Take Off The Halo and Horn

Thought this was a learning moment. 

The halo and horn effects. 

This has to do with generalizing about people, things, places, or events. 

With the halo effect, if we like (are positive) about one or a few things about it, we may put a proverbial halo on it and and treat or rate everything about it as great.

Similarly, with the horn effect, if we dislike (are negative) about one or a few things about it, we may put a proverbial horn on it and treat or rate everything about it as horrible. 

This means were not really being objective or balanced in our assessment. 

Usually, it’s not all just good or bad, black or white–but good AND bad, black AND white.  

And obviously, this can cause us to make bad decisions based on poor analysis and judgement. 

Therefore, the importance of taking a step back, looking holistically at all the facts, and evaluating things for what they really are, rather than making snap calls to judgement–and poor ones at that! 😉

(Source Photo: here with attribution to darksouls1)

There Is Always A Bigger Fish

So as we are about to enter Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year…

I want to share a very important lesson that I came across again this year. 

The lesson is:

No matter how big a fish you think you are, there is ALWAYS a bigger fish out there.

You may have position, title, money, status, and all the trimmings, but someone with more of this and that and the other thing (and overall power) can come along at any time–at G-d’s decree–and swallow you right up.  

I connect this to the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah when it is customary to go and cast bread (symbolic for our sins) into a natural body of water, so the fish can eat them up–and in a spiritual sense we throw away our sins and cleanse ourselves of our wrongdoings over the last year–let the fish have them. 

And like the fish eating our sins, I think another more powerful person can come and swallow us up and even spit us out (like Jonah and the Whale)–we are all fallible and mortal. 

We are made from dust and we go to dust, and my dad would joke to clean up the mounds of dust under my bed!

As we enter the New Year, may Hashem have mercy on us and bless us, and may we have peace, health, and prosperity, and may we be written in the Book of Life.

Oh yeah, and may no fish big or small come against us to cause us distress or harm–G-d is the Almighty Protector–Amen! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Ultimate Rejection (Not)

Ok, folks.

This picture is not the message you want to get before Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year and time of judgement). 

We want to see the long hand of G-d come down with love, caring, forgiveness, and blessings!

A flick of the Almighty index finger, definitely not what we want to see or get.  

Worse would be getting the middle finger, of course. 

But I definitely don’t think G-d does that! 

Talking about rejection with a big R. 

To all my family and friends, a most happy, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous New Year!  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

 

Lucky Cat

So a retail establishment opened in the area.

They had all these cat symbols hung inside. 

I asked the owner what it said, and she told me:

“Lucky Cat”

Why a cat symbolizes luck I don’t really know.

But the bigger question is whether there is any such thing as luck in the first place.

We constantly wish people good luck on any and every aspect of their lives: from birth to bar/bat mitzvahs, engagements, weddings, graduations, new jobs, journeys, and basically anything we embark on. 

That’s what Mazel Tov means–good luck!

But I thought we believe in G-d and not luck?

We strive through prayer, charity, repentance, and all sort of good deeds to try and move the scale of justice in our favor. 

With the Jewish high holidays approaching next month–Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur–we do everything to atone for our sins and commit to being better in the future. 

We seek G-d’s mercy and his blessings. 

There is no arbitrary luck or fortune. 

Life is what we make out of it. 

What about the Massachusetts women who won $758 million in Powerball last week or the person that gets cancer or some other horrible tragedy–did they deserve it?

I suppose it’s impossible for us to judge why some people have amazing fortune and others have schlimazel (misfortune).

As it says in Genesis (18:25):

“Shall not the judge of all the Earth do justly?”

Surely, G-d has the bigger picture and the omniscience to know what is good for us and what is not. 

How he tests us and tries us and to what ends…that is a matter of faith and conviction–and we believe that it is all ultimately for our best. 

The judge of all Earth…please have mercy on us and bestow your blessings on us, your faithful children. 

As to the lucky cat–wave us some good vibes–all long as we realize that we all need G-d’s grace! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Between A Liberal Rock and A Conservative Hard Place

On the alt-liberal left–a “radical Islamist” leaning and violent Antifa. 

On the ultra-conservative right–Neo-Nazi and White Supremacists.

And in the middle (regardless of political beliefs)–good people of faith and integrity with seemingly nowhere to turn.

________

{And I don’t know what this is, but this is what I am hearing…}

Behold and fear a great fear.

Evil and violence will soon be upon you.

The forces of crushing hate will collide and spread throughout the face of the earth.

And the people will suffer a very great suffering.

And they will call out to the L-rd, and they will repent from their misguided wayward ways.

And the L-rd will see their judgement and he will cause a great stirring in man.

Great weapons will be released and a very great cleansing of man’s hearts will occur.

I say to you redemption is upon you.

Redemption first by great pain and suffering, and then by great joy and exaltation.

And peace and morality will be restored on Earth.

Here this and hear it well, the time is short and good people must ready.

Gather yourselves together and prepare for the end of days and the beginning of days.

Those that are good and gathered will see peace and survive the onslaught before my mercy while many others will perish.

{Then the streaming tapers off…}

________

I don’t understand the call for a gathering–aren’t we safer perhaps spread out?  

Perhaps the gathering refers to G-d’s promise to gather His people from the four corners of the Earth.

– And they will walk the sacred middle ground through the Red Sea to the promised Holy Land. 

The liberal left and conservative right have been overtaken by violent nutty extremists and radicals.

They have “split” from normal thinking and doing the correct thing–they have gone over the top!

A new righteous center–driven by faith and a moral compass –desperately needs to emerge now.

Hopefully, this will bring us to a new peace and prosperity–because the current isn’t working. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Nature of Good and Evil

Like in the Bible…

When our forefather Itzchak was about to bless his son Jacob and he said the words (are good) like Jacob, but the hands (deeds) feel like Esau.

Words are cheap, and actions speak volumes louder!

Good deeds mean something, but words are easily manipulated.

We can all spot good deeds, and that is what must guide our judgement of people and situations–that is where the truth rests.

Like my father and grandfather always taught me–some people are good and some are not so good.  😉

(Source Video: Dannielle Blumenthal)

What Do We Fear More?

So it’s Halloween tomorrow.

It’s a holiday to remember those that have passed. 

In modern times, it has become a holiday of ghosts and ghouls, spooky and scary.

People dress up often in ghastly costumes, party hearty, and go door to door, trick or treat.

With fright night, I ask myself, are we more afraid of what we don’t understand from the spirit world or perhaps of what do understand from people in this life?

Certainly, the supernatural and the spirits–elements of what’s awaiting for us on the other side are things we don’t really have tangible experience with or understand…we are afraid of the unknown.

But in this world, we are familiar and encounter bad people and deeds, and unfortunately have to deal with them, but it never becomes easier or less scary to confront these.

Sure, we understand that not everyone is good, and not everyone has the best impulse control–people do rotten, horrible things for selfishness and greed or simply because they can’t stop themselves.

How scary is it to run into and have to deal with people that can and will do almost anything–maybe without a conscious thought or remorse for doing wrong…perhaps, they might even enjoy hurting others, taking what doesn’t belong to them, forcing their will or themselves on others, and doing unthinkable acts of crazed violence and evil. 

We are definitely afraid of people like this…they are out of control, and don’t add up for those of us who think in terms of a soul, conscience, an everyday moral compass, and a seeing and hearing L-rd above

So life is scary, but death awaits us all as well. 

And as my dad used to say, no one has ever come back to tell us what happens over there. 

He had the most faith of anyone I know, and I understand we are supposed to have faith that we are going to a better place, but like coming out of the mother’s womb into this world, when we die, we are coming out into a whole new place altogether. 

New things are scary and going from the physical world to the spiritual one, I assume can also be a little earth shattering–where exactly are we going and how will we be judged when we get there? 

Of course, I hope that I will be with my family and with G-d and bask in his eternal light. 

Thus for me, I find myself less scared of ghosts and metaphysical things, but the evil that people can bring, behind ghoulish smiles and with hidden agendas, telling lies and fooling us of their evil intent, that is scarier than any ghost or goblin, any time of year on Earth or beyond. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Hamsa Most Gorgeous

The Hamsa is a Middle Eastern symbol for thousands of years representing the hand of G-d.

Chamsa in Arabic or Hamesh in Hebrew is actually five (or 5 fingers as in a hand). 

The Hamsa serves as an amulet to nullify the evil eye (Ayin Harah). 

A Hamsa is frequently decorated with an eye, ornate etchings, beads, and gems. 

This Hamsa that I found in New Jersey by an Israeli artist is actually one of the largest (almost 2 feet) and one of the most beautiful. 

It is made of lacquer over oil paint on wood, and I think weighs about 5-6 pounds. 

Each finger is a different and vibrant color, and it has poetry about the hand in life you are dealt and handling life the best you can. 

It has a big happy and peaceful face with rosy cheeks and a heart on its forehead. 

It is such a magnificent piece that I actually saw it in the window of a fine art store while almost driving by it in a car.

Awesome, beautiful, and G-d should bestow it with the powerful energy to help protect us from all evil and illness, defend us from any bad judgements and dangers, and shower us with his infinite mercy and blessings all the days of our lives. 😉

(Source Photo: Dori Sobin)

Attack On Human Rights

So we’re sitting in the coffee shop and this guy near us has some books on the table. 

He’s reading three things:

– The Holy Bible

– Second Amendment Primer

– The Heller Case (the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2008 protecting an individual’s right to bear arms for self defense in “federal enclaves”). 

So somebody says jokingly, “You think he’s a Republican?”

It made me think how we get judged by not only our behaviors, but also by our apparent beliefs, politics, and associations. 

Even if we don’t necessary do anything wrong or controversial, people see us, sum us up, and place judgement upon us. 

Moreover, while we may have a legal right to do something, people may still look disparagingly on us for exercising our rights.

Speak you mind freely, practice your religion openly, stand firm on privacy, own a gun in a liberal part of town, and you may find yourself being stared, pointed, or sneered at, whispered about, threatened, harassed, or otherwise disapproved of in small and/or big ways. 

My question is how is something a right if people still can mistreat you for exercising it in appropriate ways?  

I’ve heard people say things like you’re eligible for X, Y, or Z, but your not entitled to it.

They confuse rights as eligibility, rather than entitlement. 

So some people water down our Bill of Rights that way–thinking, saying, and acting in way that you are eligible to do something, BUT only if you ask nicely or do it a certain way that the other person arbitrarily approves of, and not that you are entitled to it as a basic human right!

Yes, of course we all need to behave responsibility and not yell fire in a crowded theater, but that doesn’t mean that human rights are subject to the whim of people’s mood’s, tempers, personal views, and bullying behavior. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Yom Kippur, When The Masks Come Off

This mask does not mean that Jews have horns–that is a crappy and evil stereotype, so cut it out. 

Masks are dress-up and pretend, like the way most people behave day-in and day-out. 

People imagine and feign to be what they would like to be or what they want others to believe they are. 

Like when someone is gearing up for a fight, they extend their arms, raise their voices, bob up and down to make themselves appear bigger and more formidable than they really are. 

It’s a fake out–but perception is (often) reality. 

Similarly, people may wear clothes, drive cars, or live in big fancy homes that make them look well-to-do, but really it’s a great act and all bought on extensive credit (ever hear of 0% down!). 

Others may dream of being seen as smart and the go-to guy for answers, the subject matter expert, or the generally wise person for advice and guidance, but are they really smarter than everyone else or do the degrees plastering the wall like wallpaper or titles like doctor, lawyer, accountant, entrepreneur, professor, and Rabbi simply often invoke credentials and an air rather than the smarts that should accompany them.

Even parents may pose for loving pictures with their children, seem to dote on them, and act the helicopter parents, but still when it comes to their own busy schedules, they have no real time or attention left for the little ones–because the parents put themselves first. 

It happens all the time, every which way, the authority figure who really abuses their authority rather than lives up to it. 

People are human, weak, fallible–and the show is often a lot better than the characters behind it. 

But that doesn’t mean we stop trying to be inside what we know we really should be–more loving, caring, giving, and good people. 

This is the essence of Yom Kippur to me, the Day of Atonement–the day when we shed all our phony masks–and instead we bear out our sins, bend our heads with shame, are sorry for what we have done wrong, and commit to doing better in the future.

Yom Kippur is the day when all the masks are off–we cannot hide from G-d Almighty, the all seeing and all knowing.  

On Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgement we are inscribed, and on Yom Kippur the book is sealed. 

In Judgement, we may enter the court of heaven with heads still held up high, with the same act that we try to show every day, but on Yom Kippur we leave the court with our heads down and our hands humbly clasped, the sentence meted out for who we really are–based not on pretense, but on our underlying behavior.

A mask covers what is, when the mask is off we are left with who we are–naked before our maker, where all is revealed, and we must account for our actions–good, bad, or even just plain indifferent. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)