogs I don’t know, but for the last 18 years Rocky and now Patches, have been part our family and good friends. Rocky passed away 3 years ago.   

 

Our wedding was almost put on hold, because of the 6 day war in Israel and shuls were not allowing weddings to take place.

http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/6daywar.htm   

Fortunately for us and many other couples, Israel won the war in 6 days and our wedding was a happening.

Our wedding was a real princess wedding. You know the kind with all the trimmings. I am posting in green, because that was my color scheme. Being the only daughter I was the princess of the family. Sometimes I think that my mother a”H planned my wedding, to make up for her wedding having to be just a chuppah in the Rabbi’s study.

My parents were married in Montreal in 1943. A few days before their wedding date, my father a”H, who was a soldier in the Canadian army was called up and received his orders to be deployed 72 hours later to Europe to fight in the war. 

They didn’t know what to do. The time was during the nine days in Av, when weddings do not take place.

After asking a she’la [question] to the Chief Rabbi in Montreal, the answer was that they must get married before my father left and that he [the chief Rabbi] would do the ceremony. The ceremony was arranged for the next day. Their wedding was supposed to take place 3 weeks later.

24 hours after the ceremony, my father was deployed to Europe for three years.

My mother told me that a couple of days after my father left, the store where she bought her wedding dress called to say that her dress was ready and she told them to give it way. She didn’t want to see it finished.

My parents were only married for 37 years 

 

My parent’s engagement pictures. Being the 9 days, the Rav wouldn’t allow them to take a wedding picture.

So much water has passed under the bridge since that wonderful rainy Sunday evening in June. 

May we be blessed to dance at the weddings of our grandchildren and to welcome great-grandchildren. 

Miriam           

Did we Waste our Votes?

בס''ד
This morning [May 9^th] the following headline appeared online on IsraelNationalNews.com, Arutz 7 site.

Bennett: 100% Behind Lapid, No Matter What [link below]

Yair Lapid is Israel's finance minister. He is proposing a new budget with several serious cuts in benefits and increasing the VAT [value added tax] to 18%. He now wants to add the VAT to fruits and vegetable. Produce has always been non taxed.

In the last election, my family voted for Naftali Bennett's party Bayit Yehudi. My friends told me we were making a mistake, and wanted us to vote for the other right wing party. We had some very lively discussions on FaceBook pro and con.

Bennett’s position really bothered me and so I posted a note his Face Book page. https://www.facebook.com/NaftaliBennett?hc_location=stream 

This is what I wrote:

If this headline is true, you will not get another vote from my family. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167877#.UYua9qLfCSo

We are pensioners who like many seniors live on a fixed income. Raising the VAT to 18% is going to hurt. Chopping the child family allowance is dreadful, and adding 18% VAT to basic daily..fruits and vegetables is immoral. Most people use their family allowance to help pay for grocery and school bills [tuition, clothes]. The average family will not be able to buy fruits and vegetables for their children. Fruits and vegetable promote good health. Adding the VAT to hotels will keep many tourist away and that will hurt our economy. The domino effect, employees will loose their jobs, putting more people to seek unemployment benefits. MK Bennett, we didn't vote for you to team up with Yair Lapid..He says, "I'm not my father" the truth is he is worse than his father..his father went through hell and back, what's Lapid's excuse..I'll tell you, he is an elitist who doesn't live from pay check to pay check and doesn't care about families that do..We didn't vote for you to be the anti haredi spokes person..some of your comments leave me shaking my head. We voted for you, because you said you would protect Eretz Yisrael...Bibi is calling for a building freeze in Yehuda, Shomron and East Jerusalem. Why aren't you screaming "NO, NOT ON MY WATCH!" Up to now, your actions have made me very sorry I wasted my vote on your party...  

If you feel the same way as I do about Bennett's policies, tell him. Post a note on his FaceBook page.

Feel free to comment and share. 

Shabbat Shalom 

Miriam     

Mitzvah Gadolah! A Beautiful Gift.......

בס''ד
As I have written many times, my family and I live on a yishuv, in the South of Israel, in the Western Negev. Our area has been the recipient of Grad missiles fired by Hamas in order to kill, maim and injure as many Israelis as possible. I have posted many blogs describing life in the South and living with rockets. Have a look at my archives.

In my area we have 15 seconds to seek shelter. Within the Gaza belt, citizens have only 7 seconds.

Since 1992, the government of Israel has enacted a law that all buildings, commercial and residential have a mamad, but what about older buildings, residential and ganim [kindergartens] and schools.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/word-of-the-day/word-of-the-day-mamad-1502-1502-1491.premium-1.478975  

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter Devorah, three of her children and I had the pleasure of being invited by our friend, Yocheved Golani, a freelance journalist covering the event, to be present when two very special organizations, United With Israel and Operation Lifeshield, donated two portable shelters to Be’er Miriam a gan in Netivot. The preschool children learn in caravans, not permanent classrooms.

Who is United With Israel? Their mission statement says: Our mission is to foster worldwide unity with the People, Country and Land of Israel and to demonstrate how Israel is a great source of blessing to the world. By distributing timely information, initiating pro-Israel advocacy, introducing innovative Israeli products to the global market and donating greatly needed funds money to vital charities, we strive to broaden the worldwide network of Israel supporters and promote the urgency and privilege of standing United with Israel.   

The mission statement from Operation Lifeshield says: Operation Lifeshield in an emergency campaign to save innocent lives by providing Israel’s threatened communities with the protected air raid shelters they so desperately need.

https://www.facebook.com/unitedwithisrael?fref=ts

http://unitedwithisrael.org/

http://www.youtube.com/unitedwithisrael

http://operationlifeshield.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/OperationLifeshield/info 

On a side note, Moetzi Shabbat, when children and adults were outside, having fun celebrating Lag B’Omer, three grad missiles were fired towards Netivot. There was a Tzava Adom [incoming warning siren].

The grads landed in a moshav. Fortunately there were no physical injuries...but just take a second to imagine the panic when parents didn’t know where their children were and children couldn’t find their parents. This, the media called no injuries. Panic is an injury! 

The donation of these shelters was a Mitzvah Gadolah, a beautiful gift! To the founders of these organizations, and the people who donated their time and money to purchase shelters and support the many other wonderful projects, I applaud you and say TODA RABA! Your generosity will save lives. 

This is a very brief write-up of United With Israel and Operation Lifeshield. Yocheved will be writing an in-depth article. As soon as it is live, I will share the URL of her feature. 

Please feel free to comment and share.

Miriam  

The Coffee Talk Ladies' Fabulous Day!

בס''ד
 

Once again, the Coffee Talk Ladies, a ‘secret’ Face Book group had another Face 2 Face get together, this time in Shiloh, an ancient Biblical city, located in the Ephraim hills, of southern Shomron and was the capital of Israel before the first Temple was built in Yerushalayim. Shiloh was the spiritual and administrative center of the Jewish people for 369 years. 

Today, Shiloh is a beautiful yishuv housing 300 families, with gans, shuls, a pool, playgrounds, beautiful vegetation, a well stocked marcolet, and a small ‘everything you want’ variety store. Shiloh’s neighboring yishuvim are Eli and Maale Levona and surrounded by several arab villages. 

A little background as to who are the Coffee Talk Ladies. Around a year and half ago, a few English speaking women who are early risers, would log on to Face Book, inviting their friends to join them for a virtual cup of coffee and a chat. 

One of the women, Chaya O. took the morning chat one step further and created a Facebook secret women’s group called Coffee Talk and posted invitations to join. 

And so new relationships and friendships were formed and our membership grew to thirty six English speaking women who, the majority are olim. Several members live in the States and some are planning to make Aliyah.  We discovered that our group has olim who are new...one and two years and veteran olim.... twenty, thirty, and more We run in age from the middle thirties and up to us seniors [but young at heart]. 

This is our third face to face. The first one was in the holy city of Yerushalayim, ladies then traveled to Netivot, to show solidarity with southern residents, who are under missile fire and this time Shiloh.  

Since I have never been to Shiloh, I was very excited for this visit. My day started very early. I was meeting fellow Coffee Talk friend Esther on our 8:15 bus to Jerusalem. Meeting some of the other ladies at the Central bus station in Jerusalem, we boarded Egged #148 to Shiloh.  The scenery along the route was breathtaking...only Hashem, the Master Creator could have created such beauty.     

On the bus, we met a young chayalet [female soldier] who told us that she was from Texas and had come for one year to serve in the IDF. When asked if she was going back to the states when she was finished, her answer was “No, my mom and I made aliyah, and we are here to stay.”

Arriving in Shiloh, we were met by Batya and Chava, 2 residents of Shiloh. The ladies took us on a little tour of the yishuv while we waited for the rest to arrive.

 

Our tour of biblical Shiloh started at Tel Shiloh. Our tour guide Franny, was magnificent. When she spoke, one could see how much she loves the land. Her knowledge of the Tanach was superb. As we viewed the ruins and ancient buildings, she told us its history, and read to us from the Tanach. Many thanks to Coffee Talk friend Miryam Blum for her insights.

Our last stop on the tour was the site of the Mishkan where Chana, the wife of Elkanah, davened and pleaded with Hashem to grant her a child. (Samuel 1:10) Her tefillah was answered and Chana gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel and later became the first king of Israel. 

Franny told us that many women who have had problems conceiving, come to this very special piece of land to daven and plead for a child. She told us a very moving story.   

There was a couple from Panama who had been married for many years and were childless. The doctors could not give them any reason why they hadn’t conceived. They went to see their Rav and asked him to recommend another doctor. The Rav told them to go to Shiloh and plead with Hashem on the same land that Chana pleaded. And so they went to Shiloh, davened with all their might and their prayers were answered. They were granted a son.  Thirteen years later, this boy celebrated his bar-mitzvah in Shiloh and today this boy [now a young man] is serving in the IDF. What a beautiful inspiring story. 

We ended our tour with a visit to the gift shop and then enjoyed ‘lupper’ at a pizza restaurant located on the yishuv. Thank-you Bracha for explaining and reciting this beautiful Bracha for us.

Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu melech Ha'Olam Meitziv G'vul Almana. In the Artscroll siddur it appears under "Blessings over phenomena and events", and says, "upon seeing a destroyed synagogue that has been restored to its previous grandeur", and literally translates "Who sets a limit for a widow". It is based on the gemarra Brachot 58/2, which uses as its source a verse in Mishlei 15:25.   

During the meal, a call via Skype came in from a group friend who lives in Colorado. We each had an opportunity to say hello. 

I would like to thank Batya Meded for her hard work in organizing ths beautiful day. It was truly a day I won't forget. I invite you to read Batya's excellent blog. http://shilohmusings.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/pilgrimage-to-shiloh-like-in-ancient.html   

To visit and for more information about Shiloh HaKeduma, Tel Shiloh, contact visit@telshilo.org.il or call 02-994-4019

 Miriam

 

 

  

I'm the tall figure 




  

TODA RABA.............

בס''ד

 In Israel, Memorial Day is known as Yom HaZikaron.

This evening and tomorrow Israelis will remember 23,085 fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives protecting our precious country. We will also remember the 2,493 civilians who were killed in terror attacks. There will be a one minute siren this evening and again tomorrow morning.

      

       Toda Raba.........

Toda Raba to our dear chayalim and chayalot

Toda Raba

for your service

in defending our nation.

Toda Raba dear reservist

for answering the call

to serve

so that our country will not fall.

Many have sacrificed their lives

so that we can live in our homeland.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet

you will always be remembered.

To those who are serving

all over our precious land

our prayers are with you

for success and good health.

May the Hand of the One Above

watch over you

night and day

and bring you home safely

into the arms of your family.

Miriam    

Life Between Purim and Pesach...Busy and Exciting....

BSD

I haven't posted a blog in some time now. The last one was back in December.

It's not that I am so busy. Yes, I do work part time and look after my family with the usual household chores..but the truth is: we are only three adults living in our house plus a sweet dog that loves attention. I did sit down a few times to blog but my creative juice was just not working. Maybe I spend too much time clogging up my head with things that are not important or haven’t any control of.

I started this blog before Purim, but just didn’t get a chance to finish it. Purim was just a few days away and I still hadn’t shop for Purim goodies, prepare mishloach manot baskets or decided what were serving for our Seuda. 

Between Purim and Pesach there was cleaning and more cleaning and still more cleaning. Planning menus and shopping. Changing dishes was easy, as my Pesach dishes are locked away in a high cupboard in my kitchen. The job was 1 2 3...the rest well we took in stride.

Baruch Hashem, Pesach was wonderful. We had the opportunity to visit with all our grandchildren.... 

Between Purim and Pesach our family celebrated the Bat-mitzvah of our granddaughter Adi Chaya, Devorah and Hagai’s oldest daughter. Adi was named after my mother a”H Chaya...Her English name and the name she was known by was Ida..If you spell Ida backwards you get Adi.... My mom passed away Erev Pesach, 14 years ago.

 Adi

We also celebrated Avraham’s 70^th birthday ad120 and Neta’s 6^th birthday [D and H’s daughter]. So many milestones!

I am so thankful for all our Brachot. May my family continue to be a source of Yiddish nachas, guided and protected by the Hand of Hashem. 

 Until next time! Feel free to comment and share.

Miriam