Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "A More Important Checklist for Yom Kippur."
(Credit Photo: Pixabay via https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-marking-check-on-opened-book-416322/)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "A More Important Checklist for Yom Kippur."
Checklist for Yom Kippur
The Worst Curse
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Ten 'Points to Ponder'."
My dear father, Fred Blumenthal (ZT”L), like many from his generation, used to read Reader’s Digest. I remember that there was a section called “Points to Ponder,” which I thought was a good title for things that can have a deeper and more profound meaning in our lives. So in this vein, I’d like to share a variety of thoughts that may give you pause to ponder as well.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Ten ‘Points to Ponder’
Facing Hardship, Finding Humility
Sure, we may not fully understand G-d’s decision on not letting Moshe into the land of Israel (or decisions that affect our lives today), still we can affirm our faith that G-d is a just and merciful Judge.In the end, none of us are the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, and if G-d didn’t let him in, well who are we? This is a frightening thought to me. Yet at the same time, I believe that if we as the Jewish people collectively put our heartfelt yearnings and prayers together to be able to go and settle the land of Israel then perhaps G-d will answer us in the affirmative!
If G-d Wouldn't Let Moshe In, Who Am I?
In this life, it's having your head ripped around your body.
Then in the next life, it's got to be a soul bared and stretched across the heavens and for all eternity.
Punishment is revelation and the mark it undoubtedly leaves behind.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Feeling of Shaming
Reincarnation actually makes so much sense, especially when you see that G-d can and does bring people back to the world when they still have life lessons to learn and growth to be achieved. It’s part of our preparation and our soul’s purification process to go back to Hashem.Obviously, we are not G-d, and don’t have the time and event perspective of Hashem who was, is, and will be. However, if we understand that G-d has a plan, everything is connected, and there is a reason for everything, then we can go through life inspired to do the right thing ourselves even when we are challenged by our circumstances.
A Reason For Everything
A real skull, all hollowed out.
Sockets for the eyes, and a big hole where the nose goes.
The ears are gone too.
The skull is sawed open at the top, where the brain goes.
Not much left of the rotting teeth.
The soul is departed and is somewhere in the afterlife.
This should go a long way to humbling any human being.
What's outside really doesn't count for much, and what's inside is everything. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Without a Brain or Soul
This notion of success and failure in life makes you think about not only the imperative to be successful in our lives, but also to question what does that success even mean and look like? Is success really the goal or is the journey with its growing pains and lesson learned the real goal towards purifying our souls?
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Success, Israeli Cuisine Style
The End of Times
It’s so important to develop mastery over the whole life sequence: think nice thoughts, speak kind words, do good deeds, and develop positive habits. This is one of the secrets to life itself.
Life is often in the hands of our tongue–one stupid word and it can mean your head, and one smart thing and it can be, with G-d’s help, your ride to the stars!
(Credit Photo: Dossy Blumenthal)
The Power of Life and Death
Ghostbusters Mobile
Reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Social Distance. Thank You.
You Get Your Own Special Table
Teshuvah (Repentance) is really not just a yearly process, it is a daily one. And 80 years is almost 30,000 days, with every day that we wake up, get up, and start up the process of another day again, we have the opportunity to get it right this day, this time around!
30,000 Chances To Get It Right
@Macy's - Cool Minnie Mouse
But when we return home to our Maker then we'll see beyond time and space what we could never see while we were enveloped in a physical body and a material world. For the spirit survives the life as our L-rd spans infinity and one day too we will rejoin with Him and discover what our eyes could never see and our ears did never hear.
Finding Reality in a Floating Pink Abstract World
No matter how well prepared they are, life happens!
No Matter How Much You Prepare
Hope is not yet lost.
I live. I live. I live.
I'm Still Alive!
Happy Mother's Day
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Lockdown In Coronavirus