Eye Earrings

Like these big blue eyes in the heart-shaped earrings. 

The eyes even have these cool eyelashes! 

We got the eyes (I's) and the heart (love)—where's the you?

Maybe we give the earrings to "you" and then it's I love you!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)

Eye Earrings

Two Love Birds

@Rock Creek Trail

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Two Love Birds

The Mother of all Cactus Needles

Wow, those are some humongous sharp needles on this cactus!

When I checked out from the store with this deadly plant, the cashier oulls the cactus from the shopping cart and gets one of the pins stuck right in her finger. 

It was just sort of caught there with the other end hanging out a couple of inches from her finger.

A little shocked and not sure what to say, I just sort of stumbled "Oh, Are you okay? I so sorry!"

She said she was and reached over and plucked the needle out holding her hand limply in the other. 

On the way home then, this guy says to me, "you better not sit on that thing." 

Ah yeah, you're not kidding!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Mother of all Cactus Needles

Light at the End of The Ark

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Light At The End Of The Ark."

Why was Noah commanded to build a skylight in the ark?

Noah and all the fascinating people in the Bible weren’t just characters in a novel, but they were real people and they experienced up and downs, as we all do in life. The key to remember is that there is always a window where we can see our relative good fortune and everything we have to be grateful for, where we can keep an eye on the light at the end of tunnel (as my father used to say about bad things, “this too shall pass”), and we can look up to our Father in Heaven and remember that He will bring deliverance to us. Even in the mightiest of floods that devastated the world, G-d was still there for us, and He was, is, and always will be!

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Light at the End of The Ark

He Who Saves A Life

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "He Who Saves A Life."

We all know the Jewish dictum of “He who save a life, saves the world.” In Judaism, every single life is invaluable, and hence we are even allowed to violate the holy Shabbat for the preservation of human life (“Pikuach Nefesh“). Similarly, when it came to a prisoner exchange for IDF Sargent first Class, Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Hamas terrorists for five years (2006-2011), Israel exchanged1,027 Palestinians in a prisoner exchange for Shalit. Life is truly sacred to the Jewish people.

This week, I had the opportunity to meet and hear from members of Israel Air Force’s Elite Search and Rescue, Unit 669, at Magen David Synagogue in Rockville, Maryland. There I was reminded of the brave Israeli soldiers who not only defend the holy land and people of Israel, but also who are there to search for missing soldiers and rescue them and civilians “regardless of location or conditions” when faced with war, terrorism, or other disaster. Soldiers from unit 669 go into every possible dangerous situation, and under fire, to save lives at whatever cost to themselves.

(Source Photo: Flikr)

He Who Saves A Life

Beautiful Bonsai Tree

Something genius about a Bonsai tree.

The way it is on one hand natural and on the other hand "sculpted" by people. 

Sort of a metaphor for life, where G-d gives us the raw material and asks us to go do good with it. 

G-d creates and people shape that creation. 

Beautiful partnership makes a beautiful Bonsai!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Beautiful Bonsai Tree

Pineapple Umbrella Drinks

Those are some cool Pineapple Drinks!

Has pineapple slices hanging off the sides.

A big plastic straw and don't forget the umbrella on top of a grape. 

I think they said that they paid $27 for two. 

It's a bargain!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Pineapple Umbrella Drinks

Hat of Hats

Wow, that's a smart hat.

It's not one hat but 10 different hats on the rim of one.

Now that will go with every outfit! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Hat of Hats

Fish of the Sea

Thought this was a beautiful painting of a school of fish. 

One pupil at the bottom must have missed a few days of school, because he's going in the wrong direction. 

Always, an odd fish out!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Fish of the Sea

Street Ballet

Don't see this in a parking lot every day!

(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Street Ballet

True Meaning of Torah Observant

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "True Meaning of Torah Observant."

The key is that everyone (Jew and Gentile) has an opportunity to do good or the opposite. We are all G-d’s children, and He loves all of us, and wants us all to learn and grow as human beings with the spirit of G-d breathed into us (Genesis 2:7). The Jews have a special mission to try and live by following the commandments in the Torah, as a good example to others. This is similar to the Kohanim and Leviim who had a special role within the Jewish people as the Temple priests and as the musicians and singers that accompanied them. No one is inherently better than anyone else. We all just have our roles, and we a need to do them the best we can or learn to be better as we go along. Like we start the cycle of reading the Torah again with every Simchat Torah, so too the New Year is an opportunity to “up our game” and another chance to raise the “standard of living” according to G-d’s will.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

True Meaning of Torah Observant

This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes

A Soul-Stirring Holocaust Memorial

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called A Soul-Stirring Holocaust Memorial.

As we recently completed the Jewish high holidays between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a time of Judgment, and we ask G-d to forgive us, so we are told that we are asked to forgive others. However, can we ever really forgive the magnitude and cruelty of this genocidal crime to the Jewish people? I don’t think that is really humanly possible to forgive the premeditated and scientifically executed, brutal murder of a third of all Jews in the entire world. However, I do thank the artist, Wolfgang Stiller for his sentiments with the Magen David to remember and never forget the Holocaust, and most importantly, to never let it happen again! Finally, my hope is that this artwork memorializing the Holocaust finds a suitable home in perhaps Yad Vashem or other major Holocaust museum or exhibition where people can broadly experience and benefit from the important sentiments conveyed.

(Photo provided by Chic Evolution in Art | Las Olas Blvd)

A Soul-Stirring Holocaust Memorial

True Self Is Helping Others

 

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "True Self is Helping Others."

The Rebbe’s message was that self-improvement was really about helping others! All the changes we commit to around the Jewish New Year and make in ourselves is not really about us, but rather about us being able to develop ourselves in order to “give it all away” to help others. Too often, people think in terms of self-help, self-improvement, where everything is sort of in terms, well, ourselves–my looks, my degrees, my career, my bank account, my family, and so on. However, people should not lose sight that everything that Hashem gives us is really for a higher spiritual purpose, for giving to others or “paying it forward.”

In this vein, we learn Torah not just for the sake of learning, but rather in order to actually do Mitzvot! Rabbi Kaplan explained that the Rebbe would make each and every person feel special and important. Why? Because by building up the individual, each could then go out and build up the world. And this is one of the reasons that I love and respect Chabad so much—from my experience, people like Rabbi Kaplan and Chabad in general, are all about living this life lesson from the Rebbe and giving, giving, and then giving some more in order to really improve the Jewish community globally and by extension the world.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

True Self Is Helping Others

Ocean Relaxation By Andy Blumenthal

Ocean Relaxation By Andy Blumenthal

Taste Like Nothing

It's hot in the Florida sun, especially at the beach.

So, I was interested in ordering a cup of Thai bubble tea with Boba.

I ask the lady:

What does it taste like?

Lady answers:

The boba [taste] is like nothing!

I ask:

Can you put in a lot of boba?

She says:

Tea sweet, but no more boba.

I ask:

Why?

She tells me:

Because it's nothing.

I try again:

But if it's nothing, why can't you put in some more?

She says:

It's tapioca, but it taste like nothing and I can only put in a handful.

My final try:

Ok, give me some Thai tea with the boba in it.  

Lady:

Are you sure? It tastes like nothing.

Me: 

Yes, yes, yes.  I love boba with nothing taste, just make sure the tea is plenty sweet!   

Like my dear dad used to say: 

The food here is terrible, and on top of it the portions are too small!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Taste Like Nothing

Chabad Downtown Fort Lauderdale Sukkot Carnival

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Chabad Downtown Fort Lauderdale Sukkot Carnival

Turning Nakba to Babka

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called Turning Nabka to Babka. 

The term Nakba, in relation to Israel, was actually was first used in August 1948 by Syrian Professor Constantin Zureiq not to condemn anything Israel did to the Palestinians, but rather is a call for the Arabs themselves whereby:

We must admit our mistakes…and recognize the extent of our responsibility for the disaster that is our lot.

The displacement of the Palestinians and their refugee problem is attributed not primarily to Israel, but rather to the mistakes that the Palestinians and Arabs made themselves! So, while, the Arabs and Palestinians have tried to make Israel into the aggressor and blame them for their troubles, the truth of the matter is that the Palestinians Nakba is to a great extent caused by their own religious intolerance, gross hatred of the Jews, including the desire for their genocide, and that this has led them down a true disastrous path of Middle East recklessness and extremely bad decision making, over and over again.

The goods news is that in more recent times, the Arab nations are thank G-d changing their hostile approach to Israel and instead moving to make peace. Not only Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1993), but in the last year with the Abraham Accords with both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as with Sudan and Morocco normalizing relations with Israel. Even this morning, I was amazed once again to read an editorial in the Wall Street Journal calling for Iraq to join the Abraham Accords too! Of course, the hope is that more and more Arab countries as well as the Palestinians will choose the path of peace and collaboration with Israel, as Ben-Gurion had originally held out to them in 1948 (it’s never too late). The prophetic vision of swords turning to ploughshares is perhaps today’s turning of the shedding of tears and assigning blame over a perceived Nakba into sitting down together on Sukkot for a nice piece (peace) of chocolate babka!

(Credit Photo: Andrea via Flikr )

Turning Nakba to Babka

Gourds Everywhere

Gourds gourds everywhere. 

Colorful, plentiful, decorative, and some edible.

Pumpkin pie is an example! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Gourds Everywhere

Two Flutes Are Better Than One

Beautiful architecture on the side of this building. 

Now, I know there are people that can play two flutes at once. 

The real trick would be to be able to play three! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Two Flutes Are Better Than One