Hugs

Hug. Never Too Much

"Sometimes you don’t know whether to punish a child or hug him. If you punish him when he needed a hug, you’ve made a serious mistake. 

But if you hug him when perhaps he should have been punished, you’ve just brought some extra love into the world."

- The Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Rebbes Dollar

The Rebbe Dollar! 

This was a family who came to the United States of America from Moscow, Russia in the late 70s. The boy who eventually became a member of our community received a Bris in Moscow from a visiting American Mohel at 8 days old, but his father was never circumcised.

By remarkable stroke of Divine Providence, when they first came to the United States of America, one of the first people they met at the Chabad Centre they visited in their city was the Mohel who had given the boy his bris in Moscow. The Shliach talked to the father of the boy about importance of Bris along with the rest of Yiddishkeit - but he never actually was able to make the decision at his age to go ahead with it.

The son told me that he had heard from family members (either from his father or

his cousin, who himself was circumcised later in life) that the Shliach was

discussing his family as well as other Russian families in his city with

the Rebbe (it seems in a private audience). He said that his family was the first refusenik family to arrive in that city, but the Rebbe knew many more refuseniks were coming and the Shliach’s discussion with the Rebbe was about how to help all of these new Russian families. 

In that context, the Shliach had mentioned to the Rebbe the issue of the father still needing a Bris. The Rebbe asked that he conveyed to the father; if he gets a Bris, he will receive a dollar from me. The son told me the phrase “receive a dollar from me” always stuck in his head. Why didn’t the Rebbe say “I will give him (or send him) a dollar?”

 Years later, the son was living on the West Side and became engaged to be married. The wedding was held in another city and the officiating Rabbi was also a Shliach. On the way to the wedding the son noticed his father was somewhat quiet and reserved but he didn’t think anything of it.

Under the Chuppah his Kallah was surprised to see a small bottle of red

wine that the Shliach mixed in to the white wine to be used for Sheva

Brachos.  This bothered her since she wanted only white wine (which is

customary) so there would be no chance of spilling red wine on the dress.

Obviously in the middle of the Chuppah she didn’t say anything and at any

rate, fortunately no wine spilled.

At the wedding, his father didn’t dance at all and the son thought that was

odd. The son finally asked him about it. After all, it is his wedding, the

most special day of his life, and his father shouldn’t dance with him? The

father said that he didn’t want to make a big deal about it, but in honor

of his son’s wedding, and in order to be a complete Jew for his son’s  wedding, he finally had a Bris. The well-known expert Rabbi Shain was the Mohel.

He then explained that the red wine at the Chuppah was the wine over which the

Brachah was said on at the Bris.

One of the Sheva Brachos was held at the Deli Kasba restaurant on the West

Side. In attendance at the Sheva brachos was Lubavitcher Chassid who was a close friend of the Chosson, and was even his roommate for a while before the wedding.  When he heard this entire story told over at the Sheva Brachos, he was very impressed with the great spirit of mesiras nefesh of the father, out of excitement he exclaimed: you deserve a dollar from the Rebbe for what you did! And he pulled out one of his personal  dollars he had received  from the Rebbe from his pocket and gave it to the father.

Incredibly, the date written on the dollar, which was  of course the date that this friend has received the dollar from the Rebbe years earlier, before Gimmel

Tammuz, was the exact date (day and month, though obviously not year) which the father had received his Bris, days before his son’s wedding!

Appreciation!

Inspiration Daily "Nightmare Scenario?" LISTEN Hello everybody and welcome to Inspiration Daily. If I may, I'd like to echo the words of R' Chaim Tzvi Katz, the Rebbe of the children in the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. When he would speak at a Bar Mitzva he would say, "I am going to use this opportunity to speak to myself. If the Bar Mitzva bachur or anyone else would like to listen, you are more than welcome".      Today I got a little piece of mussar. It came when I realized at about 6:30 pm that of my two email accounts one was not working. In fact, I checked my email and I saw that the last email I received for one of the accounts was at 6:01 in the morning. I didn't know what to do. I spent an hour on the phone with the tech guy at Verizon. He finally walked me through it, and I was finally able to breathe a little easier. All of a sudden, a flurry of emails came in from the entire day. I checked them feverishly waiting to see if anything was so urgent that it couldn't have waited. Thankfully everything turned out okay. I then wondered, what we feel like when things that we love and care for are not available for the day. If we would suddenly realize that today we didn't spend the proper amount of time with our family, with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, then we would quickly rush.      Imagine you go to work, you come back and you realize, I didn't say hello to my children today! All of a sudden, you spend so much time with them, catching every free moment. When you realize at the end of the day, Oy I didn't learn, I didn't do an act of chessed, I didn't daven mincha. The panic that would set in, I am not sure that it would be the same.      So Yechiel Spero, take a little bit of mussar to heart. Hopefully two thing. Firstly, I hope my email works tomorrow. Secondly and more importantly, I hope that this subtle message that I receive makes an impact so that tomorrow I can be a little better of a person than I was today. Have a great day and a great rest of your week.

Body Language 2 Min Clip

Choosing The 5 Majors! 1 Min. Video Clip

It Saved Their Lives!!

In Crown Heights, there was a Jew, Yankel, who owned a bakery. He survived the camps.

He once said, “You know why it is that I’m alive today? I was a kid, just a teenager at the time. We were on the train, in a boxcar, being taken to Auschwitz.

“Night came and it was freezing, deathly cold, in that boxcar. The Germans would leave the cars on the side of the tracks overnight, sometimes for days on end without any food, and of course, no blankets to keep us warm,” He said. “Sitting next to me was an older Jew – this beloved elderly Jew - from my hometown. I recognized, but I had never seen him like this. He was shivering from head to toe, and looked terrible. So I wrapped my arms around him and began rubbing him, to warm him up. I rubbed his arms, his legs, his face, his neck. I begged him to hang on.

All night long; I kept the man warm this way. I was tired, I was freezing cold myself, my fingers were numb, but I didn’t stop rubbing the heat on to this man’s body. Hours and hours went by this way. Finally, night passed, morning came, and the sun began to shine. There was some warmth in the cabin, and then I looked around the car to see some of the other Jews in the car. To my horror, all I could see were frozen bodies, and all I could hear was a deathly silence.

Nobody else in that cabin made it through the night - they died from the frost. Only two people survived: the old man and me… The old man survived because somebody kept him warm; I survived because I was warming somebody else…”

Let me tell you the secret of Judaism. When you warm other people’s hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage and inspire others; then you discover support, encouragement and inspiration in your own life as well. That, my friends, is “Judaism 101”.👍🏻

Cute!

Paraprosdokians  (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising

or unexpected; frequently humorous.

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit . . . Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

10. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, Notify:'  I put 'DOCTOR'.

11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy

12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

13. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

15. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a mechanic.

16. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

17. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

Trust In Hashem!

Trust In Hashem!

Story told by a man which is most frightening yet thought-provoking experiences of his life.

He had been on a long flight. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: “Fasten your seat belts.”

Then, after a while, a calm voice said, “We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened.”

As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, “We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us.”

And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightening lit up the darkening skies and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.

The man confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, “As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying.

The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm. And then, I suddenly saw a girl to whom the storm meant nothing. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat and was reading a book.

Everything within her small world was calm and orderly. Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid.”

The man could hardly believe his eyes. It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, he lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.

Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid. The sweet child replied,

“Sir, my Dad is the pilot and he is taking me home.”

When you are sure of yourself, your confident level is steady and you are never shaky you do the things calmly and successfully. Hashem is our father. He is in the pilots seat. He is in charge and knows "exactly" where to go, what buttons to push. Etc. sometimes it looks bad and scary and people are frightened out of their wits but like the little girls faith she knows she'll be allright because dad is in charge! Hashem has a plan and we don't know who what when and where but that's Hashems department not ours. We as His children need just to trust that He knows what he's doing. 

Trust Hashem.  

Once we put our faith in Hashem, the pilot, we can sit back and feel relaxed and be stress free! What a wonderful feeling to be free of worry and know that our father, Hashem will take us where we need to be.

Who Is In Charge?

At least this lady recognizes who is in charge...

It's Thursday afternoon, and I'm preparing for Shabbos like every other week. But... this Thursday is different.

I usually have my Erev-Shabbos schedule down pat. I'm a very structured person and I like things to be just so.

This Thursday, though, my husband did the Shabbos shopping bein hasedarim because I am afraid of the Arab workers in Hachi Kedai.

This Thursday, my Chessed girl called to cancel because her seminary is in lockdown.

This Thursday, I am cooking for just us because my brother-in-law's Yeshiva is having a mandatory in-Shabbos as a result of the current situation.

This Thursday, I am not concerned about scheduling my baby's nap early enough so we can get to the park before bedtime, because all we mothers feel that the park is too exposed for our comfort.

I haven't gone out in a few days- I have been postponing all my errands.

I feel trapped; cooped up. And scared.

Everything is different.

Or is it?

I am reminded of another Thursday afternoon, two years ago. That Thursday, we were snowed in.

My husband did the shopping because I was afraid of the unsalted streets.

My Chessed girl cancelled because she could not get from her neighborhood to mine.

I cooked for just us because no guests were willing to brave the treacherous roads.

I made no plans to go to the park because the park was lost beneath a sea of white.

And I did not even attempt to run errands.

I felt cooped up just the same. But not scared.

And all those similarities got me thinking.

Weather is beyond my control, as are terrorists. And just like Hashem will decide without my help when there will be storm and when will be sun, so too He decides when and where the knife will pierce. Which plans will be thwarted and which evil intentions averted.

If He is not stopping those knives, there is a reason.

And if that knife is meant to pierce, the safety of my walls is no safety at all.

So the only thing we CAN control is how we respond to the message Hashem is sending us with such force. Paralyzing fear (my reaction till now) is understandable, but doesn't accomplish much. Instead, I am using this extended time indoors with my children to get to know them better, to play with them more. I am learning to feel proud of living here in fear- of staying in Eretz Yisrael when it's not comfortable. I am learning to value our emunas chachamim when I send my husband to kollel without too much fear because R' Chaim said talmidei chachamim will be protected. And I am learning to surrender control to Hashem.

It's a pretty important lesson. From the storms of anger, terrorism and snow, I learned my place.

Let us pray that Hashem now begins to show His ultimate control by bringing absolute Shalom and eternal peace to Klal Yisrael!