The Yom Kippur Bank Account

Please see my new article in The Time of Israel called, "The Yom Kippur Bank Account."

Instead of worrying about accumulating earthly and material treasures: money, houses, cars, exotic travel, and more, we would be well advised to pay attention to our Heavenly treasure that we should be accumulating. Whether tomorrow, when our judgement will be sealed on Yom Kippur or when we, G-d forbid, die and are called for an accounting before our Maker, we should have plenty in the spiritual bank to speak well for us.

However, even if we are a little blind to our own accounting, certainly, just like we don’t want to be physically poor or bankrupt in this world, we definitely don’t want to be coming spiritually empty at Yom Kippur or when we arrive in the world to come. Put in more than you take out! Much more if you can! That’s what every parent should teach their child about their bank or brokerage savings account, building healthy relationships with others, and most importantly, how to live our lives towards our Father in Heaven and the King of the Universe.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Yom Kippur Bank Account

There Is No Zionism Without G-d

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "There Is No Zionism Without G-d."

For two thousand years, the Jewish people exiled from their land, widely dispersed, and inhumanly persecuted among the nations developed passivity and learned helplessness. They eagerly awaited, year after year, G-d’s salvation and redemption. As a tiny minority attempting to hold firm to their religious beliefs amongst the world’s powerful majorities, the Jews found themselves a convenient scapegoat, suffering landlessness and joblessness, taxation to the point of near-starvation, conscription of their Jewish children for military service of 25-years, forced conversion on pain of torture and death, horrible violent pogroms that sparred no one, and expulsions from country after country. During these times, the Jewish people learned passivity in the hope of not inflaming the hate and anger of the goyim that would make things “even worse!”

Certainly, there is no mitzvah to being passive and helpless, and this was undoubtedly in large measure a result of being homeless and suffering under the weight of relentless and brutal anti-Semitism for 2,000 years. Yet, as we each roll up our sleeves to actively work and fight for the modern State of Israel, our independence, and our right to practice our religion freely, we must do so with full knowledge and thanksgiving to G-d, our creator and sustainer! Whether King David against the giant Goliath, Samson against the mighty Philistines, or our modern-day strong and brave soldiers in the IDF defending the borders of Israel from historical enemies’ roundabout, they stand strong against all the natural odds, because G-d stands right there with them and us.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

There Is No Zionism Without G-d

Take Me To Your Leader

Is there a leader in the house?

Anyone, anyone a leader here...

I need to find a leader.

Someone who I can look up to.

Who feels deeply, compassionately, and honestly cares about others. 

With faith and integrity, and who does the right thing, regardless. 

They inspire, rarely tire, and seek to make us all more than we otherwise are. 

Imbued with discerning insight and an ageless wisdom. 

Carrying forth a great vision, and a path and passion to get us there. 

They bring unity, and stand alongside each and every one of us. 

Never an autocrat, a bureaucrat, or a stinkin' rat. 

Just someone who is a genuine leader.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Take Me To Your Leader

Purple Thingamajig

You can dance if you want to. 

Even if you're a purple thingamajig. 

You can leave your friends behind. 

Cause your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance.

Then they're no friends of mine. 

Dance purple thingamajig, dance! ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Purple Thingamajig

Thank You President Trump For Supporting Israel

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, Thank You President Trump For Supporting Israel. 

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, we know that everything is in the hands of G-d, including life and death, but there is no question that President Trump has been an instrument of the Almighty in delivering genuine and consistent support—recognition, annexation, aid, sanctioning our enemies, fighting BDS, anti-Semitism, and biased resolutions, and the advancement of peace—to Israel and for the Jewish people.

What the New Year and the upcoming election brings, no one knows, but Hashem. However, let us recognize the good and thank President Trump for everything that he has done for Israel and the Jewish people, and let us pray that G-d brings us continued blessings for the upcoming Jewish year of 5781 and beyond towards our final redemption.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Thank You President Trump For Supporting Israel

@The Amish Experience

It was a fun time at The Amish Experience today in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania. 

One and a half hour bus tour of Amish country. 

45 Minute movie about Jacob, an Amish teen, trying to decide whether he wants to be in the outside world or in the Amish one.

And another hour of so tour of an Amish school house and home. 

Felt like I learned a lot about their culture (including no TV, internet, electricity [just batteries and solar], and education only through 8th grade). 

Honestly, it doesn't seem like they really have much a choice in whether to choose the church and become Amish or leave, because if they choose to leave they are shunned (i.e. excommunicated)!

So you either choose you family, church, community, and a wife (and there is no divorce) or you run off to G-d knows where completely alone and "divorced" from everything you know. 

The video is when we stopped at an Amish farm and I went in to the big barn with all the cows.  

After so much time on the bus, I needed to ham it up a little and have fun with:

"How now brown cow. It is so nice to eat you! You are beautiful animals.  And thank you Hashem for making you!" ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy and Dossy Blumenthal)

@The Amish Experience

Every Little Thing

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Every Little Thing." 

Every little thing that Hashem provides for us is truly a big deal. It’s so easy to become complacent, arrogant, and overconfident in all that we have today. But if we just remember that without every little thing we have, we could be in some big, big trouble tomorrow.

Our bodies, minds, and spirit can be strong, but without the ingredients we need to survive, we are all just dust and ashes. Before the High Holidays, when we ask Hashem to forgive us, and we try to make amends, and pray for a good New Year, now is a great time to appreciate every little thing!

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Every Little Thing

@Clarksville Sunflower Festival 2020

(Source Photos: Andy and Dossy Blumenthal)

@Clarksville Sunflower Festival 2020

30,000 Chances To Get It Right

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "30,000 Chances To Get It Right."

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!

Every day that we awake and arise is a great opportunity to try again where we failed in prior days and we can potentially think holier thoughts, say kinder words, and treat each other better, more compassionately and righteously.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

30,000 Chances To Get It Right

Finding Reality in a Floating Pink Abstract World

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Finding Reality in a Floating Pink Abstract World."

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.

For our heart was hardened of flesh while our soul was molten and deep until eventually we awake from our slumber and find what we always did seek.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Finding Reality in a Floating Pink Abstract World

PTSD Gets Around

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "PTSD Gets Around."

The Jewish people are a nation recovering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), where memories of trauma flood our national psyche and can trigger emotional (and even physical) symptoms. Whether fear of the next “evil decree” against the Jews, to another pogrom of crazed rapists and killers rampaging through a Jewish town, or even of genocide itself, the Jewish people have known plenty of deep-seated persecution and have to deal with the accompanying fear and anxiety of being the quintessential “strangers in a strange land,” almost everywhere in the world and over a very long period of history.

PTSD is very real not only for our suffering veterans, and for individual people that have been sexually abused or experienced physical violence, but it can also be a national psychiatric disorder based on collective trauma that affects our mood, anxiety levels, and behavioral reactions to events. Suffering from exile, persecution, and helplessness from thousands of years does not go away in a generation or even a century. It is a long road for our national recovery where we can learn to once again live healthy and productive lives absent from the fear and anxiety of another bad Tisha B’Av.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

PTSD Gets Around

Don't Lose Your Head

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Don't Lose Your Head."

Woman are notorious in the Bible for taking men’s heads—and I mean taking them!

The great news is that women are awesome fighters, the bad news is that your head is a very valuable thing to lose.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Don't Lose Your Head

Targeting Israel: A Distraction From Real Threats

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Targeting Israel: A Distraction From Real Threats."

While the world unfortunately focuses again on Israel (a state the size of New Jersey), they continue to unfortunately be asleep at the wheel when Russia invaded Crimea and annexed it from a sovereign country of Ukraine in 2014, and again now in 2020 as China is taking critical steps that restrict freedom and human rights in Hong Kong.

The question is why we are constantly being diverted to blame and attack Israel and to not look at the real threats to world peace? Yet again, it’s another modern-day blood libel! While the superpowers play Risk with the world order, we should not be fooled by others trying to tell Israel what to do. Nothing should stop Israel from annexing the 30% of the West Bank under the Middle East Peace Plan that is vital to their lasting peace and security. Today is July 4th and the U.S. and Israel stand united in their commitment to that future.

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Targeting Israel: A Distraction From Real Threats

The Only Fixer

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "The Only Fixer."

I’m reading the famous book, The Fixer by Bernard Malamud. It’s about the horrible pogroms in Russia and the blood libels where the Jews would be ridiculously accused of sorcery and witchcraft, and the killing of Christian children for their blood to put in Passover matzah!

In short, hate and hurt can’t be excused because you can. Wielding power gives you authority, but also the extra responsibility. There is such a thing as acting justly. And then there isn’t. Usually, when someone is acting justly, they can explain themselves in a balanced, calm, and rationale way. It makes sense! When they are doing wrong, it’s usually extreme, abrupt, and ultimately inexplicable and therefore can’t be articulated. Hence, that’s the way it is, Fixer. Who is The Fixer? Again, I don’t care!

(Credit Photo: Minna Blumenthal)

The Only Fixer

When We Were Kids

My big sister and I.

Many moons ago.

Television with rabbit ears in the background.

That's when we all we had were 4 stations ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.

We called it the "Zombie Box" because you could just stay glued to it for hours and tune the world out mesmerized at the moving pictures.

Everyone knew what was on every station, every hour of the day and still there was a TV Guide published weekly to check.

When the TV went fuzzy, you had to give it a clop on the side and magically the picture cleared up for a few minutes if you were lucky.

Those were the days. ;-)

(Thank you to my sister, Roz, for refreshing a copy of this to me)

When We Were Kids

@Lake Needwood, Memorial Day 2020

(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)

@Lake Needwood, Memorial Day 2020

The 11th Commandment

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "The 11th Commandment."

How many times do I hear about fellow Jews trying to "out-frum" (i.e. be holier than thou) other Jews: whether it's in terms of Kashrut, Shabbat or even who stayed up the latest for the Passover Seder. Recently, when it came to coronavirus, I was more than a little shocked to read that someone actually attributed the disease to it being a punishment from G-d because women's skirts are not being worn long enough. While certainly it's good to be introspective and there is a strong concept of reward and punishment in Judaism, there is something about us Jews where we tend to want to go a little more and a little farther. In some cases, we are doing "hiddur mitzvah" (beautification of the Mitzvah) which is praiseworthy, but in other cases, we may be adding unnecessary "chumras" (i.e. stringencies) than can backfire religiously. My unequivocal preference is to follow my father's teaching to me of the Rambam's "Shvil Ha'zahav" (i.e. the golden path) and not go too far to the left or to the right, but keep a healthy middle of the road approach to life.

In the end, the number of commandments are what they are, and with 613 throughout the Torah, there is enough to keep us all busy going what is right with G-d and our fellow man. While we may like to overachieve in our careers, our education, and our pedigrees, it is not necessary to try to outdo each other religiously. Religion is a matter between us and Hashem and G-d knows what is in our hearts and counts up all our deeds according to His holy Torah with nothing added and nothing subtracted.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The 11th Commandment

Iran's Fateful Mistake

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Iran's Fateful Mistake."

With horrible reports coming out that Iran has torched the holy tombs of Mordecai and Esther, this is a new despicable low even for Iran’s evil leadership. As we all know, Mordecai and Queen Esther are the heroes of Purim who with Hashem’s help saved the Jewish people from the evil decree of Haman to utterly destroy the Jews of Persia. Now, the Iranians (Persians) have cast their evil lots once again by setting ablaze these tombs in Hamadan, Iran, and desecrating this site that is holy to Jews around the world. My mother’s Hebrew name was Esther and I am outraged at this vile act against the graves of our holy ancestors, as we all should be.

Let’s hope and pray that soon the Iranian people will realize their aspirations for freedom and that the tyranny that they live under will soon come to another miraculous ending under the watchful eyes of our holy ancestors, Mordecai and Esther.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Iran's Fateful Mistake

Anger, Faith, and Growth

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Anger, Faith, and Growth."

We live in an unpredictable world and I have made more than one bad decision recently. Fortunately, it was nothing too terrible, but I was still angry about it, and my gut reaction was to somehow blame G-d, and to feel angry at Him, because I thought somehow I didn't deserve what had happened. However, I asked myself how can you be angry at G-d if you believe that everything he does is for your ultimate good? It took me a little time, but I realized that I wasn't really angry at G-d, but at myself; It was my fault, I did deserve what happened, and my mistakes aren't G-d's.

Maybe this is what life is really all about--searching and finding G-d even among all the multitude of mistakes we make in life. We have to own our mistakes, learn from them, and thereby become stronger and better people.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Anger, Faith, and Growth

Predicted It Right In 2017

This was such a funny photo I found of me from 2017.

Holding a book called The End of The F*cking World.

Little did we know back then Coronavirus was coming our way.

One thing that is amazing to me is the incredible lack of responsibility when it comes to our fiscal (tax rates and spending) and monetary policy (interest rates and money supply). 

For example, we've spent almost $3,000,000,000,000 (i.e. trillion) on Coronavirus Relief/Recovery. 

And there is another package in the works to borrow and spend more money. 

This on top of our already tens of trillions of dollars of national debt we already accumulated. 

The crazy thing is that this is going on globally with Europe and Japan and others borrowing and spending without any sanity as well. 

Now here is the BIG QUESTION for you all:

If everyone is borrowing and spending, who are they borrowing from???

Yep, this is called funny money! 

Because it's not possible for everyone to be borrowing and carrying a bottom line net debt at the same time.  

The money has to come from somewhere doesn't it?

The Federal Reserve is "injecting" trillions into the economy and their balance sheet of "loans" to us is going up towards $11 trillion dollars now.  

These injections are short term medicine that may kill the patient down the road by overdose!

Have you ever heard of a Chair of the Federal Reserve that "urges policy makers to spend more"?

Simple economics tells us that this will yield at some point an unbelievable inflation.

We are injecting or "printing" more and more money (or electronic bytes of it), and that causes the money to devalue because there is so much of it (supply side economics) with nothing but hot air backing it up (we haven't been on the gold standard since 1971).

There is a DAY OF RECKONING coming when:

- People's savings and wallets will devalue and money will be worth close to squat after RUNWAY INFLATION.  

- Also, what do you think will happen to the stock market and jobs too when people have only loads of valueless funny money and can't buy anymore like they used too--can anyone say MARKET CRASH and UNEMPLOYMENT!

Folks, you heard it here first, the end of the f*cking world is coming--it's called CONSEQUENCES, plain and simple. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)

Predicted It Right In 2017