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)
600 Holocaust Survivors and their descendants sing “Chai” (Life) by Ofra Haza.
Hope is not yet lost.
I live. I live. I live.
I cried my eyes out watching this.
The Jewish people not only survived the Holocaust as most of the world sat by and watched the genocide of six million men, women, and children with a soulless indifference, but G-d has kept his promise and restored the Jewish people and returned them to the Holy Land and made it flourish again!
(Thank you to my sister, Roz, for sharing this with me)
Great song: David and Shaul from Ehud Banay’s third album, ”The Third/Hashlishi”
The song is about the “bipolar” feelings of King Saul toward David (then the next king of Israel).
Here are the lyrics:
כולם מזמן הלכו לישון
רק שאול ער, קודר
מרים לדוד טלפון
A late-night hour
Everyone is long gone to sleep
Only Shaul is awake, cheerless
He calls David up over the phone
אולי תקפוץ אלי, יא דוד
נפשי אגם שחור
תביא איתך את הגיטרה
כי באצבעותיך אור
Maybe you should stop by, Ya David
My soul is a black lake
Bring the guitar with you
For you have light in your fingers
דוד בא מיד רגוע,
מתיישב ומכוון
את המלאכה היטב יודע
עוצם עיניים, מנגן
David comes right away and he is calm
Sit down and tunes (the guitar)
The job he well knows
Closes his eyes, he plays
עשר אצבעות לדוד
קצה כל אצבע – קרן אור
כשהוא פורט על המיתר
הזמן זורם לו לאחור
Ten fingers David has
The tip of each one – a ray of light
When he port on the string
The time is flowing backwards
שאול מבפנים קרוע
קרבות בתוך בטנו
אוהב-שונא, ומקנא
מכור לחברו
Shaul is torn inside
Battles in his stomach he has
Love-hate, and jealous he is
Addicted to his friend
דבר מה אפל נופל
השד חוזר להשתולל
סכין נזרקת באוויר
פתאום יש בין השנים קיר
Something dark falls
The demon is back to a rage
A knife is thrown in the air
Suddenly there is a wall between the two
דוד מתחמק משאול
אבל שאול לא מוותר
דוד שוכח וסולח
כששאול מתקשר
David is avoiding Shaul
But Shaul is not giving up
David forget and forgives
When Shaul call up
בוא שוב לנגן לי דוד
קח אותי לכוכבים
בוא שוב לנגן הלילה
שיר געגועים
Come again to play to me David
Take me to the stars
Come again to play tonight
A song of longing
בוא שוב לנגן הלילה…
Come again and play tonight..
בוא שוב לנגן הלילה
שיר געגועים…
Come again and play tonight..
A song of longing..
(Kudos to my Ulpan teacher, Rivka D. for sending me the video and to Izchak, my wonderful son-in-law, for providing the Hebrew/English lyrics)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel, “Avraham, The Ultimate Mensch.”
The Rabbi asked why did Hashem who is omnipotent even need to create us? And he answered because in G-d being the ultimate good, He “had to create us”—this in essence being the ultimate expression of good by sharing that goodness with us to learn and be good as well. In short, what could be a greater good than extending that opportunity to be be good to others.
Like our forefather, my Hebrew name is Avraham, and for me personally, this has been a critical life lesson: learning to see challenges as opportunities to learn, grow, and consistently be a person that tries to do what is right even when it is hard or the lines seem to be grey. In the end, I believe that G-d put us in this world in order for us to choose good over evil and demonstrate kindness to others. With the Torah as our blueprint, and Avraham, our forefather, as our role model, we must apply the great teachings of the Torah and always strive to act as a proper mensch!
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, “Who Is Occupying Whom?“
I hope you read this article and understand the lies and propaganda that is being spread about “the occupation.”
(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal adapted from Wikimedia Commons)
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(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
So yesterday, I started Ulpan classes to improve my Hebrew language skills (currently, I’m not very skillful with it).
It was 2.5 hours and it was such a joy for me and my wife and one of my daughter to have the wonderful opportunity to participate in this.
It wasn’t like in Yeshiva where we focused on learning the Biblical and prayer book Hebrew, and on Aramaic from the Talmud, but was more focused on modern-day conversational Hebrew.
I loved learning and speaking the words, for example to describe a large cosmopolitan city like Tel Aviv.
We also listened to recordings of others speaking, read the text, and learned verbs.
It reminded me of my mom, who also used to love to take Ulpan, and carried around her notebook with the Hebrew words and their translation and the many descriptive verbs–she was so happy learning and practicing.
Given my horrible language skills, it was funny for me that I was asked if I wanted to join the advanced class…ah, no! (or at least not yet…)
While so many languages (and cultures) have died over the ages, Hebrew and the modern State of Israel is a complete revival–it’s truly miraculous!
There were people in the class from Asia, South America, and all over the world!
And from all the people there, I felt a tremendous love not only for the language, but for the land of Israel, and the Jewish people.
I wish like this beautiful language we all embraced, everyone could love and not hate us anymore!
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Today is the holiday of Tu Bishvat.
That is the Birthday for (fruit) Trees!
It’s when Jewish people celebrate and plant trees around the world and especially in the Holy Land.
Last night, we celebrated with Chabad Israeli Center of Rockville where they had not only of the “7 Fruits” of Israel (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates), but they also had some very nice wine and cheese, delicious bourekas, and pastries.
We learned about the biblical meaning of the “7 Species of Fruits” and the flourishing of the land of Israel, celebrated with music and song, and played a trivia game with our smartphones using a cool new gaming and learning application, called Kahoot.
A special thank you to Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Beitsh and to Samy Ymar for sponsoring the event.
Overall, a beautiful evening to meet new people and celebrate a very happy birthday to the beautiful trees and mother nature that G-d has so benevolently bestowed on us. 😉
(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)
I love this silver sculpture of Samson.
And one of my favorite stories and Biblical characters.
Samson was dedicated to G-d from birth and was an enormous warrior.
Even when he was betrayed, blinded, and bound, he maintained his ultimate faith in G-d.
He prayed that he be given the strength one more time to bring justice to G-d’s enemies.
And that’s when he pushed against the pillars and brought the house down on them.
On one hand, a tragic figure that trusted and was fooled by the beautiful Delilah, but a completely heroic man of great integrity, who believed in G-d and in vanquishing his enemies.
Look to the Heavens for your strength and G-d can grant you the ultimate strength to achieve your mission in life and even in death. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Today, Jerusalem has been recognized as the capital of Israel–Mazel tov!
– 70 years after President Truman instructed the State Department to support the U.N. partition plan.
– 50 years since the Six Day War in which Jerusalem was reunified.
– 22 years after the Jerusalem Embassy Act was passed for relocating the U.S. Embassy to the capital, Jerusalem.
Everyone has been patient and waited a long time for this.
As President Trump stated, we are recognizing the reality, the obvious, and “it is the right thing to do!”
Yes, Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine their own capital as every nation does.
And Jerusalem is that capital today as it has been historically from the times of the Bible.
We are blessed to be witnessing in our time the miraculous fulfillment of G-d’s promise for the quintessential return of the Israelites to the Promised Land, and toward the ultimate redemption.
From the ashes of the Holocaust, G-d has resurrected and brought us alive again.
Many that I have spoken with today express genuine fear about the ramifications of this announcement of recognition.
But as President Trump displayed today, we must all go forward together courageously and in celebration.
The State of Israel is blooming from its agricultural fields to the incredible medical and technological innovations that are helping people throughout the world.
We must never forget that it is only with G-d’s blessing and under his watchful eye.
May we all pray for peace and security, and let their not be war or terrorism anymore! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal via White House)
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